When Faith Starts Sinking - Matthew 14:22-33

You may or may not have noticed this about me, but I love to try new things. I like to sample foods I’ve never tasted before and I enjoy physical challenges to discover what my body is capable of. I also like to try new ways of worshipping, prayer, and experiencing God’s presence in the world. I learn by doing. I have a hard time knowing what’s right and wrong for me until I’ve given it a shot. Sometimes, this means that all of you, as my congregation, have to be patient with me as I learn and discern where my talents in ministry lie. For better or worse, you have front row seats when I investigate new methods of parish leadership.

So, I identify strongly with Peter in today’s gospel passage. I will hop out of almost any boat if I’m invited, but I likely won’t realize that I can’t walk on water until I start sinking. Peter is easy to identify with in this story. His actions capture a quintessential aspect of human life, which is this: our fear often gets in the way of our faith, and it can feel like we’re drowning. Thankfully, we often discover that Christ has been holding us above the surface all along. 

When I really think about it, I find that what’s most interesting to me in this story is not what Peter does, but what Jesus does. We may not have noticed the nuances of Jesus’ words and actions here before because we’re so busy knowing exactly what Peter feels like. But what Jesus does in this passage is quite extraordinary. 

For the second time in Matthew’s Gospel, the disciples find themselves out on the water in a boat when a storm comes along. Back in chapter 8, Jesus was in the boat with them, and he calmed the storm with his words. This time Jesus is safe and dry on the mountain, some distance away from his disciples on the sea. It seems as though the easiest solution would be for Jesus to calm this storm as he did the previous one. Surely the distance from the disciples is no match for his power. 

But this is not what happens. Instead, Jesus ventures out onto the water, into the storm, so that when Peter, answering Jesus’ call, is rocked by the storm, Jesus is already there, right next to him, ready to help him to safety. Although it’s not the simplest method, I love Jesus’ choice here. He doesn’t help them from a distance even though he could. No, he goes out and meets them where they are. 

Here’s where it gets really interesting. The first part of the passage tells us that the disciples were out on the water in a storm not by chance, but because Jesus had instructed them to do so. At first, this might be a little disconcerting. Why would Jesus send the disciples out onto the water if he knew or even suspected a storm might come? But when we take a step back, we can see this story is actually part of a larger pattern that spans all of holy scripture. 

This summer we’ve taken a deep dive into Genesis and Exodus. Over and over again in those foundational stories, God calls our ancestors in the faith to leave their homes and everything they know to travel to places that are at best unfamiliar and at worst quite dangerous. Each time, God assures them that God will be with them, and everywhere they land, they discover that God is already in that place. 

Later on in our New Testament narrative, Jesus will send the disciples out into the world in a similar way, and then he will ascend bodily into the clouds. But, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, the disciples will discover that everywhere they go, everywhere they find themselves, Jesus is there with them. 

The story of Peter walking on water tells us something about Peter, but it tells us a lot more about Jesus. We learn that we can expect Jesus to teach what we need to know, and then send us out of our comfort zone and into the world to do his work, the work of healing, feeding, clothing, loving, proclaiming. When we do, it will likely be unfamiliar at best and at worst quite risky. 

But from this pattern in scripture we also learn that wherever we go, whatever we do, whatever we blindly try without stopping to consider whether or not we’re even equipped, Jesus will already be there, with a hand outstretched to remind us that we do, in fact, have everything we need. 

This morning we baptized a precious redheaded 9-month-old named James. Because he is still young, his parents and godparents and all of us gathered took vows on his behalf. We vowed to do our best to live into the image of Christ as an example for him and we vowed to teach him how to do the same. 

We promised to be there to hold out a hand when James gets anxious walking on his own seas. And in doing so, we are reminded that we too are never alone on the water. No matter how far we think we’ve traveled from spiritual safety, all we ever have to do is look up and accept the hand that Jesus is offering.

Now I don’t want us to move on from this story without giving Peter at least a little bit of credit. It took great courage for him to step out of a boat, in a storm, and attempt the seemingly impossible. And when he was safely back in the boat and the wind eased, he and his friends worshipped Jesus with a new understanding of who he is and what he is capable of. 

In this way, too, we hope to relate to Peter. When we have answered God’s call and have found ourselves in unfamiliar territory, when we feel our faith begin to sink under the weight of our fear, and when we realize, at last, that we are not far from home at all, because God is with us, we will begin to understand the love and the power of our God. Amen.