In today’s gospel reading Jesus says to a frightened group of friends: “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."
It’s from the story of Jesus walking on water. Some people have interpreted the story as giving us a lesson about needing to take risks in life. One preacher made that the topic of his sermon one Sunday when talking about this gospel episode.
“If you’re are going to make any gains, you will have to take some risks," among many other things, the preacher told the congregation
The one about risk taking--It was the only line one young man in the congregation heard that day. It was probably the only line this man should not have heard. He never seemed to be able to hold a job and his family suffered the consequences of his apathetic attitude toward work.
The following Sunday, this fellow came up to the minister and said excitedly, "Pastor, I took your advice!"
"Oh, oh, What advice is that?"
"About taking risks. You said last week that you have to take risks to gain anything."
The pastor responded with that tentative, "waiting for the other shoe to drop " sense... "Yes???"
"Well..." (he’s beaming), "I got a check this week for some work I did a couple of months ago and I took it as a sign from the Lord. I put the whole check toward lottery tickets -- the jackpot rolled over last night and it’s already up to $25 million! I promised God that when I win, I’m going to tithe the winnings to the church!"
At latest report over many years the church was still sending this man’s family to the local food pantry!
Perhaps you picked up your newspaper one morning recently and read an editorial that went something like this:
The world is too big for us. Too much going on, too many crimes, too much violence and excitement. Try as you will, you get behind in the race, in spite of yourself. It’s an incessant strain to keep pace ... and still, you lose ground. Science empties its discoveries on you so fast that you stagger beneath them in hopeless bewilderment. The political world is news seen so rapidly you’re out of breath trying to keep pace with who’s in and who’s out. Everything is high pressure. Human nature can’t endure much more!
Have you read anything like that lately? When do you think that editorial was written? Was that editorial written last week or last month or last year?
Believe it or not, it appeared in a newspaper called "The Atlantic Journal’" on June 16, 1833 -- 175 years ago. The headline in the "Boston Globe" on November 13, 1857 read: "Energy Crisis Looms - World To Go Dark?"
There is a way of looking at history and discovering that things haven’t changed as much as we may have imagined. When we recite our litany of what’s wrong in today’s world, we tend to look longingly back at "the good old days," not realizing that generations to come will probably look back at our time as "the good old days."
It appears that every generation tends to see itself as living under the greatest stress and strain in human history. Every generation tends to spend more time dreaming dreams about some non-existent, less anxious Age than joining forces to resolve the problems of its own time.
I can remember growing up hearing my pastor and my parents talk about how convinced they were that the world was going to end soon because they perceived that things were just out of control in the world—the spread of communism, the Cold War, the Viet Nam War, sexual promiscuity, riots in our city streets in this country, and worst of all that young men were letting their hair grow long.
It seems the temptation is either to throw up our hands in a gesture of helplessness and wait for the inevitable doomsday or to put our hands together and pray for a vision of some possible solutions to solve our problems.
But let me ask you—how do you view the challenges of today’s world? Do you think the world is out of control? Think about it
• We’ve been through the Iraqi war now for several years and it seems there is no end to the violence there
• We’ve been trying to hunt down Al Qaeda in Afghanistan but we are making slow progress in eliminating the threat of terrorism
• Iran and North Korea seem like imminent threats to world peace
• Genocide is a common occurrence in places like in Africa in certain countries
• Children are abused, kidnapped and murdered even in places once considered safe in our own country
• Natural disasters in recent years—hurricanes, foods and tsunamis—seem to be more intense and more frequent
• Oil and gas prices are sky high and that seems to effect the cost of living every where
• There is the economic down turn and job lay offs
The list could go on. Is the world out of control? Is it about to come to an end—if not from divine intervention by our own demise?
When the Risen Christ appeared to the disciples for the last time, He said to them, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be My witnesses ... even to the ends of the earth." No sooner had He said this than He was lifted up before their eyes in a cloud which took Him from their sight. They were still gazing up into the heavens when two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking up to the skies?" (Acts 1:8-11).
Why do we stand here looking up to the skies? There is no pie up there. There is no miracle-worker up there. The power of the Holy Spirit has come down on us. And here and now, in this time, in our generation, in this world of ours, we are to be witnesses to the ends of the earth of a God who is with us, in the midst of all our problems.
