A fear not of God
Be Not Afraid, It Is I
It is the fourth watch of the night, the darkest hours before dawn. The disciples are alone in a boat far from land, battered by a contrary wind and heaving waves, straining at the oars. Then they see a figure walking on the water toward them and cry out in terror, sure it is a ghost. Through the wind Jesus calls out: it is I, be not afraid.
“But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.”Matthew 14:27
The moment
The disciples are exhausted and frightened by a storm that will not relent, and Jesus has sent them out alone into it while He prayed on the mountain. Their first fear is the sea itself, the ancient image of chaos and death that no fisherman takes lightly. But their sharper terror comes when they see someone walking on that very water, an impossibility that reads to them as a spirit, an omen of doom. So the fear is doubled: the danger of the storm and the dread of the supernatural approaching. What they do not yet recognize is that the figure they fear is the very One who can save them, coming to them across the thing that terrifies them most.
Why we need not fear
The words it is I are, in the Greek, close to the divine name, I am. The One walking the waves is not a threat but the Lord, master of the sea rather than a victim of it. Fear can be set down because the storm they are fighting is under the feet of the One approaching, and He has come, on purpose, to be with them in it. He does not still the wind from a distance; He walks into the middle of their fear. The command be not afraid rests on the plainest of assurances: it is I, the One you know, the One who is Lord even here.
How Christ answers this fear
Christ comes to His people across the very waters that frighten them, treading the chaos as a king walks his own floor. The sea that means death to the disciples is a path under His feet, and when He steps into the boat the wind ceases. This is the pattern of the whole Gospel: He enters our storms, and He is Lord of the thing we most dread. Because He later goes down into the ultimate storm of death and rises with it beneath His feet, no flood His people face is master of them. When the night is darkest and a figure moves toward you on the water, His word is still it is I; be not afraid.
Questions people ask
What does it is I, be not afraid mean in Matthew 14?
The disciples, caught in a storm, saw Jesus walking on the water and cried out in terror, thinking He was a ghost. He reassured them by identifying Himself: it is I. The phrase echoes God's own name, I am, and means that the figure they feared was actually the Lord of the sea, coming to save them rather than to harm them.
Why were the disciples afraid when they saw Jesus walking on water?
They were already frightened by a fierce storm far from land in the darkest watch of the night. Seeing a figure walking on the water struck them as a supernatural apparition, a ghost, which doubled their terror. They did not realize that the One approaching over the waves was Jesus, master of the sea, coming to be with them in the danger.