Read Matthew 14:22-33 and Psalm 119:30-39 here.
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A boy had grown
up hearing the stories from his grandmother about an amazing family
tradition. His father, grandfather and
great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 18th
birthday, and on that day they’d each walked across the lake. So on the boy’s 18th birthday, he
and his friends went out on the lake in a boat, and when they got to the
middle, the boy carefully stood up and stepped over the side of the boat….and
sank into the water. His friends quickly
pulled him to safety. Furious and
confused, he went to see his grandmother.
“Grandma,
it’s my 18th birthday. Why
can’t I walk across the lake like my dad, and his dad, and his dad?”
Grandma
looked deep into his troubled eyes and said, “Because you were born in August.
Your dad, and grandfather and great-grandfather were all born in January.”
The boy looked
puzzled. “Why does that matter?”
“Because, my
dear, in January the lake is frozen.”[1]
---
You’d think
the kid might have figured this one out and known not to even try. We might expect Peter would have known better
than to try. Then again, Peter and the
disciples have just seen Jesus feed 20,000 people with two fish and five loaves
of bread, so it was natural for Peter to be ready to try something big. But soon Peter got that sinking feeling.
So let’s look at what was happening.
It is evening. Jesus has fed the crowd and they’ve collected
the twelve baskets of leftovers. Jesus
tells the disciples to take the boat and head across the lake to their next
stop. He sends the crowd away, and heads
up the mountain to pray.
Out on the
lake, the wind and waves became rough and the boat was being battered by the
waves. They were going against the wind.
This reminds me of kayaking in Morro
Bay, going against the tide. The tide is strong in the harbor there as it flows
in and out of the estuary. I think I spent the entire time rowing and rowing
and rowing and rowing. I thought I’d
never get anywhere. By the time I finally got back to the dock, I was exhausted. Maybe the disciples felt like that.
Jesus comes to
the rescue. He comes walking across the
lake looking like a ghost upon the water.
This reminds me of Genesis 1 which
says the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters of creation. When we talked about God’s work in Genesis a
couple of months ago, we talked about how God was organizing. He was making order out of chaos. God separated the water from the sky, and
separated the water from the land. In Proverbs
8:29 it says that God set the boundaries for the water. Water is like chaos. God is Lord of
the chaos.
Then Peter
bravely steps out on water. How amazing is that? I wonder how that felt? I wonder if, before he got scared by the wind
and waves, he had a moment to appreciate how it felt to be standing on top of
the water?
Speaking of
wind and waves….
What did one ocean say to the other ocean?
. . . Nothing, it
just waved.[2]
--
One thing
that has been bugging me about this scripture all week...
Why does Peter need
Jesus to tell him to come?
He says to
Jesus, “If it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.”
“If it is you…”
Matthew
tells us that the disciples thought what they were seeing was a ghost. The disciples were terrified and cried out in
fear. Jesus immediately calms their fears
and encourages them by identifying himself.
“It’s me!”
The words he
used may have triggered memories for the disciples of the scene in Exodus when
God speaks to Moses. When Moses asks
God, “How will I tell them who sent me?” God says, “Tell them I AM has sent you.” (Ex. 3:13-15) Those words in Greek
are the same as what Jesus says. Eigo
Eimi. It is I.
But even if
those words don’t help the disciples recognize that Jesus is God in the flesh,
the fact that he’s walking on water should.
- God created the world and is the one who told the waters where to go.
- God parted the waters of the Red Sea for Israel to escape from Egypt.
- God parted the water again when Israel crossed the Jordan River to go into the Promised Land.
Maybe Peter
IS remembering all of this when he says, “If it is you, command me to come to
you on the water.”
Peter is
asking for proof.
This is
reminiscent of Gideon putting out
the fleece and asking God to make it wet, another event in which we see God’s
power over water. (Judges 6)
Moses also asked to see proof. In Exodus 33 & 34, God tells Moses to
keep heading for the promised land, but Moses is tired. He’s been leading the people through the
desert for a while. Things keep going
wrong, and in anger he’s smashed the ten commandments. God’s giving him a new set, but Moses still
needs assurance that God’s going to be with them as they go forward. God promises that he will go with them (Ex
33:14), but Moses still has that sinking feeling. He needs
something more, so he asks God to show him God’s glory. God does, and Moses goes back to the people
encouraged and ready to keep walking forward.
The
disciples probably needed some encouragement, too. They’d only recently learned that Herod had
killed John the Baptist. They were
probably sad and afraid. Might Jesus be
next? What would happen to them? Jesus had sent them away on this boat, and
all night long they’d dealt with the wind and waves. Now it’s early in the morning, just before
dawn. They haven’t slept. They’re tired.
They’re pretty sure they’re seeing things.
So Peter
asks. Knowing Peter as we do from other
stories in the gospels, this is another example of Peter being impulsive. Peter is the one who blurts things out. He makes a logical request, though.
If this is Jesus, and if
Jesus is the Son of God, and he isn’t just a ghost and we aren’t
imagining this, then he is Lord of all creation and has the
ability to make a path on the water, just like he made a
path through
the water for Israel.
