Boat
Matthew 14:22-33
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Matthew 14:22-33
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Today’s story offers the perfect opportunity for us to take the Bible seriously, to hear an important and eternal truth about what it means to trust and follow Jesus. It also happens to be a story about walking on water. So, to take it seriously does not mean that we have to take it literally. Because chances are good that if we do that we could end up dwelling so long on the physics of how walking on water is, or isn’t possible, that we’d entirely miss this Word that God has for us this morning.
The whole thing gets started on the heels of a pretty impressive miracle. There were hungry crowds who had come to listen to Jesus. The disciples wanted to send them away, but Jesus told them no one needed to go anywhere, that the disciples should give them something to eat. They don’t have much to offer, but in Jesus’ hands their meager provisions- a couple of fish and some loaves of bread- were transformed into a feast at which five thousand people ate their fill. And then as they’re cleaning up and marveling at the satisfied crowd, Jesus tells them to head out. The need to get in the boat, he says, and go across to the other side. That’s an important detail. This is not a pleasure cruise Jesus’ friends are taking. It isn’t a three-hour tour (a three-hour tour). It was late when they realized the crowd needed to eat, it had to have been even later by the time everyone had eaten and the leftovers put away. Maybe even dark. But no matter, Jesus sends them across to the other side. If you’ve ever been to Galilee then you know that on the other side of the lake is modern-day Syria. Back then it wasn’t called that, but it was still gentile country. You see it turns out that the other side isn’t just a destination on a map, it’s also the people who live there. You know the ones. Them. Those people. The ones who aren’t like us. The ones who don’t necessarily believe what we believe, or vote the way we vote, or look like us, or talk like us, or think like us. Them. And if we mean to follow Jesus, then he’s going to ask us to get in the boat and cross the chasm that always seems to divide us (however we define that category) from them. Never mind that sailing at night may not be the wisest course of action. Never mind that it’s already been a pretty long and stressful day. The reasons for staying put where they are, the reasons for not venturing out are pretty compelling. There is no doubt that it would be far safer to leave that boat on the shore. Of course, that is not really what boats are for, and Jesus wants the one that his disciples are in, the boat that you and I are in, to go across to the other side. You cannot follow Jesus for long by trying to play it safe.
There is no more immediate reminder of that than by the picture that was taken yesterday in Charlottesville Virginia. Where a line of Christian leaders and leaders of others faith stood arm in arm, hand in hand against evil armed with assault rifles. You can’t follow Jesus for long if you are trying to play it safe.
They all get in the boat and head out while Jesus stays behind to pray from a distance. No problem, right? I mean if Jesus put us in this boat and we’re going where Jesus wants us to go, then the rest should be smooth sailing. But that isn’t what happened to these disciples and it sure isn’t what happens to us. What happens is that the boat gets out on those waters and their worst fears are realized. They’re far from land, battered by the waves, and the wind is against them. Now, we may not have much experience with multiplying loaves and fishes, or walking on water. But my guess is that more than a few of us know what it is to have the wind against you. Six years ago, I entered my first triathlon. The bike stage was an out and back route across the wide open farm lands of northwest Iowa where the wind blows, and the first half going out was against the wind. Even going downhill, with gravity in my favor, I could feel that wind working against me. I once heard someone describe it as trying to push a string uphill. Maybe you’ve had days, or weeks, or even a summer like that, where it feels like you’re taking one step forward and two steps back. When the wind is against you it can take everything you’ve got just to stay where you are and not lose ground. But it wasn’t anything these disciples couldn’t handle. It wasn’t anything they hadn’t seen before. These were fishermen. They had spent their lives on that water. In fact, it’s safe to say that they were probably far more comfortable dealing with raised blisters from rowing against the wind and waves than they were with what happened next.
Because it wasn’t until the early morning hours that Jesus came walking toward them on the sea, and they were terrified. The more literal rendering of the phrase ‘early in the morning’ is the fourth watch. It’s that time somewhere between 3 a.m. and dawn, that stretch when you’ve been up all night and you begin to wonder if the dawn is ever going to come. As one superstitious sailor has put, “[it’s] when the funny stuff starts to happen… and your eyes play tricks on you. You think you see rocks rising up in front of you, or phantom ships drifting with all their lights off, or sea monsters. Pretty soon the waves start sounding like people whispering, or like the breathing of some huge invisible being. Then you start realizing just how alone you are, and how far from home, and how many ways there are for you to die.”
