Transcript
Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. Please be seated.
I’m not sure if you all know this about me, but I am a surfer. The first time I stood up on a surfboard, I was 5 years old. A family friend tossed me up onto the board, and I was small enough, and the board was big enough that I just stood there. Actually, I think I even walked around a little bit. The first time I stood up on my own, I was 8 years old. I’m not sure if you’ve ever surfed before. It’s a lot. A lot of fun, a lot of work, and a lot of just everything.
One thing I remember very vividly once I stood up, I remember thinking, “Wow. I feel really tall. I can see so far.” And then I thought, “This must be what it is like when Jesus walks on water, standing on top of the water, looking out, seeing the world from a perspective that is usually reserved for pelicans and the occasional high-jumping dolphin.” Every time I read this passage from Matthew when Jesus walks on water, and then Peter asks to do the same, I always think of that first time I stood up on my surfboard all by myself. I think of the joy and the overwhelming awe and a little bit of fear, because it’s easy to learn how to catch a wave, but most people forget to teach you how to get off the wave.
Perhaps that’s what happened to Peter. He was so excited to see Jesus. He called out to him, “Jesus, command me to come to you on the water.” In other words, “I want to do what you’re doing.” And Jesus says, “Sure.”
So, Peter stepped out. Steps out of the boat onto the water and begins walking on the water. Remember that whole laws of nature thing? Not applying here. All of a sudden, though, Peter realizes what is going on, and he starts to panic. The thing about most adventures, get surfing or sailing or even on solid ground like rock climbing or mountain biking or even just everyday life like driving a car, as soon as you start to panic, your skill level instantly plummets. In today’s gospel, when Peter starts to panic, he’s frightened and starts to doubt himself in the situation, he starts to sink.
And Jesus reaches out and catches him. And then Jesus reprimands Peter, “You of little faith.” As if becoming frightened means not having faith. But, what if that’s not it? What if instead Jesus isn’t reprimanding Peter for being afraid, but for something else?
Because I can say when I am on a surfboard, the wave can be really awesome until it’s not awesome. And it’s really easy to become frightened and really easy to start to panic and really easy to wonder how you’re going to get out of this mess. I imagine walking on water with strong winds and battering waves. Peter didn’t necessarily lose faith. He just forgot that he wasn’t doing it all on his own. He wasn’t walking on water because of his own skills, own gifts, or his own talents. He was walking on water because Jesus called him to. And the wind and the waves were just distractions taking Peter’s attention away from where God was calling him to be.
So, I’m curious, what’s distracting you? If Jesus is calling you to do something, maybe not quite stepping out of a boat and walking on water, still, if Jesus is calling you to do something, what’s stopping you? What’s keeping you from answering it? What proverbial strong wind and battering waves are preventing you from having the faith needed to fully, unconditionally follow Jesus?
Interestingly, I’m going to change and talk about this passage from 1 Kings that Elizabeth just read. Good job with those names. It’s about the same kind of thing. By the way, this passage from 1 Kings is one of my absolute favorite passages in all of scripture, and it is one of the foundational pieces of my understanding of who God is.
You see, God isn’t in the storm. God isn’t in the distractions. We so often think of God as the all powerful, meaning containing a lot of power, like a hurricane. But in 1 Kings, God is the opposite of that. God isn’t in the thing that grabs our attention.
God is in the sheer silence. God is in the quiet and peace and calm. God is in the hand reaching out to you when you start thinking. God is the voice that is speaking peace as the psalmist wrote.
All those distractions, the battering waves and the stronger great wind, the earthquake, the fire, they are just that, distractions. But when we can put aside all the fear, the nervousness, the worry that we’re not enough, whatever enough we might be seeking, when we can put all that aside and we call out to Jesus, to God, and we wait, we will hear command. Of course, God is speaking. God is calling. The question is, are we listening? And what do we hear?
In the gospel, God called out and it was come. In the Old Testament, it was go. For you, it might be come or go, or it might be something different. Maybe give, or serve, or be. Maybe speak, or listen, or wait. Maybe build, or rest, or share.
Whatever it is, whatever that command is, the one that God calls out to you, there’s room to answer that call here at St. John’s Church. Because the church exists to help people discern God’s voice and then live it. The best way to do that, to leave the boat, to step out onto the water, isn’t to try and do it alone. Instead, the best way is to answer God’s call, is to do it within a loving community. To do it here at St. John’s Church because you all are just that, a loving community who supports one another, calls out to one another when we are in need of that calming voice, a loving community that reaches out to one another when we are in need of that strong hand.
Don’t get distracted by the other things that exist in the world that might be trying to pull your attention away, trying to distract you from all the call God has for each of you, for each of us. And so maybe these passages be reminders that we are called to listen to God often in the sound of sheer silence. And we are called to answer whatever that answer might be. Don’t let the distractions take you away from the voice of God. Instead, listen for that voice, feel that presence, and then act.
Don’t worry if you get frightened and begin to sink. Christ will reach out, and this community will, too. A reminder that even when we are answering God’s individual call for each of us, we are answering them in community, a loving, supportive community. We are a loving supportive community.
Amen.