Proper 14 Yr A (RCL)
It’s a familiar story. Jesus walking across the stormy sea.
It appears in three of the gospels and in each case
the story comes right on the heels of the miraculous
feeding of the five thousand.
So familiar was it to Mark Twain, that once on a visit to
the
It was a lovely moonlit night- the perfect evening
for a romantic boat ride on the
So he asked a man in a rowboat how much he’d charge
to take them out on the water.
The man saw Twain’s white suit, his white shoes and hat and
supposing he was a rich Texan said the cost would be $25.
Twain shook his head, stepped away and said:
Now I know why Jesus walked. (as retold by David Lenninger)
This familiar story
about Jesus coming across the water’s surface does appear in three of the
gospels yet it is only in Matthew’s telling that we have the inclusion of
Peter’s brief walk on the water.
For my money, that is
the part that makes this story the most
familiar.
Partly I confess,
since I now along with you delightedly claim
a special kinship
with St. Peter – our patron and namesake.
But also and even
more to the point, since I feel a particular kinship with this headstrong, keen
to please, foot-in the- mouth disciple…
perhaps you recognize
a bit of Peter in you too.
Peter is Jesus’ first
disciple, and clearly one of his favorites.
When Jesus hikes to
the Mount of the Transfiguration, later on
in Matthew, Peter is one of the three
disciples
whom he asks to go
with him and while the other two
are dumbfounded by
the sight of Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah, it is Peter who blurts out:
Lord, if you wish, I will make three booths
here,
one for you and one for Moses and one for
Elijah.
How very human and
how very understandable--- Peter’s half-cocked but well meaning attempt to keep
things just as they are.
It is Peter who asks
Jesus to explain his parables.
Peter who answers
Jesus’ questions first, Peter who understands Jesus’ true identity but fails to
understand what it will cost him,
and Peter whom Jesus
calls the foundation rock of the church,
one moment before he
also calls him Satan,
who is not on the side of God but of men.
It is Peter who
swears he will never deny Jesus and Peter who does.
It is Peter whom
Jesus asks to pray with him in the
to walk with him upon
the water and Peter who sinks.
Over and over again,
he is the disciple who is always rushing into things,
saying what others
are only thinking and doing
what the others would
not dare. He is the disciple who takes risks, who makes great leaps of faith and
stumbles as often as not but who keeps brushing himself off and getting up to
try, try again.
.(Barbara Brown Taylor, p.34 The Seeds of Heaven)
It is hard not to
love Peter. Sure, he is one of those enthusiastic types who talk a better game
than they play, but still there is something so sincere about him and so
achingly familiar. He is full of faith one minute and full of doubt the next,
riding high on his
confidence in Jesus one moment and head hung low the next. He is not a fake. Through
all his ups and downs, all his great moments and his awful ones, Peter’s heart
is on his sleeve. And I for one am glad to be in his company.
For what you see is
what you get with Peter: an impetuous, outspoken man who both loves his Lord
and lets him down, who richly deserves Jesus’ judgment
but who also
receives his mercy and grace.
If Peter is as familiar
to you as he is to me then perhaps that explains why today’s story in Matthew is
so recognizable too. I’ve not made a trip to
to the actual
They are all,
presumably, soaked, their teeth chattering and their hands blistered from their
efforts, when Jesus comes to them.
It is around three
in the morning, Matthew says. No one can sleep, even if he wants to.
They are all
watching the horizon, measuring the distance they have come against the
distance they still have to go when someone spots a shadowy figure walking
toward them
across the churning water.
“It’s a ghost!” someone cries, but immediately
the ghost speaks to
them saying, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Now in the other
gospel versions, it is at this point that Jesus, realizing their mounting fear,
simply joins them in the boat. But Matthew includes this magnificent detail
about Peter--- Peter who so often serves as the voice and heart of the group.
For it is Peter who calls
back over the roar of wind and wave:
Lord, if
it is you, command me to come to you on the water.
What a curious
request… or is it?
Of all the things
Peter could have asked Jesus…
Lord, if it is you-
tell us what we had for supper tonight.
How many fingers am
I holding behind my back?
What’s my mother’s
maiden name?
Of all the possible
ways for Peter to make sure this was the same man who had fed the multitudes, cleansed lepers, healed the sick and silenced
the angry waves-
Peter in his
doubt and fear simply asks to be joined to Jesus.
Which of course
Jesus does and when he does Peter takes those first steps out on the unknown, out
onto the chaos of dark and murky undercurrents
and yes, he falters
and sinks. But notice again he cries out
for union: Lord, save me!
Rescue me myself,
from my fearfulness, from my terror of trusting in you.
And Jesus
immediately steps up, takes him by the hand and pulls his frightened and
probably shamefaced fisherman right into the boat. Safe from life’s storms just
long enough for Jesus to ask him: You of
little faith, why did you doubt?
Sound familiar?
Aren’t these also the same words we ask ourselves?
Why don’t I have
more faith? Why do I falter and regress, forgetting God’s goodness in the good
times so that I panic in the bad?
I do not believe
Jesus’ tone was accusatory to our water-logged compatriot Peter.
I believe this is a
vital question put to each of us not by our executioner but by the One
who loves us beyond
all imagining. Surely he already knows the answer. And he also knows that it is
only as we sort out the answer for ourselves that we come to know and claim it
for our own.
Why do we doubt?
Because we are afraid, because the sea is so vast and we are so small, because
the storm is so powerful and we are so easily sunk, because life is so beyond
our control and we are so unable to control it try as we might. Why do we
doubt? Because we are afraid even when we do
have faith. Because we do have faith, you know. We do have some. Some more than
others and some have faith when others do not and some, well some like Peter,
like me and perhaps like you too, some
have faith that tries to trust and walk on the water, and then freaks and sinks
but then calls out again and again to the One who ALWAYS stands ready to
respond to our pleas,to steady our hands and to sustain our hearts.
What if Peter had
not sunk?
What if he had
jumped out of the boat with perfect confidence, a winning smile and strided
across that choppy lake full speed ahead? It would be a different story. It
might be a better story but it would not be our story. The truth about us is
way more complicated.
The truth about us
is that we obey and fear, we walk and sink, we believe and doubt.
But it is not like
we do only one or the other. We, like Peter, do both. Our faith and our doubt
are not mutually exclusive. In fact, God can and will use them both if we but
ask.
Which is why we need
Jesus. (Ibid, p. 38)
If we could walk on
the water just fine all by ourselves we would not need a savior.
Which is why we
would not be caught dead on the water without him. Which is why Peter’s story
is so familiar. When we sink, as we all
do, our Lord reaches out and catches us. And he returns us to our companions in
the boat who grab us by the scruff of the neck, haul us aboard, where we fall
exhausted onto the slippery deck and say with full and thankful hearts:
Truly, you are the
Son of God. Amen.