Sermon: Matthew 14

September 8, 2013 

Preaching text: Matthew 14:22-33  Theme story  

When I prepare a sermon, I start with a prayer: God, what do you want to tell your people this week with this story? These bible stories are old, after all; some of them are so outdated they don’t even make sense in our context. And some of them we know so well we don’t even hear them anymore, but we tune out as soon as we hear enough to know we’ve heard it before. Yet, here they come again—year after year the same stories. So, it’s a real question: God, what do you want to tell your people this week with this story? 

This story was chosen as a “theme story” for Living Word at the leadership retreat last May.

What do you think? 

What does God want us to know this week as we hear this story? 

How do you think it’s appropriate for Living Word at this time in our history?

We are starting to uncover some of the complexity of any Bible story. It’s often “not about this, but about that”--what we think we see at first glance is just something to get our attention so we stay with it long enough to see a deeper meaning.

This story has many things going on:

1--Jesus’ authority is being established as he demonstrates power over nature—he just multiplied one picnic lunch to feed thousands of people, then he walks on top of the water in the midst of a storm that has seasoned fishermen terrified, then he calms the storm. [That part is a good reminder for us to “expect the unexpected”]—God is bigger than our fears, and bigger than our hopes and dreams. 

2. --Peter is an interesting character.

He is the one who speaks when they all cower in fear at the sight of the “ghost”. “Lord?”  Clearly that voice was not the one he was expecting. “If it’s you, command me to come to you, walking on the water.”

One of my friends paraphrases this conversation: Peter says, “Lord, if it’s you, command me to do something stupid”, and Jesus replies, “OK, do something stupid.” Really, walking on water? We often make a point of Peter’s trust here. We know, and he knows, he cannot walk on water, but since he steps out of the boat, even though we all know this, we attribute this to trust that Jesus will make this happen. But Peter doesn’t get very far before his brilliant idea is shown to be, well, the stupid thing it is. He starts to sink! Which may demonstrate the fine line we all are called to walk, between trust and stupidity. Maybe Peter’s trust is not about staying on the water, but trust that Jesus would rescue him when he fell—still a point worth making.

3--Which is probably the more important thing to note about this story: Jesus is there.

Jesus is with those he has called, and he saves them from trouble—not only Peter, but all of them. The waters of chaos are churning all around them. The sensible people stay in the boat and try to keep it from tumping over. Jesus walks through the chaos, has a little fun with Peter in an amusing interlude, but then calms the storm. That is an image I can hold on to; I’ve been through some storms myself, glad that God was there to hold me all together. 

So this story is a little about Peter, but it’s more about Jesus, and who God is and how God is known in Jesus. In the midst of a stormy sea, the disciples—who have left Jesus only hours before-- don’t recognize him by sight. They probably can’t really see him—it’s dark and stormy and they’re not looking for a pedestrian on the waves. But they recognize him by his voice and his words. If we were listening with Hebrew ears, we would know the words, too—“It is I”, Jesus says— the same words God said to Moses in the burning bush, “I am”. These 2 words let the disciples know who’s walking on the water-- the Jesus they know, and a new side of Jesus: the Son of God. They’re a little slow, but they’re starting to figure it out. The one who controls nature, the one who knows them and meets them where they are, the one who is nameless but who reminds them “I am”--this is the God of heaven and earth, coming to them from heaven and walking on the earth, and even on the sea. The storm calms when Jesus gets in the boat, and the people in the boat repeat what Jesus already said: “You are the son of God.”

So there are a few good take-aways from this relatively short story.

*God is the God of heaven and earth--definitely more than we are—more powerful, more present, more creative, more compassionate, more.

*God knows who and how and where we are, and comes to us marvelously in Jesus. Even when God has to walk through the chaos of our lives to get to us, God is here.

*God does not rescue us from being stupid. I think that’s why we need to pray so much. But God is with us, even in our stupidity. That’s what we can trust. Peter nor Jesus ever walks on water again, so apparently that is not a goal to be achieved. But they do walk, together and often, proclaiming the kingdom and being the presence of God. We do not need to test God, to see if God will save us from our stupidity—that is not trust. But in our better moments, we do recognize God among us and desire to walk with God.

So, the great thing about a Bible story, and the reason you are still coming to worship to listen to the same Bible stories you already know, is that God indeed has something new to say through the same old stories. Let this story dwell in you. Ask new questions about this story, and about who you are in this story. God is doing something new, something surprising, perhaps. Maybe what we’re called to do at Living Word is not to do something impossible, like walking on water; but to be willing, like Peter, for Jesus to surprise us again—that is an act of trust.