The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Matthew 14:22 And immediately He made the disciples get into the boat, and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And after He had sent the multitudes away, He went up to the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. 24 But the boat was already many stadia away from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were frightened, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.’ 28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ 29 And He said, ‘Come!’ And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are certainly God’s Son!’ (NASB)
Dinner had been served. Five thousand men, plus women and children had been fed miraculously with five loaves and two fish. The sun was setting and the time had come for Jesus to do what He originally intended to do when He set sail earlier that day. He was going up a mountain to pray to His heavenly Father.
John the Baptist was dead. He had spent the entire day, tending to people who were like sheep without a shepherd. He taught them about the kingdom of heaven. He healed the sick for He had compassion on them and He had fed them. It was time to grieve.
22 “Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat, and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And after He had sent the multitudes away, He went up to the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.”
Alone at last. While Jesus prayed on the mountain, the disciples were trying sail and row their way to the other side of the lake, about six miles as the crow flies. It should have taken about two hours under normal sailing conditions. But the conditions weren’t normal. The weather had turned against them. They might well have been at sea for six hours or more and still only half way across.
It was the fourth watch of the night, that’s between 3 and 6 a.m. and they had gone “many stadia.” A stadia is 607 feet. There are 8.6 stadia in a mile. It is likely that the disciples were 2 or 3 miles out but their progress had stopped. The text tells us that they were being batter by waves and the wind was “contrary” to them. Adding to the problem of the winds and waves, was the common belief in the ancient world that tempests were the result of evil forces with great power.
They were caught in a storm. There was a lot of water splashing about. Probably a lot of yelling orders back and forth and disagreements on what ought to be done next to keep the boat aright. They believed that evil forces were at work hiding in the wind, rain, and waves seeking to swamp them. Then an image appeared on the water. 25 “And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were frightened/terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’And they cried out for fear.”
They thought Jesus was a phantasm, a ghost, or, a spirit of some kind. The Greek word that is translated, “frightened” or “terrified” is the word that is also used to describe the mood of a crowd when they are whipped up into a frenzy or hysteria. (We call this the nightly news and the main stream news media).
When the disciples saw the figure of a man walking on the water heading toward them in the midst of the wind and waves they were panicked beyond reason. I submit that there is more to the fear here that meets the eye. The disciples were scared to death of death. Reason and faith had been overtaken. They were afraid of dying under the circumstances and at the hands of an evil spirit.
We don’t always see it, but sometimes we sense it. Some people are more aware of it than others. I am talking about the spiritual forces arrayed against us and Christ’s church. As the apostle wrote (Eph. 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Sometimes battle is fierce, fear rises in our hearts, and we take our eyes off Jesus.
Fear is a great weapon. It is a weapon used by evil human beings and spirits alike. A great many politicians and despots use it on their populations. The whip people up into a frenzy of fear, then convince them that all we will well if only they give up some freedom and allow the people in power to save them. That’s what the fear of death can do to entire civilizations. In fear of death they yield all, only to fall prey to death in the end.
Only One can truly save us from fear, sin, death, and the power of the devil and deliver. “They cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.’” In English it sounds like a common grammatical construction. Just the ordinary way in whereby one person tells another person, “Hey it’s just me.” But in the Greek,the statement “it is I” was a unique and definitive form of self identification. It’s called by exegetes and theologians the “Great I Am” from Exodus 3:13. “Moses said to God, ‘Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
“I am” in Hebrew is “Yahweh.” Jesus used words and a grammatical construct to identify Himself as the God who is God, not only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but God in flesh Maker of heaven and earth and Master over nature itself. “It is I. Do not be afraid.”
Peter said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” It’s equally valid and I think a better translation to translate Peter’s response like this. “Lord, since it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” “If it is You” contains a sense of a gamble. It indicates a question in Peter’s mind. Peter is putting the thing that walks on the water to the test. But what happens if it is not Jesus? Peter gets out of the boat and finds himself fighting for his life among the waves.
But if it is translated “Since it is You, command me to come to You on the water,” then what we have is a statement of great faith that leads to an act of faith. It is Peter after all who puts the option of “the walking on water” on the table. Jesus didn’t suggest it.
In the moment Peter got it. Jesus is Lord over the living and the dead, food and drink, health and sickness, angels and demons, and even the Lord of nature. “Command me to come to you on the water.” Peter understands that at Jesus’s command this impossible thing becomes possible because Jesus commanded it.
“‘Come!’ And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” 30 But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
Peter was just fine as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. Then, it happened. The inevitable. Just like it does to us. The circumstances overwhelmed him and he took his eyes off of Jesus and Christ’s words. He forgot that a command of Christ’s is also a promise. Peter began to doubt and to sink.
Rene Descartes is regarded as the father of modern philosophy. He was a rationalist. He attempted explain how human beings come to know what is real and true. He did it by using reason and logical arguments, rather than external experience with the outside world. He developed an argument that is called “methodological doubt.” A person begins this process of knowing by doubting everything, including one’s own existence. This is where the Latin axiom Cogito ergo sum, “I think therefore I am.”
There is in a Christian sense comfort when you struggle with doubt. One could say as a Christian “Dubito ergo sum. “I doubt therefore I am.” In other words, doubt doesn’t exist where there is no faith because if you don’t believe something to be true or real, then you have nothing to doubt. You doubt, precisely because you believe.
Luther was sitting in his study when a young pastor came into the room with his head low. Luther asked him what was wrong. He said, “I feel so ashamed. Sometimes I have trouble believing the very things I preach.” Luther raised his head and with a big smile on his face, he said to the young man, “thanks be to God! I thought I was the only one!” Doubt is part of the human condition. Doubt exists right along the side of belief.
In Mark 9 a father brought his demon possessed son to Jesus to be healed. He asked Jesus to have pity on his son. 23 “And Jesus said to him . . . All things are possible to him who believes.’ 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, ‘I do believe; help my unbelief.’”
At Jesus’s command, “Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’”
When Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, he was filled with faith. He reasoned that if Jesus’ commanded him to do it, he could do it. When Jesus commanded Peter to walk on the water, he walked on the water. Moments as Peter looked at the wind and waves, doubt reared its ugly head later and Peter began to sink. He cried out, “Lord Save me.” That was faith making its comeback.
Once Jesus and Peter were in the boat the storm ceased. And everyone in the boat said, “You are certainly God’s Son!” Doubt and fear had been driven back and faith did what faith does. It confessed Jesus was God’s only begotten Son.
St. Augustine said that on the wood of the cross “Jesus shows us that He Himself is the way to the homeland, but there is no way to cross over to the homeland unless you are carried by the wood.”
Folks the church is the wood, the ark, the boat. You are in the ship of salvation right now. Out there are storms and tempests, civil chaos, danger, things seen and unseen, uncertainty, doubt, unbelief, rebellion, hostility, temptations, and death.
But here in the boat of the church is Christ Himself, His Word, His Commands and His Promises, and in the means of grace the Sacraments.
Peter wavered. He got distracted, but Christ never took His eyes off Peter. Jesus was not distracted by the tempest. The laws of physics didn’t even merit His attention. When Peter stumbled in his faith, Jesus did not disregard Peter. He saved Him and returns him to the boat, to that little church on the Sea of Galilee.
Every Christian should fix his or her eyes on Jesus. Where two or three are gathered in His name, there is the church. In the midst of the tempest of this world Jesus says “Lo, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.” “Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.” “Be of good cheer!” Do not be afraid. My peace I give to you.” “It is I, do not be afraid” your sins are forgiven.
AMEN
May the Peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.