S3 116: She Giggled
Peter Walks on Water [23:34]
Episode Length: 23:34
Published Date: Thu, 09 May 2019 01:00:00 -0700
Session 3
About this episode:
Brent Billings introduces the story of Peter walking on water and Marty Solomon interacts with it by sharing some of his thoughts originally written years ago.
In the Dust of the Rabbi — Ray Vander Laan (Amazon)
TTWMK Faith Lessons on DVD and Digital (Focus on the Family)
She Giggled (Part 1) — Covered in His Dust
She Giggled (Part 2) — Covered in His Dust
Notes
*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.
BEMA Episode 116: She Giggled - Study Notes
Title & Source Summary
Episode: 116 - She Giggled
Hosts: Marty Solomon and Brent Billings
Focus: Matthew 14:22-36 (Peter Walking on Water)
This episode takes a unique approach to exploring the familiar story of Peter walking on water. Rather than delivering a traditional teaching, Marty shares a chapter from a book he wrote for his daughter Abigail when she was two years old, titled “When Two-Year-Olds Preach.” Through the lens of watching his young daughter learn to walk up a slight slope in a park, Marty illuminates the profound depth of Jesus’s teaching about having faith like a child and reframes our understanding of Peter’s water-walking experience from failure and doubt to an invitation to persistent trust and joyful resilience.
Key Takeaways
- Jesus’s teaching about having faith like a child is not a trivial or cute lesson, but contains profound spiritual depth that requires careful observation and meditation
- In first-century discipleship, a rabbi’s call meant “I believe you have what it takes to become just like me” - the rabbi would never call a disciple to do something they couldn’t accomplish
- When Peter sinks, he doesn’t lose faith in Jesus (who is doing just fine on the water), but rather loses faith in himself and his ability to do what his rabbi called him to do
- Children possess an extraordinary combination of innocence and confidence - they fall, giggle, get up, and try again without being immobilized by failure
- Learning to “giggle” means refusing to be incapacitated by our failures and instead approaching spiritual growth with the persistent joy and resilience of a child learning to walk
- God has an incredibly high view of people and believes we are capable of amazing things - the question is not whether Jesus believes in us, but whether we believe in ourselves
- The goal is not to avoid the slope (our challenges) but to keep getting up, keep trying, and know that our Father is there, we are loved, and we are okay
Main Concepts & Theories
First-Century Discipleship and the Rabbi-Talmid Relationship
The episode explores the cultural context of Jewish discipleship in Jesus’s time. A talmid (disciple) was a student who applied to study under a rabbi, and acceptance was one of the greatest honors a young Jewish boy could receive. The rabbi’s acceptance communicated a powerful message: “I believe you have what it takes to become just like me.”
This relationship was characterized by total imitation. Disciples would memorize their rabbi’s teachings, adopt his interpretations of Torah, and most importantly, mimic his every action. The goal was complete transformation to become like the rabbi. This level of dedication was so intense that disciples would even follow their rabbi into restrooms to observe and imitate everything.
The significance for understanding Peter’s water-walking attempt is profound. When Peter sees Jesus walking on water and asks to come to him, Peter is functioning as a proper first-century disciple. If his rabbi can do it, Peter believes he can do it too - because if he couldn’t, the rabbi never would have called him.
Reframing Jesus’s Response to Peter
Traditional interpretations often view Jesus’s words “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” as a scolding for Peter’s failure. However, the episode challenges this reading by asking a crucial question: In whom did Peter lose faith?
Jesus was not sinking - Jesus was doing just fine on the water. Peter didn’t lose faith in Jesus’s ability or power. Rather, Peter lost faith in himself. He doubted his own capacity to do what his rabbi had called him to do.
When understood through the rabbi-talmid framework, Jesus’s question becomes an affirmation rather than a rebuke: “Peter, if you didn’t have what it takes to walk on water, I never would have called you out. You have everything you need to do this. I believe in you, Peter. You can do whatever I call you to do.”
This reframing transforms the entire story from a cautionary tale about the weakness of human faith into an encouraging narrative about God’s confidence in us and an invitation to have confidence in ourselves as His image-bearers.
