"The Trick"
- Dr. Todd R. Wright
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 21 hours ago
The jokesters are completely wrong – Matthew is not recounting a trick. But they are also a little bit right – the gospel writer does have something up his sleeve.
Matthew 14:22-33
August 9, 2026
Dr. Todd R. Wright
This story of Jesus walking on water has stoked imaginations for generations … and that shows up in a series of jokes. Maybe you’ve heard them. Jokes like this one:
“Two retired pastors had a habit of going fishing together.
Out on the lake they could enjoy the beauty of nature and a little good-natured rivalry.
One day they decide to invite the new preacher – he was fresh out of seminary, and they figured he’d enjoy the relaxation. They might even be able to share some hard-won wisdom.
He accepts and they make their way to the middle of the lake.
After an hour, one of the old preachers realizes he has to use the restroom. He grumbles about his prostate, steps out of the boat, walks across the water to the shore, does his business, and walks back.
The new pastor is impressed! None of his professors told him pastor had this ability!
The other retiree has also been drinking coffee out of a thermos and soon the urge is too great to ignore. He steps out of the boat, walks across the water, does his business, and walks back.
Though lacking their experience, the young pastor believes he is just as holy as they are, so he steps over the side of the boat. He immediately sinks and starts splashing and screaming.
The two old pastors manage to pull him back into the boat, and once they have caught their breath, the one says to the other, ‘Maybe we should have told him where the rocks were.’”
The implication is that walking on water is not so much a miracle as a trick!
The jokesters are completely wrong – Matthew is not recounting a trick.
But they are also a little bit right – the gospel writer does have something up his sleeve.
Three tricks, in fact. Let me share them with you.
First, have you ever seen a magic show? If there is a box on stage, long and narrow, with holes for head and limbs, you know the trick that is about to unfold.
In a similar way, when Matthew tells us that the disciples were rowing across the lake when a storm blew up, and Jesus came walking to them on the sea, he is tipping his hand.
One scholar notes, “According to the Greek translation of Job 38:16, God asks Job if he ever ‘went upon the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep.’” Those are the exact same words Matthew uses – words to describe what God can do that humans cannot.
And if that wasn’t enough, when Jesus shows up, and they fear they are seeing a ghost, he responds, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Except he does not actually say, “It is I.” He says, “I Am.” That’s how God first disclosed the holy name to Moses.
Matthew is revealing, with a certain flourish, that Jesus is not just a miracle worker; he’s God!
To do so without actually saying the words is quite a trick!
Second, like a magician who distracts the audience with their right hand while doing something unnoticed with their left, Matthew tricks us into shifting our focus to Peter.
And preachers have taken the bait!
We’ve waxed eloquent or droned on … but always as if the point of this story is that we need to dare to get out of the boat, or keep our eyes fixed on Jesus; then we can do great things too! As if this is a story about our potential, or our failure. And as if to spit upon our distraction and doubt.
But this is not a story about Peter, or us. It is about Jesus – how he can be trusted to save!
Don’t be tricked!
Third, maybe an emphasis on examples of magicians’ tricks leads us astray. Maybe it’s more like the “trick or treat” of Halloween – which usually produces a gift instead of a prank.
Perhaps you remember that Matthew tells an earlier story of a storm at sea. Jesus is asleep, unconcerned, when the disciples wake him and shout, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
When he silences the storm, they ask, “What sort of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
This time, after Peter repeats the plea, “Lord, save me!” the disciples worship Jesus and say, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Matthew wants us to hear the echoes … and the progress … between the two accounts.
Walking on water is not a trick; it is a gift that allows his followers to see and believe.
May it be a gift for us too! Amen
[1] “Jesus Walks on Water” by Tracy Councill
[3] From Nicholas Schaser’s reflections on the text for workingpreacher.org, 8/13/23
[4] See Matthew 8:23-27
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