John leaves out much of the narrative. Only Matthew tells of Peter and his excursion on the water.

Matt 14:28-32  “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”  And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

The disciples must have still been filled with excitement over the miraculous feeding of the five thousand and the subsequent furor over making Jesus King. Now Peter, carried away by the excitement of the moment, asks the seemingly impossible. His words are a mixture of doubt (“if it’s you”) and presumption (“tell me to come to you on the water”), but they are quite characteristic of Peter, for as Edersheim points out, “He is the Apostle of Hope — and hope is a combination of doubt and presumption, but also their transformation.” (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. I, p. 693)

As much as we discredit Peter’s lack of faith because he let his eyes rest on the wind instead of on Jesus, he was the only one with faith enough to step out of the boat. As many bad attributes as Peter had, I wonder what Jesus saw in him that He would leave him as head of His church? Perhaps we see some of that here.

Upon the arrival of Peter and Jesus into the boat, the wind died and the boat immediately arrived at its destination: a double miracle if the word “immediately” is taken literally! However, it may mean that after Jesus arrived it seemed that they arrived immediately. Maclaren notes that “it is very seldom true, that when Christ comes on board opposition ends, and the haven is reached. But it is always true that when Christ comes on board a new spirit enters into the men who have Him for their companion, and are conscious that they have.” With an awareness of Christ in our lives, the troubles of this world lose their power to intimidate us.

Life is a journey with many troubles, pain, difficulty, and sorrow, but if we take Christ on board, the journey is a very different thing from what it is without Him. Those troubles lose their power over us, the journey becomes sweet and we quickly arrive at our safe haven.