The Paradox of Innocence and Confidence
One of the most striking observations Marty makes about children is the connection between their innocence and their confidence. Young children possess an unshakeable trust that they are loved, that their parents are there for them, and that they can accomplish what they set out to do.
When Marty’s daughter Abigail attempted to walk up a slope for the first time, she fell backward repeatedly - perhaps 20 or 30 times over ten minutes. Yet she never cried, never reached for dad’s assistance, and never gave up. She simply fell, giggled, got back up, and tried again. Each attempt brought new data for her “one-year-old physics laboratory” as she adjusted her weight, her timing, and her foot placement.
This natural resilience stands in stark contrast to how adults approach failure. We become immobilized by our mistakes, convinced that we knew we couldn’t do it anyway, ready to accept the scolding we believe we deserve. We lose the childlike ability to fall, giggle, get up, and try again.
Learning to Giggle: Persistent Joy in Spiritual Growth
The central metaphor of the episode is learning to “giggle” - developing the capacity to approach our spiritual growth and life challenges with the same persistent, joyful resilience that characterizes a toddler learning to walk.
Marty is careful to clarify that this doesn’t mean trivializing sin or treating God’s grace as a “get out of jail free card.” Rather, it’s about refusing to be immobilized by failure. It’s recognizing that we’re going to fall as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, but that God would rather sit on a park bench watching His children learn to walk than remain in a boat delivering rebukes.
The “giggle” represents:
- Joy in the process, not just the destination
- Confidence that we are loved regardless of our current success
- Willingness to keep getting up after falling
- Trust that our Father is present and delighted in our growth
- Freedom from the tyranny of others’ expectations and judgments
Faith in Ourselves as Image-Bearers
A crucial theological point in the episode is the distinction between narcissistic self-confidence and the humble recognition that we are made in the image of God. Marty explicitly rejects humanistic worldviews that locate the solution to all problems within ourselves, affirming instead that hope for the world’s brokenness lies in the resurrected Christ.
However, he argues that genuine Christian faith includes believing that there must be something worth loving and worth saving if God was willing to sacrifice His Son for it. To deny our worth and capability is, in a sense, to deny the value of God’s creative work and redemptive act.
This creates a both-and rather than either-or framework:
- We need to believe in Jesus AND Jesus believes in us
- We need to have faith in God AND God has faith in us
- We are broken and sinful AND we are made in God’s image and capable of amazing things
- We desperately need God’s grace AND God genuinely trusts us with His mission
The Slope as Spiritual Metaphor
The slope in the park represents the challenges, obstacles, and areas of spiritual growth we all face. Marty’s reflection acknowledges that we can’t simply make the slope disappear - our problems, sins, and struggles are real and must be dealt with.
However, the slope is not primarily an enemy to be avoided but a teacher through which we grow. Just as his daughter needed to encounter the physics of walking uphill to develop new capabilities, we need our “slopes” to develop spiritual maturity.
The question is not whether we’ll face slopes or whether we’ll fall on them. The question is whether we’ll approach them with the determination and joy of a child who knows she’s loved, knows her father is watching with delight, and refuses to give up until she reaches the top.
Examples & Applications
The Park Observation
The central example of the episode is Marty’s observation of his two-year-old daughter at the park. He describes taking her on a nice winter day in Idaho and deliberately choosing not to direct her activities - not pushing her toward swings or toys, but simply letting her be “captain of her own ship” while he kept her safe.
Having just learned to walk, Abigail’s chosen activity was simply to walk around in the grass. She wandered to the side of the park and walked down a very slight slope (slight from the perspective of someone 6’4”, not from that of a toddler). When she turned to come back up, she encountered a brand new challenge: the physics of walking uphill.
Her first step resulted in an immediate fall backward into the long grass. She was unhurt, and Marty chose to simply observe rather than intervene. What happened next was remarkable:
She giggled. She got up. She stepped. She fell. Over and over - perhaps 20 times with no cry, no whimper, no reaching for dad’s help. Just falling, occasionally giggling, and always getting back up to try again.
Eventually, she began making adjustments based on her newfound data - shifting her weight differently, taking her time, placing her feet in new positions. She took a step, then another, remaining upright this time. She screamed a happy little scream. She took another step, fell, and giggled again.
