Stay In the Boat?

Sermon-8 Pentecost-Proper 14-August 7, 2011
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“My God of peace, of joy and delight,
I offer you all my tears, all my ignorance.
My God of peace, of joy and delight,
I offer you all my fears and fractured promises.
You, my God, know all this, all this;
How poor I am, how small I am;
You, my God, know all this, all this.
Yet what I have, my God, I give to you.”
[Paul Verlaine 1844-1896]
Matthew 8: 23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ 26And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. 27They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’

Matthew 14:22-33
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake. But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

So Deborah and I were talking about today’s gospel and she turned to me and said, “so why was Jesus walking on the water?” I read probably 20 commentaries and several sermons preparing for this sermon-and not one, NOT ONE, even addressed that. It’s such a logical question, and my wife, the theologian, hit it on the head. I don’t have an answer. I guess the only thing I can say is that he was left behind while the disciples went on ahead, and he was trying to catch up with them-it says that he was walking towards them when they saw him. Hmm.
There is an old African-American proverb, “You’re either headed for a storm, in a storm, or just got out of a storm”. Ever heard that one?
I think that’s how many of us mark our lives-by the crises we’ve had: the problems, illnesses, losses, the deaths. “oh yeah, I remember that year-grandpa died” or “I’ll never forget that summer-the crops failed, the dog died, and Bobby Joe threw something off the Tallahatchie bridge”. We see life as a series of storms, calamities. There’s a lot of folks that feel like they’re either headed for a storm, in a storm, or just got out of a storm.
You’re familiar with this morning’s story, don’t you? Jesus walking on the water? Peter trying to walk towards him? Be careful. This is chapter 14 in Matthew. Listen to the gospel from chapter 8: Matthew 8: 23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ 26And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. 27They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’
Sound familiar? Actually today’s gospel is a response to the earlier one in chapter 8-which is why you had to hear it. The first time Jesus calmed the storm, he was in the boat with the disciples. The winds rose, the waves grew, and the disciples believed they were going to die. And they said to Jesus, “Lord, save us”. 6 chapters later, Jesus was not in the boat-the winds rose, the waves grew, and this time the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost. And Peter cried out, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." And then he sinks.
When you hear this gospel there is almost always the same sermon. Mark G. Vitalis Hoffman started off his commentary on the gospel this way: “I've heard quite a few sermons on this text that basically come down to a commendation of Peter's faith for getting out of the boat and walking on the water. The problem, as it is usually put, is that he takes his eye off Jesus, and his faith falters, but Jesus is there to save him. So, the sermon concludes, be courageous, get out of the boat, but keep your focus on Jesus.”
I’ve preached that sermon a few times, so it was interesting to hear what Hoffman had to say. He points out that in both stories the disciples are trying to figure out “who Jesus is”. ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’ from chapter 8, and “"Truly you are the Son of God" in ch. 14. In other words, both stories are about Jesus’ identity-who he really is.
As important as that is, understanding who Jesus truly is, there’s an even more important point for me-and I think for us, in both these stories. For me the real story is what happens to the disciples. Both stories end up with Jesus in the boat-teaching his friends. Both stories have miracles of Jesus taming the sea. Both stories have Jesus and the 12 crossing the Sea of Galilee. Both stories are squeezed in between other miracles. Last week’s was the feeding of the 5000, next week will be the healing of a non Jew. Just like in chapter 8. Each time Jesus has great success in his ministry and then goes through the chaos and threat of the sea to end up in a foreign land casting out demons. The stories of Jesus on the Sea of Galilee are not just about Jesus’ power over nature. These stories are about who we are as followers. We, too, are on a journey in life. We, too, are often either headed for a storm, in a storm, or just getting out of a storm. We, too, are struggling-like the disciples-trying to recognize Jesus in the midst of all the craziness of our lives. We, too, are often in between crises in our lives, never seeing the connections.
Matthew describes these events in a certain pattern for a reason. He wants us to see and understand that the walk of faith goes in a certain direction-not from strength to strength, but from test to test. Sometimes the trial is not having enough-like last week. Sometimes the test is being plagued by evil and discouragement-like we will hear next week. I think the key in the stories about the storms on the sea is the boat. What does the boat mean? Who is in it with us? What is the boat in our journey in faith? Both gospel stories end with Jesus in the boat with his friends.
We’re not Jesus-walking on water. We’re not Jesus-stilling the waves, calming the wind. We’re the disciples-at times lost, scared, worried, uncertain-thrown about, battered, fighting to stay afloat. In these two stories this is where our eye needs to be, those are the people we need to watch in today’s gospel-the people in the boat. What is happening to them? Peter tries to get out of the boat and sinks-what does this tell you? In both stories Jesus has to come to the disciples and join them in their boat for them to be safe. In both stories great tests lie ahead, but first they have to make it through these trials.
There have been many movies over the years about people whose ship sinks and they are stranded in a small boat with little chance of being rescued. Some are sick, some are hurt. There’s not enough food or water. They are desperate. They have to decide who lives, who dies if some of the group is to survive. In a course I was in once, the professor gave this scenario to the class and said, “how would you decide, who lives, who dies?” So we wrestled and argued and finally came to a consensus about which ones were expendable. So we carefully explained to the professor our solution and then he asked us, “why was important for some to live? What if these last days were the best days of everyone’s life? What if the time in the lifeboat was what all these people were meant for?”
I think when Matthew wrote down these stories he wanted to make sure that his listeners were seeing themselves in these stories. He wanted us to realize that the boat was a symbol for our journey in faith. And he wanted us to make the connection that no matter what we are going through, when Jesus is in the boat with us, we will be ok. We’re either headed for a storm, in a storm, or just getting out of a storm. The key is, who we are while we’re in the boat, and who is in the boat with us. Amen.

Linda Fabian Pepe
the Sea of Galilee is about (13 miles wide, 8 miles long). But it’s surrounded by mountains- and it’s actually below sea level- so when a storm blows up the wind rushes down the mountains almost like a hurricane, and can cause waves up to 12 feet high. And worse, it happens quickly. The lake can be as smooth as glass, yet within half an hour it can look like a scene from The Perfect Storm.