Staying in the Boat
Matthew 14:22-33[1]
There are a lot of reasons why we do the things we do. Not
all of them are always healthy. In my case, I grew up in a home where coming
home with top grades at school was expected, so there wasn’t really much recognition
for that. The only time I was singled out for attention was when my report card
(I’m dating myself here!) had something other than straight “A’s.” I was taught
early on to associate my self-worth with my achievements. Because I was often
subject to intense criticism (and sometimes even punishment) for the least
misstep, I embraced the path of doing my best in school to prove my parents
wrong about their seemingly obsessive fault-finding. And I wound up earning a
Ph. D. in the process! I don’t regret doing any of that, but I’ve had to
recognize that my motivation wasn’t the healthiest.
That kind of motivation isn’t sufficient to sustain anyone
in the push and pull of real life. The ups and downs of life, day in and day
out, week to week, month to month, and year to year require something more
positive to enable us to stay the course. Especially when it gets tough. We
need some kind of positive reason to keep going in the tough times, and to
finish well. For me, that reason is God’s unfailing love. Where the love of my
parents failed me, I learned by experience that God’s love never fails. Of
course, I don’t always feel completely confident of that love. There are times
when my faith falters. But I keep coming back to God’s love that never fails.
When I think about our Gospel lesson for today, I wonder
what motivated Peter. I mean, think about it, in the middle of a storm at the
dead of night he asked Jesus to let him walk on water! We’re used to hearing
about Peter’s impulsive nature. But I wonder if there wasn’t something deeper
going on. What drove him to always speak up, to promise Jesus he would die for
him, to constantly be seeking Jesus’ approval? When I think of Peter, that’s
what strikes me. He seems to be trying to go above and beyond all the others to
win Jesus’ approval. But in the midst of a raging storm, he needed more than
that to keep him from sinking into the waves.
When we look at our Gospel lesson for today, we find that
Matthew has a unique perspective on the story about Jesus walking on the water.
In the other Gospels, it’s all about Jesus. But in Matthew’s Gospel, there’s
another dimension to this story. It’s about the disciples and their commitment
to following Jesus. Matthew has a much more positive view on the disciples,
their faith, and their commitment to Jesus than we find in Mark. And yet, we
should note that in Matthew, discipleship is always practiced by real human
beings who are called “you of little faith.” That’s what Jesus called “the
Apostles”! That means they’re subject to fear when they’re in a boat that’s
being “battered” by a storm “at the very dead of night” (Mt 14:25, NTE)!
Jesus’ question, “why did you doubt?” is not so much a rebuke as a call to
remember why they followed him in the first place!
One of the ways that Matthew emphasizes the importance of
trusting and faithful discipleship is by telling us the story of Peter asking
to walk on the water. Only Matthew tells us this story. It has been commonly
observed that Peter’s “faith” was demonstrated by being willing to get out of
the boat (in the midst of a storm!), and that his “doubt” refers to when he
shifted his attention from Jesus to the wind and the waves and began to sink.
The idea is that if he had had enough faith, he would have been able to walk on
the water just like Jesus did.
But I think that Peter’s “doubt” refers to the fact that
when Jesus called out, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid” (Mt 14:27), he
didn’t trust Jesus’ word. Instead, he wanted “proof.” In response to Jesus’
word of assurance, Peter said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come
to you on the water” (Mt 14:28)! I tend to agree with those who, like John
Calvin, think that the trusting and faithful response on Peter’s part would
have been to heed the assurance that Jesus gave him and stay in the boat![2] Peter
needed that boat to keep from sinking into the waves during a raging storm!
The reason why I think that about Peter is because the
point of trusting and faithful discipleship is to stay the course, no matter
what we may have to face. That is why, in the centuries since Matthew
originally told this story, the symbol of a boat in the midst of a storm has
been used as a symbol of the church. We could view this story individually,
drawing comfort from Jesus’ assurance to us personally that he will be with us
and will give us the strength to get through whatever we may have to endure in
life. But I think Matthew wanted us to view this story from the perspective of
the community of those who are committed to follow Jesus. That is the “boat” we
all need to keep us from sinking into the waves during the raging storms.
There are times in our lives when things happen that are so
painful that we may find it difficult to keep going. We’ve all been through
those times I’ve been through some of those times myself. There have been a
couple of times when I thought my career in ministry was over. Most recently,
in 2014. I had been searching for a new ministry call for about 18 months and
had come up empty. Because of some malicious accusations that were found to be
baseless by a Presbytery investigation, I was forced to leave one of the two
congregations I had been serving. I had been living on a half salary for almost
a year, making up the difference from my savings. And I was getting very
discouraged.
I had been through a lot in my ministry career long before
2014. But at that point, I was running out of money, there was no opening on
the horizon. I couldn’t see any way forward. I thought maybe my ministry career
was over. I met with my Presbyter, who had been a good friend and mentor to me.
He made some recommendations about my profile in the PCUSA system. Within less
than a month I was talking to the Pastor Nominating Committee of this church.
And within 6 months I was on the job here. That was 9 years ago. My good friend
from the community of faith helped me to stay the course, and I’m grateful. He
was a part of the boat, and I needed him to keep from sinking in the waves.
We all go through hard times in this life. That’s when we
need the boat the most. That’s when we need the support of the community of
faith the most. Unfortunately, that’s when we can be most tempted to walk away.
At the same time, the support our family of faith offers us often isn’t be
perfect. When I think about who was in that boat that night on the Sea of
Galilee, it’s a wonder that the church survived long after Jesus’ death on the
cross. We all may be tempted to leave the boat for all kinds of reasons. But
when I face that temptation, I remind myself that this is the place where we
join to pray for all people to acknowledge God’s name as holy, where we pray
for God’s kingdom to come and right all the wrongs, where we pray for God’s
will for us to find peace and joy and love to be done on earth as it is in
heaven. This is the place where we come to remind and encourage one another
that the path of trusting and faithful discipleship leads us to stay the
course, to stay in the boat, come what may. What enables us to do that is God’s
love for us that never fails and Jesus’ promise to be with us always.
[1] ©2023 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 8/13/2023 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of
the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, vol. 2, 240–241. Cf. also Gene
Boring, “Gospel of Matthew” New Interpreters Bible IX:329-30: “Faith is
not being able to walk on the water—only God can do that—but daring to believe,
in the face of all evidence, that God is with us in the boat, … as it makes its
way through the storm, battered by the waves.”
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