Scripture Passage: Matthew 14:22-33
Storms on the Sea of Galilee are common, and Jesus’ disciples are fishermen. Like other ancient people living in the Mediterranean, they likely do not know how to swim, but they still get in boats every working day of their lives. These details have always eluded me for I imagined the scene of this Jesus story: the disciples’ eyes wild and full of terror, small boat on raging sea, rain and wind, thunder and lightning. No wonder they’re afraid. Actually, the gospel writer Matthew tells us, though the wind had pushed their boat far from shore in the evening, the disciples are only terrified come morning when they see Jesus walking on the water toward them. Because they think he’s a ghost. And instead of Jesus commanding Peter to, for heaven’s sake, get out of the boat with faith and courage, Peter is the one who feels the need to vet Jesus, saying, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus humors him, invites Peter to “come.” When Peter does get out of the boat and walk toward Jesus, Jesus confirms his identity by catching Peter as he sinks and calming the wind. For Peter and the rest of the disciples, this episode in their life with Jesus confirms who he is: the Son of God for he commands the natural forces of wind and waves. But for me, this story is not about the wind and the waves, and I don’t think it’s even about Jesus and Peter walking on the water. What captures my imagination this morning is why Jesus walks out to meet them in the first place.
Perhaps you remember last week, earlier in the fourteenth chapter of Matthew when Jesus, just having heard about the death of his cousin John the Baptist, gets in a boat and tries to steal away for a moment of peace and quiet. Try as he might, he cannot. The crowds follow him. Jesus arrives on the shore, and he is immediately pressed into service healing the crowds and then feeding them with five loaves and two fish. Then, moving onto the next Jesus story in chapter 14, today’s story, Jesus puts the disciples in the boat this time and heads to the mountain to pray. Finally, he gets an evening to himself. When morning comes, he walks out to the disciples on the Sea of Galilee. Why? As a life-long Jesus follower and Bible-reader, I had not considered before this week why Jesus calls, why Jesus hangs out with, why Jesus prioritizes time with his disciples. They keep getting things wrong. They are selfish and short-sided and seeking their own glory. As far as I can tell from reading the gospels, they aren’t even very helpful to Jesus. He is periodically forced to clean up the mess they make of things. Why does he put up with them? Jesus walks out on the water to join his disciples in the boat because he is invested in his community, in the relationships he has with his friends, his co-conspirators, his partners in ministry. This should be no surprise because, when the angel Gabriel arrives at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel to announce the impending birth of Jesus to Joseph, Gabriel calls Jesus “Emmanuel” which means God-with-us. Jesus is God-with-us, and Jesus shows up in community, with his disciples, with his friends.
We might be so familiar with the disciples nearly always accompanying Jesus that we might not understand what radical theological revelation is embedded in this: that God deems us worthy of God’s presence. When we are selfish and short-sided and seeking our own glory. When we aren’t very helpful. When we make a mess of things. When we, like Peter, challenge God: Is it really you? If it is, do this amazing thing and prove it. God is with us, seeks relationship with us, claims us as one of God’s own, even recruits us and equips us for ministry in God’s name.
I struggle in this moment, and I struggled while writing this sermon to share the gospel any more plainly, more eloquently, or more descriptively than this: that God wants to be with us—as we are.
I recall Jean Vanier who spent his life in intentional community, community that included people with developmental disabilities. The global network of homes he founded, called l’Arche, invites people with developmental disabilities and people without developmental disabilities to live together. A devout Roman Catholic, Vanier developed community with an ethic of love that he beautifully describes in one of his books which I have recommended so many times in sermons, you may be tired of hearing about it. The book is Becoming Human, and in it, he shares aspects of love. I was not surprised to see communicating with others and forgiving others listed among his 7 aspects of love. But he also names celebrating others as one of the aspects of love. Vanier writes: “To love people is to celebrate them…so many people with disabilities are seen by their parents and families only as a tragedy. They are surrounded by sad faces, sometimes full of pity, sometimes tears. But every child, every person needs to know that they are a source of joy.” When we question our worth, our value, our contributions to God’s world, we may need to hear how God celebrates us, that God finds us not only worthy of God’s presence but a source of joy. Jesus walked out on the water to join the disciples not necessarily because they were in trouble on a stormy sea but because they were a source of joy to him, his community, his friends.
We are a source of joy for God and not just us but all of God’s people. We may see tragedy in the human family, and we may be moved to pity. We may see others as less capable of friendship or having less to contribute to God’s world. We may see the mistakes and the messes, the unhelpfulness and the selfishness. We may question our own or others’ worth, but today, Jesus walks on water to be with his friends. And we know that’s not the only thing Jesus does just because he loves them. They and we are a source of joy for God. Thanks be to God! Amen.