No wonder they were terrified when they saw Jesus walking toward them. No wonder they thought he was some kind of ghost and cried out in fear. But he wasn’t a ghost. Those rough seas weren’t all that different from the chaotic waters that God’s Spirit blew over at the beginning of creation. They weren’t all that different from the waters of the flood that Noah escaped with his family and an ark full of animals. They weren’t all that different from the waters of the sea that parted before the Hebrew slaves making a way for them to freedom, or the waters of the Jordan that piled up forty years later that allowed them to cross into the land of promise. It wasn’t a ghost that came to them in the dark recesses of that fourth watch, it was the only one with the power to rise above the dark destructive and chaotic forces of this world. And as if to reinforce the point, he says, “Take heart, it is I.” Or in Greek, ego eimi, the same words used to translate the Hebrew name for God spoken to Moses at the burning bush. This one who comes to them in the darkest hour, the one who comes to us in our darkest hours, is the Lord of all creation. And his next words to us couldn’t be clearer. If you want to know what the Bible is about, if you want to know what faith is about, if you want to know the most common refrain when it comes to what it means to be in that boat and to follow Jesus, it is these four words: do not be afraid.
That’s it. Of course that is everything- because fear is at the root of so much of what we call sin: fear of losing, fear of failing, fear of being wrong or not having enough, or being left out, or being found out. Fear of what others may think or the fear that others may not think anything about you at all. It’s the fear we saw Friday night, carrying torches; and carrying assault rifles on Saturday. The fear that something has been lost. The fear that leads to sin, and the sin of racism.
When fear has us in its grip, it can be hard to believe anything outside of what we are afraid of, even when Jesus himself is standing on the water telling us, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
But not Peter. Truthfully, Peter wasn’t always the best listener. Jesus would say something, or do something, and Peter would want to add his own spin to it in a way that made sense to him. And in just about every instance he got it wrong. So it should come as no surprise to us in this situation that in the dark with the wind and the waves and Jesus STANDING ON THE WATER, that Peter would say something as stupid like, “command me to come on the water with you.” I mean can’t you just see the disciples in the boat rolling their eyes- here we go again. Only this time Jesus is game. He says, “Come.” And wouldn’t you know it, Peter swings his legs over the side and walks on the water with Jesus. Unbelievable. And that’s about how long it takes for Peter to come to the exact same conclusion. He remembered the wind and the fear and the fact that people can’t walk on water and he began to sink like a stone. He lost his nerve, and cried out to Jesus, and just like that Jesus had a hold of his arm. “You of little faith,” he says to Peter, “why did you doubt?”
Is he mad? Is he disappointed? Is he criticizing Peter? I don’t think so. I don’t think it’s any of that. Jesus tells the truth. And the truth is that Peter did have a little faith. He took the risk. He didn’t play it safe in the boat, but stepped out to do something impossible because Jesus invited him to do it. And he did. Who knows how he did, but he did. It’s not the first time somebody did something they never thought was possible because of Jesus, and it won’t be the last. In fact, it happens ALL THE TIME. It happens when someone caught in the grip of addiction, or some other form of self-destructive behavior STOPS, and finds a new life one day at a time. It happens when someone who thinks they have nothing to give discovers a gift they never knew they had and shares it for the good of someone else. It happens when an AIDS patient turns a terminal prognosis into an opportunity to reconcile with his estranged family. And friends, it happens when we do what we don’t think we have it in us to do, and that is to speak up when somebody traffics in racist jokes or racist statements or false equivalences and says, “No, that’s not ok, ever.”
But Peter sank, you might say. He failed. He doubted. What if he hadn’t? What if he jumped out of that boat and palled around with Jesus out on the water? It would certainly be a different story, maybe even a better story- I don’t know. But it would not be a true story. The truth is a little more complicated than that. Sometimes, with a little faith, we are able to do impossible things. And sometimes the fear and the doubt swamp us and the only thing we can do is to cry out to Jesus to save us; which, of course, is why we need Jesus. If we never sank- if we could walk on water just fine all by ourselves- we would not need a savior. It’s also why we need a boat. Because if we’re out there alone, we’ve got nowhere to go when Jesus fishes us out of the water.
Once they’re back in the boat, the wind stops and the water grows clam and the only thing left for them to do is to worship. Because friends, when we’re on our way from ‘us’ to ‘them’, whether we stand or whether we sink, a little faith is all it takes to turn a story that begins with fear into a story that ends with worship.
Alleluia, Amen