ADVENT LUTHERAN WYCKOFF

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost August 13, 2017

1 Kings 19:9-18 Psalm 85:8-13 Romans 10:5-15 Matthew 14:22-33

In todays gospel reading, the disciples finally catch a break. After feeding the five thousand,
Jesus does the thing the disciples were begging him to do: send the crowds away. And after Jesus
and the disciples are left alone, Jesus goes off to get some time by himself, the disciples get in their
boat to get some time to get a breather. To get away from the crowds for a little bit. And, to their
credit, they do get away from the crowds. Way away. And they end up in the middle of the sea.
On one side of that sea is hunger, where Jesus just fed the five thousand. The kicker in that
story, remember, is when Jesus asks the disciples what they have. And the disciples pull out five
loaves of bread and two fish and say, We have nothing. Why, Jesus suggests, are you telling me
that you have nothing when youre showing me five loaves of bread and two fish?
On the other side of that sea is sickness. After todays reading, Jesus and the disciples will
land at Gennesaret, where they will be greeted by a mob scene of people bringing their sick friends
and family to see if Jesus can heal them. You leave hunger and you end up in sickness.
But today, the disciples find themselves somewhere between hunger and sickness. In the
middle of the sea. For Jews like Jesus and the disciples, the sea is an image thats rich with meaning,
and not always in a good way. In the beginning of Genesis, the spirit of God moves over the waters.
Waters described as chaos. In the psalms, the sea comes back again and again. The depth of it. The
size of it. If you want to understand the magnitude of Gods power, the scriptures say, look at the
sea. Uncontrollable. Unknowable. So great that only God could have power over it. When ancient
Israelites went fishing, they would always stay within view of the shore. Thats because they knew
what the authors of the psalms knew, which is that when you lose sight of the shore, you realize the
immensity of the seas. And you realize you could sail for hours in one direction and not realize you
were going the wrong way. To lose sight of the shore is to become overwhelmed and disoriented.
But these, mind you, are no ordinary people in the boat. Many of the disciples are fishermen.
People who knew how to ride out a storm. When we read todays gospel, many of us assume the
disciples were afraid of the storm. But notice that Matthew never says that theyre afraid. Tired?
Maybe. Annoyed? Probably. But scared? Not so much. Actually, Matthew doesnt say they were
afraid until they saw Jesus coming to them. For these fishermen, these disciples, stuck between
sickness and hunger, in a great sea of uncertainty, the safest place to be is in the boat. Because you
know boats. The sea may be rough, but things are going to be okay as long as you stay in the boat.
As long as you stay in the boat, you are going to be protected.
Most of us have a boat. A thing in our lives that we think as long as I hold on to this thing.
As long as I stay inside of this boat, Ill be okay. For some of us, that boat is a relationship. A
partnership or a friendship that we think will keep us safe from our worst fears. For others of us,
that boat is a job. A profession that makes us feel needed. For most of us, that boat is a deeply held
belief in how the world works. And as long as I stay in my boat with my boats facts, no one can tell
me Im wrong. No man is an island, but everybody has their own boat.
Which is why its funny that Peter gets such a bad rap in this story. Because the eleven other
disciples are just hanging out in the boat. But Peter is the one who actually does something
interesting when they see Jesus. Peter says, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the
water. Which is not the way you think the story is going to go. You think Peter is going to say,
Can I walk on the water? Can I do that thing that youre doing? You would think that Peter is
going to ask for permission. If you can do that, can I do that? But thats not what Peter does. No,
Peter says, Command me to come to you on the water.

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Peter acknowledges what most of us want deep down. Which is that the thing we want isnt
permission We live in a culture that is very permissive. Most of the time you dont need someone
elses permission to do something or to be a certain way. Thats good. But the thing that keeps most
of us up at night isnt whether we have permission to do something. Its whether we have a calling
to do something. It isnt whether its possible for us to do something, its whether what we do has
any meaning. Thats what Peter wants. What Peter wants isnt to know whether its possible for him
to walk on the water like Jesus, whether its possible for him to walk into the fear and uncertainty
the same way Jesus is. It isnt. He cant. What Peter wants is for Jesus to tell him that he should.
What Peter wants, what all of us really want, is a calling.
So Jesus says, Come. And Peter steps out of the boat and starts walking toward Jesus. And
he walks. Walks over the water, walks over the uncertainty, walks over the chaos toward Jesus. And
then he hears something. Feels something. The wind blowing in. The spray of the water on his
ankles. And he becomes frightened. And he sinks into the water.
Which is not surprising. Its not surprising because you cant walk on water. You just cant.
Because if you think that what Jesus is calling you into is a life that is free of any conflict, free of any
confusion, free of any disappointment, free of any disillusionment that is going to keep you from
having second thoughts on whether following Jesus is a good idea, then youre going to be in for a
rude awakening. If you want a calling from Jesus, youll get one, Jesus is full of callings. But finding
the new life Jesus is leading you toward is going to mean stepping out of your boat. Its going to
mean giving up the belief that your accomplishments, your relationship, your ideology, can protect
to save you. Its very hard to follow Jesus if you dont get out of the boat.
And, as Peter learned, its probably going to involve getting a little bit wet. Its going to
involve leaning into uncertainty because you dont know where Jesus is sending you next. Last week,
we talked about vocation. About how we offer our gifts to God, who uses them for the good of the
world. But thats only half of the story. Because its not just about what we have to offer. Its about
what our neighborhood, our country, our world needs. Which means that our vocations, the ways
we live out our faith in the world, change. The theologian Karl Barth once said that the thing that
made theologians different from mathematicians and physicists, was that they have to start over
every day. You have to start over every day because what God is doing, where God is calling you to,
is always changing. Every day, you have to step out of that boat and find the next shore Jesus is
leading you to.
Before Peter goes fully under, Jesus sticks his hand out and pulls him out of the water. And
says, You of little faith, why did you doubt? One of the difficulties with the gospels is that they
dont communicate anything about tone. If all you have is words then you only have part of whats
going on. Theres a lot thats left to interpretation. And you dont need to be some scholar to realize
this. Its like when someone writes you an email thats written in all capital letters. The gospels give
us meaning in words, but we have to fill in the tone in our heads. So the way most of us have been
trained to read this is that Jesus is upset with Peter. Jesus is chastising Peter for not having more
faith in him. And if thats the case, then why would you want to be like Peter? Why even try? Better
to be like the other eleven disciples who dont try to get out of the boat and also dont get an earful
from Jesus. Just go along and get along.
But what if instead of chiding Peter, Jesus is being playful with him? Oh you of little
faith What if Jesus is being a little sarcastic? Because didnt Jesus compare faith to a mustard
seed? Something that starts out small but grows into something much bigger? And didnt Jesus say
that faith was like a tiny pearl that is worth an immense treasure? Peter may be a person of little

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faith, but hes also someone with a growing faith. Hes the one who asked for a calling. Who took
the step out of the boat.
Peter may be a person of little faith, but arent we all? Because there are some days when
stepping out of the boat is easier than others. There are days when you know exactly where youre
headed. Like you know exactly where to set off to. And there are some days you can feel the spray
of the waves before you even dip a toe in the water.
Discipleship isnt about having the right amount of faith. Theres not a minimum amount of
faith that you need before you start discerning where God is calling you to. No, discipleship is about
something else. Its about Jesuss invitation to come out of the boat. Even if you fall in, Jesus is
there to grab you. And maybe razz you a little bit. And inviting you to do it all over again tomorrow.

Joseph Schattauer Paill, Pastor

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