Eyes To See

Then the disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"  But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"  Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Matthew 8: 25 -26 NKJV

The story of Jesus in the boat with His disciples was one illustrated at my mothers memorial service.  Here were the disciples, these men who Jesus spent every day with, sailing across the sea of Galilee.  Remember that a good number of these men were fishermen who made their living on the water.  I'm sure this was not the first gale they'd ever seen.  Knowing this, that must have been some storm.  Having personally been on a boat in bad weather, I can honestly say that it's not someplace I'd choose to be.  Still, this passage seemed a bit anticlimactic to me.  The disciples, on a boat in rough seas with Jesus.  Should these men who walked every day with Jesus been so filled with fear?  I mean, this was Jesus, right?  Well, I'll tell you who the disciples did not see that day...Jesus.  In the hour when they needed most to recognize Him for who He was, they punted.  We've all had those moments.  Those moments when our focus is far from Him.  When our eyes began to see what is all around us, instead of who is inside of us.  I've heard many a sermon about the dangers of taking our eyes off of Jesus, but that was before I knew Him as I do today.  In most church teachings, being told we've taken our eyes off of Jesus is akin to earning punishment from God.  We were bad Christians and we needed to refocus.  However, before I came to the realization of Christ in me, I did not have eyes to see Jesus for who He truly is.  Jesus is not a supernatural being who lives in heaven whose only purpose is to ensure we fly straight.  The apostle Paul ensured us of this when he observed that he no longer lived, but it was Christ who lived in him {Galatians 2:20}.  Paul had eyes to see.  All too often, we lose sight of who Jesus really is.  I know I have from time to time.  Too many times, this happens when I'm faced with a bad situation.  Our own storms of life can shift our focus pretty quickly.  As our country struggles with a epidemic, more than a few times I've watched the local news and lost my focus on Jesus.  Although I do have eyes to see Him, I was as distracted as those disciples in the boat.  I'm sure that many of those men had seen with their own eyes the miracles of Jesus.  I'm sure that they had also heard His teachings.  Yet, when the storm came, panic set in.  What would you do if you were caught in a storm with Jesus?  Would you have eyes to see Him?

And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."  So He said, "Come."  And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"  And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
Matthew 14: 28 - 31 NKJV

One of those disciples who was in the boat with Jesus as He crossed the sea got another chance to put his eyes upon Jesus later.  Peter, not believing his own eyes, dared Jesus to prove Himself.  As Jesus tells him to come to Him, Peter gets out of the boat and walks on the water to Jesus.  This is where Peters vision goes haywire.  The scripture tells the story, "But when he saw the wind was boisterous; he was afraid."  This is the moment Peter begins to sink.  He has taken his focus off of Jesus and he's now watching his surroundings.  Like the disciples in the boat from earlier, Peter cries for Jesus to save him from the angry seas.  What is interesting here is that this is Peters second encounter with the wind and the waves when it comes to Jesus.  What didn't he learn from the first time?  I can't be too hard on Peter, because I've been there.  I've been on those stormy seas when, although I knew who was guiding me, I took my focus off of Christ.  It doesn't take much, it seems, to shift our focus from eyes that can see to our immediate surroundings.  One thing that remains constant is Jesus in us.  Jesus is one who never changes {Hebrews 13:8}.  Our circumstances may change by the minute, but Jesus, who is all in all, is always the same.  No matter what the storm, He who is in us is always there.  This is a far cry from the Jesus we grew up hearing about.  The Jesus who was removed from us until He returned once again.  Well, the funny thing is, He's already returned and many people just missed it completely.  They do not have eyes to see.  I see Jesus as my life.  No matter what may happen, He is always there.  I have eyes to see.