to return to your place in the text.To read endnotes, click on the the note number, then click on the
Yes, a familiar story. But a strange one too. It has Jesus
doing something that smacks more of a magic trick than a miracle.
Perhaps that is why there are old jokes about pious folks trying
to walk on water but sinking like a stone until being told where
the rocks and roots are just under the surface. In the musical
Jesus Christ, Superstar the character who plays the buffoonish
King Herod sings,
And the audience laughs uproariously.
Even the church jokes about this one. Recently there have
been a number of variations on the theme of women ministers. One
has a congregation calling its first female pastor and
immediately running into a concern from two elders (who happened
to have been dead against calling a woman to their pulpit) who
are used to an annual fishing trip with the preacher. What
should they do? Invite HER! To their chagrin, she accepted.
The fateful day arrived, they hopped in the boat, and headed out.
When they had gotten a way from the shore, they realized they had
forgotten their bait. The pastor jumped up, said she would get
it, stepped out of the boat and walked across the water to shore.
"I told everybody all along this whole thing was a mistake, this
calling a woman," said one of the men, "she can't even swim!"
I have no idea how many ads in church publications I have
seen from congregations searching for new pastors who either say
with a grin that they are looking for someone who can "walk on
water" or who insist seriously that this is one thing they do NOT
expect. About the only thing we have consensus on is that
"walking on water" is REALLY special.
Look again at the story. Matthew places it just after the
murder of John the Baptist and the feeding of the 5000, an
uncomfortable time in Jesus' life as there were those who were
ready to crown him king while others were equally ready to simply
"crown" him. The political situation was becoming volatile. The
Twelve were no special help because they too still thought of
Jesus in terms of earthly power. This was a wonderful time for
Jesus to break off from them for a bit and seek the solace of a
mountaintop retreat. "Go fishing, guys. I'll join you later."
The night wore on into the hours before dawn. Jesus had
spent the time in prayer while the disciples had spent their time
trying to survive. One of those sudden squalls for which the Sea
of Galilee is notorious had come up. The text says the boat was
being "battered by the waves." They were rowing for all they
were worth but with little effect - the wind was too hard against
them. Then we read, "Early in the morning he came walking toward
them on the sea." Jesus had seen their struggle and now was
coming to help. Caught the sailors off guard, of course - they
had no more idea what to make of someone walking on water than we
do. A ghost? Add to their dread of drowning the panic at the
presence of a poltergeist. Then Jesus spoke: "Take heart, it is
I; don't be afraid."
Now, up to this point, we have similar stories in the gospel
accounts of both Mark and John.(2) Even though we have already
noted how very special walking on water is, the church has no
problem (or at least not MUCH problem) with Jesus doing it - we
believe that Jesus is God in human flesh and something like
suspending the law of gravity for a few minutes to accomplish a
rescue mission is not beyond our plausibility threshold. In
fact, the church from the beginning and through the centuries has
rather liked the lesson gleaned from the story, the promise of
Christ's presence even in the midst of life's stormiest seas.
Medieval art often pictured the church as a wind-and-wave-battered boat, symbolic of the church's often turbulent trip
through history. We even borrowed a nautical term for this space
in which a congregation gathers for worship, a NAVE - navis in
Latin means SHIP. The logo of the World Council of Churches is
the drawing of a ship. The Lord is with us in the midst of the
storms and we will not sink. TAKE HEART! Good lesson.
But Matthew does not leave it at that. He adds this
incident about Peter. Peter sees Jesus, as do all the rest. A
ghost? No. "Take heart. It is I; don't be afraid."
Now it is Peter's turn. And if the account had not
identified him, we could have figured which one of the Twelve
would have pulled this stunt. After all, Peter was always the
impetuous one, the one to leap before he looked. True, he
occasionally made a fool of himself, as he did on this occasion,
but no one could ever doubt the depth of his commitment and love
for Jesus. When it comes right down to it, Peter was a man of
incredible faith. Of all those in the boat, he was the only one
who had enough confidence in his Lord to think that, simply at
Jesus' say-so, a man could walk on water. That is faith!
Peter yells across the waves, "Lord, if it is you, command
me to come to you on the water." Jesus agrees. Peter steps over
the side (no doubt to the horrified looks of his compatriots),
waves crashing against the side of the boat, the wind whipping
his hair into his eyes, and begins to walk on the water toward
Jesus. Suddenly, our big fisherman realizes what he is doing,
looks around at the storm going on, and starts to sink like a
stone. "A-H-H-H!!! Lord, save me!" And, as we all know, the
Lord does while giving that mild admonition, "You of little
faith, why did you doubt?"
Wait a minute. We have already noted that Peter was a man
of INCREDIBLE faith. How was he demonstrating "little faith?" I
will tell you: Peter got out of the boat. Did you hear that?
Peter got out of the boat. One more time. Peter got out of the
boat.
Now, I know you have heard dozens of sermons and uncounted
Sunday School lessons on this famous story. I have too.
Yesterday I logged on to the Internet to a site called
Sermoncentral.com which claims to have links to 22,000 messages
and outlines (and I have no reason to doubt the number - they
even have links to almost 200 of mine), all indexed according to
scripture text. For this passage there are titles such as "How
to Walk on Water," "Get Out Of The Boat," "Stepping Out, Taking
The Risk," "Look Up!," one called "How NOT to Walk on Water,"
plus a number of others. Without having read through them all, I
would venture to guess that many would take the tack of
celebrating the supernatural power of Jesus in being able to walk
on water, how foolish Peter was to take his eyes off Jesus, to
waver in his faith, and then challenge us never to lose sight of
the Lord if we hope to keep from sinking under the winds and
waves of life.
