Matthew 14:22-36
“Walking and Swimming”
By: Ken Sauer, Pastor of East Ridge United Methodist Church, Chattanooga, TN eastridgeumc.org
This morning we talked about the feeding of the 5,000 which happened right before our Gospel Lesson for this evening.
And it is probably safe to say that after His day of healing and feeding, Jesus was tired.
He’d also been mourning the death of His cousin John the Baptist.
So, Jesus sends the disciples on ahead of Him in a boat while He heads on up a mountainside to pray.
And somewhere in the wee hours of the morning-between 3 am and 6 am- Jesus decides to go catch up with the disciples.
And Jesus does something so God-like, Jesus walks on water.
Meanwhile, the disciples were having a rough time of it.
The wind had been against them all night, so they had been rowing hard for hours.
Now, they were wet, hungry and weary.
And that’s when they spot Jesus!
And they were “terrified”!
“It’s a ghost.’ They said, and cried out in fear.”
That’s when Jesus speaks and we are told that it is immediately, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
What an awesome Word from our Lord.
Isn’t this exactly what this world…what all of us need to hear?
“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
So many folks are so frightened today.
So many people feel they are in way over their heads, and their pulses are racing, their blood pressure is rising, their health is affected and their joy is sapped because of it!!!
We’ve got plant managers struggling to make payroll in a down economy…
…parents with rebellious teenagers…
…elderly folks trying to pay hospital bills out of tiny pension checks…
…marriages trying to survive…
Modern life can be like a deep and stormy season that threatens to swallow us whole!
Yes.
We all need to hear the Words of Christ over and over again: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
After Christ speaks, Peter of course, is the one to respond first.
“Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”
Peter is such an awesome guy.
He would be so much fun to be around.
He’s ready for anything.
He’s impulsive.
He takes risks.
He acts first and thinks later.
He see’s Jesus and he’s raring to go to Him—even if it means walking on water.
So Jesus tells Peter to “Come” out onto the water.
And “Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.”
How cool is that?
The rest of the disciples have a white-knuckled vise grip on the sides of the boat.
The storm, the waves, the dark, the wind, the uncertainty—they’re not about to move.
And yet, they had seen so much of Jesus’ power.
They had heard His teachings, they had watched Him heal people, they had just fed a crowd of approximately 20,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish that Jesus had blessed and broken.
On top of this, they were professional fishermen.
They certainly wouldn’t have been afraid of the water.
Let’s think about this though, are we more like Peter who ventured out toward Jesus without a moment’s hesitation or are we more like the disciples who stayed in the boat?
And what about the world?
Our world has learned so much, discovered so much, invented so much, and yet it still lacks the power to do many of the things that really matter.
We have invented amazing machines for making war, but nobody has found one that will make peace.
We can put a person on the moon, but we can’t put food in hungry stomachs.
We can listen to the songs of the whales singing on the ocean floor, but we can’t hear the crying of human souls on the next street down.
And much of our world knows at least a little bit about Jesus.
Some find Him frightening.
Others wish He’d go away and leave us alone.
And even many who believe in Him, like the disciples did, don’t know what to do with Him.
But sometimes, there are those who get the idea that it would be good to copy Him.
And some of us set off with the aim of doing just that: to bring Jesus’ love and power, Jesus’ peace and hope to a lost, frightened and needy world.
And so we start walking out to Jesus!
We see Him on the water, bidding us to come to Him.
But then we let our eyes drop for a moment to the waves with the darkness and the howling wind.
And we suddenly feel as if we are just one person trying to fight against the all the elements.
And that’s what it can often feel like when we try and bring God’s love and healing power into a world that so often rejects Him.
It can feel like a lost cause.
So, we take our eyes off Jesus, and suddenly become self-conscious.
And fear, that horrible enemy of humankind begins to rear its ugly head…
…fear of what people might think of us…
…fear of rejection…
…fear of failure…
…fear of inadequacy…
And if we begin to allow that fear to win the battle for our heart, mind and soul…
….we, like Peter will begin to sink!
