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“If it Is You…”
Matthew 14:22-33
August 10, 2008
Simon, Cephas, Peter, Rock
Today’s story of Jesus walking on the water is one of the most familiar New Testament stories. Through the ages the church has continued to hold it up as having some real truth, giving us a word we need to hear about God and Faith. So we read the story in Mark and John and, except for a few minor differences, they are remarkably similar: the wind and water and Jesus. But then we turn to Matthew’s version of the story, and all of a sudden we find something new, or someone new. In Matthew’s version we find a man introduced to us as Peter.
But it’s easy to forget that originally his name was not Peter, it was Simon. Simon was born into a family of fishermen and followed in his father, John’s, footsteps. Simon lived with his wife and mother-in-law and brother Andrew in Capernaum. He and Andrew were partners in the family fishing business and owned their own boat. Well, one day Andrew took Simon to meet a strange man coming through town named Jesus. Jesus took one look at Simon and said, “So you’re Simon, eh, son of John. [From now on] you are to be called Cephas,” which is Aramaic for Peter which means Rock. Jesus took one look at Peter and called him the Rock. I remember that translation because I think of Peter as the one wanting to Rock the Boat.
A Stormy Story
Well, this Rock, this Peter, pops up throughout the gospels, and certainly is included whenever Matthew refers collectively to Jesus’ disciples. Ch. 14 covers a number of stories, including the story we read together last Sunday about the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Certainly Peter was there with the other disciples as they looked around at the hordes of hungry people scattered on the grassy field, and said to Jesus, “send the crowds away so they may…go…and buy food...” And certainly Peter did not forget Jesus’ quick response back to them, “No….You give them something to eat.” Peter grew accustomed to Jesus’ way of giving his disciples just what they needed to Go and Do God’ work, even if was only five loaves and two fish, somehow it was always enough. As Peter came to know and even love Jesus, Peter came to expect that call, he listened for his voice urging them to get up and go! That was the kind of teacher and leader Jesus was.
So Peter was there that day, as the multitudes were fed miraculously. He was there hours later as the crowds returned home, hearts and tummies full. Just as Peter was there when Jesus commanded the disciples to climb into their boat and row back to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Although we don’t hear from him personally, Peter stepped in that boat, side by side the others and set off from the dry, safe land to row, as far as they knew, just to the sea’s far side. Though things didn’t quite turn out like that.
Anyway, after Jesus watched the disciples float away, bobbing on calm waves, he hiked off by himself. He climbed up a mountain to be alone, to pray, something he had been trying to do earlier that day. But now Jesus was up on the mountain, with no sounds but the whistle of wind and buzzing of insects as the day came to a close. He was alone. He was in peace. All was quiet.
But peace and quiet was not the case for everyone. The disciples, back in their boat, were as far away from peace and quiet as they were from the dry land. Perhaps a better word for them would be Chaos. Many people in biblical times were afraid of the water anyway. When they thought of water they imagined scary sea monsters and unexpected undercurrents. Their boats were not like our boats today, and being in a boat meant being at the mercy of the sea. These were desert people, like the Arizonans I lived with before moving here. Being on dry land felt safe to them. Being in the water meant being powerless, especially atop the deep churning sea. Some of the most daring among them were Fishermen, like Peter and Andrew. Those willing daily to get into their rickety little boats, casting nets farther and farther out to sea, to catch enough fish to feed the people. And so when we read stories such as this one today, and remember that even those bravest fishermen Peter and Andrew were in that boat, scared out of their wits…we know that whatever happened out at sea that day must have been truly terrifying.
As the sun descended and day turned to night, Jesus sat on his mountain alone. The wind suddenly picked up. The waves grew rough, strong, began to beat the boat: up and down, side to side, back and forth. The disciples lost track of where they came from and where they were headed. They were far from land, being sucked out into the dark open waters. No matter how hard they rowed and steered, the very wind was against them. Rain fell. Waves crashed. Gales howled. Thunder roared. The hours passed.
Who knows what was said or thought or imagined in that little boat. Midnight came and went. One o’clock came and went. Two o’clock. Three o’clock. But no one dreamed of sleeping. The disciples kept their eyes open wide, scanning the dark for anything, anyone, who could save them.
At some point early in the morning, what’s called the “fourth watch,” between 3 and 6 AM, one of the disciples saw something. Some movement over the waters, some movement through the waves and fog. I wonder if that disciple spoke out immediately, or if they rubbed their eyes first with their wrinkled hands, wondering if they were half dreaming. Whatever it was, it continued to come toward them, hovering, bobbing along, like it was walking on wild waters. Soon the whole boat noticed and they stared in horror. Matthew says “the disciples saw him walking on the sea, [and] they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear.”
I would say so, screamed out rather, hollered in hysteria. They were soaked to the bone, dog tired, drained by fear, lost in the middle of chaos and ready to just give up, when suddenly something new was with them, this shape which looked so real, so like Jesus. Yet it couldn’t be real, for no one can walk on water! But then their ears heard something: a voice, familiar. “Jesus spoke to them, and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid!’”
