‘When therefore they had rowed about twenty five or thirty stades they behold Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat.'

There was clearly a heavy sea, and rowing three or four miles must have been pretty arduous, taking a number of hours. However, they were a tough lot and some were experienced boatmen. But however tough they were they were not prepared for the sight of a figure walking across the heaving waves towards them. And when they saw it ‘they were afraid'. Matthew and Mark tell us that they thought that it was ‘a ghost' (Matthew 14:26; Mark 6:49). Note the writer's awareness of the distances likely on the Sea of Galilee.

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