This is something we should never forget.
As long as Peter kept his focus on God, he could do anything—even walk on water!!!
But when he let his eyes leave Christ, he started to sink.
How many of us can relate to this?
Most of us should be able to relate to this, for this story can be read as a picture of the life of faith or of the Christian journey.
This is what it is like for each of us as we dare to “get out of the boat” and head toward Christ.
All of us will begin to sink at one point or another.
It is inevitable.
Well, I suppose I should say, that most of us will sink at one time or another since, “With God anything is possible, and who am I to say that there has not been somebody, who, after having begun to follow Christ did not ever sin again or falter in the painful state of half-faith and half-fear?”
So, anyway, for most of us, it’s inevitable.
But notice what our Gospel Lesson for this evening says to us.
It doesn’t say that Peter went Ker-Splash into the sea!
It doesn’t say that Peter suddenly found himself swimming rather than walking.
It says that Peter was “beginning to sink.”
And isn’t that how it usually works?
In most cases, it’s not as if we are walking along just fine and dandy with Christ and then in an instant we are drowning and ready to die.
The downward spiral is usually a slow and deceitful one.
It usually starts out with just a little glance at the danger, or a quick glance at the sin…
…we might not even be aware of it.
Perhaps, as we are walking toward Christ, we find ourselves doing so well that the ugly “p” word begins to rear its head—“pride.”
And then, before we know it, we think that we are doing the things we are doing on our own.
We begin to feel superior to others, and thus less dependent upon God.
And then we begin to sink as we take our eyes off of God and start looking at self.
It can just happen in so many ways!!!
But it all causes us to sink.
It’s a dangerous world.
The devil has a lot of ammunition to work with.
It’s a serious matter, keeping our eyes on Jesus that is.
Think of the trouble we get in when we take our eyes off Him, and the time we waste as well.
The Bible is filled with examples of folks who started looking at the waves rather than at God.
The spies, for instance, who went into the promised land came back and gave their reports.
Ten of them said that they looked at the inhabitants and they were like giants…and that the Israelites were like grasshoppers by comparison.
Two of the spies glanced at those same “giants” and as they were looking at God and said that the Israelites should go and take possession of the land.
David gazed upon Bathsheba, taking his eyes off God, as he entered the darkest part of his life.
The list goes on and on and on.
And what about us?
We read about the crime statistics.
We see the ugly snarl of humanity on the news.
Friends disappoint us.
And soon we find ourselves in a desperate sinking place.
So how do we keep from sinking all the way down?
We do what Peter did…
…we get our wits about us and cry out to Jesus: “Lord save me!”
When Peter did this, “Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.”
The moment we are most strongly tempted to give up, we need to remember that Jesus is always just a step away, or even closer than that!!!
I know there are times for me that I just have to turn off the news or put down the newspaper.
Sometimes I need to stop what I am doing, and concentrate on Christ.
And if I don’t do this, I find myself sinking into the world of miseries.
We all must be intentional about looking to God.
Time spent reading the Word, time spent in prayer, time spent in worship, Bible study, time spent with other believers…all of these things are vital if we are to not sink all the way into the muck.
It’s only as we look to Jesus that we see hope.
It’s only as we look to Jesus that we see the One Who is able.
It is only as we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, that we are able to get outside ourselves in such a way that we can indeed copy Jesus.
We will, most assuredly make many mistakes.
But the more we keep on keeping on, the easier and more natural it becomes.
Peter, when he began to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
“And when they climbed into the boat the wind died down.
Then those who were in the boat worshiped [Jesus], saying ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”
Peter’s adventure was a bit rocky, but he trusted in Christ the whole way…even as he sank a bit.
And look at the witness!!!
Look at the result!!!
Those who had stayed “white knuckled” in the boat worshiped Christ because of Peter’s willingness to seek to imitate Christ.
May this be the way it is for us as well.
Amen.
