Proper 14 -- Jonah 2: 1–9; Psalm 29; Romans 9: 1–5; Matthew 14: 22–33
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, August 10th, 2008
Know anyone who “walks on water”?
We used have a saying back during my Army days, “so-and-so ‘walks on water’.”
This phrase was often heard when annual evaluations came out. And it meant, essentially, “so-and-so is ‘perfect’” (or at least as far as the report of their performance in the preceding year was concerned).
(Maybe you’ve heard – or used - this phrase in conversation.)
As we hear this well-known account of Jesus’ walking on the water in the deep morning hours (the fourth watch is from 3:00 – 6:00 AM), we might think this account’s implications are quite clear….We may be tempted to say the “moral of the story” would be to “keep our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus”, if we want to succeed in our spiritual walk with God.
Fair enough….that’s a good lesson to draw out of this incident, for it’s clear that Peter is doing a very good job of walking on water until he begins to notice the wind and the waves which are welling up around him. (Remember that Matthew tells us that the boat the disciples were in was being “beaten” by the waves.) Only then does he begin to sink into the waves.
However, let’s go deeper with this event….and what we ought to consider is the perfect power of God to control the forces of chaos, and to redeem and save His people.
And to do so, may I suggest we begin by looking briefly at the ancient world’s view of the created order….For the ancient world’s understanding of things and how they work significantly influences the meaning of biblical events.
(Remember that God intervenes in human history, teaching us about His will for us and for the world, using the images and thought processes of the time, place and culture in which God’s truth is proclaimed….This is not to say that the timeless truths of God differ from age to age. They don’t. But they are expressed in ways that are connected to the time, place and culture in which they are proclaimed.)
We begin with the account of creation as we read it in Genesis, and we begin with the elements of water and dry land (water figures prominently in today’s Gospel account)…..
In Genesis 1: 2, we read that “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Next, we read that God created light (1: 3 – 5), and then He created the firmament, which separated the “waters from the waters” (1: 6). The firmament separated the waters that were “under the firmament” from the waters that were “above the firmament” (1: 7)
Then, we notice that God gathered the waters “together into one place” (1: 9), and “dry land appeared.” (1: 9).
With the appearance of dry land, the stage is now set for plants (1: 11 – 12), “living creatures” of every kind (1: 24 – 25), and finally, mankind (1: 26 – 27) to take their place upon the land.
Now, fast-forward with me to the account of the Great Flood. In Genesis 7: 11, we read that “all the fountains of the great deep burst forth”, and after the flood was over, the “fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed” (8: 2).
Thus, the Great Flood was cause not only by the rain which fell from the heavens above, but the waters that were under the dry land burst open, flooding the land.
This account illustrates the ancient mindset where the orderliness of creation, and especially the power of water, was concerned: God separated the waters from the dry land, and when He destroyed the earth by flooding it, He allowed the waters under the land to inundate the land (in addition to causing it to rain from the heavens).
Thus, chaos is caused when the orderliness of the created order(dry land in one place, and the waters in another) is upset. Life for humans and animals becomes impossible under these conditions.
(We can see the power of water and its ability to destroy life in the recent flooding that took place in Indiana and in Iowa.)
The Psalms pick up this view of creation. Often, verses in the Psalms will refer to the chaos of being overcome by the flood of waters, and they often depict God’s safety in terms of being “set on a rock that is higher than I”, or in terms of having one’s feet “set on a firm place”.
Consider these selected verses from the Psalms which illustrate the destructive power of water:
69: 1” “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.”Now, consider these verses which extol God’s power to deliver us from sinking into the waters (or watery mud):
124: 1 – 5: “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say – if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters.”
40: 1 – 2: “I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock.”So, we may summarize the ancient view of the world by saying:
27: 5: “For He (the Lord) will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent, He will set me high upon a rock.”
- God separated (and keeps separated) the waters under the earth,
- Chaos ensues when the forces of the water (either below the earth or in a flood or in the seas or in a lake) are unleashed, as in the Great Flood,
- A firm place to stand is identified with God’s favor. God’s power to save is made manifest in such circumstances.
Now, we are ready to look more closely at today’s Gospel account, with the ancient world’s view of the created order in mind.
First, we notice that the waters are raging, “beating” the boat the disciples were in. (Literally, the Greek implies that the boat was being “tortured” by the waters.) It was a rough ride, for sure. Not only were the disciples alone in the boat, without Jesus (who had gone away to be alone to pray, following the arrival of the news that His cousin, John the Baptist, had been killed by King Herod),[1] but it was the darkest part of the night. And, the storms that so easily came up over the Sea of Galilee (and which are capable of producing very high waves and stormy conditions in a short timeframe) had gripped the boat.
For these disciples, the journey might well have brought some of the verses from the Psalms to mind. Maybe they prayed, “O Lord, don’t let the raging waters and the torrent wash over us!” Chaos, the chaos of unleashed, raging waters, threatened their very lives.
