August 10 2008
Text: Matthew 14:22-33
Pr. Robert Goldstein
You Will Not Sink

In today's Gospel reading it is so easy to take Peter to task for his lack of faith. As if Peter's great sin is that he didn't keep his eyes on Jesus. He let the wind distract him, and he remembered that fear was a reasonable response. He became afraid, and so he sank. Ah, we think, if Peter just had faith he could have done anything. It's a terrible temptation to read the story this way. After all, it would seem to explain a lot. Oh we of little faith! Why did we doubt? If we hadn't, you know, we wouldn't be sinking. Our church wouldn't be floundering in rough seas, and our lives wouldn't be drowning in our mistakes, and our relationships wouldn't be going down the tubes. If we just had "faith", we could do all the things that have to be done and we could fix all the things that have to be fixed. We could walk on water, for heaven's sake! So what's wrong with us? Have a little faith in yourself!

But this "faith" is not "faith" in the Christian sense, but "faith" in the commonsense of human mustered courage. While such courage is to be honored, most of us are left behind -too scared to believe we can walk on water. More importantly, much more importantly, it's such a temptation to make this text about Peter and therefore about us. But it's not. It's not about what we can or can't do. It's about who Jesus is, not who we could become if we have enough faith. We'll never have enough faith. Yet God has given us the gift of faith in its fullness when we read this story aright.

Let's back up a little bit. Some people are embarrassed by this miracle story of Jesus walking on water. It sounds absurd to the modern and post-modern ear -a relic of a superstitious past. I want to say "yes" a little, but "no" a lot! When you realize the context for this story it is no longer absurd but deep and brilliant. This is a story by Matthew to and for the church. This passage is an Easter sermon to a church caught in a violent sea. The church has followed Jesus, just as the disciples had, but now they are left in a stormy world and feel alone and helpless.

There are times when the church can feel just like this -engulfed in a storm beyond their control. Think of the congregation in a little village in Germany in 1938, a congregation from which a German post-war refugee family in my first parish came, when the Lutheran pastor had the courage to preach against Hitler and his ideology. That very night military vehicles pulled up at the parsonage and the brown shirts took their beloved pastor away -never to be seen again. The terror. The fear. That's the church in a storm, a little boat in a huge hostile storm of a fascist state.

Or consider the years in San Francisco when wonderfully gifted men in their prime were dying of AIDS and St. Francis was burying them weekly. That's the church in the storm.

All through history the little boat of the church has suddenly found itself in a perfect storm. Everyone is filled with fear and forgets their faith. The church is thrashed by wanton waves and all aboard have to focus on keeping her afloat. There have been storms from emperors and dictators, storms of disease, storms of social disorder and the incapacity of a government to solve its nation's problems.

And for those early Christians - apart from the external storm of the Roman persecution, - there is also the storm over how to include Gentiles in what has always been a Jewish Christian community. There are arguments, threats to jump ship, trials and treatises pro and con such that the energies of the church are being dissipated. People are tired of the wrangling. It looks like the whole little ship is going to sink in a storm of its own making. Doesn't that storm sound familiar in the area of gender equality and rights in the ELCA today?

But this story of Jesus walking on water was to the early Jewish church -as it is to us today, a reminder of the depth of love and concern that Jesus has for every hand on that deck. Matthew is saying to us, Jesus is the one who will even walk on water, if he has to, to rescue us! Jesus is the one who calls to us over the frightening and stormy times in our lives and says, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." Matthew is saying, Jesus is the preacher in the perfect storm.This is the miracle, that in spite of itself, with storms within and without, the church survives anew because through us God's love, healing and encouragement never sinks and will never disappear. If we think we are lost Jesus will appear calling, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."

Disciples from the time of Matthew until now can identify with Peter. What a comfort to know that we do not have to have the faith necessary to walk on water. Just faith enough to get in the boat, head for the farthest shore, and then to get out of the boat and walk toward Jesus with what is required of us. We are not required to stand alone. We are saved by the hand of one who is praying for us through the night, and who comes to us across the deep and catches us just when we fear we are sinking…. You will not sink. When it comes to water, you have been baptized! Amen