MARANATHA CHURCH

Two groups of people meet Jesus in this passage. One reaches for the corner of His garment with the trembling dependence of people who know they are broken, and He is holy. The other travels nearly a hundred miles to ask Him about handwashing. Matthew 14:34-15:20 puts them side by side and asks us which one we actually are. Have we made Jesus common? Have we built traditions and preferences that we hold ourselves and others to, which are quietly keeping us from seeing Him the way He truly is? And what does it look like to come back to the posture that has always been the only thing that works.

This passage is not about Peter sinking. It is about the Creator walking on His own creation, speaking the name that belongs to God alone, and what happens to us when we take our eyes off Him and start taking inventory of the chaos around us. When we stop beholding the King, the wind gets louder. Matthew 14:22-33 ends, as it possibly can, with a boat full of men who have run out of every other category and are left with only one category that fits what they have seen: Jesus is God.