Listen to the audio of today’s Refection:
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Matthew 14:22-32
Jesus Walks on the Water
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
This is a story most people at least have a passing familiarity with – even people who don’t participate in any meaningful way in the Christian faith. It’s one of those stories from the gospels that has contributed a phrase to our language. If someone is regarded as amazingly competent, it’s said that they “walk on water.” Actually, it’s probably used just as often in a facetious way, to describe someone whose kind of over-rated. As in, “Oh, they think he just walks on water.”
Obviously, it’s amazing that Jesus is able to do that. But like all the other miraculous things Jesus did, this is a sign – an event that points to realities beyond itself.
The first, and the most obvious, reality this story points to is that Jesus has power over the forces of nature. He demonstrates that he can defy the laws of gravity, buoyancy, displacement and all that, and when it suits his purposes, he’s able to quiet the storm. The disciples who are in the boat get to witness a powerful demonstration of his authority, and they’re led to worship him as a manifestation of God.
This story is also significant because the boat in the storm is understood to be a symbol of the church in a turbulent world. You’ll sometimes see a boat used as a decoration in a church sanctuary. I’ve seen pictures of baptismal fonts in the shape of a boat, and I actually visited a church once where the ceiling of the entire sanctuary was shaped like an upside-down boat. It was pretty striking.
This symbol of a boat in a storm obviously resonates with many believers as an appropriate symbol for the church. Lots of times in its history, the church has found itself in frightening circumstances – tossed about like a boat at sea in a storm. Over the last few years, the church has been buffeted by a global pandemic, civil and political discord and wars around the world that affect our daily lives.
Being caught in a storm is obviously considered a bad thing, but sometimes I wonder if maybe the church is supposed to feel like a boat at sea in a storm. It seems to me that this is the way things are supposed to be. The times in history when the church has felt like a boat on calm and peaceful seas have been times when the governing authorities protected the church and enforced its teachings. And those times – when the church could call on the power of the state to enforce its morality and theology – those have been the times when the church committed its most horrific sins. Think of the Spanish Inquisition. Or the horrific abuse of endemic peoples – even bordering on genocide – when “missionaries” traveled along with their countries’ voyages of exploration and conquest. Or when the church in Germany got in bed with the Nazi regime.
It seems to me that the teachings of Jesus – and the rest of the New Testament, for that matter – express a vision of the church as counter-cultural. We’re meant to be people who are “in the world but not of it.” And a counter-culture of that type, if it’s really being faithful to its calling, should be uncomfortable. We should feel embattled, a little “at sea in a storm.”
So when you look at this story that way, two things take on a little extra meaning:
One is the part where Peter gets out of the boat. A lot of leading Bible scholars have always criticized Peter for having “little faith,” as Jesus put it. But he’s the only one who had the faith to get out of the boat in the first place! Isn’t Jesus’ criticism of Peter even more criticism of the other disciples who stayed in the boat and held on for dear life?
Of course, we probably shouldn’t blame them, because hanging on for dear life is kind of our default setting, isn’t it? When the church feels like a boat at sea in a storm, we just want to stay in the boat and hang onto the things that are familiar. The programs we’ve run for decades. The hymns we’ve sung since Grandma’s day. Etc.
But there’s no ignoring the fact that if you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat. And that points to a certain counter-intuitive element about following Jesus: If we’re really to be faithful to the calling our master has given us, we have to be willing to let go of the things that seem safe and familiar and step out of the boat and into the storm.
The other significant detail of this story is that when Jesus got into the boat, the storm settled down. I think there’s a message there, too. We tend to run the church according to our old customs, or the principles of American culture, or our own human wisdom, or all of the above. In a distressing number of churches – and even whole denominations – people don’t really have room for Jesus because so much room is taken up by all sorts of beliefs and practices that have nothing to do with Jesus and his teachings.
But when we can bring ourselves to throw those things overboard to make room for the teachings and the example of Jesus, that’s when the storm dies down and we really begin to experience the peace of Jesus – “the peace that passes all understanding.”
Let’s pray. Lord, you know that sometimes we really do feel like a little boat in a storm. But help us to have the faith to step out of the familiar and the safe, and to walk the waves with Jesus looking for those who need to be pulled to the safety of his presence. Amen.
Have great weekend,
And may you worship God joyfully on Sunday,
Henry
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