By the Rev. Dr. Paul S. Nancarrow
This sermon is based on Matthew 14:22-33
An audio version of this sermon can be found here
Our Gospel reading this morning follows immediately upon the Gospel we read last week: after feeding more than 5000 people starting with only five loaves and two fish, Jesus sends the crowd away, sends the disciples in the boat across the Lake of Galilee, and goes up by himself on the mountain to pray all night long. And in the darkness a storm comes up, the disciples’ boat is blown off course, and just before dawn Jesus comes to them, walking on the water. It’s a remarkable display of supernatural power — but for that very reason it also raises some interpretive questions. In a way, this miracle is very uncharacteristic of Jesus: most of Jesus’ miracles are very personal, very one-on-one, very much about making contact with someone, as when Jesus heals a person, or frees them from bondage to an unclean spirit, or enlightens their mind with divine wisdom. Most of Jesus’ miracles are gestures we can recognize as bringing the love of God to bear in an immediate way in a person’s concrete life. But this miracle seems different: walking on water seems more impersonal, more supernatural, less about making contact with someone than about showing off sheer power — this miracle seems more like a magic trick than a sign from God. And that’s why it’s important for us modern readers to know that this gesture of walking in the waters does in fact have a very specific biblical meaning.
You see, Jesus here is acting out in human terms, on a human scale, the traditional biblical image of God’s command over the sea. In ancient Hebrew thought, the sea often symbolized the powers of chaos and destructiveness, and God’s command of the sea signified creativity and wholeness and the order needed for right relationships. So the Creation story in Genesis begins with a watery chaos that is waste and void until God commands the ordered relationships of light and dark, night and day, dry land and ocean. And the Creation poem in Psalm 104 tells how God commanded a law for the sea, and set boundaries it could not pass, so that Creation would not be re-dissolved in chaos. And the Book of Exodus tells of God’s victory at the Red Sea, when God commanded the sea to open up and create a dry path for the Israelites to walk, while the Egyptian army was swamped and overwhelmed. And the Book of Joshua tells how God commanded the waters of the River Jordan to stop flowing so that the Israelites could end their wilderness wandering by walking across the river into the land of promise. And the prophet Isaiah even identifies God as the One “who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters.” Time and again in the First Testament, commanding a way in the chaos of the sea is how God reveals himself to be God — so when Jesus commands the sea and walks a way on the stormy waters, he is revealing that he comes in the power and authority and creativity of God. Walking on the water isn’t just a magic trick, it isn’t just a gratuitous display of supernatural power — it is a sign that God is present and active and creating and redeeming in the human life and work of Jesus.
And the really fascinating thing about this story is that Jesus not only reveals God’s power when he walks on the water, but he shares God’s power as well. Peter, afraid that he is seeing Jesus’ ghost, calls out to the apparition — in one of those marvelous moments that Peter has, when he blurts something out without stopping to think about it, when he opens his mouth and inserts his foot and pulls out faith — Peter calls out, “Lord, if it really is you, call me to come to you, and I will trust you.” And Jesus calls to Peter, and Peter — in an act of courage and trust far greater than many of us would be able to muster — Peter steps out of the boat and begins to walk across the water toward Jesus. In that moment, the creating and sustaining power of God made manifest in commanding the sea, the creating and sustaining power of God made manifest in Jesus, that same creating and sustaining power of God is made manifest in Peter. Peter, with all his flaws and all his foibles; Peter, with all his human shortcomings and all his human accomplishments; Peter becomes the outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual creating grace of God.
To be sure, Peter has his moment of doubt and fear, his confidence wavers, and he begins to sink, until Jesus takes him by the hand and lifts him up. But as long as Peter is focused on Jesus, as long as Peter puts even his fear and his doubt and the powers of chaos in the larger context of trusting in Jesus, then Peter walks on the water, then Peter shares in Jesus’ sharing in the creating and sustaining power of God.