Ten minutes later, having traversed all of 12 feet, she reached the top of the slope. She was thrilled to be at the top and run on level ground - but notably, she had also been perfectly happy at the bottom of the slope. The joy wasn’t dependent on success; it was present throughout the entire journey.
This observation became the lens through which Marty understood Peter’s water-walking experience and Jesus’s teaching about childlike faith.
Reimagining Jesus’s Teaching About Children
Marty invites us to reconsider the chronology and significance of Jesus’s teaching about having faith like a child (referenced from Matthew 18). The traditional Western assumption is that Jesus took about 20 seconds to gather some kids, made His statement about needing faith like a child to enter the Kingdom, then ushered the children away to proceed with His “real” teachings for the day.
However, after observing children at length, Marty suggests a different scenario. Perhaps the teaching wasn’t a brief two-minute lesson or a “silly children sermon before the real message.” Perhaps it was much more profound.
He imagines the disciples asking, “Rabbi, who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus pauses, gazes toward a nearby village, and without a word marches toward the houses. He arrives at a courtyard where 10-15 children are playing. With the honored parents welcoming them, Jesus scoops up a child and begins playfully interacting with the children.
As disciples, whose main duty is to mimic every move of their rabbi, the disciples begin engaging in horseplay as well. Marty imagines Jesus and His disciples spending the entire day with the children - telling stories, playing games, perhaps even taking naps. The family insists they stay for dinner. As they recline in the shade, Jesus speaks some of the first and only words to the disciples all day: “Watch the children.”
As they recline, eat, and watch the sun set, Jesus finally calls one child over, pulls him close, makes eye contact with all His disciples, and delivers His teaching: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
This reimagining transforms the teaching from a passing comment to a full-day immersive lesson - the kind of rabbinical teaching method where disciples learn through extended observation and experience, not just brief verbal instruction.
The Rabbi Following Exercise
Marty shares that some Jewish scholars have observed (and one of his friends witnessed at an airport) a rabbi proceeding into a restroom followed by 10-12 young disciples. This striking image illustrates the total commitment to imitation that characterized first-century discipleship.
Modern Western readers might find this odd or even inappropriate, but it demonstrates a crucial cultural reality: disciples wanted to be exactly like their rabbi in every way. If the rabbi did something, you did it too. You knew you could do it because if you couldn’t, the rabbi would never have called you to discipleship in the first place.
This extreme example helps us understand Peter’s mindset when he saw Jesus walking on water. It wasn’t presumptuous for Peter to ask to come out on the water - it was the natural response of a faithful disciple. If his rabbi was doing it, Peter believed he could do it too.
Practical Application: The Boat vs. The Park Bench
Marty contrasts two ways of viewing our spiritual journey and God’s posture toward us:
The Boat Perspective: We try to do what God calls us to, but we “know the wind and waves are out there somewhere just waiting to sabotage our one fleeting moment of weak courage.” We try, we sink, and we’re not really surprised. We knew we couldn’t walk on water anyway. We grab our life preserver, climb back in the boat, hold our gaze on the floor, and take the scolding we knew was coming. Next time we won’t be so silly - it’s safer in the boat.
The Park Bench Perspective: God sits on a park bench watching His child learn to walk. We’re going to fall, and we’re going to get up, and we’re going to fall again. We have a salvation that needs to be worked out with fear and trembling, and it’s going to take effort. But we keep believing, keep getting back up, keep refusing to give up, because we’re going to make it up this slope and we’re just so glad to be with Dad, to be loved, and to know that we are okay.
Marty asks which perspective God would rather take - delivering rebukes from the boat, or enjoying watching His children grow through their falls and perseverance?
Contemporary Loss of Childlike Faith
Marty reflects personally on watching his children and wondering when he lost faith in himself. He’s not talking about narcissistic faith that lacks humility or humanistic worldviews that deny our need for Christ. Rather, he’s talking about:
- Faith in himself that recognizes he’s made in God’s image
- The kind of faith willing to believe there must be something worth loving and saving if God was willing to die for it
- The connection between innocence and confidence that children naturally possess
He observes that children have incredible faith in themselves because they know dad is there, mom is there, they are loved, and they just want to play, smile, laugh, and tumble. Later in life, we begin questioning all these things: “Is dad really there for me? Am I really worth loving? Can I really do this?”
