But when they saw Him walking on the lake, they thought He was a ghost, and they cried out.
The disciples’ fear shows how difficult it is for a person to truly recognize Christ in a time of trial. What should have been a comfort became, in their eyes, a new terror. When the soul is filled with fear, it often cannot rightly interpret even God’s approach. They think it is a ghost. This reminds us that in the moment of testing, human senses and judgment can be severely distorted. A person can misunderstand the very presence that has come to save him. But Christ does not leave them in that delusion.