And that, I think, is the real point of this whole miracle story. It’s not just that Jesus does something remarkable, but that Jesus empowers Peter to do something remarkable. And that makes this entire Gospel story one big invitation to disciples — an invitation to us — to be like Peter: it’s an invitation to us to remember that, as flawed and foibled as we are, we can focus our vision on Jesus, we can put our trust in the creating and sustaining power of God revealed in Jesus, and therefore we can step out of the boat, we can step out in faith. This story is an invitation to us to let God’s creating and sustaining power be revealed in us, so that we can stand firm in the midst of storm and confusion, so that we can be strong against the powers of chaos and destructiveness, so that we can bring forth the new possibilities, the new right-relationships, the new hope, the new love, the new life, that God wants to bring forth in us. This Gospel is not just a story of a miracle of Jesus; it’s a promise of a miracle of God empowering creating grace in us.
And when God’s miracle of creating grace is in us, then we can be empowered to make a way in the chaos in all sorts of situations. We can be empowered to make a way to forgive each other and heal old hurts and reconcile relationships, just as God forgives and heals and reconciles us. We can be empowered to make a way to care for the environment, to work for the well-being of the forests and the mountains and the rivers and the sky, just as God cares for all creation. We can be empowered to make a way to bring forth all our best gifts, all our best abilities, all our capacity for love and joy and generosity and creativity — we can be empowered to grow into the whole people God wants us to be, just as we pray Derek will grow as we baptize him here today. We can be empowered to make a way to go forth into the world — into our community and our state and our nation and all the nations — we can be empowered to go forth even in the midst of credit downgrades and governmental gridlock and societal confusion everywhere — we can be empowered to go forth into the world to speak and vote and make economic decisions and use our influence and act and to make ways that build up peace and bring about justice and promote the common good of every human being as a child of God. In this miracle story God promises to empower us, so that we, with Jesus, can act out in human terms, on a human scale, God’s own creating and redeeming work for the world.
All we have to do is get out of the boat.
This sermon is based on Matthew 14:22-33
An audio version of this sermon can be found here
Our Gospel reading this morning follows immediately upon the Gospel we read last week: after feeding more than 5000 people starting with only five loaves and two fish, Jesus sends the crowd away, sends the disciples in the boat across the Lake of Galilee, and goes up by himself on the mountain to pray all night long. And in the darkness a storm comes up, the disciples’ boat is blown off course, and just before dawn Jesus comes to them, walking on the water. It’s a remarkable display of supernatural power — but for that very reason it also raises some interpretive questions. In a way, this miracle is very uncharacteristic of Jesus: most of Jesus’ miracles are very personal, very one-on-one, very much about making contact with someone, as when Jesus heals a person, or frees them from bondage to an unclean spirit, or enlightens their mind with divine wisdom. Most of Jesus’ miracles are gestures we can recognize as bringing the love of God to bear in an immediate way in a person’s concrete life. But this miracle seems different: walking on water seems more impersonal, more supernatural, less about making contact with someone than about showing off sheer power — this miracle seems more like a magic trick than a sign from God. And that’s why it’s important for us modern readers to know that this gesture of walking in the waters does in fact have a very specific biblical meaning.
You see, Jesus here is acting out in human terms, on a human scale, the traditional biblical image of God’s command over the sea. In ancient Hebrew thought, the sea often symbolized the powers of chaos and destructiveness, and God’s command of the sea signified creativity and wholeness and the order needed for right relationships. So the Creation story in Genesis begins with a watery chaos that is waste and void until God commands the ordered relationships of light and dark, night and day, dry land and ocean. And the Creation poem in Psalm 104 tells how God commanded a law for the sea, and set boundaries it could not pass, so that Creation would not be re-dissolved in chaos. And the Book of Exodus tells of God’s victory at the Red Sea, when God commanded the sea to open up and create a dry path for the Israelites to walk, while the Egyptian army was swamped and overwhelmed. And the Book of Joshua tells how God commanded the waters of the River Jordan to stop flowing so that the Israelites could end their wilderness wandering by walking across the river into the land of promise. And the prophet Isaiah even identifies God as the One “who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters.” Time and again in the First Testament, commanding a way in the chaos of the sea is how God reveals himself to be God — so when Jesus commands the sea and walks a way on the stormy waters, he is revealing that he comes in the power and authority and creativity of God. Walking on the water isn’t just a magic trick, it isn’t just a gratuitous display of supernatural power — it is a sign that God is present and active and creating and redeeming in the human life and work of Jesus.
