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August 10, 2008
You of Little Faith
Matthew 14: 22-33
delivered on August 10th, 2008
This passage describes one of the trademark miracles of Jesus. When you hear of someone being described as able to walk on water you know they are being described as a Messianic figure and are being compared to Jesus.
This miracle demonstrates the power of Jesus as the son of God over the elements of the universe he created. The apostles recognized this, and are quoted at the end of this passage as saying “Truly you are the son of God”.
As we Christians read this passage we begin with the assumption that is stated at the end. As we begin to read verse 22 we already know that Jesus is the Son of God. With that in mind, there are some interesting details about the Son of God in this passage.
First of all, I want you to notice that the disciples of Jesus did not just happen to be in the boat without Jesus. Matthew tells us that Jesus made his disciples get into that boat and leave without him. But Matthew does not tell us why, although he may give us a clue.
Shortly after Jesus sent the apostles away in the boat, and dismissed the over 5000 people he had just miraculously fed, “he went up he mountain by himself to pray.” One of the reasons he sent the apostles away in the boat was so he could be alone to pray.
Now, we have already started with the assumption that Jesus is the Son of God, He is God. So logic causes me to ask myself and all of you an important question. If the eternal and almighty Son of God when he lived on earth as a human being, needed to get away from others to pray to God, What makes us think we can function well without spending time alone with God in prayer? I ask this question not only of you but of myself. Most of us do not spend enough time alone with God in prayer. Martin Luther was once asked how he could spend a few hours in prayer each day and still do all that he did each day. His answer was that he had so many things to do each day that he could never have gotten them all done if he did not rise early and spend an hour or two in prayer first.
Now I am not suggesting that you get up early and pray for an hour or two. I am suggesting that you begin to spend time with God in prayer, and that if you already do, that you gradually add more time or more occasions to your prayer time. If Jesus found it necessary, we must need it too.
During the following night, Jesus was on the mountain praying and the apostles were in the boat on the lake. They were having a difficult time. The wind had come up and was driving the boat away from their destination and was causing waves to beat against the boat. It is important to remember that the apostles were in that boat and in that storm because Jesus had sent them there.
Often when things are not going well and we find ourselves in difficult circumstances it easy to assume that we are not where God wants us to be and we might pray that God will get us out of here and take us to a calm, trouble free place. This passage reminds us that sometimes we are in trouble because we are where God wants us to be. God sometimes puts us in danger as part of his plan. It is OK to pray for relief and comfort and Joy, but we need to remember that God will sometimes put us in a small boat on a stormy night.
Jesus knew exactly where they were and he walked to them on the water of the lake. And in doing so, he scared them. They thought he was a spirit or a ghost. Now in their defense, it was between 3:00 and 6:00 in the morning. It was probably dark or nearly dark on the lake. And they saw a man walking on the sea. Under similar circumstances we would all probably be afraid. And that would be OK.
Now as a life long, rational, decent and in order Presbyterian, I tend to think that God is a Presbyterian too. But there are times when we have to deal with the reality that God is not really like us. We like to live in the material world and barely acknowledge the Spiritual world and its forces. But God is a spirit and sometimes he does spiritual and even spooky stuff. He has occasionally given me goosebumps and made the hair stand up on the back of my neck (I can still grow plenty of hair back there.) God sometimes does some pretty scary, pretty spooky, pretty marvelous things. Don’t ignore them or try to rationalize them away.
But I also want you to notice that as the apostles were having a difficult time, maybe even in a bit of trouble, Jesus knew exactly where they were and he came to them and the wind ceased.
When you are in the storms of life, Jesus knows you are there, and he will come to you, and he will eventually cause the storms to cease. You can count on it. It may not happen in the way you would have chosen or nearly as soon as you might have desired, but it will happen.
Now we have come to my favorite part of the story. Peter heard Jesus identify himself and said “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water”. Jesus said ‘Come”. Peter got out of the boat and started walking toward Jesus with the power of Jesus. But then Peter got distracted from Jesus by the wind and the storm and he began to sink. He called out to Jesus “Lord, Save Me. Jesus reached out and caught him and said “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
In the nearly 2000 years since this event occurred preachers have had a heyday preaching about Peter’s lack of faith and his having to cry out to Jesus to keep from perishing in the sea into which he had walked without enough faith.
But I love Peter for what he did in this passage. You may have missed the fact that there were other people in the boat, but only one believed enough that the one on the lake was Jesus to talk to Him and offer to join him on the lake. That took faith. He believed that it really was Jesus and was willing to get wet to prove it.
Yes, he is accused by Jesus of having only little or small faith, but he had more than any one else in that boat. And little is better than less or none.
But there is something that has puzzled me about this passage for a long time. I remember a TV cartoon in which Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were feuding. Daffy was getting the worst of the pratfalls and tricks. At one point Bugs tricked Daffy into jumping out a window. As Daffy plummeted to the sidewalk below, Buggs looked at the camera and said, “Eh, do you think that silly duck will remember that he is a duck and that he can fly?” There then was a “SPLAT” and Buggs said “I guess not”.
Now how does this recollection of a TV cartoon help us with this passage? Well, let me leave Peter for just a minute as he is beginning to sink and as he is calling out “Lord, save me”. Now let me ask you, what do we know about Peter? What did he do for a living before he met Jesus? That’s right he was a fisherman. He had spent many hours on this lake, and he had experienced wind and storms before. Now we might be able to assume that Peter could swim well, but we don’t have to make that assumption. In the end of the gospel of John we are told that Peter could swim. When he saw the resurrected Jesus on the shore he jumped in and swam about 100 yards to the shore.
Now lets go back to Peter as he started to sink into the water. Did he forget that he could swim? Maybe. But maybe not. Maybe Peter was tired of getting by on his own power. He had done miracles by the power of Jesus. He had briefly walked on the surface of the lake by Jesus’ power. Maybe Peter knew that he probably could swim back to the boat under his own power and drag himself into the boat. But he also knew what he could do by the power that came from Jesus. Peter did not want to get by on his own power any longer. He wanted to be saved from depending on his own power and cleverness. He wanted to be buoyed up by the power of God. I love Peter for this great act of faith, and so did Jesus. Yes, Peter may have had only a little faith, but it was more than anybody else demonstrated that day.
How much faith do you have? Are you doing any thing with the faith you have, or are you getting by on your own power and abilities? Are you swimming in the lake on your own power and abilities or are you walking on the lake by holding on to Jesus’ hand.
When you run out of power, when you have a problem that you can’t overcome on your own, or when you just get tired of getting by on your own power, reach out to Jesus. He will be there and give you all that you need to do what he wants you to do.
You, like Peter may have only a little faith, but when you put that faith in Jesus, a little faith can do more than what is needed.
Pastor David Horner
Posted by faithpres at August 10, 2008 05:25 PM