Matthew 14:22-33                                Susan J. Barnes

St. Matthew’s Church, Austin                            11 August 2002

This passage stands out in the midst all of Jesus parables and his encounters with the crowd in the Gospel of Matthew. As Merrill pointed out in our staff Bible Study, Jesus’ appearance walking on water feels more like a post-Resurrection story than an episode in Jesus’ ministry. It is there for a purpose, of course, it has meaning there. I would like to discuss the meaning of the story today from two points of view.

On one hand, it's about Jesus' identity. The story ends with the disciples worshipping Jesus and saying to him "Truly you are the Son of God". It’s the only time that happens in the gospel of Matthew during Jesus' life. It recurs twice after the Resurrection.

So the story is about Jesus' identity as the Son of God. On the other hand, Peter's walking on water is a powerful metaphor for the life of faith--true faith, faith that defies reason, faith that overcomes all doubts and fears It's about the faith of individual disciples and the faith of the church as a whole.

Let's begin with Jesus' identity. We have been reading through the gospel week by week, like a serial novel. So let me remind you, as a serial would, that when we left our hero Jesus last week, he had just heard about the death of John the Baptist. You may remember that John raised his own questions about Jesus' identity. Imprisoned, with death facing him, John wanted to know if Jesus was, indeed, the Messiah. John had sent his disciples to ask Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"

When Jesus got the news about John's death, he tried to withdraw to pray right away, but the crowds followed, him--5,000 and more. He had compassion on them, so he cared for them, and he fed them to their full with a few loaves and fishes.

Today's gospel picks up there. Once the crowds have gone and Jesus has sent the disciples out on a boat, he is finally alone with God. Jesus he prays through the night. Meanwhile, his disciples are caught in one of those storms that comes up on the Sea of Galilee. Just before daybreak, Jesus comes to them, walking on the water.

Not surprizingly, they are terrified at the apparition. You know, people didn't just walk on water in those days either. The worldview of the disciples made more room for magic and miracles than ours does. Even for them, though, only ghosts, or Gods, or people empowered by Gods would walk on water. But, Jesus? Jesus was their friend, their rabbi, a man like them. The disciples didn't really know yet how completely Jesus was empowered by God. This is when they learned that lesson. That's one big point of Matthew's story. You may remember another story of Jesus and the disciples on the water. That’s back in chapter 8, when they are all together in a boat when a storm arises. When he is wakened by the panicked disciples, Jesus calms the waters. Then they all ask themselves "What sort of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?

This time Jesus gives them the answer. First he tells them. "It is I," he says. Nothing special in English, but the original Greek reads: Ego emi, Those are the same words that the Jewish scriptures used for Yahweh's name, words that in the Old Testament we translate, "I am". Like Matthew’s community, the disciples heard it clearly: they heard Jesus call himself by Yahweh's name, God's name. Then the disciples saw it: Jesus called Peter out to walk on the water. Only gods and people empowered by gods could walk on water. The disciples got it: they understood fully who Jesus was. They worshipped him and they declared "Truly you are the Son of God".

Matthew’s gospel makes another point in the story of Peter's walking on water—an episode that is unique to that gospel. It is a metaphor--in capsule--of the entire faith journey. It’s the life-long cycle we go through as people of faith the ever-repeating four stages: discernment, daring, doubt, and rededication.

The story is a marvel. Simple, direct, visual, it convinces because it blends the supernatural fact of walking on water, with the completely natural interchange between the two men, Jesus the teacher and his pupil, Peter.

Discernment, daring, doubt, rededication. First Peter discerns. He seeks to affirm that Jesus is who he says he is. Peter sets out a test for Jesus and for himself. Jesus had called the disciples to follow him. If this apparition was truly he, Jesus should command Peter to follow him in the impossible: walking on water. Jesus commands. Peter, empowered by faith, empowered by God, dares to obey.

Peter dares to walk on water. And it works--until he is gripped by doubt. The strong wind frightens him, recalls him to the world of reason, of cause and effect, of natural law--the "reality" that people don't walk on water. Peter's faith fails, he flounders.

But just as quickly, he reaches out in faith again, he rededicates himself to his belief in Jesus' grace and power. And, with a playful scolding from Jesus about his "little faith," he is saved.

The archetypal disciple, Peter is an excellent model for each of us. Often in telling this story, people fault Peter--as if they would have done better. Not I. I admire his courage. I envy his faith, faith strong enough at the outset to dare to follow Jesus on a path that defied all reason, all natural law. Faith strong enough that it faltered only a split second before Peter reclaimed it, regained it. Let’s face it. He could swim. He could have taken safely to the water to get back to the boat. He didn't. He reached out, instead, to Jesus. He prayed, "Save me, Lord," in faith that Jesus could and that Jesus would save him.

In Matthew’s story, Peter stands for each one of us who seeks to follow Jesus, to go where Jesus beckons. But there is more. Peter was the first disciple. Peter was the rock on which Jesus' church would be built. In this story, Peter also stands for the Church. Matthew was speaking to the doubts and fears of his own community, and—across the millenia—to ours.

Then and now the church goes through the same cycle that individual Christians do of discernment, daring, doubt, and rededication. As the Body of Christ we are called constantly to seek God's will, to discern where Jesus stands, where Jesus beckons us to follow. More often than not, that way will be challenging. God has, God does, God will call us to do something beyond our own imaginings, something improbable, even apparently impossible.

Impossible, that is, for us on our own, but not impossible with God. Who could have imagined, who can explain even to this day the fact that a small band of illiterate, oppressed Jewish peasants in a remote corner of the Roman Empire could have given birth to the most important,
enduring, far-reaching movement in history. Impossible--except with God.

Even when the church is focused and faithful, like Peter, even when we have discerned, and dared to embark on the path where Jesus is leading us and empowering us to follow, we will have moments of doubt. It's only human. We will forget that it's not about us, not about our vision, surely not about our ability. Like Peter, we will suddenly feel exposed, at risk. We
will realize that we have stepped out onto the water, that we are walking there, and that it's impossible. Our fear will overcome our faith, and we will flounder. When that happens--as it inevitably will--let us look to Peter's example. Rather than fall back on our own devices and swim to safety, let us reach out to Jesus, praying "Save us, Lord!"

So, let us have faith. The marquee on a church near my house reads today: "What God ordains, God sustains." It is true. God does provide the means for us to accomplish God’s purposes.

But we have to discern God’s will, and be ready to dare to follow where Jesus calls us to go. For the church, that means that we have to have a leader who is open to that call, seeking God’s will rather than imposing his or her own. What I’ve learned since Merrill got here is that this church now has such a leader, one who is prepared to do just that—to work with us—to dare to follow where Jesus beckons. Thanks be to God.

What God calls us to do, God will support. Like Peter, if we are to do the impossible, God will empower us to do so. Like Peter, too, when we doubt, if we rededicate ourselves to God's purpose, God will reward our faith. If we only reach out, God will catch us. God will provide. Jesus will save.