{"id":7329,"date":"2016-01-28T00:05:25","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T08:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=7329"},"modified":"2016-01-27T15:54:21","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T23:54:21","slug":"the-ghost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2016\/01\/28\/the-ghost\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ghost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Immediately after, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.<\/p>\n

\tMeanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o\u2019clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, \u201cIt\u2019s a ghost!\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBut Jesus spoke to them at once. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid,\u201d he said. \u201cTake courage. I am here!\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThen Peter called to him, \u201cLord, if it\u2019s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cYes, come,\u201d Jesus said.<\/p>\n

\tSo Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. \u201cSave me, Lord!\u201d he shouted.<\/p>\n

\tJesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. \u201cYou have so little faith,\u201d Jesus said. \u201cWhy did you doubt me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\tWhen they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. \u201cYou really are the Son of God!\u201d they exclaimed. (Matthew 14:22-33)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\tJesus won\u2019t necessarily try to fix all the wrong notions that are in our heads. He picks his battles. After a long day of preaching, after feeding the five thousand, Jesus sent his disciples across the Sea of Galilee for some rest and relaxation while he went off to pray for awhile. The wind was against them, and they made very slow progress in their trip to the far side of the lake. Late at night, tired and exhausted, they thought they saw a ghost.<\/p>\n

\tThanks to the influence of Greek culture, by Jesus\u2019 time belief in ghosts was widespread among the Jewish people. But Jesus did not launch into a theological or philosophical treatise against the notion of ghosts. He merely reassured them that he wasn\u2019t one. Jesus\u2019 concern at that moment was not their false belief in ghosts, which was merely a symptom of something far more damaging: their fear that they were all alone against the world. <\/p>\n

\tToday, we may believe many silly things. But just as he did with his disciples, Jesus doesn\u2019t berate us for those silly beliefs. Instead, he simply tells us not to be afraid. Why? \u201cTake courage. I am here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Immediately after, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7329"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7331,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7329\/revisions\/7331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}