Pentecost 13
“Wet Disciples”
Text: Matthew
14:22-33
Grace, mercy,
and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Amen.
I would like to walk on water. Sometimes
pastors think they should. Sometimes folks expect their pastors to . . . but
you all know me better than that! Perhaps you would like to walk on water to –
living the Christian life above the fray and the troubles of life. But the
truth is that the church is filled with wet disciples. Disciples that thought
they were strong and faith-filled, and then found out they were weak and those
of little faith. Disciples who thought they could go to Jesus, and then found
out it is far more important for Jesus to come to us. Disciples like Peter.
Disciples like you and me.
Because you’re just like Peter, aren’t
you? There are times when you are full of faith and eager to see what God is
going to do next in your life. What plans He has for you. How He is going to
bless you. What good things and successes are in store for you.
And you’re eager to walk out in faith and be a part of it . . . only the next
moment to have the bottom drop out from under you and you find yourself up to
your neck in crashing waves of trouble, struggling for breath between mouthfuls
of salty seawater, and crying out “Lord, save me!”
Sounds like my life. What about you?
What is it that has sent you sinking lately? That threatens to overwhelm, that
causes you despair, that creates doubts and second-guessing in your mind and
heart? That makes you a wet disciple – once again having to be pulled out of
the sea by Jesus and put back into the boat of the church?
At just such times, perhaps you wonder
if you’re any good to God at all. You don’t know enough to stay in the boat,
and when you get out all you keep doing is failing and sinking! How long will
God allow this cycle to go on? How long before we have enough faith not to
sink? How long must the church be filled with wet
disciples?
But is being we a bad thing? It is if you think sinking is a bad thing. If you think Peter never
should have gotten out of that boat in the first place, or think that he should
have at least had enough faith to stay on top of the water. But are those
thoughts right thoughts?
Peter didn’t get out of the boat on a
whim. He was a lot of things, but he wasn’t dumb! He was an experienced
fisherman, knew something about that lake, had probably seen men tossed
overboard before, and knew the danger – especially during a storm such as the
one they were caught in! Peter got out of the boat because he knew Jesus was the
Lord of creation. You see, Peter had learned his lesson well. Just hours
before, he had just seen Jesus feed over 5,000 people in the wilderness with
only five loaves of bread and two fish. The miracle made an impression on him.
And then when Jesus came out to them, walking on the water, Peter put it all
together: the God who fed
Ah, but then we think if that’s so, Peter’s
faith should have been stronger. And if his faith had only been stronger, he
could have held out; he could have passed the test; he wouldn’t have sunk.
After all, the storm ended once they got back to the boat. Maybe he could have done it. He should
have been able to do it. . . . We think that way because that’s what we
think of ourselves. That we should be stronger, we should be more steadfast, we
shouldn’t doubt or fear the storms of our lives, we shouldn’t sink. Because sinking is failure. Sinking is bad, isn’t it?
Or . . . is
sinking exactly what we need?
Perhaps that sounds funny to you, but
it’s true. Sinking is the best thing that could have happened to Peter, and
it’s the best thing that can happen to us. For unless we
sink, we will not cry out. Unless we sink, we will not take refuge in
our Saviour but rely on ourselves. We’ll be content or even proud of how we’re
doing. And so in mercy and love, God sinks us in order to save us. He brings
low in order to exalt. He crushes in order to save. Because
there is no other way. No other way to get us to let go of the things of
this world. No other way to get us to stop relying on ourselves and our own
ability and wisdom and strength. No other way to get us to realize that we
cannot save ourselves. . . . For while you know all that, in your head and
in your heart, and like Peter, believe it – it still takes sinking to get us to
live it. To repent and cry out, “Lord, save me!”
The good news is that such a prayer
Jesus never gets tired of hearing! It
is not possible to pray those words too much. For that is exactly why the Lord
of creation came into our world. That is exactly why the Son of God came to us
sinking sinners in the person of Jesus – not to chastise us in our sin, but to
sink into the depths of our sin and our grave by the cross, that in His
resurrection – not His almighty hand of judgment and justice, but His nail-pierced
hand of mercy and forgiveness – be the hand to pull us out. That the water we
sink in not be the chaotic water of sin and doubt and death, but be transformed
into the water where our Saviour is; the water where our Saviour saves; the
water of Holy Baptism. That the church be filled with wet disciples – sunk in
our sin, but raised to new life in Jesus.
And so a church filled with wet
disciples is a good thing. For that
is not a church of the perfect or of failures, but of the forgiven. It is not a
church of the strong, but of the repentant. Not a church where everything is
only safe and good, but where it is confessed that our Lord uses all things for
good. That when my pride is hurt, when my sin and failures are pointed out,
when what I thought I could count on in this world is taken away, when the
future is uncertain, when I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, when I am
afraid, when I think I am alone, when I think I can’t go on, when I think no
one knows, when I think I am no use at all and that God has given up on me, when
I have no where else to turn but to cry out “Lord, save me!” . . . He
does. The storms will not last too long, but just long enough. Just long enough
to get me wet, that I may live in Him. In Jesus, my Saviour.
And confess “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Yes, the Son of God come
for me. His hand
reaching me in this water. His hand feeding me with
this food. His hand touching me here with His
forgiveness. Here that I may live and not die. Not that I may walk on
water, but to make me wet. A wet disciple. Crucified with Christ. Dead now to sin.
And alive in Him.
In the Name of
the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Amen.