To read the texts click on the texts: 1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a; Rom 9:1-5; Mt. 14:22-33
Visitors to the Holy Land like to take a boat ride
across the Sea of Galilee , the sea on which
Jesus walked. A certain tourist wanted such a ride and the boatman told him the
fare was one hundred dollars. “One hundred dollars!” exclaimed the tourist, “No
wonder Jesus walked!”
As in both Mark and John, the miracle of Jesus
walking on the water occurs in Matthew immediately after the feeding of the
five thousand. The effect of these successive narratives is powerful. They
portray Jesus as the one who can provide for the needs of all peoples and one
who has control over the elements of nature and even over all demons and evil
itself.
There are some who interpret the walking on the
water to mean walking by the water. To do so would be to miss the point that
Matthew wants to make. Matthew does not intend to portray Jesus as defying the
law of gravity. By showing Jesus walking on the water, he reveals a Jesus who has
power over the sea: he walks upon the deep as God alone does, and the sea
respects his wishes. If the Israelites regarded the sea as the domain of evil
powers then the terrifying experience of a storm at sea in the dead of night
becomes even more symbolic of the human experience of evil. The fear of the
disciples is like the fear of all who are threatened by insecurity in the face
of the unknown. But when Jesus appears to those in extreme need and in the
darkest part of the night, it is as one who has sovereign power, not only over
the forces of nature but over evil itself. Thus the words of Jesus, “Take
heart, I am; do not be afraid.” are not empty or meaningless. Fear is
unwarranted where Jesus is present. The very presence of Jesus banishes all
fear. In Jesus, the great “I AM” has come to dwell with us and for us, whether
we are tossed about on the seas or hungry on the hillside, whether we are in
the boat or out of the boat. This blessed presence does not show us that God
has supernatural powers so much as it give us calm in the midst of our stormy
world to imagine that we too might face the storms of life with God’s help.
In fact, like Peter, when we recognize God present
in our world, are commanded to go out into the water, knowing that the storms of
this life cannot hurt us, even when we are outside of the safety and comfort of
the Church. Peter’s lack of faith is caused by a failure of concentration: he
is distracted by the fierce wind. He removes his gaze from Jesus. His mind
became more affected by the circumstances than by faith in the power of Jesus,
and once again he became filled with fear. This is why he begins to sink and
cries out in desperation: “Lord, save me.” Peter realizes that in the moment of
most dire human need, there is but one cry, just as there is but one source of
salvation.
We too will surely falter. We too will feel that we
are drowning in the depths of our world’s darkness. We too will surely feel
that the chaotic waters of life are too treacherous for our tentative footsteps.
We too will sink. That is real. Only fools pretend otherwise.
Then we will see, with Peter that Jesus’ hand
reaches out to us. We discover, at times to our relief and at times to our
chagrin, that we are not the heroes of this story. We also discover that our
doubts and fears, while the cause for a rebuke from our Lord, do not, and in
fact take us outside of his care and concern. This is important. For even when
we are back inside the boat of the Church, when the waters about us appear to
be calm, we find that we are still in the midst of a storm. We have to cast
aside any fear that there might be limits to the abundance of God’s grace, and
that with this grace given freely we cannot achieve the impossible, or that we
can’t change the world. Who would have thought it possible to walk on water, or
to discern the voice of God as Elijah does not in the strong wind or earthquake
or raging fire, but in “a sound of sheer silence?” Faith is not merely being
able to walk on the water but daring to believe in the face of all the evidence
that God is with us in the boat, made real in the community of faith as it
makes its way through the storm, battered by the waves.
The Jesus who multiplied the loaves and fish and who
appeared to the disciples walking on the water and who saved Peter from
sinking, this same Jesus is the Lord of the church who has brought salvation
and who stands similarly prepared to save his people, even when they may doubt,
from the evils that beset them. This Jesus who rules over nature and even the
realm of evil is rightly worshipped as “truly the Son of God.”
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