The Worst Timing

 

“Truly You are the Son of God.”  Only moments before the disciples had declared Jesus a ghost, yet now Peter was the ghost.  Dripping wet and panting from his near-drowning, Peter lay in the bottom of the boat like a landed fish, and Jesus stood within the boat as solidly as He had on the frothing waves.  In that moment of seeing Peter breathing in the boat instead of sinking in the sea, at last the disciples really saw: “Truly You are the Son of God.” {Matthew 14:33}

At the moment when Jesus’ hand gripped Peter’s and saved him from a watery grave, the disciples knew He was God.  They had completed careful observations, cautious conclusions, and candid discussions, and they were finally ready to declare it after He rescued one of their own: “Yep, you’re the Son of God!” 

I’m in the same boat with the disciples.  What my eyes can see I will trust, but I will scrutinize high claims that make no logical sense.  Therefore, although I’ve been with Jesus for weeks, when I see such a laws-of-nature-bursting spectacle as walking on water and witness Jesus lithely pluck a fisherman from death, I am inclined to take that evidence and conclude, “Yes, you’re the Son of God!”  It’s a timely declaration, one must admit.

 

But what if Peter had cried, “Lord, save me!” that night, and Jesus hadn’t.  What if Peter had drowned while all the disciples watched, and Jesus chose to promote the fisherman to Heaven instead of rescuing him for a future martyrdom?   I think silence would have sheeted the Sea of Galilee.  Their own eyes would have closed their mouths, and there would have been no declaration.
 

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“Truly this was the Son of God.” Only moments before he had seen Jesus alive and breathing, yet now He was gone.  Gone.  And the centurion who had never met Fear in his life was swallowed by it as boulders split open as if to swallow him as well.  He was thrown to the dirt by a ground that rocked like the high seas and his ears were split with screaming and wails.  Yet through his confusion, at last he saw it: “Truly this was the Son of God.” {Matthew 27:54} 

 

Could he have had worse timing?  It must have felt like the globe was being torn apart at its axis, and he was declaring a corpse to be God.  Jesus had just breathed his last, which he had seen with his own eyes.  I could understand if the centurion were outside the empty tomb on Sunday saying, “Truly this was the Son of God”, but I am humbled by the centurion standing by the dead body of Christ on Friday uttering that declaration. 
 

Jesus is God when He rescues me from the sea, but He is just as God when He doesn’t.  He does not prove Himself God by saving me; He saves me because He is God.  And the very best timing for a declaration is when all seems lost: “Truly You are the Son of God.”  There is nothing more freeing.

Photo Credit: Photo 1 Kuanying Fu
                      Photo 2 Bev Goodwin