August 13, 2023 — Pentecost +11A; Matthew 14:22-33

[Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side [of the Sea of Galilee], 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 toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, 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 toward 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 worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

I want to ask you this question, would you know Jesus if he came up and said hello?  If you passed him on the street would you turn quickly as you passed and say, “Yep, there’s Jesus.” Remember, the pictures that we have of Jesus, the renderings that you have seen all of your life are just a best guess – some better than others. If Jesus bumped into you sometime in your day to day life, would you recognize him? The disciples in our gospel lesson this morning are having trouble recognizing Jesus – although they are in the middle of quite a tempest on the sea – the wind blowing up spray and waves splashing up all around them, and even if Jesus is so far away, even if he is coming toward them. And it is early dawn, early in the morning as the light is just coming up – no wonder they think Jesus is a ghost.  But then he speaks to them – the same Jesus that has spoken to them on so many occasions, teaching them and telling them stories – and they are still unsure.

Then Peter says something quite strange, the most interesting sentence in this whole story, Peter says, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Do you find this strange, or is it just me? We know that Peter is the impetuous one, asking Jesus if they should build three booths following the transfiguration, Peter who denies Jesus three times, now Peter is saying in essence “If it is you Lord, command me to step out of this boat in the dark, in deep water, to tempt death and walk across this swirling sea.” In a flash in the pan moment, Peter says, in essence, Lord if it is you, command me to do something that pushes my faith, stretches me beyond my comfort level, that forces me to – to – to – get out of the boat.  

You see my friends, you can’t walk on water, you can’t truly be a disciple if you never get out of the boat. And Jesus is saying just that this morning, he is saying “step out – take heart – do not be afraid.”  

There’s a wonderful hymn in our LBW, hymns number 494 titled Jesus Calls Us, O’re the Tumult that puts it this way…

Jesus calls us o’er the tumult
of our life’s wild, restless sea;
day by day his clear voice sounding,
saying, “Christian, follow me!”

I guess we need to ask ourselves the same question, “Am I willing to step out of the boat?”

Pastor Dave