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 storms. Amen Today we have the story of the miracle of Jesus walking on water, and after spending time with this story this week I actually think that part is the least interesting thing about it, the walking on water was a means to an end, rather what I’ve found exciting is that in this short story is found the whole of a life of faith. Now this story isn’t an isolated event and much meaning comes from what happens in the life of Jesus and the disciples before we get to this point. Jesus is baptized by John starts his public ministry and gains wide acclaim as a teacher and healer, but then he goes home to Nazareth the folks in his home town reject him and he is unable to do many deeds of power among them, right after this rejection he hears of the death of John the Baptist, beheaded in prison, and he needs some time alone to grieve and pray, so he gets in a boat and sets sail across the sea intending to go out to the wilderness alone. But the people get wind of what he is up to and they go by land so that by the time Jesus reaches the other shore he is met with a great crowd who need healing and guidance, and he has compassion for them and so works among them, at the end of the day the disciples point out that the crowds need something to eat and with five loaves of bread and two fish the vast crowds eat until they are full. And that’s where our story today picks up, Jesus still needs that time alone with God and so we are told that “Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.” Our English translation sounds like Jesus strongly suggested the disciples get into the boat but the Greek paints a stronger picture, what we hear as “made” can also be translated as “compel or necessitate, drive by force or threats”. Jesus makes the disciples get into the boat in the same way a parent makes a reluctant toddler go to bed and once he’s gotten them into the boat and on their way he dismisses the crowds and finally has time to pray. Now while Jesus is off praying the disciples are in the boat out on the water, and a storm has come up, the boat is being tossed about by the waves and the wind is driving them farther and farther from Jesus to a point far from the land, so far that the separation now seems permanent. The disciples are afraid. And that’s when Jesus comes to them, defying all logic and the laws of nature to be with them in the midst of the storm, but when they see him they are terrified, they think he’s a ghost, they cry out in fear “But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘take heart, it is I; do not be afraid’” Jesus speaks peace into the midst of their terror and he uses the name of God, or at least the name God gave Moses all the way back at the burning bush. Remember God appears to Moses in a bush that is burning but not consumed by the fire, and God tells Moses to go free the Israelites from Egypt on God’s behalf and Moses reluctantly agrees but says, who shall I say sent me and God replies “tell them I Am sent you”. So anytime we hear Jesus say I Am, he is revealing his divinity, his intimacy with God. This is what Jesus says to the terrified disciples in the midst of the storm, and these words produce great faith. Peter hears these words and he says “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Now here again is a nuance of translation, we hear the ‘if’ as Peter testing Jesus but the sense of it is more ‘because’, Jesus’ word of revelation moves Peter to great faith and so he cries out “Lord, because it is you, command me to come to you on the water” Because you are Lord I believe that I can do the impossible. And Jesus says “come” and Peter gets out of the boat and he walks on the water to Jesus, That is until he loses focus, he takes his eyes off Jesus and he notices the wind and the waves and he realizes that he can’t walk on water and he becomes frightened and begins to sink and cries out “Lord, save me!” “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.” and together they climb back into the boat and at this point the storm stops, and in the calm after the storm the disciples worship Jesus saying ‘truly you are the Son of God.’ The disciples’ experience is the life of faith in a nutshell. Jesus has called them and they have followed him, seen him do great things, even worked with him to do some great things and then just when they’ve seen an amazing sight, Jesus puts them in a boat and sends them away. So there they are, in a boat that they don’t want to be in, and circumstances out of their control are driving them away from the one they want to be with to a point where the gap seems to great to bridge, feeling alone, maybe a little abandoned, and probably more than a little bit scared. And when Jesus comes to them in a seemingly impossible manner they are terrified and don’t recognize him, until he identifies himself and offers peace, And then their faith is stronger than before, so strong as to be able to do the impossible, and they want to do the impossible so they try and they’re doing it! Until they look around and notice all the reasons they shouldn’t be doing what they’re doing and they get scared and start to sink, and they cry out to Jesus ‘save me’ and Jesus reaches out, catches them, brings them to safety and as the storm is calmed and the disciples’ faith is strengthened once again with the realization of the greatness of the one in their midst. We’ve all had times like this, where we’re following Jesus who has called us, and things seems to be going really well, and then all of a sudden, it seems like Jesus is sending us away, Jesus is putting us in a place we don’t really want to be, sending us somewhere we don’t really want to go amid circumstances that seem to separate us from God. Maybe it has been a time of learning and growth that challenges us, or maybe it has been a time of sickness of body or relationship, now to be clear I don’t think Jesus ever causes illness but it is are certainly a time where we are in the midst of something we don’t want to be a part of and circumstances seem to drive us far away from God. So there we are out in our boat And just as we’ve been battered about by the waves and think that we have been permanently separated from God, Jesus comes to us, often we don’t recognize him at first and we are afraid, but then Jesus reveals himself speaking peace into our fear and our faith surges and even though the storm is still raging we get out of the boat to go toward Jesus. Have you ever seen someone going through a difficult time and wondered just how they are able to handle it with grace and strength? I’d say they are at this point in their life of faith, where Jesus has spoken peace to them giving them the strength to get out of the boat. Maybe you’ve experienced this yourself, the peace of Christ to move forward through a seemingly impossible situation and others around you are telling you ‘I don’t know how you do it’ but you are able to with the call of Jesus. And then of course there are those times in our life of faith where we look around at all that is going on and we begin to sink, where our faith is overwhelmed by the pain and chaos of the world around us and yet, when we cry out to Jesus, he reaches out to catch us and brings us to a place of calm. The life of faith is a journey, there are times that we experience great joy, and times when we are terrified and feel separate from God, and no matter how terrified, or far away we feel, even when we lose focus, Jesus comes to us, Jesus catches us, reveals himself to us and brings us to a place of peace. So wherever you are on your journey of faith, take heart, and may the peace of Christ be with you. 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
|