10th Sunday After Pentecost
1 Kings 19:9-18 Psalm 85:8-13 Romans 10:5-15 Matthew 14:22-33 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who comes to us in the midst of the storm. Amen The disciples were terrified They cried out in fear But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said “take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.” Fear is at the heart of our gospel story from Matthew this morning, this story turns on the presence of fear and what Jesus does and how the disciples respond. Fear has been particularly present this week in our nation on display for the world to see, between escalating rhetoric involving the use of nuclear weapons to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, part of which surrounded a church where a prayer meeting was taking place it was part of a counter protest of clergy and other faithful people and the pictures of a mob with torches surrounding this place of worship feels unreal to me, but this was not fake news and the root of all this is fear. The truth of the world is that fear begets fear, left unchecked evil coaxes fear to blossom into hatred and hatred turns to violence and this is the opposite of what God wants for all creation. It was evil at work in Charlottesville on Saturday that gathered people to decry the beautiful diversity of God’s creation particularly as witnessed in our black and brown brothers and sisters. And no this is not something new, evil has been working a long time on this project this is just the latest manifestation. As Christians, we have the ultimate check on fear and evil, Jesus the prince of peace who is love incarnate who through our baptisms has joined us to his death and resurrection freeing us from the fear of death, calling us to be agents of peace in the world. Easier said than done right? As we see in the disciples’ journey with Jesus there are times of fear, as we know from our own lives there are times of fear, so it’s important for us to take time to consider our gospel story, to notice the fear and how Jesus responds. Last week we heard of the crowds who gathered seeking Jesus’ healing and how he fed them all, today, Jesus sends the disciples on ahead of him to the other side of the sea of Galilee, significantly, this is the first time in the gospel of Matthew that the disciples are sent forth without Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. Now I want to make a distinction here, there are two types of fear, fear that is cowardly and fear that is courageous, cowardly fear is fear that creates boundaries, separates one from another. Fear that is courageous is fear that crosses boundaries, it is not knowing how the other will react but reaching out our hand anyway. The life of a disciple of Jesus is marked by courageous fear, of knowing something different lies on the other side of the sea and going all the same. Jesus sends the disciples ahead of him to the other side of the sea time passes and Matthew tells us that Jesus is alone on the mountain while the boat with the disciples has moved far from shore the wind is against them and the boat is getting tossed about by the waves. Crossing boundaries is risky, and sometimes storms come up, storms that are not our fault, are out of our control and yet we get stuck in the middle of anyway. Separated from Jesus while crossing the sea at his request the disciples are in trouble and what does Jesus do? Our translation says “early in the morning” but a better rendition is “the latest and darkest part of the night,” Jesus comes to disciples walking across the water When we hear this part of the story we marvel at the impossible physics going on but for the ancient people, the disciples this was more than Jesus defying the laws of nature it was a symbol of his ability to do what only God can do. In the ancient world, water, the sea represented chaos and most creation stories started with the creator god defeating the chaos monster of the water we see a little of that in the creation story in Genesis where the first thing that happens is a wind from God sweeps across the waters. So the disciples are out in their boat and chaos is threatening to overwhelm them and here comes Jesus treading upon chaos, moving across it, overcoming its power. And now they are afraid for another reason because they think it is a ghost, a supernatural being coming toward them, in the midst of storms Jesus often comes to us in unexpected ways, ways that are not obvious at first glance but often end up revealing more of God to us than we ever expected. To the fearful disciples Jesus calls out “Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid” and in the “It is I,” we hear echoed the great I AM that came from the burning bush when Moses asked for the name of the God he was speaking to and this is what reveals to the disciples that Jesus is the Son of God. But of course it’s not that simple we have this business with Peter, good old rocky the block head upon who Jesus will build his church, who often says what we’re all thinking but have wisely kept to ourselves, who rushes into places angels fear to tread, in response to Jesus’ “take heart, do not be afraid” Peter’s first instinct is to test Jesus “Lord if it is you, command me to come to you on the water” and Jesus who gives the same authority he has to the disciples says “come” and Peter steps out of the boat and starts walking on the water, treading on the chaos, Closing the gap between him and Jesus and all of a sudden he looks up and he notices the strong winds still blowing around him, that he’s alone on the water, he becomes frightened and the chaos begins to take over again, he begins to sink. The only thing that has changed is Peter’s fear, when he was focused on crossing the boundary to Jesus he was fine, but fear made him notice all the obstacles it threw him off his course he cries out “Lord save me” and Jesus reaches out and catches him and here he admonishes Peter “You of little faith, why did you doubt” he’s not referring to Peter’s ability to walk on water but his testing of Jesus even after Jesus had identified himself, and here’s the important part, even though he admonishes Peter, he doesn’t let him go, together they make their way to the boat That’s the other thing about fear, it isolates us from those who are in the “same boat” it is much easier to weather a storm when there are others with us to share the experience, we get into the most trouble when we strike out on our own. And notice it is only after they climb in the boat, rejoining the other disciples that the winds cease and Jesus is worshipped as the Son of God. As in our reading from 1 Kings, God is fully revealed in the calm after the storm. It is a truth of life that storms will come up and we will be afraid and sometimes it might seem like Jesus, God with us is far away on a mountain while we are in a little boat being tossed about by strong winds in these times we wonder where God is, people have been wondering this for ages, and honestly we’ve never been able to come up with a good answer, it’s part of the mystery of God, but what we do know is that at the darkest part of the night Jesus will come to us, often in a surprising and unexpected ways treading on the chaos saying “take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.” and when we don’t quite believe because it’s all so fantastic and we leap out of the boat and rush toward Jesus until fear takes over again, Jesus catches us and brings us back to our community to ride out the rest of the storm. And when calm comes we realize that in the midst of our fear and foolishness, Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, was right there and we give thanks to God. Jesus has called us to follow him by crossing boundaries set up by fear, In these times the call is particularly strong As well as particularly challenging, It’s going to take courage to answer this call And stand against the forces of evil at work in racism, bigotry To reach out our hands not knowing how the other will respond. And know this: When we are afraid and in trouble Jesus comes to us at the right time When we seek understanding Jesus beckons us to come to him When fear changes our perspective and we begin to sink Jesus catches us When we strike out on our own Jesus brings us back to our community In the storm and in the calm Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. Amen
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
February 2021
Categories
All
|