32 When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” 34 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; 36 and they implored Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were cured.

Upon re-entry into the boat, everyone enjoyed the ensuing calm—but Peter had the inestimable experience of having walked on water while the storm was still raging. Peace comes when the Lord calms the believer in the adverse circumstances of life, but unprecedented victory bursts forward when a Christian faith-walks with the Lord through the adversity!

When it was all over the disciples were overwhelmed with new insight about Jesus. Is there any limit to what He could do? They concluded that He was no less than “God’s Son!” The disciples were probably not articulating a developed sense of Jesus’ being the second person of the Trinity (which came later), but were in the beginning stages of recognizing Him to be greater than a mere man. Some scholars have debated that the phrase may simply characterize Him as divine-like. What we do know is that this identification of Jesus was the challenge of Satan in the wilderness (Matt 4), the admission of the demons at their exorcism (Matt 8:29), the inquisition of Caiaphas at Jesus’ trial (Matt 26:63) and the startling declaration of the centurion at the cross (Matt 27:54). Only in the case of the disciples did this recognition invoke worship—which alone is due God! There is no mistake the disciples are beginning to see in Jesus the manifestation of God Himself.

While the disciples were following where the evidence led, namely toward recognizing who Jesus was, the crowds on shore saw Him simply as a healer. The contrast is unmistakable: the crowd who desired healing, the disciples who desired security, and Peter who desired to be with Christ in the storm.

The Sea of Galilee was also known as the Lake of Gennesaret, a name shared with a town on its southwestern shore, near Bethsaida and Capernaum. The area was quite populous in that day and the people there were familiar with Christ—word got around and many came (and brought others) for healing. The frenzy was on and people clamored to just touch His clothes. Graciously, He healed them all. There was no denying that He cared about them, no matter how closely or distantly they followed Him. But, unlike the twelve, they had not yet seen Him as God’s son.

Lord, I choose to follow You not just because of what You do for me, but also because of Who You are. I worship You because You are—the Son of God!