The Life of Jesus Advent Calendar - Day 13: Jesus Walks on Water

Introduction

Congratulations! You are now over half way through making your advent calendar! Only twelve more stockings to go, and you'll be done in no time.

Is there a more cinematic passage of Scripture than Matthew 14:22-34? Picture the scene: Jesus is up on the mountain by himself praying, having send the disciples off in the boat, the the other side of the Sea of Galilee. As night falls, the boat is from the land and being beaten by the waves because of strong winds. The disciples are probably putting their best sailing skills to the test, trying to make sure they stay afloat, when suddenly they see a figure walking towards them on the water. Who had ever seen anyone walk on water before? It's perhaps completely understandable that the disciples are terrified, convinced the figure was a ghost.

Jesus doesn't allow their fear to overwhelm them. Immediately he calls out to them, saying

"Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid."

These are the same words Jesus speaks to us when we are in our scariest moments. How do we respond to them? Do we trust them? Or do we seek out proof first that we can trust Jesus, like Peter asking to walk on the water, only to be distracted and start to sink again when we take our eyes from Jesus?

Again we see the grace of Christ here, who doesn't chide Peter for being afraid and sinking, but immediately reaches out to Peter to save him. We may become distracted and doubt our Saviour, but all we need to do is call out "Lord, save me", and Jesus is there with outstretched arm to pull us above the stormy waters once more. He doesn't take the time to tell us off first for doubting, he immediately saves us.

Assembling your stocking

You will already be familiar with forming the Sea of Galilee from stocking no. 8. The boat is also the same, so you can refer back to that stocking if you need a refresher.

The trickiest part here is deciding whether you want to fit all eleven disciples in the boat. This is what I opted to do, and here's a few things which might help you if you do the same:

• Stitch your mast and sail down first.

• Don't stitch your disciples down until you're happy with their placement and know they will fit inside the boat.

• Divide your disciples into a back row of six and a front row of five (your twelfth disciple is Peter, who's in the water!). The back row of six will need to overlap each other.

• For the five disciples in the front row, chop off their bottom third or so. This will help you place them lower than the back row, and means they won't stick out from under the boat.

• If you're struggling to fit them all in the boat, just make the boat a little bigger.

Make a note of the colours you use for your disciples, so that you can keep them consistent in later stockings.

You can watch a brief video of this stocking being assembled on my Facebook or Instagram.

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