Readings
1 Kings 19:9-18
Psalm 85:8-13
Romans 10:5-15
Matthew 14:22-33
In case you couldn’t have guessed it from my preaching, I’ve always had a bit of a struggle with miracle stories. I’ve never needed them to prove that Jesus is God and in my twenty-first century empirical sensibility taking them literally has been nearly impossible.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am open to the possibility that Jesus actually performed all the supernatural events portrayed in the Gospels, I just don’t think it’s probable and if we simply take these stories at face value they don’t have much weight other than proving he is God.
The biblical scholar, John Dominic Crossan, suggests that rather than take miracle stories literally that we understand them to be parables about Jesus and the kingdom he proclaims. This allows us to treat the story as a story. It frees us from having to fit a miracle into our modern empirical understanding and allows us to search the deeper truth at work in the story itself.
Today’s story is a rich one with a lot of content. We hear of the disciples in a storm; we see Jesus walking on water in the midst of the storm; we see the disciples terrified at the sight Jesus mistaking him for a ghost; in the wake of Jesus declaring himself, we watch Peter attempt to walk to Jesus on the water and fail; and, we see Jesus save Peter, reach the boat, and calm the storm.
For our purposes, I’d like to focus on the story between Jesus and Peter. As I just recounted Jesus is walking on the water towards them in the midst of choppy water and strong winds. The disciples, seeing him, believe they are seeing a ghost. And who can blame them. A ghost is a perfectly reasonable assumption in the face of the impossibility of Jesus walking on the water. I would imagine that with the waves and the swell it might well have looked as though he were floating towards them. Jesus calls out in response to their cries and says, “Don’t be afraid, it’s me, guys.” Needless to say there’s some doubt and Peter expresses it by saying “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus says “come.” So Peter, being Peter, without a second thought jumps in the water and begins to walk to Jesus. I imagine that it is almost immediate that Peter realized what he was doing and where he was. Scared by the wind and the waves he begins to drown and he cries out “Lord, save me!” And Jesus who, by now, has drawn near grabs Peter and pulls him into the boat with himself, all the while chiding him for his lack of faith.
Now if we stop and reflect for a moment we can see the central point in this story is not Jesus walking on the water. No, the central point is Peter’s attempt and failure to walk on the water and Jesus’ need to rescue him. But lest we be too harsh on Peter let’s be clear, how many of us would not be overwhelmed by choppy seas and strong winds in the midst of deep water? I would argue that Peter’s faith, while anything than perfect, was still significant enough for him to be willing to make the attempt. And, while Jesus chides him for his lack of faith, he nonetheless saves him from drowning and its only a couple of chapters later that Jesus calls Peter the rock upon which he will build his church.
No, I would posit that this story is a metaphor about what it’s like to live a life of faith. Faith is easy when our situation is calm and things are going well. It’s easy to attribute the good things in life to the blessings of God. It’s easy to see God and believe in him when all is well. And we ourselves find it easier to be agents of God’s love and mercy when our lives are marked by peace and prosperity.
But what about the difficult times of our life? How is our faith then? While we might cry out to God for relief or to be saved, isn’t it true that seeing God in the midst of our troubles is often difficult or even impossible. How often do we become distracted and overwhelmed by the calamity happening all around us and in the midst of our life? How many of us have seen what we perceived as a terrifying circumstance only for it to turn out to be providence at work in our life. How often do we doubt it to be God at work, until we recognize it in hindsight.
You see my friends, as is often the case in these stories about Peter, he is not simply some rube or failure. He is us and we are him.
Today we are living in turbulent times. We need not look far to see trouble and discord. Active racism, social unrest and protest, and political and social divisiveness are but a few of the dynamics that are in no short supply. In the midst of so much going on it is easy to be scared and overwhelmed. It is all too easy to begin to wonder where God is and whether it is too much to expect a miracle.
But the story we have today points us to the deep truth that even in the midst of such terrifying and overwhelming times God is present and calling out to us. We are being called to see God at work in the midst of the pain and struggle, we are being called to recognize that we too are invited to walk in the midst of the storm and be a source of life and transformation.
What does that look like? Well, it will be different for each of us. Some of us may be called to protest or be change agents, some of us may be called to offer care and support, some of us may be called to hold our elected leaders accountable to their duties, some of us may be called to enter into difficult conversations and create opportunities for transformation and reconciliation, and some of us may be called to simply be witnesses and people of faith and prayer.
Will we be perfect in the task? No. There will be times when we ourselves are overwhelmed and feel as if we are drowning in the pain and chaos around us. But we can take heart in knowing that we will not drown, and that God will not abandon us.
Today’s gospel is a word of hope to our weary world and those of us who find ourselves living in it. May we have the faith to be the miracle and not be overwhelmed by the storm. May we have the vision to claim the care and rescue of our savior.