And most of them listened. Most disciples heard his voice and sighed with deep relief. In both Mark and John, that line from Jesus is, for all practical purposes, the end of the story. Jesus speaks, the winds die down, the waves settle into the sea, and the disciples recognize Jesus and welcome him into the boat. That is the story most often told, and it beautiful isn’t it? I can imagine hearing Jesus’ calm voice coming through the thunder and crashing waves. Him standing there on the sea. Their gratitude and relief I almost like that version better!
But this year we’re reading Matthew’s version. And his story includes one extra character: Peter. And Peter’s not like any other guy in that boat.
“If It IS You”
Peter’s not just a good guy, he’s a wise guy. Even out there in the middle of nowhere, our guy Peter hasn’t totally lost his head. No matter how he might want to trust his eyes that see Jesus standing there. No matter how much he would like to believe his ears that just heard Jesus’ voice.
Still, in Peter’s heart, something was wrong. The man watching them from the water looked, even sounded like Jesus. But he did not ACT like the Jesus Peter knew. That very first day Peter met Jesus, even as a complete stranger, Jesus gave him a new name and then immediately told him to get up, walk away from his fishing nets and everything he knew, and Follow Me, he had said, for I will make you fishers of men. Then not too long afterwards, Jesus had come to Peter’s house because his mother-in-law was dying of fever. Nobody could save her. And yet Jesus walked in, cool as you please, and healed Peter’s mother with one touch on her hand. Everyone was amazed! But she didn’t just lay there in bed, grateful. She got up immediately, like she’d been Called by Jesus, and began to serve Him. Even just the day before, Peter had watched as Jesus Called him and the other disciples to get up and go Feed the hungry crowds of people. They didn’t know how they’d do it with just a few loaves and fish. But Jesus Called them, and so they Followed, day by day, sometimes understanding, something not. And I have a hunch that Peter maybe more than the rest got it: that it was FOLLOWING Jesus that made them BELIEVE.
Those were Peter’s experiences. He knew Jesus to be kind and loving, but always, always Calling people to get up from their lives: from their Pride, Wealth, and Safety, but also from their Loneliness, Woundedness, and Fear. Peter came to expect it, you see, the way Jessu was always Calling people, calling, calling people. He remembered Jesus’ words: “COME TO ME, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:30).
So Peter, even cold and shivering in that rocking boat, even as his eyes saw Jesus and his ears heard his voice, even so, with fear and trembling, Peter cried out: “’Lord, if it is you, command me to COME TO YOU on the water.’” If it is… you.
“And Jesus said, ‘Come.’” So Peter got out of the boat, with no more idea how to walk on water than how to feed five thousand people. But Jesus called so Peter put one leg after the other out of the boat, until he felt the cold splashing water beneath him. He looked out to Jesus, the Jesus his heart knew, and he started walking toward him, one foot in front of the other like a baby toddling toward its mother, unsure of himself but willing to trust and keep trusting. And when the strong winds came and knocked him Peter became afraid out there by himself. He felt his body being sucked down into that swirling, chaotic, undercurrent. Peter cried “Lord, save me!” And Jesus was there, immediately, reaching down into the waters, grasping his hand and holding tight, pulling him up, back up into the morning light. Then, most ironic of all, Jesus chides him, the way a parent might playfully chide a small child: “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Why did you doubt…that I would call you; that I would save you; that you could do it after all?
“You of little faith.” How funny, ironic even that Jesus says that. For the reality of the story, as I understand it, is that Peter has more faith, certainly more courage than anyone else in the boat. Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you. How much easier it would be to just sit there and wait for Jesus to come. How much easier to just accept what we’re told. How much easier to believe what our eyes and ears tell us, instead of listening to what’s in our hearts. But Peter took the harder route. He was the only one who got out of the boat; the only one who almost drowned. And even after Jesus and Peter climb into the boat, and winds cease and the waves calm, even so, I believe that Peter was the only disciple truly Saved by Jesus that day.
Peter the Rock of the Church
Peter was never the same. Hearing Jesus on the water: Come to Me. Walking toward him, sinking, being brought to safety again. Doing it, following Jesus through it, made Peter Believe in a way he never had before. So much so that two chapters later Jesus asks the disciples: Who Do You Say That I Am? The disciples fumbled and stuttered that some folks thought Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life again, or perhaps the prophet Elijah or maybe even Jeremiah. But Peter, Peter answered right away, sure and serious. He looked Jesus right in the eyes, the same eyes who had seen right through him as he tottered like a baby over the waves. Peter said: “You [Jesus] are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”
And friends, that is the very first time, in the whole gospel, words like those were spoken. Jesus smiled and spoke the only beatitude he ever gave to an individual: Blessed are you [Peter]!...And I tell you, you are Peter (Rock) and on this Rock I will build my church…” My church, this Church….
May we, Christ’s Church, have the eyes, the ears, and the heart to follow Peter, following Christ. May we have the Faith to listen for Jesus’ call into the storm rather than cowering in the boat. May we have the Wisdom to walk together, you and I, and millions of others, across that water. Sometimes steadily, sometimes stumbling. But always following, always trusting that Emmanuel--God is with us--even to this day, and will reach out God’s hand and catch us when we start to sink, pulling us up, up toward the morning light. Amen.
Copyright 2008 Rev. Shelaine R. Bird