What is so special about walking on water? Is it that Jesus didn’t quite have enough magic power to fly and he needed the extra surface tension of the water to hold him up? (Do the calculations, it doesn’t help much.) Does the water provide any extra traction for walking? If the water was up to his neck it would provide some buoyancy, but that is called “floating” and I can do that. So what’s the point of this story? Yes, flying would be magical, but calling it “walking on water” only tells me the story is a fabrication.
I think the story is more about Peter than Jesus. Jesus walks on the water out to the boat. Peter wants to walk on the water also and go to meet him. He starts out okay but then loses his confidence and starts to sink and has to be rescued by Jesus. This is typical of Peter, who fluctuates between faithful bravado and fear. Some biblical scholars believe that this account happened after the resurrection when Jesus was no longer constrained by the laws of physics.
After the resurrection? Nah... walking on water would be even more difficult for Jesus 'cuz he had holes in his feet. I wonder how the 'biblical scholars' missed that one.
joan99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- Some > biblical scholars believe that this account > happened after the resurrection when Jesus was no > longer constrained by the laws of physics.
Right. Because coming back from the dead is much more believable.
There are assorted reports that Joseph Smith attempted to walk on water. Apparently a platform was constructed just under the water, but someone discovered the scam and removed some central planks resulting in Joseph sinking mid performance. There are so many versions of the story that the actual truth of it can't be determined though.
The laws of nature simply cannot be violated. When odd things are observed there's always a natural explanation. The real answer of how Jesus walked on water is that the story is just as fictional as Harry Potter.
I think that the original text was some wise old soul trying to give a lesson and he said, "Let's suppose Jesus walked on water to get to the fishing boat . . . etc." "Let's suppose" turns it into a fable for teaching.
Then some editor got hold of it and decided they could sell more copies of their book if they dropped the "Let's suppose."
David A Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sometimes my mind wanders… > > What is so special about walking on water?
It would probably help a bit, to first of all examine early Israelite theology and its precursors among Canaanite Baalism and related ANE religions.
Water (especially lakes, rivers and the sea) equates with chaos -- or, capitalize that word to personify it as Chaos -- the great Dragon -- Degradation and Destruction.
Baal (read: YHWH -- The Lord) overcomes Chaos in the creation of the habitable universe -- in bringing order out of disorder.
Only Baal/YHWH can accomplish this great feat. Only the Supreme God can overcome the Great Dragon/Chaos.
So, if Jesus is portrayed as calming the storm at sea, or as walking upon the surface of that same turbulent sea, the very act equates him with Baal/YHWH.
Late second Temple Judaism looked for a saving Messiah who would oversee the final triumph of the Kingship of God -- a Messiah who would preside over the Great Banquet at the end of days, when the symbolic Dragon itself would be consumed -- obliterated.
Portraying Jesus as that very "Chaos-conquering" Messiah was the same as making him God (or at least a personage in the triune godhead).
It was a brash and startling declaration -- the birth of Christianity and its breaking point with Judaism. The Jews could envision a Messiah endowed with godlike powers, but not a Messiah who actively assumed the very role of YHWH in an exclusive way that went beyond simple incarnation.
Jesus has power over the waters: ergo, Jesus is God.
An adherent of the Hebrew Bible would have ripped his clothes, torn out his hair, and poured ashes upon his head over such Christian blasphemy.
... > > So, if Jesus is portrayed as calming the storm at > sea, or as walking upon the surface of that same > turbulent sea, the very act equates him with Baal/YHWH. >
It might be asked whether Moses and Joshua did not do much the same thing -- with Moses purportedly "parting" the sea, to enter Sinai, and Joshua's followers crossing over a dried up Jordon to enter Canaan.
In both these cases the Israelite leaders are depicted as channeling YHWH's exclusive power over "the waters," for a specific purpose in temporal salvation for the Israelites. There is no hint that such men parted seas or held back the flow of rivers due to their own, personal control over the forces of nature.
The Jesus pericope is something different. Christian writers made him to act like God-in-the-flesh, and as though he had such transcendent, exclusive powers due to his own Divine nature, and not as a prophet, channeling temporary forces.
The sea tradition properly belongs with the post-resurrection accounts, near the end of the Gospels. Its magical, dreamlike qualities are a better fit there, with the other tales of the risen Christ visiting his old disciples.
Somehow the pericope got lumped in with the earlier timeline, but some readers will see it as strangely out of place there.
I always love how researching the history of these kinds of stories help them make so much more sense! It gives it a Greek mythology sort of feel when you put it like that.
Walking on water is also part of the ancient gods' bag of miraculous tricks. It was quite common back then. Other gods that also walked on water were:
Mithras Dionysis Krishna Zoroaster Etc.
In fact many of the miracles that were performed by Jesus, that modern Christians believe to be unique and, therefore, a proof of divinity are all common proofs of divinity when it comes to other Gods.