And the really fascinating thing about this story is that Jesus not only reveals God’s power when he walks on the water, but he shares God’s power as well. Peter, afraid that he is seeing Jesus’ ghost, calls out to the apparition — in one of those marvelous moments that Peter has, when he blurts something out without stopping to think about it, when he opens his mouth and inserts his foot and pulls out faith — Peter calls out, “Lord, if it really is you, call me to come to you, and I will trust you.” And Jesus calls to Peter, and Peter — in an act of courage and trust far greater than many of us would be able to muster — Peter steps out of the boat and begins to walk across the water toward Jesus. In that moment, the creating and sustaining power of God made manifest in commanding the sea, the creating and sustaining power of God made manifest in Jesus, that same creating and sustaining power of God is made manifest in Peter. Peter, with all his flaws and all his foibles; Peter, with all his human shortcomings and all his human accomplishments; Peter becomes the outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual creating grace of God.
To be sure, Peter has his moment of doubt and fear, his confidence wavers, and he begins to sink, until Jesus takes him by the hand and lifts him up. But as long as Peter is focused on Jesus, as long as Peter puts even his fear and his doubt and the powers of chaos in the larger context of trusting in Jesus, then Peter walks on the water, then Peter shares in Jesus’ sharing in the creating and sustaining power of God.
And that, I think, is the real point of this whole miracle story. It’s not just that Jesus does something remarkable, but that Jesus empowers Peter to do something remarkable. And that makes this entire Gospel story one big invitation to disciples — an invitation to us — to be like Peter: it’s an invitation to us to remember that, as flawed and foibled as we are, we can focus our vision on Jesus, we can put our trust in the creating and sustaining power of God revealed in Jesus, and therefore we can step out of the boat, we can step out in faith. This story is an invitation to us to let God’s creating and sustaining power be revealed in us, so that we can stand firm in the midst of storm and confusion, so that we can be strong against the powers of chaos and destructiveness, so that we can bring forth the new possibilities, the new right-relationships, the new hope, the new love, the new life, that God wants to bring forth in us. This Gospel is not just a story of a miracle of Jesus; it’s a promise of a miracle of God empowering creating grace in us.
And when God’s miracle of creating grace is in us, then we can be empowered to make a way in the chaos in all sorts of situations. We can be empowered to make a way to forgive each other and heal old hurts and reconcile relationships, just as God forgives and heals and reconciles us. We can be empowered to make a way to care for the environment, to work for the well-being of the forests and the mountains and the rivers and the sky, just as God cares for all creation. We can be empowered to make a way to bring forth all our best gifts, all our best abilities, all our capacity for love and joy and generosity and creativity — we can be empowered to grow into the whole people God wants us to be, just as we pray Derek will grow as we baptize him here today. We can be empowered to make a way to go forth into the world — into our community and our state and our nation and all the nations — we can be empowered to go forth even in the midst of credit downgrades and governmental gridlock and societal confusion everywhere — we can be empowered to go forth into the world to speak and vote and make economic decisions and use our influence and act and to make ways that build up peace and bring about justice and promote the common good of every human being as a child of God. In this miracle story God promises to empower us, so that we, with Jesus, can act out in human terms, on a human scale, God’s own creating and redeeming work for the world.
All we have to do is get out of the boat.
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