I was told there would probably not be kids but about 6 showed up and so I decided we would sit together and sing "Jesus Loves Me" which when someone asked, included the sign language. I asked that the first time we sing that verse with the word "me" but the second time with the word "us."
Which means that we ended up singing- "We are weak, but he is strong."
I think that was just a little hard for us sing, but important to hear as we remember why we gather as the church and where our power and strength come from.
We heard in our lessons in the Psalm to listen to what the Lord is saying, and in Romans to remember it is not our own heroic efforts that matter. And of course, Jesus and briefly, Peter, are walking on water.
I have to confess that I would have been a horrible
disciple. For one thing, I get seasick. No one in their right mind would’ve
wanted me in their boat. And there were way too many boat trips for that to go
well. But I think the even bigger reason why I would not have been a good
disciple is that I can be impatient. Not only were there all those boat trips
but in Jesus’ day, it was a very different matter. There were no motors, no
GPS, no technology. They were at the mercy of the wind, and the waves and the
weather. Like we hear in our gospel today.
This is actually the second boat story in Matthew.
In the first, the disciples are in the boat and they hit a serious storm, and
the boat is literally about to capsize, and they fear they will drown. And
Jesus is asleep in the boat with them. They wake him up screaming perhaps
trying to save him or maybe hoping he’ll do something. And he calms the storm. And
they wonder if he could more than a great rabbi- maybe he’s the Son of God?
This time around, Jesus has just finished a major
miracle in their presence, the feeding of thousands, and he has sent them on
ahead of him because he wants time apart to pray. He has sent them to cross the
Sea of Galilee but as we hear, the wind is against them. The waters are choppy,
and it is a rough go. If you’ve ever been on a rough boat ride, you know, that
trip seem to take an eternity.
They left in the evening, and now it is early
morning. They’ve been up all night trying to navigate, and they’re battered and
frazzled and tired. It’s been maybe close to 12 hours and they should be there
by now. But they’re not. They’re still far from where they want to be. And they
are NOT with their leader.
They just want to get where they’re headed but they
are somewhere in between feeling kind of helpless.
Perhaps you too in the absence of your beloved
pastor feel that way. She should be better by now and you should be together
moving on in the journey of wherever ministry is headed.
It’s no small wonder the disciples don’t recognize
Jesus when he comes, given what they’ve been through. And really, who had ever
seen a human walk on water. What can this be? Jesus says, “Take heart, it’s me.”
And that’s miraculous.
But if it’s a miracle, Peter leaps to the
conclusion he wants to be a miracle too- command me to do that! I want to walk
on water!
And Jesus, ever patient, tells him to “Come.”
But Jesus didn’t command Peter to do it first. That
was Peter.
Years ago there was a book written called “If You
Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Gotta Get Out of the Boat.” And when I was
younger I loved that thought. Inspire people to get up and do something
miraculous. Baloney. It can be easy to step out in faith, but a sustained faith
takes more than us.
Peter steps out in faith but can’t sustain that
faith by his own heroic efforts. He gets distracted- first by believing he is
the miracle. And then when he blinks and realizes that while he is walking, the
wind and the seas are still rough- he loses his nerve when we remembers the
world around him. He takes his focus off of Jesus and that’s when he begins to
sink.
And Jesus could have let him. Jesus could have
proclaimed this is Peter’s epic fail. But instead when Peter cries out, “Save
me!” he reaches out his hand and puts him back in the boat. Take heart- the
seas are calmed. Because I am here. And this time the disiples say- truly Jesus
is the Son of God! And they’re further in their journey.
My Mom works as a hospice volunteer, and one of the
things she talks about is the heart to heart hug. It’s a hug that focuses on
the fact your heart and the patient’s heart touch in that hug that calms fears,
and anxieties and shows love. I kind of imagine as Peter is hauled into the
boat again, there is that moment where he gets a heart to heart hug to reassure
him. As Jesus does what he always does- reaches out a hand- the hand that
feeds, blesses, heals, saves and forgives.
I take heart that the disciples are a group that
seem to have moments that they seem to grasp just who Jesus is, and then a
whole bunch of moments where they clearly don’t, and then another moment where
they clearly see God and then even colossal failures where they don’t. Because I
think we are that way too.
But in all of those moments where we struggle to
see Jesus in our midst, Jesus continues reaching out and meeting us and
touching our hearts. Restoring, encouraging, saving us.
And I think as ever it’s important for us to
remember that we are not the miracle. It is not up to any of us to be the
miracle. Christ is the miracle in our lives. Who calls us to also remember that
our focus should be upon Jesus and staying in the boat together as the church.
We don’t know the timing of the journey. And there
are times we struggle to see God at work. But this gospel reminds us that the
God who is powerful enough to command waves is also a God whose never ending desire
is to continually reach out a hand and save us. A God who sees us through the
tough times and promises there is more to the story.
May you take heart and be strengthened in hope that
God will bring you to the next moments in ministry together.
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