Jonathan Kimball wrote this sermon to be preached at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla on August 13, 2023, using Matthew 14:22-33. Due to illness, he was unable to preach, and Susan Murray preached a modified version. The podcast reflects her changes, which add a different perspective.
We’re about in the middle of Matthew and pretty far along in Jesus’s ministry. Let me back up to an earlier scene. Matthew 5-7 is the Sermon on the Mount, probably the greatest sermon ever preached. Afterwards, people started following Jesus, and he decided to go across the Sea of Galilee with his disciples. A storm came up while Jesus slept. Finally, the disciples woke Jesus, and in Matthew 8:26, he rebuked the winds and the sea, and all was calm. The disciples said to each other, “What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”
Fast forward to last week’s lesson. Jesus was preaching and a huge crowd gathered. The disciples want to send everyone away, but Jesus said, “No, you feed them. Here, give me whatever bread and fish you have, and I’ll help you.” They witness a great miracle where 5 loaves and 2 fish feed 5000 men plus some number of women and children. All ate and were satisfied.
Then Jesus sends the disciples away on the boat while he deals with the crowd. This can be read as foreshadowing the days of the early church. We often describe the church as a metaphorical ship. Indeed, look up at the ceiling of this church—it seems to have been designed to evoke the sense that we are inside a great ship. Throughout the first few centuries after Christ’s ascension, boats and ships were used in artwork to represent the nascent church.
So the disciples are all alone in the church, er, I mean, the boat. Have you ever been on the water in a storm? Terrifying, isn’t it? Especially at night. And the disciples didn’t have a radio, or lights, or binoculars, or anything. Dawn is approaching but the sun has not yet risen, and because of the storm, it was probably very dark. The Sea of Galilee isn’t huge, but it’s big enough to build up some good storms, and big enough to drown in. When you’re in a storm like that, you feel totally helpless. You can try to get the boat turned in such a way that the big waves won’t swamp you, but steering is nearly impossible.
The disciples have seen Jesus still a storm like this before. They just saw him feed 5000 men, besides women and children, with a meager offering of food. But Jesus isn’t there. They cannot imagine that Jesus can help them now. Sure, he helped them before, but that was then. This situation is totally different.
So then they see Jesus walking towards them and think it’s a ghost! Surely Jesus can’t just show up here, right? All the miraculous events of their past don’t prepare them for the next miracle. They may be growing, but they are still young in their faith. They haven’t yet figured out just who Jesus is and what he is capable of. I’m not sure what they were thinking exactly when they left Jesus behind. Did they not think that he had some sort of plan to join them later?
Then Jesus says those classic words, “Do not be afraid.” Throughout the Bible, whenever God or God’s messengers show up, people respond with fear and trembling. Yet the message always begins with, “Fear not.” We are scared to encounter the Divine, but God’s message is always one of encouragement, one of hope, one of love.
Peter gets the message—sort of. He is willing to step out in faith, but only if Jesus gives him assurance. Peter is maybe further along in his understanding than the other disciples, but is still struggling to really believe what Jesus is capable of. He wants to believe that Jesus will save them, but he can’t believe with his whole heart. His encounter with the Divine still doesn’t overcome the fear provoked by the chaos swirling around him. He wants to believe, so he steps out in faith that Jesus will protect him. Yet just one little step and his confidence falters. He still feels like he’s all alone and has to rely on his own power, and he knows that he is just a man and so he can’t walk on water.
But Jesus is right there! Jesus told him that it would be OK! Jesus has demonstrated again and again his power over this world! There is a participatory nature to all of Jesus’s miracles, though. He does most of the work, but not all. Peter’s fear blocks the inbreaking of God’s realm. Peter’s fear prevents him from truly encountering the Divine.
Yet Jesus is real. Jesus is present with Peter. Jesus saves Peter, and then saves the rest of the disciples. Finally, they get it. They truly believe that Jesus is not just a teacher, not just a prophet, but indeed the Son of God.
As I said, this story can be read as an allegory for the church. When the New Testament was written, Jesus had ascended to heaven and left the disciples behind to carry on. If you read through Paul’s letters and the other letters and the Book of Acts, you can tell that there is a lot of turmoil in the church. Some of it is internal: there were clearly two factions, one who thought that following Christ meant first being a Jew, and one who thought that Christ’s actions removed all obstacles for Gentiles to join in God’s kingdom. Again and again, Paul fights with enemies about the need for circumcision. But much of the turmoil is external. Paul enters the story in Acts when Stephen, the church’s first martyr, is stoned. Stephen is far from the last martyr, though. Jesus’s brother James, who became the head of the movement after Jesus’s crucifixion, was martyred. Eventually, most of the original twelve disciples were martyred. Jerusalem was ransacked and the Temple was destroyed. Christians, especially Gentile Christians, were outcasts both from Roman society and from Jewish communities.
In those turbulent times, Peter was one of the leaders. As Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church.” Peter was trying to guide the ragtag movement and help them develop a distinct identity without the central figure of Jesus to rally around. Yet, even though Jesus was crucified and had ascended to heaven, Peter knew that Christ was alive and present to him. Present to all of them. Peter trusted that Christ would guide the church if they would only let him.
This is still God’s message to the church today. In this story, Jesus was not a ghost. He was real. He was present to Peter. He saved the disciples from the storms. In the early days after his resurrection, Jesus was real. He was present with the disciples and guided them on the Way. He gave them a mission, or rather a commission, to go into all the world making disciples and teaching them. He promised that he would always be with them, to the end of the age.
Christ is still here. Not in bodily form, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ is really and truly present among us. Many Christians are functional atheists, meaning that they believe in God in the abstract but not that God is present in any real way. But Christ promised to always be with us until the end of the age. Christ will save us from the storms in our lives.
And not only in our individual lives, but also in our corporate lives. Christ is here in this place, strengthening and guiding the Church. Christ is ready to help us walk on water, if we will only take the first step. Christ is ready to host a great feast, if we will only give Him our meager starting supplies.
Now, as I said, those first few years were turbulent times for the Church, and the storms persist to this day. What can we do to survive the storms that are swirling about us? I’m not sure, but I do know that the Church, with a capital C, will survive. I do know that God is still working through us, individually and as a congregation. I do know that the Holy Spirit binds us together and strengthens us. I do know that we can continue to function as Christ’s body in the world if we will only let Him dwell within us.
When you’re in a storm on the sea, there are two options. One, you can keep heading towards your destination regardless of the wind and the waves. That’s a recipe for disaster. That leaves the boat open to waves coming over the side, or to the wind and waves knocking you over. You may think that the shortest path is the quickest path, which is true in some situations, but not when a storm is raging. There’s another option, though: running before the storm. Whichever way the wind and the waves are heading, that’s where you need to go. Let them push you along instead of fighting against them. In the short term, it feels wrong to go away from your destination, but if the option is being swamped or capsizing, any direction that keeps you upright is better. Your best bet is to run before the storm until it subsides, and then figure out where to go.
We can be confident that Christ will be with us whether the seas are calm or the storm is raging. We can be confident that He will come to us and protect us. We can be confident that He will enable us to do miraculous things, if we only trust in Him. Let us pray not only for Christ’s presence with us, but also for the courage to step out in faith as Peter did, and the faith to believe that Christ will be with us each step of the way. Amen.
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