The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Matthew

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:22-33)

Someone who knows me well, said to me, “You have had one heck of a year, haven’t you?” And I thought about it, and I realized that yep, it hasn’t been an easy year for me.

In fact it hasn’t been an easy four years.

Now I am not looking for sympathy. I know that for some of you this has not been an easy year either. In fact I know some people who can’t remember the last time they had an easy year.   It’s the way things are, isn’t it?

Life has its ups and downs. Life has a way of catching you when you are feeling good and bringing you face to face with something bad.

It was like that for the disciples. They had just been with Jesus as he preached to thousands of people.   They had heard his words, and seen his face, and must have been  excited just being with him, seeing how the crowd reacted.

It must have been really uplifting, and inspiring, and made them feel sure about the man they had chosen to follow.  

Not only that, but they had been part of the action, so to speak – when he had fed over five thousand people with the contents of one lunch box. They had seen how God worked in this man Jesus to do things that seemed impossible.

Anybody normal would have been flying high, don’t you think?

Then Jesus commanded them to take the boat and to start back across the lake.

Jesus may have done this because the crowd was in a mood to forcibly make him a king, and he didn’t want this, and the disciples, not yet realizing his true nature, and goals, might have helped the crowd.

So he sent them on ahead and he climbed up the mountain to be alone to pray.

So they took the boat, and set sail for the other shore.

Fine.

But as is known to happen with that lake, the wind suddenly comes up  and  the sky darkens, and  they are in the midst of a storm, and  can’t control the boat, and are dead scared.

They go from being confident and excited, to helpless and frightened in just a few minutes.

You know, those who sail will tell you that sailing is ninety per cent boredom, and ten per cent sheer terror.

And these guys were experiencing terror!

Maybe from where Jesus  was, on high ground, he saw the disciples in that little boat,  and he went to help them.

But at first, when they saw him, instead of being reassured, they were even more frightened, thinking they had seen a ghost.

But Jesus did eventually calm them down, and then, after he got into the boat with them, the storm subsided.

Even though they were doing what Jesus had told them to do – and surely he wouldn’t put them in danger – they panicked.

They had seen his awesome power, been there when a marvelous miracle had been performed, and they still panicked when that storm had hit.  Their faith had dribbled away.

When you are trying to live your life right, living it according to the way you think Christ would have you live it, you don’t expect to have to deal with storms, do you? 

But storms come up in life, just as unpredictably as they did on that sea of Galilee.

Storms hit us hard sometimes.

All of a sudden, the settled life we are enjoying is shattered – shattered – in such a way that it seems that life will never be the same again.

Why? If we have been living right?

Well…..the weather changes because we live in a dynamic environment.  Winds, high and low pressure ridges, humidity, pollution, all play their part. We understand that is why storms come along.

Life is dynamic too! Events, other people, economic change, normal bodily wear and tear,  the time of the year, the job, the family, – you name it – all contribute to our life environment, as it were, and contribute to the storms that hit us.  

It seems like our little ship of life is close to sinking sometimes.

Even if we have been doing what we think God wants us to do.  

Like if I am living my life right, how come things go wrong?  Eh?

It doesn’t sound right, does it?

But you know, Jesus was right there for his disciples in that storm. No sooner had a need arisen than he was by their side. To help and save.

When we are up against it; when life is a desperate struggle, with ourselves, with our circumstances, with our temptations, our sins and our weaknesses, and our decisions,   Jesus is there with a hand outstretched to save, and with his calm clear voice, bids us to take heart and have no fear.

And we realise that we have been drifting without him. We have forgotten his promise to be with us to the end of the age. We have been trying to do it alone.

And as we have just drifted along, and our faith has dribbled away.

And then sometimes our problem has a different complexion. 

Maybe we weren’t just drifting. Maybe we took some risk, stepped out, reached for something that would normally be beyond our grasp – with confidence, and with a sure sense that we could make it – just to find that confidence dribble away at the first sign of trouble, and panic set in.

That’s what happened with Peter, isn’t it?

The endearing thing about Peter was his eagerness, his brashness, his adventurousness.

But sometimes he was too eager. Sometimes he jumped in without having really thought things out.

You know what I mean. I have done that. I am sure most of you have, too.

Like you leave one job for another, without having checked out the new company well enough, and within a week of being  there, you regret it. 

Or you decide you can afford to redo the bathroom and go ahead, and it costs twice as much as you thought, and when you look into it more closely, you realise you missed out just one or two big items.

How are you going to pay for it all?

Or you take a chance in a relationship, allow it to develop just a bit faster than you should, and finish up getting hurt.  How is your heart ever going to heal?

Or in a moment of rashness, you get involved in something not quite on the up and up,  and have a hard time getting out of it.

So here is Peter.  He jumps into the lake and begins walking toward Jesus.

On the water!

His faith is such that he can do it  ………. but wait a minute……… he looks down, and sees the waves, and realizes it is just too stupid to be real, and he has no life-jacket, and he starts to go under. 

The rock, as Jesus called him, has become  a lead sinker.

But Peter,  no matter how brash, how confident – no matter how often he leapt in without thinking –  knew who his Saviour was. And he reached out for Jesus.

And was saved.

Isn’t that what is needed in life?

Isn’t that what we need in our lives? Someone who knows as soon as we  are in trouble and is there to help. Just as Jesus was there for the disciples? 

Isn’t that what we need? 

Someone who, when we lose confidence in ourselves, and come a cropper, is there to help us up  – without judging us, without condemning us?

Someone who understands?

Someone who has been there?

You know we are not supposed to succeed the first time in everything we do.

I have had my eyes opened over the past years as I have seen my grandchildren going from holding their head up for the first time, to taking their first steps. From gurgling as babies, to trying to put sentences together.

The thing that’s astonishes me is how many times they try a thing,  before they actually make it.

I am amazed that any child gets to be three years old when you consider how many times they fall down, or   when they get under the table, stand up and bang their head.  Again and again.

Until they learn.

Nothing comes without travail. No success ever came without failure on the way.

But just as a parent understands that when a child is trying to walk,  that child needs comforting when she falls, and encouraging to try again, Jesus understands that we need encouraging in our walk in faith, and he is ready to reach out a hand to pick us up, and is there to encourage us when we have fallen just too many times.

I challenge anyone who has had great trauma, and has made themselves open to the love that God sends, to tell me that they were left alone.

There is no ‘alone’ when you follow Jesus.

You don’t see a big hand coming through the ceiling to grab you and stand you up, or pat you on the head.

But you will find someone at your door with a casserole; you will find uplifting messages on cards, in your mailbox, and you will feel the love of God as people help you to get on your feet again.

Where does this come from?        What do we have to do to deserve this?

How do we get this great and wonderful love that surrounds us and delivers us?

Paul tells the Romans, You don’t have to go to heaven to find Jesus, nor down into the depths. You don’t have to live strictly according to the law, because it’s not possible to live that rigidly.

All you have to do, is say, ‘Jesus is Lord’. And believe that God raised him from the dead.

In other words, all you have to do is accept the love he has offered so graciously in Jesus.

And take a hold of that outstretched hand.

Grab it!

Grab life!

And live!  

Amen.