This loss represents a fundamental shift from childlike trust to adult anxiety and self-doubt - precisely the opposite direction of Jesus’s instruction to “change and become like little children.”
Potential Areas for Further Exploration
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The Nature of Biblical Discipleship: How does understanding the first-century rabbi-talmid relationship transform our approach to following Jesus today? What does it mean for modern Christians to truly imitate Christ in all aspects of life?
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Faith vs. Certainty: How do we distinguish between childlike faith (which includes falling and getting up) and the demand for certainty before taking risks? What role does uncertainty play in genuine faith?
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The Theology of Human Dignity: How do we hold together the biblical truths of human sinfulness and being made in God’s image? What does it mean practically to believe God has faith in us without sliding into humanism?
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Psychological Development and Spiritual Formation: What happens developmentally that causes us to lose the resilience and confidence we had as children? Can these qualities be recovered, and if so, how?
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The Role of Failure in Discipleship: How should Christian communities create space for falling and getting up? What would it look like for churches to be “park bench” communities rather than “boat” communities?
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Grace and Effort: How do we navigate the tension between working out our salvation with fear and trembling (effort) and resting in God’s unconditional love and grace (rest)?
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Jesus’s View of Children: What other teachings of Jesus elevate children and their perspectives? How radical was this in first-century culture, and what does it mean for us today?
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The Physics of Faith: What practical “adjustments” can we make when we repeatedly fall in the same areas? How do we learn from our failures without being crushed by them?
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Parenting and Discipleship: What lessons for raising children emerge from this episode? How does understanding God as Father inform our own parenting practices?
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Community and Isolated Struggle: The daughter was observed by her father but allowed to struggle. What’s the balance between letting people work through their challenges and offering help? How does community support growth without enabling dependency?
Comprehension Questions
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In the first-century rabbi-talmid relationship, what did it mean when a rabbi accepted someone as a disciple, and how does this understanding change our interpretation of Peter’s request to walk on water?
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According to Marty’s reframing, when Peter began to sink, in whom did he lose faith - Jesus or himself? Explain the reasoning behind this interpretation and its implications for how we understand Jesus’s response.
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Describe what happened when Marty’s daughter encountered the slope at the park. What specific behaviors did she exhibit, and what do these behaviors teach us about childlike faith?
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What does Marty mean by “learning to giggle,” and how is this different from trivializing sin or treating grace carelessly?
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Compare and contrast the “boat perspective” and the “park bench perspective” on spiritual growth and failure. Which perspective do you think most Christians operate from, and which does Marty suggest God prefers?
Personal Summary
This episode offers a refreshing and hopeful reframing of one of the most familiar Gospel stories. By viewing Peter’s water-walking experience through the dual lenses of first-century discipleship culture and the resilience of a toddler learning to walk, Marty invites us into a more grace-filled and empowering understanding of faith.
The central insight is both simple and profound: children fall and get up with joy because they know they are loved, they trust their parent is watching with delight, and they refuse to let failure define them or stop them. This is the kind of faith Jesus calls us to - not a faith that never fails, but a faith that responds to failure with a giggle and another attempt.
The reframing of Jesus’s words to Peter from rebuke to affirmation is particularly powerful. When we understand that a rabbi would never call a disciple to do something they couldn’t accomplish, Jesus’s question “Why did you doubt?” becomes an expression of confidence rather than disappointment. Peter could walk on water because Jesus called him to do so - the only question was whether Peter would believe in himself as much as Jesus believed in him.
For many of us immobilized by our failures, afraid to step out of the boat, or convinced we’re destined to sink, this episode offers profound hope. We’re not called to a perfect faith that never wavers, but to a persistent, joyful faith that keeps getting up. God is not an angry taskmaster in the boat waiting to scold us, but a loving Father on a park bench, delighted to watch us grow, confident in our eventual success, and present with us through every fall.
The call is to stop being paralyzed by the wind and waves, to stop letting our failures define us, and to start learning how to giggle again - to approach our spiritual growth with the same determined joy that characterizes a child who knows she is loved and refuses to give up on the slope before her.
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