Why walking on water captured my childhood imagination

A Reflection for Saturday of the Second Week of Easter

Find today’s readings here.

Jesus as a superhero. When I was a kid, that’s mostly how I understood the Lord. My family watched Jesus movies, like “Jesus of Nazareth” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” I went to Catholic schools through second grade, when my family lived in the Caribbean, and the miracles of Jesus were what the kids talked about. He turned water to wine, he healed the sick, resurrected the dead and even ascended into Heaven after his own resurrection. 

But the miracle that took the cake was Jesus walking on water. How did he do that? At the pool, I’d try it all the time. I convinced myself that if I truly believed, I could do it too. 

The incident captured my imagination even though the author of the Gospel of Luke inexplicably leaves it out. (Maybe he couldn’t swim?) In Matthew, which has to be everyone’s favorite, Jesus calls Peter out of the boat to join him on the water. In all three Gospels where this miracle story appears, including today’s reading from John, Jesus reveals his divinity. He calms the wind and sea (see Psalm 89:10). “It is I. Do not be afraid,” Jesus says. Some Scripture commentaries note that here Jesus essentially says, “I am.” This is followed by the mysterious line: “They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading” (6:21). It reads almost as if Jesus warped space and time so the boat would arrive in an instant. 

I’m not sure why this scene captured my childhood imagination more than others. Perhaps it’s because superheroes, as far as I knew, couldn’t control the weather. Not even Superman. 

For context, Jesus walks on water immediately following the miracle of the loaves and fishes. In the Gospel of John, Jesus walks on water immediately before what’s often referred to as the Bread of Life discourse (Jn 6:22-59). Jesus tends to the physical hunger of the masses shortly before he prescribes sustenance for the spiritual life. He tells his followers that “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (Jn 6:53). 

In between, Jesus calms the seas and reveals a great power beyond the forces fantasized in comic books. Why? Perhaps, as Raymond Brown, S.S., suggests in “The Gospel According to John,” the passage clarifies what the crowds fed by the loaves and fish got wrong. Jesus is not a political messiah. He didn’t come simply to give physical nourishment or to liberate the people from unjust political rulers. He came to liberate from much more. 

The Lord reveals who he is and who we can be. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (Jn 6:56). The disciples could only come to believe the challenging teaching of the Bread of Life discourse after witnessing the Lord’s power to calm the seas. 

Despite such power, he gives himself wholly to us. Jesus is the bread of life. And I have to tell you, even though I haven’t managed to walk on water yet, Jesus is still my superhero. 

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