Matthew 14:22-33
Matthew’s gospel text…today…is preceded by last week’s reading of the feeding of the five thousand.
- Jesus had just heard about John the Baptist’s horrific death.
- John’s disciples took his body and buried him and then told Jesus.
- Jesus withdrew from there by boat to be by himself.
- But when word got out that Jesus was nearby…people from the towns followed him on foot.
When Jesus went ashore…he saw the great crowd.
- Having compassion for them he cured the sick among them.
- He kept at it till late in the day.
- At that point…his disciples suggested he send the crowd away to return to their villages to buy food.
- Instead…Jesus told the disciples to feed them…
- And the result was the miraculous feeding of 5,000 men…women and children.
Then Jesus instructed his disciples to leave by boat to cross the lake while he dismissed the crowd.
- After the crowd left…Jesus went up the mountain by himself to pray…
- Which he had been waiting for all day to do.
- As Jesus prayed and communed with God…the disciples made their way across the lake.
- And this sets the scene for the events which happened next.
- The Lord be with you…
And so…here we are…gathered around this story of Jesus…who walks on water.
- Some are new to the story of Christ…and for some it formed who we are from the cradle.
- I could be wrong…but I think we are not all here because we have been urged to have more faith.
- I think we are here because at some point we heard the Goepel Story and the story claimed us.
- At some point…someone told us the story about this God who created the universe…
- Who spoke through prophets…who came to us in Jesus…who ate with sinners…
- And who suffered and died and rose again and calls us out of our own graves to new life.
I guess this story of Jesus walking on water can be reduced to a moral about having more faith.
- But…like so much of the Bible…it can also be a way to see who we are and see who God is…for us.
- Anyway…see if you recognize yourself in this story.
- Because some of us are like the ones in the boat who are afraid.
- Maybe we are so caught up in fear of making the wrong decision that we cannot make any decision at all.
- Or maybe we are like the one experiencing the thrill of stepping into the unknown…
- A new relationship or a new job or we have just moved leaving behind the familiar…
- And the first few steps are OK but then it gets scary.
- Or maybe we are sinking in debt or depression…
- Or we feel we are sinking because what we could handle last month we cannot handle now.
Or maybe we are the one who knows that all our own efforts have failed…
- And we are crying out to God to save us…
- And we are the ones who Jesus has reached down to catch…
- And we are clinging on to the sweet hand of Jesus with all we have got.
- Or we are the one in the boat looking in wonder at all we have just seen…
- We are the one who bears witness to the miracle of it all…
- And how the hand of God reaches down and pulls us up and we see it and cannot help but say:
- Truly this is God.
- At some point or other I know I have been all the above.
The glamorous part of this story is that Peter walked on water…which is awesome.
- And maybe he had enough faith to make his way to Jesus.
- But what happens on either side of his brief water walk?
- Well…Jesus comes toward him.
- In the storm Jesus is walking toward the boat…
- And when Peter sinks…Jesus is reaching toward Peter…
- Then…Jesus comes toward them all and gets in the boat.
- That is as with them as he can be.
- Yet…we always focus on Peter walking toward Jesus…
- When the whole story is about how much Jesus walks toward them…
- Reaches toward them…and then…even gets in the boat with them.
We might see the moral of the story as… we should have so much faith that you can walk on water toward Jesus…
- But the truth of this story is that Jesus walks toward us.
- The truth of the story is that my abundance of faith or lack of faith does not deter God from drawing close.
- That even if we are scared to death…we can say: Lord Save Me…
- And the hand of God will find us in even the darkest waters.
- Because this is a story not of morals but of movement.
- Not of heroes of the faith making their way to Christ…
- But of Christ drawing near to us amid fear.
Our reading from Romans says: the Word of God is near to you…on your hearts and in your lips.
- He is written on our hearts and is proclaimed from our lips.
- He walks toward us saying: It is I…do not be afraid…
- God reaches down when we call his name…
- And as Paul wrote to the Romans:
- Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
So…I invite you during communion to dip your hand in the baptismal font as a blessing.
- Feel the calm water and know that yours are the beautiful hands and feet…of they who have been sent to tell the story of who we are and who God is…
- Tell the story of God so that we might call out…Lord save us…
- As we continually die and rise in the waters of our baptism.
- Do not be afraid…for that is our beautiful story.