Walking with Jesus

Fear, more than anything else, can distort our view of the world around us.  We fear things that we don’t understand, things that are different, and things that threaten us.  We fear people who we don’t understand, people who are different, and people who threaten us. When we fear, the proclivity is to want to get away from or to rid ourselves of the thing or person we fear.  Hatred or anger are natural responses we allow ourselves to have in order to compensate the helplessness we feel when we fear.  

We see a lot of fear in today’s lessons.  What is left out of our Old Testament reading is the part about Joseph’s dreams - the ones that represent his brothers bowing down to him.  Joseph’s brothers are jealous of their father’s love for Joseph, and fear that they will not measure up or will be left out or slighted.  Out of that fear grows hatred and the hatred causes the brothers to act, to rid themselves of the source of their discomfort.  Although some of the brothers want to kill him, at least two brothers, Reuben and Judah, seek ways to preserve Joseph’s life.   (Remember this story, because I will probably preach on the sequel to this next week.)

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Matthew is by far my favorite rendering of this gospel lesson.  His is the only gospel in which Peter steps out of the boat to walk to Jesus.  In his excitement, Peter momentarily overcomes any kind of fear to step out in faith.  Of course as we read this gospel, Peter looks around at the waves and his fear returns.  He begins to sink.  

Now, how many times have you heard a sermon on the necessity of keeping your eyes focused on Jesus?  I know we’ve all heard them - over and over.  This world swirls around us and there are many things that can make us fearful.  You may be fearful of the political climate in today’s world.  How about all the animosity in the Middle East?  Especially if you know someone who is over there.  Or how about people plowing cars into crowds of innocent people in Europe?  There is now the newer threat of North Korea and their development of missiles and nuclear weapons.  But you don’t have to go overseas to find violence and mayhem.  Here in our own country, tempers are rising and people lashing out at others who hold a different political view, or religious view or the racial tensions that are rising.  (And I might just insert here in view of the most recent outbreaks, that violence over racism, nationalism or any other “ism” is not okay.   It is totally against the gospel of Jesus Christ.  You know, the one in which he talks about loving your neighbor, forgiving those who have hurt you, and helping those who are less fortunate than you.)  

But to get back to our sermon, even in your own life, you might have job worries, or money troubles, family illnesses or relationship struggles.  The world around us, not unlike the raging sea around the apostles, can be a scary place.  

In our lesson today, you will notice that the disciples are not scared of the wind and waves that have risen up around them.  They are fighting the wind and the waves and not making much headway - but they are fishermen and they are not scared.  It’s not until they see Jesus coming across the water that they get scared.  This is something beyond their experience and they think he is a ghost coming out of the mist.  It isn’t until he says, “Take heart, fear not, it is I,” that they understand that it is Jesus and they will be okay.   

More than anything else, this is a story of faith, and hope.  Peter shows his impetuousness by asking Jesus to call him out, but he doesn’t step out of the boat until Jesus says “Come.”     

I know what it feels like to step out of that boat.  I did that 20 years ago when I left for seminary.   It was scary and exciting at the same time.  And there have been times during the past 20 years that I’ve called out, “Oh Lord, what have you gotten me into?”  

What Peter discovered, and what I discovered, is that the world is going to swirl around you regardless of who you are or what you do.  And sometimes we lose our focus - that’s human, isn’t not a fault nor a failure.  But the beauty of it is, when that happens, all we have to do is call out and Jesus is right there, ready to take your hand and to help you back in the boat. How reassuring that is, to know that Jesus is there.

Too often, the world around us tries to convince us that it is up to us to make things happen, or to improve our status, or to follow faithfully.  Self-help is still all the rage.l. Just look at Pinterest - all kinds of way and instructions on how to ‘do it yourself.’  But that’s the thing about church, or religion, or faith.  When life gets too hard, there is Jesus - just waiting for us to call out so that he can help us to do what needs to be done, to weather the storm that rages around us, or to reach out and save us when we begin to sink.

That reminds me of one of the songs I learned a long time ago.  It goes like this:

Here comes Jesus, see Him walking on the water,

He'll lift you up and He'll help you to stand;

Oh, here comes Jesus, 

He's the Master of the waves that roll.

here comes Jesus, let him take your hand.

Amen.