Sink or Swim
(Matthew 14: 22-33)
When my granddaughter was little, before she got into kindergarten, one of my duties was to travel over to Edmonds and take her to swimming lessons. It was an organized chaos to say the least and I have to give credit to her instructor, a woman with an extraordinary amount of firm but fair patience. Keeping the attention of a four-year-old in an environment filled with distractions had to be challenging. I was never sure which Eva I was taking on any given day. Would it be the compliant one who paid attention and did as her instructor told her, learning the proper techniques so she could advance to the next level? Would it be the distracted one who would refuse to pay attention and try to swim off on her own? Or would it be the defiant one who refused to get into the pool? Would she sink or swim?
And it’s the question of sink or swim that Matthew is writing about in our gospel reading for this morning. Are we strong enough in our faith that we can survive in any waters or will be overcome by the storms of life and find ourselves in deep turbulent water in danger of going under?
We pick up where we left off last Sunday where Jesus, overcome with grief over the murder of his cousin John put his mourning aside to tend to the crowd that had followed him out into the middle of nowhere to hear his words and experience his healing. With the feeding of the five thousand behind him Jesus instructed the disciples to get into the boat and head over to the other side of the lake as he stayed behind to dismiss the crowds. After sending them away Jesus went up onto a mountain by himself to pray, to be alone with his thoughts and to process his grief.
Meanwhile, Matthew tells us, the boat, fighting a strong headwind, was being battered by the waves and was already far away from land. For you and me, and even Matthew, the former tax collector, this would have no doubt been more than a little disconcerting. To the four experienced fishermen in the boat, it was just another day on the water. Matthew then tells us that very early in the morning Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him, they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” They were so frightened they screamed. Just then Jesus spoke to them, “Be encouraged! It’s me. Don’t be afraid.” Peter, a seasoned fisherman, replied, Lord, if it’s you, order me to come to you on the water, to which Jesus told him to come. Peter confidently got out of the boat and began walking on the water towards Jesus, but when he saw the strong wind, he became frightened. As he began to sink, he shouted: Lord, rescue me! Matthew and the others watched in horror as their friend sank lower and lower into the churning water and saw Jesus reach out, grabbing Peter, saying, You man of weak faith! Why did you begin to have doubts? Matthew tells us that once Jesus and Peter got into the boat the wind settled down and the seas calmed. Then those in the boat worshipped Jesus and said: You must be God’s Son!
First off, have these guys not been paying attention? “You must be God’s Son!” Did you not just witness his biggest miracle yet, where he took five small loaves of bread and two meager fish, thanked God, blessed them, and then fed well over five thousand very hungry people? Peter seemed to understand as he said: Lord, if it’s you, order me to come to you on the water. Of course, he did preface what he was about to do with a “Lord, if it’s you”.
Up to this point Jesus has been bringing his disciples along slowly, careful to not overwhelm them with something as big as being God’s Son but there are some subtle hints for anyone who knows the Torah and the teachings of the prophets. God walking on the sea, treading on the waves is referenced in Job 9:8 where Job rhetorically asks: Who commands the sun, and it does not rise, even seals up the stars; stretched out the heavens alone and trod on the waves of the sea? And in Isaiah 43: 16 where the prophet says: The Lord says—who makes a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters? And Jesus’ response: “It’s me” recalls God’s own name at the burning bush in Exodus 3: 14 where God said to Moses, I Am Who I Am. So say to the Israelites, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ I know, reflecting back upon the Old Testament is not something a person would ordinarily do while being tossed about in a boat during a violent storm. But the point is that Jesus walking on the water and the “I am” in his words to the disciples indicate that this story points to Jesus’ divine identity as God. That’s a lot to wrap your head around as you are being buffeted by the waves and winds.
We must understand that Peter was not putting Jesus to the test, something we are told not to do. Instead, he was the only one on the boat to react in faith. And his impulsive request led him to experience a rather unusual demonstration of God’s power. Peter started to sink because he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the high winds and turbulent seas all around him which represents the storms of life we face during our lifetimes, the tough situations we find ourselves in and don’t know which way to go. His faith wavered when he realized what he was doing and he began to sink.
Although, like Peter, we too start out with good intentions and oftentimes our faith also falters. The lesson here is that when Peter’s faith faltered, he knew enough to reach out to Christ, the only one who could help. Sure, he was afraid, but he still looked to Christ for help. The lesson here is that if we focus on the waves of difficult circumstances around us without looking to Jesus for help, we too may despair and sink. To maintain our faith when situations are difficult, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus’ power rather than on our own inadequacies to see us through safely to the other side.
So, when you find yourself in one of those sink or swim situations and are apprehensive about the trouble around you causing you to doubt Christ’s presence or ability to help, you must remember that he, and only he, is the only one who can really help.
Let us pray.
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me; when the storms of life are raging, stand by me. When the world is tossing me, like a ship upon the sea, thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me. Yes, most merciful God, when we find ourselves in deep trouble and our own efforts are not sufficient to save us, we turn to you in prayer seeking your protection. We pray that during those turbulent times that you will reach out and guide us to safety and remind us that if we keep our eyes upon Jesus that there isn’t anything we can’t handle. This we pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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