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(a symbolic take)

Literal readings of sacred texts aren’t as meaningful for me personally. A recent conversation about biblical stories brought that preference out front and center. As a disclaimer, I don’t label myself as a Christian. I grew up in a Christian family, in Christian churches that often took on the more literal lens. As an adult now, a symbolic approach with biblical stories feels both more meaningful and truer to myself. 

One interesting biblical story to look at symbolically is Jesus walking on water. When combined, the symbolic elements are like a language of meaning. Each one has depth on its own, but creates a fuller unique meaning when brought together cohesively. This is just my own lens, the symbols can be interpreted far more widely than I have..

The Body of Water 

Water is vast, collective, spiritual. It’s a cleansing and nourishing force, but also an endless one. It can be calm and serene. It can also be rough and chaotic, capable of destruction. Water also makes us feel lighter when submerged in it, since it’s denser than the air we’re used to. But it’s not solid, and there’s a risk of drowning in it.  

The stormy setting in the story is contextually relevant. The storm draws attention closer to the dangerous, chaotic side of water. Given the vastness of bodies of water, it could symbolize the collective unconscious in a spiritual sense. This could show that the collective is in a chaotic, imbalanced state. 

The specific body of water adds even more depth, the Sea of Galilee. It’s a freshwater lake that connected different regions and cultures in biblical times. It was part of an ancient trade route (Via Maris), and a strategic hotspot for diverse settlements. This symbolically makes it a liminal, connective force, and emphasizes the collective aspect. 

For biblical context, we can pull from the flood imagery. In that story, the world was covered in water, drowned due to the impurity of people’s hearts. 

In order to walk on water, you’d have to be impossibly light – light as air, light as a feather. 

To withstand a storm in that state, you’d also need structure, balance, and resilience. 

This emphasis naturally brings the symbolism of the scales to mind. 

Balance and Weight 

Scales aren’t mentioned in this story, but connect symbolically through the balance and lightness needed to walk on water. Jesus embodies these aspects as he walks on and calms stormy waters. 

Scales often represent justice and balance. If walking on water requires weightlessness and balance, then it’s useful to look at other traditions where these things are measured symbolically. Egyptian symbolism is especially interesting here. The Egyptian scales specifically measure the weight of the heart after death. The heart was weighed against Ma’at’s feather to determine souls’ afterlife outcomes. 

The feather represented truth, justice, balance, righteousness. The heart symbolized the spirit or essence of each person. If the heart was heavier than the feather, it was consumed. If the heart was lighter, the soul was considered truthful or righteous, and was allowed into the afterlife. 

The scales are also somewhat connected to Christianity. Archangel Michael is thought to be the one who will weigh souls on Judgment Day. The symbolic link with souls exists from early Christianity, though it’s not written in this story. Some areas where weights and scales are mentioned in other contexts emphasize the importance of honest and just scales for fairness. This is applicable symbolically, as perfect balance, truth, and honesty is taken to another level. 

Scales can function as an archetypal measurement of one’s soul, with the process being like the last judgment. Here, the link between balance, justice, and the true nature of a person is reinforced symbolically. 

So, walking on water requires impossible lightness. The story shows Jesus embodying this balance, justice, and righteousness. 

A Blended Symbolic Read 

Blending the story’s symbols together with Christian theology gives a fuller picture. 

Jesus walking on water could show that his spirit was pure, his heart was unburdened. Measuring the weight of his soul, he was inherently light, not weighed down by sin or fear. 

He was also set apart from humanity. He walked on stormy, chaotic waters. Like the scales, he was able to balance the forces of destruction. Like the feather, he was righteous and just, light enough to float. He stood above collective chaos, and didn’t drown or sink under the surface, but simply walked atop it. Theologically, he walked in goodness. He walked in truth. He himself embodied and represented these things. 

Circling back to the biblical flood, even those God chose in Noah’s story could not walk on water. They survived only by floating in a boat. This could show a symbolic progression. Noah survived through external rescue and instructions, while Jesus embodied inner transformation. God recognized the goodness of Noah, but Noah was not a perfect being as Jesus was. This also shows a shift from law to grace. 

And Noah never knew Jesus as the bridge between divinity and humanity. Peter, however, did. 

Peter was briefly able to walk on water with Jesus, symbolizing being pure of heart, faithful, and innocent. It wasn’t until fear came over Peter that he was weighed down and unable to float. Peter represents humanity. Capable of touching spirit in harmony, yet incapable of holding a perfectly balanced state of his scales. 

Jesus could hold the balance between humanity and divinity, not of sky or sea, but a perfect equilibrium. In the Christian view, he could transform matter, as he was born of yet not of this world. Peter, as a human, could touch divinity but not remain in that state. 

In another sense, Jesus (and Peter) walking on water shows how Jesus changed theological thought.  

Theologically, Jesus paid the price for the sin of all humanity. His sacrifice opened the path to salvation for all. This is also reflected symbolically in the body of water he walked upon. The Sea of Galilee was a place with a mixture of cultures, there were settlements of people from various backgrounds. Jesus walking on and calming the storms of these waters symbolizes a universal link to humanity. This is divinity that reaches across group lines, available to all regardless of where they came from.  

This story also shows the personal impact, with Peter serving as the individual experiencing divinity. Jesus directly provided Peter with a weightless heart, but fear caused him to sink. This illustrates the point that humanity can be transformed, but cannot eternally hold divine balance. Once touched by divinity, Peter didn’t fall because of his imperfection, but because of his fear while walking with it. Peter glimpses the lightness of spirit that was offered to him, and humanity as a whole is invited into this same potential. 

In many beliefs, Jesus changed religious laws and altered afterlife outcomes, making heaven possible for anyone. Ultimately, this story shows his transformative impact theologically and symbolically. Walking on water can be a metaphor for how he touched the spirit of others, offering freedom from what weighs them down. It shows the transformative effects he embodied and gave freely, that all can walk with divinity, even with human imperfection.