Jesus Walked on Water - Day 25

Jesus told the disciples that it was time to move on. They had done enough work in one area and other towns needed to hear the message. He went away by himself and told the others to meet him on the other side on the sea in Bethsaida.
It is dark. A storm comes up. They are tired. Jesus—somehow—can see what they are going through and decides to go to them: “When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass them by. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’” (Mark 6:48-52)
There are so many questions that this story elicits. Why didn’t Jesus travel with them? Why was he going to pass them by? Why didn’t they recognize him? How could Jesus have walked on the water?
I don’t know the answers to these, or other, questions. What I do know is that all of us have been in the boat with those disciples at some time in our lives—maybe some of you are there right now. It is dark. The rowing is hard. Adverse winds are swirling. We have been there.
And, what I also know is that we need to cry out to Jesus. That he will come. That just as he said then, so he will say to us now: “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
So, in whatever boat you might be in, in whatever dark night, in whatever daunting conditions, know and trust that Jesus can still walk on water, can still get to you, can still find you, can still get in the boat with you. Which is, of course, what he did on that night long ago. He got in the boat with them and he took the tiller and he guided them to safe harbor. The one who walked on the water brought them to shore. He did it then. He can do it now.