Sermon Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Aug 7th

Sermon

Text: Matthew 14:22-33

There is a joke that I love. A new Lutheran Pastor has just moved to town and the Catholic Priest and Methodist pastor take him out fishing. They head out to the middle of the lake and start getting stuff out. The Catholic Priest all of a sudden exclaims, “Oh no! I forgot my tackle box on the shore!” And then without a word jumps up and over the side of the boat and walks across the water to the shore, gets his case and walks back. The Lutheran Pastor is in sh0ck, and just as he is going to ask how he did that, the Methodist Pastor says, “oh man, I forgot my lunch on shore.” And he jumps up and walks to shore on the water. The Lutheran Pastor is now completely bewildered. He asks, “whoa! That's amazing! Do you think I can do that as well?” The Priest and Pastor look at each other and say, well yeah, anyone can do it, it's not that hard. The Lutheran Pastor excitedly jumps up and with a large leap jumps overboard and immediately sinks. The Methodist Pastor looks at the Priest again, “Do you think we should have told him about the stepping stones?”

The story of Jesus walking on the Water is one of my favorite stories. It has all kinds of good elements to it. The greatness of Jesus, Jesus' sending of the disciples, Jesus' care for Peter, and concern over the disciples fear. It begins just where last weeks lesson ended. Jesus has just fed the 5000 men plus women and children. And then we find the first of 3 immediately's in our text. Now the word immediately in Matthew is somewhat rare. Matthew has 12 immediately's in 28 chapters, 3 of them here, while Mark is full of them, 27 in 16 chapters, and even more if you count other ways the Greek word is translated.

So, especially for Matthew, this little section is full of action. In this passage the immediately's mark the major points of the section. The first immediately is the first word of the reading, Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side. It's a sort of strange moment when we look at the rest of the text. When we think of this text, we always think of Peter getting out of the boat. But, the first action of Jesus is Jesus telling them to get into the boat. And when they are out in the boat, they are thrust into the middle of a massive storm, pushed way out into the middle of the lake. The first action of Jesus here is to send the disciples out into the terrible storm together in this boat.

I don't know about you, but being out in a massive storm is rather terrifying. I've never been in a huge storm at sea, but one of my favorite shows is The Deadliest Catch. It is a show on the discovery Channel about Crab Fishermen in Alaska, and they routinely deal with 30-40 foot high waves. That's just terrifying. It's a show I like to watch but have no interest at all to be in. There are waves we can feel though, waves that are more than just physical waves. I'm on the Campus Board for the Luther Center in Vermillion and recently with all the funding cuts going on through out the church and the country, the Luther Center is faced with a huge decision in it's path. That's a storm for sure. My Grandfather as you know is still in declining health, having had numerous strokes in the last few years, is unable to feed himself or get around on his own. My grandmother has a driving test tomorrow after being in a minor crash this summer, and this last week was unfortunately diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. That is a storm to deal with. We have member's here that deal with flooding in their fields, or on their property, or threatening their house. That's a storm. We face disease, loss of job, and any number of other things, all of which are great storms. Around us we see hunger, thirst, poverty, corruption, oppression, war, destruction, death. I could go on and on. All of life itself is a storm. It is into this storm that Jesus sends us out in the boat, sends us straight into life.

I think we react in exactly the same way as the disciples. We are terrified, and frightened, unsure what to do. And when Jesus does come toward us we do not recognize him, they think he is a ghost, we think he is any number of other things, but we don't see. Our second Immediately. Then Jesus immediately calls to them. “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” This take heart is not being used as a matter of faith, believe or hope that I am here, but a matter of logic, know that I am here. When we are in the midst of the boat, and the storms are raging around us, Jesus tell us that we do not need to be afraid, know that I am with you. Jesus is a place of comfort in the midst of the storms.

But, the story does not end there. It continues with us surrounded by everything raging. We are in the storms of life, we find that there are things that we know need to be done, people that are being oppressed that we know we need to care for, places of fear that we need to tread. Concerns that we need to address. In the storm, at that moment, we find Peter.

Peter, Peter, Peter. Peter who is always a little head strong, who may be thinking, “Hey, Jesus is walking on water, I bet I can do that too.” Peter whom Jesus may be thinking about, “ok, so Peter wants to get out of the boat that I have given them to protect them, ok, fine. Come.”

Jesus calls Peter out on the water after Peter asks to walk on the water. And Peter does. He takes a step or two, but then he noticed the wind. The text could just as well say sees or becomes aware of. Peter becomes aware of the wind, sees the storms of life. Peter turns his focus away from Jesus, and to his own state upon the waves. Peter turns away and he sinks. Just as Jesus was expecting, I bet.

We are no better than Peter. We think that we can go out to meet Jesus, we think that we can conquer the storms around us. We think that we can walk on water. But, we cannot, again, we are no better than Peter. We sink. Jesus has sent us out in the boat.

Why when we read this story do we think we need to get out of the boat? Is Jesus in his statement of you of little faith talking about Peter sinking or Peter getting out of the boat? I think it's getting out of the boat. The image of the boat is one that we have forgotten to a great extent.

In early Christianity imagery the boat is the church. There is a great history of using the boat as an image of the church. If you visit an old Scandinavian church, or also in many New England churches, you may find a boat hanging from the ceiling somewhere, reminding them that we are all in the boat together. A big reason that many churches are built in a long narrow sanctuary is to represent being in a boat, the ceiling the hull above us. Jesus does not send the disciples out onto the lake walking by themselves, but out together in a boat. Jesus sends us out in the boat, not just us here in this building in our own boat, but all Christians of the whole world together in the same boat.

And being in the midst of the world crashing around us, the waves coming at us. You would think we would stay there, stay put in the boat, and wait for Jesus to reach us from the shore. But, we don't, like Peter we get out of the boat, thinking that we will be able to reach Jesus on our own. The boat that Jesus gives us and sends us out in, is a boat where everyone is getting out. We should stay, but instead we jump up and leap off the edge. And like Peter, we sink, this boat is surrounded by sinking people.

And like Peter, scared by the situation he has put himself in, we cry out, Lord, Save Me. Our third immediately. Jesus immediately reaches out his hand and lifts him up, and returns him to the boat. And the winds cease. And in the boat, they worship the Lord who saved them, the Lord who gives them comfort, who causes winds to cease.

Jesus may send us into the waves of life, into the storms of chaos that surround us, but when he does so, Jesus sends us out together, in the boat of the church, united in Christ's Death and Resurrection. And when, not if, we think we know better, we get out of the boat, heading out on our own path, the storms overwhelm us, and we sink. Immediately, as we sink, Jesus reaches out to us. Jesus reaches into the storms of life, into the waves which pressure us, the winds that buffet us, and gives us calm and brings us back into the fold, back into the boat.

Let us pray,

God, the shepherd and fisher, we thank you for bringing us to your fold, for putting us in your boat. Save us when we decide to step out of the boat. Save us when we begin to sink, lift us up, and return us to the safety of the boat, for we know that when you are there, the waters are calm, and the seas smooth. Lord, we worship you, for truly you are the Son of God.

Amen