This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on Sunday, October 25, 2020. The Bible verses used are Matthew 14:22-33.
Tonight’s
gospel reading is a familiar story. Most people have heard the
story, even if they cannot remember all the details. Even a lot of people
who are not Christians are at least aware that the Bible says Jesus once walked
on water.
To
me, though, Jesus walking on water is not the most interesting or even
necessarily the most important part of the story. Now obviously, if
I’d been there at the time, that’s what I’d remember. I mean, as far
as I know, no one ever walked on water before, and no one has
since. If I actually saw someone do it, and I was sure it was not
just some sort of trick, I’d remember it the rest of my life.
I
was not there, though, and I read this now knowing who Jesus really
is. If we accept Jesus as the divine Son of God, as part of the Holy
Trinity, as someone with the power to work miracles, it’s no surprise that he
could walk on water if he so chose. It’s a miracle, of course, but
not any more impressive than a lot of other miracles Jesus performed while he
was on the earth.
To
me, the most interesting part of this story is Jesus’ statement to Peter. You
remember how it went down: Peter wants Jesus to let him walk on the
water, too; Jesus tells him to come; Peter gets close to Jesus, gets scared,
sinks, Jesus pulls him up. Then Jesus says, “You of little faith, why
did you doubt?”
That
always seems to me like such an unfair thing for Jesus to say to
Peter. After all, Peter was the only one who had enough faith to get
out on the water at all. I mean, you don’t hear anything about
Andrew or Philip or Thomas or any of the others jumping out of the boat to go
join Peter on that walk, do you? Peter’s the only one who even dared
to try getting out on the water, and his reward for his courage is to have
Jesus accuse him of having “little faith.”
At
least, that’s how I’ve usually heard this story explained. It’s
considered to be Jesus testing Peter’s faith, and Peter failing the
test. Now, granted, Jesus does not accuse Peter of having no faith
at all. Still, Jesus is not exactly complimenting Peter here, is
he? Saying he has “little faith”? How would you feel if Jesus said that to you?
But
is that really what’s going on here? Is Jesus’ statement really
meant as an accusation, as a harsh criticism? Let’s remember who
Peter was. He was not perfect, and the gospels don’t portray him as
perfect or anything close to it, but he’s also the one to whom Jesus says, just
a little while later, “You are the rock on whom I will build my church, and the
gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” That’s why Jesus
changes his name from Simon to Peter; the word we translate as Peter means
rock. Would Jesus really build his church on someone whom he’d just
accused of having “little faith”?
I
think that, when we focus on Jesus calling Peter, “you of little faith”, we
focus on the wrong part of what Jesus said. I think the important
part of what Jesus said was not him saying Peter had little
faith. It’s the question Jesus asked him right after
that. Jesus asked him, “Why did you doubt?”
Think
of all the things Peter had already seen in his time with
Jesus. He’d seen Jesus heal people. He’d seen Jesus stop
a storm. He’d seen Jesus cast out demons. He’d seen Jesus
bring someone back to life from the dead. He’d seen Jesus feed five
thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish—we talked about that
last week. He’d probably seen a lot of other things, too—after all,
the Bible tells us that there are a lot more things that Jesus did on earth
than are contained in the gospels.
If
anyone should have not had any doubts about who Jesus was, it would’ve been
Peter. In fact, Peter did not think he had any doubts. When Jesus invited him to come out onto the
water, Peter went right out there. He did pretty well, too, as long
as he focused on Jesus and walked right toward him. Then, though, he
started looking around, noticing things. He felt the strong
wind. He saw the waves getting higher and higher. He got
scared, and when he got scared, that’s when the doubts started to hit
him. He started thinking about all the things that might happen to
him while he was out there on the water. The doubts got the best of
him, and he started to sink.
I
think that happens to us sometimes, too. There are times when it
seems like our faith is pretty strong. There are times, in fact,
when we’re willing to step right out there and take risks for our faith in
Jesus. At first, we’re fine, as long as we keep focused on
Jesus. The trouble is that then we start looking around and noticing
things. We start getting battered by the winds of
life. We get scared, and the doubts start hitting us. We
start thinking about all the things that can happen to us in life. Then,
we start to sink.
When
Jesus asked Peter, “why did you doubt”, I don’t think Jesus was mad at
Peter. I don’t think he meant it as an accusation. I
think Jesus said those words sadly, almost wistfully. Jesus was
trying to give Peter the power to do anything in Jesus’ name. He
wanted Peter to know that with Jesus, anything is possible. He
wanted Peter to have so much faith in Jesus that he’d believe he could do
anything, even walk on water. He was hoping Peter could put his
doubts aside and put his complete faith and trust in Jesus. At
first, it looked like maybe he could. I think Jesus was just kind of
sad that Peter had not been able to set his doubts aside and accept what Jesus
was trying to give him.
I
think Jesus asks that same question to us, and he asks it the same
way. Jesus looks at the way we live our lives, the number of times
we try to do things our own way, the number of times we get scared, and asks
us, “Why do you doubt?” Jesus has so much power. With
Jesus, anything is possible, even walking on water. Jesus wants so
much for us to put our doubts aside and put our complete faith and trust in
him. I think Jesus is sad when we’re not able to do that, when we’re
not able to just accept what Jesus is trying to give us.
There
is good news, though. After all, when Peter got scared, when Peter
gave in to the doubts, when Peter started to sink, Jesus did not just stand
there and watch. Jesus did not say, “Well, you doubted, so you
deserve to sink to the bottom.” Jesus reached out and caught
Peter. He lifted him back up, and they got into the boat together.
That’s
what Jesus will do for us, too. When we give in to our doubts and
start to sink, Jesus will reach out and catch us, too. Jesus will
reach out for us, and will lift us back up, just as he did for Peter.
As long as we do one thing. If
you’ve been paying attention, you know what it is, too. You know I
skipped one really important part of this story. When Peter started
sinking, what did he do? He cried out to Jesus. It was
not a long, complicated prayer or anything. All he did was say three
words: “Lord, save me!”
When
Peter said those three words, we’re told that Jesus “immediately” reached out
and pulled him up. It sounds to me like maybe Jesus had been waiting
for just that opening. It sounds to me like Jesus was just waiting
for Peter to acknowledge his fear and his doubt and to ask for Jesus to save
him, because the second he did, Jesus saved Peter.
You
know, Bible stories like this give me a lot of confidence and a lot of
hope. I hope they do that for you, too. They make me feel
better about the fact that I give in to my doubts and fears
sometimes. For one thing, if even Peter, who was right there with
Jesus and saw all those things happen and who was the rock on whom Jesus was
going to build his church, if even Peter was subject to doubts sometimes, I
think Jesus understands why you and I have that same problem.
More
importantly, though, a story like this shows us the way out of our
problems. When life gets to be too much for us, when we give in to
our doubts, when fear overwhelms us, when it feels like we’re starting to sink,
all we need to do is turn to Jesus. We don’t have to do anything big
or complicated to do that. All we need
to do is say, “Lord, save me!” As soon as we do that, Jesus will
lift us up and show us the way out. The way out is not always easy,
but it’s there, and Jesus will help us find it.
Jesus
wants us to believe. Jesus wants us to trust. He wants us
to trust in his great power. He wants us to trust in his great
love. He wants us to trust that he’s always there for us.
We
can do all things through Jesus Christ. All we need to do is look to
Jesus, put aside our doubts and fears, and accept the wonderful gifts Jesus
wants to give us.
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