Doing some house cleaning and found this near complete post that never got published from about a year ago. It should have been posted then.
There were two other things that came to light during last Sunday's class on Matthew 14.
Dave brought along a video that reenacted the scene (of Jesus walking on the water). The portrayal of Jesus plucking Peter out of the water after he began to sink was like a light bulb going on.
I had always imagined Jesus frowning at Peter and rebuking him for his failure. In the video, however, we see a laughing Jesus, teasing Peter rather than rebuking him.
Imagine 2 good friends out mountain biking. One is an experienced rider, the other not. The experienced rider heads down a particularly challenging hill, jumping a fallen log, swerving through a series of large rocks and traversing a creek at the bottom. On the other side, he stops and wait for his friend.
There's another way down, easier, but that trip looked so fun, the amateur decides to try it. He makes the jump over the logs, but half way through the rocks he wipes out. His friend rushes to help him up, laughing. "Dude, that was awesome, but why didn't you go right after the big one?"
Jesus in the movie was laughing with Peter, rejoicing with him in his triumph, but teasing him as well. "Awesome dude! But why'd you doubt, you faithless knucklehead?"
I need to see this Jesus more, the Jesus laughing with his buddies, egging them on, rather than the serious Jesus, scowling at our lack of faith.
