One day, a priest, a rabbi, and an imam are out taking a hike in the forest. They see that they need to cross a wide stream, but there is no bridge for miles in either direction, and they have no boat. The rabbi, shrugs, and steps out and walks across the stream to the other side. The imam looks at the priest, and says “Well, if he can do it, I can do it,” and he walks across the stream to the other side. The priest looks up and down the stream, and then across. The rabbi and the imam shout to him “Are you coming or not? We don’t have all day!” The priest sighs, shrugs, and says “Well, if they can do it, I can do it!” So he steps out and… sploosh!... he’s in the water, sopping wet. The rabbi says, “What? You didn’t see the rocks?”
So….
Can we please give Peter a break? After all he did walk on water! He did
ask to have Jesus call him and he did step out. And he certainly got
further on his walk on the water than I… and probably any of us… ever would.
And even when he got frightened and began to sink, he did reach out to
Jesus for help.
Not a bad performance, don’t you think? In fact, I’d say
that Peter’s actions was something of a miracle! Certainly compared to the
priest in my little story!
We tend to think of sinking Peter. And we say in our
hearts—see? He has no faith! He couldn’t do it! It’s like that other joke about this incident ending up in the newspaper and the headline reads, “Apostle Can’t Swim!” In my minds ear, I can hear the
other apostles now, kidding Peter endlessly about this and busting his chops with remarks like "you know what happens when you put The Rock on the water? It sinks!”
But in all this we forget that everything that Peter did that day was an act of faith!
That doesn’t make stepping out towards Jesus in the midst of a storm any less scary, or his impromptu swim any less important, because his experience teaches us that our faith lives best is when we focus on Jesus. But when we get distracted and feel overwhelmed, the best we can do is cry “Lord, help us!”
So, I have another riddle for you: Why did the disciples
cross the lake? To get to the other side!
When the early church remembered Jesus’ miracle, they could
identify with it immediately. Not because they were sailors or fishermen, but
because the new, young church was like a being in a small boat on a big sea in
the middle of a storm. So, in the Gospel
of Matthew (as in Mark, whose outline Matthew follows) “going to the other side
(of the lake)” means going from a safe place to a new, foreign or unknown place
of mission—and this was by definition a risky and stormy trip.
Matthew is telling the story of what Jesus… and how he
rescued Peter… so that his church can remember what it takes to weather
whatever storm we experience.
And we all experience storms. It can be a personal storm—a
conflict, facing a dilemma, dealing with a difficult illness or the loss of a
job. Or it can be a corporate storm—in a workplace, a family, a neighborhood or
even a church. Whatever the reason and whatever the place, we are all familiar
with storms. We deal with them as best we can. We try to keep the water out and
try to stay afloat, even if we don’t make any headway.
Jesus walks across the water and through the storm to come
to the disciples. Some paintings I have seen of this shows a serene Jesus
walking across the water as peacefully as a stroll down a lane on a summer day.
But I think that when Jesus walked across the water, he got wet. The storm was
all around him and the wind was still wailing. The powers of the storm and the
wind and sea tried to overwhelm him, but could not. He walked through the
storm, not immune from its effects and fully immersed in its reality. He was
not overpowered by it.
He would do that on the cross. He would face everything evil
and sin has to offer, including death. He would die a true and real death, just
as he faced a true and real storm on the sea that day, and he would rise from
the dead. In walking on the sea in the storm, he is not just demonstrating his
power, he shows us that the storm is real and that the storm does not deter or
stop him.
Notice that it is only after Jesus gets into the boat,
helping a wet and chastened Peter, that he stills the storm. So there are three
miracles here: Jesus walks on the water. Peter walks on the water. Jesus stills
the storm. But first, people got wet.So,
let’s give Peter a break. And let’s give ourselves a break, too.
There are moments (at least) when we are all of us people of
“little faith.” Martin Luther has an
accurate description of us: he said that
they, and we, are Simul justus et peccator which means "simultaneously saint and
sinner". Peter is a lot like us: a
lion of the faith with a heart of gold who is at the very same dense, fearful,
and reactive.
The disciples are just like us--- faithful people on a difficult journey. A journey beset by storms and it is in the middle of the very real storm comes a very real Jesus to meet them at the scariest moment.
At the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, there is a
little plaque that was given the new, young president by Admiral Hyman
Rickover, who commanded the US Navy’s Submarine Service. It sat on Kennedy's desk during his presidency and it was the same plaque Rickover gave to every
new captain of every boat in his command. It reads: “O God, Thy sea is so great
and my boat is so small.”
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