Here and now, in this time, in our generation, in this world of ours, we shall overcome by the Grace of God that is within us. Here and now, in this time, in our generation, in this world of ours, we have our instructions from the Lord to be "a light to the nations, a means of salvation to the ends of the earth" (Acts 14:47).
There’s a story about a man, a writer, who used to go to the beach to do his writing. He had the habit of walking along the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore; as he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day, so he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn’t dancing, but instead, he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?" The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing Starfish into the ocean."
"I guess I should have asked; why are you throwing Starfish into the ocean?"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them in they’ll die."
"But young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and Starfish all along it, you can’t possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely, then bent down, picked up another Starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves. "It made a difference for that one."
His response surprised the man, he was upset, he didn’t know how to reply, so instead he turned away and walked back to the cottage to begin his writings.
All day long as he wrote, the image of that young man haunted him; he tried to ignore it, but the vision persisted. Finally, late in the afternoon, he realized that he the scientist, he the poet, had missed the essential nature of the young man’s actions. Because he realized that what the young man was doing was choosing not to be an observer in the universe and watch it pass by, but was choosing to be an actor in the universe and make a difference. He was embarrassed.
That night he went to bed, troubled. When morning came, he awoke knowing that he had to do something; so he got up, put on his clothes, went to the beach and found the young man; and with him spent the rest of the morning throwing Starfish into the ocean.
You see, what the young man’s actions represent is something that is special in each and every one of us. We have all been gifted with the ability to make a difference, to let the light we have received from Christ to shine in the world before others.
And that is your challenge, and that is my challenge. We must find our Starfish, and if we throw our stars wisely and well, I have no question that the 21st century is going to be a wonderful place. The "Star Thrower’" is a beautiful parable of a person who is not a collector, not a taker, but a giver of life.
"I have made you a light to the nations, a means of salvation to the ends of the earth," Jesus is telling us. He sends us out not as collectors of all we can get for ourselves, not as takers of all we can get from others, but as givers of life to others.
"The Lord has given me to build up, not to destroy," says the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 13:10).
In John’s Gospel, Jesus prays to the Father, "I have given them the glory you gave Me that they may be one as We are one -- I living in them, You living in Me -- that their unity may be complete. So the world will know that You sent Me, and that You loved them as You loved Me" (Jn. 17:22-23). As the Father has sent Jesus, so now He sends us as life-givers, to others.
The episode in today’s Gospel Lesson probably took place on the East shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus tells the disciples to "get into the boat and go before Him to the other side" (Mt. 14:22). He withdraws by Himself to pray.
Meanwhile the disciples are having a rough time in the boat which is being "beaten by the waves, for the wind is against them." Perceiving the disciples’ hazardous situation, Jesus "comes to them, walking on the sea," Matthew tells us. Seeing Him, the disciples are terrified. "It is a ghost!" they cry out in fear.
Jesus says to them, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear." Then big, brave Simon Peter says to Jesus, "Lord, it is You. Bid me to come to You on the water." Jesus says, "Come," and Peter steps out of the boat and begins to walk on the water.
But he becomes frightened by the winds, his faith in Jesus falters and he begins to sink. Jesus reaches out His hand, rescues Peter, then severely scolds him: "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Mt. 14:31).
You may have heard some form of this joke:
A Methodist pastor, a Catholic priest and a Rabbi were fishing from a boat not from the lake shore.
The Methodist pastor had to make a trip to the port-a-potty located on the shore, so he got out of the boat, walked across the water and in the same matter, came back to the boat after he was finished.
A little later, the priest had to make the trip also. He got out of the boat, walked across the water, visited the bathroom and in the same manner, came back to the boat.
Still later, the rabbi needed to go ashore. He got out of the boat and immediately sank.
The Methodist pastor looked at the priest and said, "Do you think we ought to tell him where the rocks are?"
What a joke. I know-- It’s a groaner.
Yet just suppose we had picked up our newspaper this morning and read the headline, "Jesus appears, walks across the Chesapeake Bay." Suppose the story beneath the headline told about how crowds of Christians had gathered at the shore to watch the miracle unfold before our very eyes.
