Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Take Courage! It is I., by Rev Steven R Mitchell for Mountain View United, Aurora, CO based on Matthew 14:22-33


Take Courage! It is I.

By Rev Steven R. Mitchell

Mountain View United, Aurora, CO 8/10/2014

Based on Matthew 14:22-33

 

 

        Last week we discussed the concept of preparing enough food for five thousand plus with only a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish.    For some of us the idea of a truly physical multiplication of these meager items might seem too impossible, as it goes against natural reasoning.  On the other hand, if we look at that particular story as a metaphor of taking what we do have and trusting it will be the start of something bigger, then the feeding of the five thousand plus is more understandable. 

        This week’s text seems to be even more unbelievable.  You have the disciples out on their own, in the middle of the sea, and find themselves in the midst of a storm, scared half out of their wits.  Then, they see a figure that appears to be walking on the water.  Already scared half out of their wits, it would be very natural for them to image that what they were seeing was a ghost walking on the water.

        In the midst of this fear they hear this apparition saying: “Hey guys don’t be afraid, it’s just me, Jesus, walking out here on the water, during this really bad storm, with the strong winds and the waves crashing all around me.  Evidently, Jesus wasn’t convincing enough, because nobody really seems to believe that it was Jesus.  After all, it isn’t everyday that you see someone walking on the water; swimming maybe, but never walking.  What was he wearing, Armani inflatable sandals that allowed him to walk on water and not be knocked down by the waves as they came crashing up against his body?  No, if it were me seeing this, I think I would rather stick with, “I was having a full blown hallucination.”

        Yet Peter decided to challenge the unbelievable by saying to this figure, “If you really are Jesus, then command me to come to you, for if you command me, then I too will be able to walk on the water.”  Although scripture doesn’t say this, I can imagine that Jesus extended his arm and held out his hand and simply said to Peter, “Come.”  So Peter, trusting in Jesus, gets out of the boat, leaving the rest of the disciples on board watching Peter walking on the water toward Jesus.  Then being a good distance from the boat, Peter starts to realize what he has just done by getting out of the protection of the boat and starts to think to himself, “What in the Egyptian Dessert am I doing?  No man can walk on top of water.  I don’t care if Jesus did tell me to come to him, it’s humanly impossible for me to be outside of the boat walking on water, what was I thinking about?   At which point Peter takes a dunk into the sea.  As he is bobbing up and down like an apple in a barrel, he cries out to Jesus, “Save me, Lord.”

        Jesus reaches out and grabs Peter, pulling him up out of the water.  (I have a sneaking idea, that Peter was probably saying a few choice words to Jesus, inquiring as to what made Jesus think he, Peter, could possibly walk on water.)  Then Jesus responds with, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?  Jesus pretty much drags Peter over to the boat and throws him back in, and once Jesus himself got into the boat, the storm stopped and the sea became calm.  Then scripture tells us that those in the boat worshipped Jesus saying, “Truly you are the Son of God!  

So, this makes for a really good story line for children in Sunday school or possibly an Indiana Jones style movie, but what could it possibly be saying to us, especially those of us who are not comfortable around water, who wouldn’t get out of a boat on a lake without wearing a life preserver and having a pair of water-skies strapped to our feet? 

Have you ever started in a direction and at some point wondered if you had made the best choice?  This story talks about our human nature and how easily we can become disoriented, confused, and have the sense that we are alone, even lost.  It is a story about how at times we don’t recognize God being with us, because God’s presence doesn’t fit into our “perception of reality”.  It is a story of how we often decide upon an activity or path, and as we get into it, encounter problems or rough times, and we begin to doubt ourselves and in that doubt stop what we have set out to do, because we have lost the faith that it takes to achieve our goal.

        I struggled this week with the conversation between Peter and Jesus, particularly over the word “command”, which was the word Peter used in order to make sure that the person he was seeing out on the water truly was Jesus.  After all, if Jesus is the son of God and he commands me to do something, then I should be able to do what he says.  I struggled because Jesus simply said, “come”.  Why an invitation and not a command?  Finally, I figure out what was bothering me.  It was a matter of “responsibility”, more precisely, self-responsibility.

        If Jesus had done what Peter had asked and had “commanded” Peter to come to him, then Jesus was the responsible person for what would happen to Peter.  If Peter was able to walk on the water and made it safely to Jesus, then Jesus was the man!  If however, Peter went out to Jesus and started to become side tracked and sank as he did, had Jesus commanded him to come out, then his failure to walk on the water would have been Jesus’ responsibility.  But Jesus doesn’t command Peter to come out; he invites Peter to join him.  In this way, Peter is the person responsible for his own conduct.  If Peter acts on the invitation, then sinks as he attempts to walk out to where Jesus is standing, the responsibility lies with Peter, not Jesus’.  We say God sent His son in order to save the world – meaning God sent Jesus to die.  Yet scripture tells us Jesus, while in the garden of Gethsemane chooses to go down a path that will surely result in confrontation with the religious community and probably death.  It was Jesus’ responsibility for this action, not God’s.  Jesus had enough faith in God to speak out God’s truth that was surely a walk toward certain death by those who feared or offended by God’s message. 

        Today’s lesson is teaching us about personal responsibility, and what happens when we lose sight of God in our life.  God invites us to do many things; it is we who decide to take that invitation.  Then when the storm of change or challenge comes along, we often get so caught up in the uncomfortableness that our faith wavers and we find ourselves sinking.  Many a church growth program has sunk in defeat as it encountered unforeseen challenges and crisis.

        Rev Ernest Campbell, former pastor of Riverside Church in New York, City (an American Baptist/UCC congregation), addressed a group of pastors on the crisis in today’s churches, saying, “the reason that we seem to lack faith in our time is that we are not doing anything that requires it.Pg 336-337 Feasting On the Word, Vol 3, Year A   Ask yourself, “Are we at Mountain View living a life that requires faith?”  Churches that struggle with limited resources and dwindling attendance are most likely guilty of not taking a chance and stepping out of the safety of the boat, or as Rev Campbell says,”taking a chance and doing something that takes faith.”   Instead they act like the disciples in the midst of a stormy sea, confining themselves to the safety of their boat, and not recognizing Jesus’ presence. 

        This morning’s story tells us that Peter took the risk to go to Jesus.  Did he fail, yes, because he became overwhelmed by the “impossibilities” instead of holding fast to the faith that initially prompted him to get out of the boat.  But the story also re-assures us that Jesus, even when we find ourselves failing and bobbing around like a cork, is there to pick us up and his presence in our lives can calm the storm.   For some of us, this seems like an impossibility.  Yet when we place our trust and faith into God’s hands, we can find that calmness that gives us the strength to continue stepping out of the boat.  Always remember that Jesus is beside you, even in the midst of a storm saying to you, “Take courage.  It is I.  Don’t be afraid.”   Amen

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