Is that what you need to hear this morning? Just keep
focused, and everything will be all right? I wonder.
Mike Yaconelli, who used to edit the theological satire
magazine called "The Wittenberg Door," wrote an insightful
editorial a few years ago.(4) Listen:
I will never forget the look of hopelessness on
Johnny's face. He had to be thinking, "Run faster?
Run faster? What am I? An idiot? What do you think
is the problem here - I just FORGOT to run faster???
I'm running as fast as I can!" Have you ever felt like Johnny? Here you are at worship on
Sunday, weary from a week of contending with the storms of life,
and what does the sermon say? RUN FASTER! Or KEEP FOCUSED!
No. Not today. That is not the message I want you to hear
from this text, and I do not believe it is the message that
Matthew wanted you to hear. As we have noted in other settings,
Matthew's gospel was put together some fifty years after Christ's
earthly ministry. It was a difficult time in the life of the new
church. There was persecution from both political and religious
establishments. Some apparently were feeling abandoned. Now,
they hear a story of the faithful few in a little boat and a wild
ride on a stormy sea with Jesus nowhere in sight...off somewhere,
on a mountain. Suddenly, the Lord IS there saying, "Take heart.
It is I; don't be afraid." Only Peter has a problem with that -
he gets out of the boat, and that gets him in trouble.
The point is simply this: there is safety in this boat...the
church. It gets dangerous when you leave. I wish I could assure
you that you will never be tempted, but that is not the case.
For some folks, the storms of life make their faith stronger; for
others, the storms cause them to abandon ship - I have seen both.
Matthew's message is STAY IN THE BOAT. After all, it is IN THE
BOAT that we hear, "Take heart. It is I; don't be afraid."
What got Peter in trouble? He got out of the boat. STAY IN
THE BOAT!
Our friend Will Willimon, the Dean of the Chapel at Duke,
tells of a visit he made one afternoon to the office of a lawyer
in his congregation. It was just a drop-in. Will says he did
not know the man that well - his wife seemed to bear the church
interest for the family. Listen to the story in Will's own
words:
"It was at the end of the day. I entered the outer office
of his law firm. Everyone had left. All was dark, except for a
light coming from the inner office. He called to me. Invited me
to come back to his office.
"'Didn't expect to see you here, preacher,' he said in a
voice that sounded tired. 'Come on in, I was just about to fix
myself a drink. Can I interest you in one?'
"'Sure,' I said, 'if it's caffeine free, diet.'
"He poured out the drinks, offered me a seat, reared himself
back in his chair, feet on the disordered desk before him.
"'What sort of day have you had?' I asked.
"'A typical day,' he said, again sounding tired. 'Misery.'
"'Oh, I'm sorry. What was miserable about it?' I asked.
"'My day began with my assisting a couple evict their aging
father from his house so they could take everything he has while
he's in the nursing home. All legal. Not particularly moral,
but legal. Then, by lunchtime I was helping a client evade his
workers' insurance payments. It's legal! This afternoon, I
have been enabling a woman to ruin her husband's life forever
with the sweetest divorce you ever saw. That's my day.'
"What could I say?
"'Which,' he continued, 'helps explain why I'm in your
church on a Sunday morning.'
"'I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed,' I said, 'thinking what on
earth I have to say in a sermon which might be helpful to you on
a Sunday.'
"'It's not the sermon that I come for, preacher,' he said,
fixing his gaze upon me. 'It's the music. I go a whole week
sometimes with nothing beautiful, little good, until Sunday.
Sometimes, when that choir sings, it is for me the difference
between life and death.'"(5)
Why are YOU here? You do not have to answer. The fact that
you ARE here is enough. You NEED this ship. We all do. Stay in
the boat. Because it is here we hear, "Take heart. It is I;
don't be afraid."
Amen!
1. "King Herod's Song" from Jesus Christ Superstar, lyrics by Tim Rice ; music by Andrew
Lloyd Webber 2. Mark 6:45-52, John 6:15-21 3. Helen H. Lemmel 4. Posted to Ecunet by Howard Chapman, "Sermonshop 1996 08 11," #24, 8/7/96 5. Will Willimon, "The Gothic Spirit," http://www.chapel.duke.edu/sermons/090896.htm 6. Psalm 139:7-10
Yes, the great Jesus Christ
Prove to me that you're no fool
Walk across my swimming pool.(1)
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.(3)
One of the most interesting things about kid's sporting
events is the parents' reaction to their children.
Recently, I attended my daughter's track meet. On the
fourth and final lap of the boys' mile run everyone was
clumped together except for the two front-runners who
were leading the pack by a few yards. As the runners
came toward the finish line, the crowd began to cheer
wildly. Just then I happened to look about three
quarters of a lap back, and there, hopelessly last, was
a short portly kid who never should have WALKED a mile,
let alone run one. His entire body was wobbling
towards the finish line and his bright red face was
twisted in the kind of pain that made me wonder if
death was near. Suddenly, I was brushed by a frantic
parent who was leaping down the bleachers to the rail
surrounding the track. It was obviously the boy's
mother. She yelled at the top of her lungs. 'JOHNNY,
RUN FASTER!'
Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee
from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are
there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I
take the wings of the morning and settle at the
farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall
lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.(6)
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