Into this situation Jesus comes, walking on the raging water.
We might pause for a moment at this point and recall God’s power to calm the raging waters…think of the account of the Great Flood….God put the waters under the earth back into their places, restoring order and guaranteeing the continuation of life.
This is the image we might well hold in mind as we see in our own mind’s eye the image of Jesus, walking over the top of the water, as if it were dry and firm ground.
The power of God is made manifest in this act. It is the power of God to create a firm place above the waters of chaos.
The power of God is confirmed in Jesus’ words to the frightened disciples, “Take heart, I am; have no fear!”
Let’s stop right there….why did I render Matthew 14: 27 differently from the Revised Standard Version (RSV), the version of the Bible we usually read every Sunday? After all, the RSV reads, “Take heart, it is I, have no fear!”
The reason is that what Jesus says is, literally, “I am.” That’s how the Greek reads.
“I am”, as in “I am who I am”,[2] spoken to Moses at the burning bush. The great name of God himself, “I am”.
Matthew wants us to hear Jesus’ self-identification….To be sure, this inclusion of the great divine name, “I am” is not as frequent as it is in John’s Gospel account, where we read this divine self-identification much more frequently, but the implication is clear, nonetheless: God is present in Jesus’ control over the waters.
And the disciples confirm God’s presence when they exclaim, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”[3]
So, God’s presence is manifest in Jesus’ power over the waters, and in the stillness which ensues once He enters the boat. The disciples, who were steeped in the Scriptures, recognize the implications of these events when they confirm Jesus’ identity, “You are the Son of God.”
Now, what of Peter and his actions? After all, he is the only human being in recorded history who ever “walked on water.” Or – if we are to be honest about it – he walked on water for a short while, at least.
Peter vacillates between faith and doubt. For that is exactly the word Jesus uses when he asks Peter, “O man of little faith, why did you vacillate?” (The RVS – and most other versions – translate this word as “doubt”, but the more correct meaning is “vacillate”. But “doubt” can mean “to be skeptical” of something, or it can mean to “waver or vacillate”, as it does here.)[4]
So, the Lord’s meaning seems to imply that Peter looked to Jesus, then at the raging waters and the wind, and then back to Jesus, and then at the water and the wind, and so forth.
Peter was caught between an ability to take hold of the demonstrated power of God (Jesus’ walking on the water), by which he was able to jump over the side of the boat (an act that goes against every rational thought for one’s self-preservation), and the reality of the power of water (remember that Peter was a fisherman, a man who knew firsthand and very well the destructive power of water).
So, he vacillates, and begins to sink into the waters, as a result.
“Lord, save me!”, Peter cries out in distress.
What are the implications of today’s reading?
Perhaps the following might be applied to this significant event in Jesus’ earthly ministry:
- Jesus preserves the lives of His saints: Jesus offers safety to Peter twice: in the offer to “come”, as Peter gets out of the boat and begins to walk on the water, and again when He reaches out and pulls Peter from the waters. Jesus also offers safety to the other disciples as the wind and waves subside, once He and Peter are in the boat.
- The boat offers safety: Think of the boat as firm place, riding on the waters. As such, it preserves life and counteracts the chaotic effects of the water it floats upon (though its ability to do so is limited – remember that the boat, Matthew tells us, was being “beaten” by the waves).
- Jesus comes, offering safety and the preservation of life in the most unexpected time: No doubt, the disciples thought they were all alone out on the Sea of Galilee, in the deepest and darkest part of the night, their boat working against the wind and being battered by the waves. Yet Jesus comes to them in their distress, saying, “I am”, and adding, “have no fear.”
Put another way, and into our modern context, we might say that Jesus preserves His saints, and He does so by calling us to venture out of the safety of the boat into the chaotic situations of life, situations which may seem a whole lot like the rush of mighty waters that would overwhelm us.
The Church is often seen – in this passage – as a boat.[5] As such, the Church offers life-preserving safety to those within it, for it offers a firm place in the midst of the raging waters. But even the Church’s ultimate welfare is dependent upon Jesus’ power to preserve it by stilling the waters which would destroy it.
When we are called out of the safety of the boat – the Church – into risky situations, only a singular focus on Jesus’ power to save will preserve us. If we vacillate between a focus on Him, and the forces which would drag us under the surface, then we will surely sink. Even then, the cry “Lord, save me!” brings life-giving assistance.
Power to conquer comes through a singular dependence and focus on Jesus, the one who has the God-given power to control the forces of chaos which would destroy us.
Thanks be to God!
AMEN.
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[1] Matthew 14: 1 - 12
[2] Exodus 3: 14
[3] Matthew 14: 33
[4] M. Eugene Boring’s analysis of this point is most helpful, as it is found in The New Interpreter’s Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995).
[5] Here again, I am indebted to M. Eugene Boring’s analysis of the meaning of this text. The Church, historically, has seen itself as a boat or ship, plying the waters of life and the world.