Jesus says,
“Come!” And Peter does it. Peter walks on water.
But then
Peter gets inside his own head. He
starts thinking too much about what’s actually happening. He looks at the wind and the waves and he
gets scared. And he sinks.
Anxiety sets
in. Along with the literal feeling of
sinking down into the water, he may also have the funny feeling in his stomach
that we describe as a sinking feeling.
Peter
realizes he’s out of control of this situation, and focuses on that
instead of focusing on the one who is in control.
Thinking too
much gets us in trouble, too.
Take playing music, for instance. There’s a lot of practicing involved to learn
how to play, to learn a particular technique or piece of music, and that
involves lots of thinking. But when it
comes to performing that piece, all that thinking will get in the way.
This is also
true for Samurai fighters. There’s a scene in the 2003 movie The Last Samurai in which Tom Cruise is
being trained to be a Samurai fighter.
He’s having trouble, and the trainer tells him he’s got “too much mind.” He’s thinking too much about what he’s doing,
instead of letting things happen naturally.[3]
We’ve been
watching a show on the Food Network called Food Network Star. The contestants on this show compete to
demonstrate their abilities as chefs and as on-air personalities. The winner will get their own show. One problem they all have to work to overcome
is thinking too much when they’re on
camera. The coaches want them to respond
naturally to what’s happening in the moment.
If they “get in their heads” and start thinking too much, they get hung
up and can’t speak, or sound too stiff.
This is like
what happens to Peter. At first he’s
fine, but then he gets to thinking too much and he can’t do it anymore. He sinks.
Peter’s response
to sinking, though, is just right. He
cries out to Jesus. “Lord, save me!”
And immediately
Jesus reaches out and pulls him up out of the water.
Then Jesus
asks Peter, “You of little faith, why
did you doubt?”
Peter DID
have faith – enough to get him out of the boat in the first place. And as Jesus himself has pointed out, it only
takes faith the size of a little mustard
seed to do great things, like walking on water.
But Peter
did what we all do sometimes – we get distracted by the difficulties and we
start to question.
- · Maybe I shouldn’t have tried this.
- · Maybe I didn’t hear God right.
- · Maybe this is too hard for me.
- · Maybe I’m not strong enough, smart enough, good enough.
What we
forget in those moments, like Peter did, is that it never was about our
capabilities, it was about God. God is
strong enough, smart enough, wise enough.
That doesn’t
mean it’s going to be easy, and sometimes we think that because it’s not easy,
then we must be doing the wrong thing.
God doesn’t promise us that it’s going to be easy. In fact, he tells us quite the opposite. Jesus says in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble, but
take heart, for I have overcome the world.”
What about
you? In what ways have you been stepping
out in faith?
- · Maybe you’re about to start a new job, a new school, and new project.
- · Maybe you’ve made a big move.
- · Maybe you’re running into challenges, or you’re starting to think about the potential for challenges.
If we look
at the difficulties and the challenges, we will lose heart. The wind and the waves are scary. We will get discouraged.
I’m here to
tell you to be encouraged. God has promised us his presence and his
strength.
So many scriptures
tell us about this. I like how Paul says
in Romans 11:33:
Oh the depths of the riches of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable his judgements and his paths beyond tracing out!
That morning
on the lake, Peter was ready to let go of control and let God lead him, and
then he started thinking too much, trying to regain control, and that’s when he
lost it.
The problem is
that when we’re looking at ourselves or our situations, we’re focusing on the
trouble.
But when
we’re looking at God and remembering his strength and his promises, then we can
put things in perspective.
How do we
keep looking at God? How do we keep our
eyes fixed on Jesus instead of the wind and waves?
One way is prayer.
Like Peter, don’t hesitate to call out for help. We may not always see how God responds to
this right away. Looking back often we
can see that God did help us.
Another way
is to keep reading the Bible and
being reminded of God’s ways. Next week
during our Sunday school kick-off, we’re going to have an opportunity to share
favorite verses from the Bible. I’m
betting that many of us will share verses or stories that have encouraged us in
times of trouble, and helped us to remember God’s nearness and God’s strength.
One of the
best way to keep our eyes on God is to worship. That’s what the disciples do at the end of
today’s story. How could they not after
all they’ve seen? They worship Jesus and
say, “Truly you are Son of God!” It’s the first time in Matthew that they say
something like this.[4]
When we
worship God, we acknowledge God’s presence and God’s greatness. We remember God’s promises. We renew our trust and commitment.
Whenever we
get that sinking feeling – whenever the doubts and fears start to take over –
Cry out to
Jesus for help.
Reach out to
God through his word.
Remember it’s
God’s power that has us walking on water.
God promises that he will never let us
down.
[4] A
commentary pointed this out, but I don’t remember which one. I looked it up doing a word search in
BibleGateway.com and sure enough, before this point in Matthew only the devil
and demons have called Jesus the Son of God.
(Mat. 4:3 “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become
loaves of bread.” Mat. 8:29 “What have
you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the
time?”)
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