Suppose the story went on to describe how Jesus had called out "Come," and the crowds began to walk on the water. But they became frightened by the winds and, no longer trusting Jesus, they all began to sink and would have drowned if He hadn’t rescued them. The question is, would any of us have exhibited a faith to that extent to have kept us from sinking?
To be honest, I think that my measure of faith in that circumstance would have been no different than the measure of the faith of the majority of Jesus’ friends who were on the boat in that storm. In fact I catch myself every day giving in to the bad news forecasters and the prophets of doom on the TV news networks.
Is the world out of control? Is there too much going on, too many crimes, too much violence and excitement for us to deal with? Has human nature been pushed beyond the point of endurance? A popular slogan in the current presidential campaigns on both sides in varying degrees is the hope of change. Is the hope of real change, therefore, a false hope?
Will everything turn out OK? Is God resident in your life and mine? Perhaps more than that God needs to be President of our lives, regardless of who is the next President of these United States. Will you make Jesus the Christ the president and the commander in chief of your life?
In the middle of the night, when we are worrying about our finances and the state of the affairs of the world, we are into sinking in the water in the midst of the storm. It boils down to the question: Are you satisfied with the sinking in the water or do you want to walk on water?
Paul said in the Bible, “This one thing I do.” [Philippians 3:13] Most of us would have to alter that and confess “these 50 things I dabble in.” We don’t just do one thing. The thief that comes in the night then finds easy passage into our peace of mind.
Leo Buscaglia said, “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its joy.”
This much is true: if we were to have to make it on our own we would be of all people most miserable. No we cannot redeem the world apart from the transforming power of the love of the One who has come to us—Jesus Christ our Redeemer.
The truth remains that changing the direction in which this high pressure world is moving depends absolutely on discovering God’s will and our call to serve one another.
How often we are pulled down into the sinking water by our own sin, missing the goal that has been set before us. It easy to see the evil of the world and the speck in my brother or sister’s eye—but want about that plank in my own eye?
Unless something will break in and liberate us, how can we be free? Unless the power of the love of God breaks in, how can we walk on water?
Is the world out of control? If it were up to me only—definitely. If it were up to merely any human, any government, any politician. Paul puts it explicitly in Romans 8:3 & 4 as it so graphically explains in The Message paraphrase:
God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.
Yes the world seems quite out of control. Human effort seems to be a band aid treatment. Wherein lays my hope and your hope? Paul continues later in Romans 8 as it reads in The Message rendition:
We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!
18-21That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
22-25All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting.
Echoing the words of Paul in another letter to the church you and I can proclaim: Thanks be to God who gives us the victory!
Will you join me in prayer?
PRAYER
Tonight or any time when you start to feel overwhelmed by the conditions of the world, try thinking
“I am God’s child and the Lord has promised “My grace is sufficient for you.” Therefore, I cannot think of any lack or limitation. Wait a minute, there is no lack in God. There might be deficiencies in my life, temporarily, or in the world or in the global economy but there is nothing lacking in God. The only lack is my fear of scarcity as I lay here, tonight. I know I can have more in my life.”
So if any thought of feeling out of control appears, declare this in prayer: “I shall not want; I am a child
of God.” I am laying here and I am wide awake anyway, so it is time for me to prove my Christianity. I am connected with God and I am going to see a marvelous expression of the peace of God even at this moment. I’m going to realize this is the time.
One of our past Presidents Truman said, “The buck stops here.” Stop passing the buck of worry; say --with high confidence, connected with God – the worry stops here!
Hear the words of 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, “So we are always confident . . .we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes we do have confidence. . . .”
I am, dear God, always provided for. I will know this now, and I will know this at all times. I pray that I am reminded of this the next time I need to know, even in the middle of the night. I have faith in You, God, as my omnipresent help in every need.
I have faith in You, God as my almighty resource. I trust You, God to be my security a world that seems out of control. I trust You, God, in every part of my life. I turn to You, God, because I believe You will reward those who seek after You.
I give thanks, this sweet morning, to You, God. In Jesus Christ’s name, I give thanks. Amen.
