13th Sunday a. Pentecost

Matthew 14:22-33

August 10th, 2008

“Storms of Doubt”

I.          Storms of Life and Faith

                        A. Storms of Life. We are not strangers to storms. We are all familiar with thunderstorms, rain, violent winds, and crushing hail. We all remember the flood of spring. We know about people that have experienced the terror of tornados and hurricanes, some of us personally. There are other storms that are more subtle, which affect us all. These are storms that affect our crops and lively hoods and our cost of living and eating, like not enough rain or too much rain, temperatures that are too hot or too cold, all bringing potential devastation. When was the last time you remember the perfect growing season. The storms of potential failure swirl around us.

B. Storms of Person. The storms of weather may seem like nothing at all compared to the storms that rage in our personal lives. These also take many different forms. Like the weather, some of our storms are violent and some are more subtle, barely distinguishable to even our closest friends and family members. Death and sickness and personal tragedies are visible to the people around us. Sometimes we suffer from the silent tempest of an unsettled soul. It seems all too often that more than one storm hits us at a time. It is like the movie the Perfect Storm, where several massive weather systems converge, creating the storm of the century, and we are on a tiny boat in the middle of a raging sea. As these storms rage within us we are often confronted by a crisis in faith.

C. Storms of Peter. Peter faced such a storm and crisis in faith. Jesus had instructed His disciples to get into the boat and cross the Sea of Galilee and go to the town of Capernaum. The Sea of Galilee is about half the size lake Winnebago, 13 miles long and 6 miles wide. It wasn’t a long trip by boat, maybe three or four miles. The trip should have taken from 6:00 P.M to 9:00 P.M. While they were on their way a strong and violent storm came upon them, driving them south and away from their goal. They labored to follow their master’s instruction and head toward Capernaum. Hour upon hour they labored against the tempest without success. They were driven and tossed about on the tiny boat. All the while, Jesus knew their condition. He knew what was happening to them and yes, even allowed it to happen. After all he sent them out knowing full well that the storm would over take them. Jesus went to them. To do so he walked on the water. There in the middle of that raging storm Jesus comes to them and says, “Be of courage, do not fear, it is I.” Who knows what Peter was thinking? Maybe even Peter didn’t know what he was thinking, but, as impetous as ever, Peter boldly speaks these words, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.” I too can be pretty impetuous at times. But I do not think that this would have been my first thought, and those words probably would not have been I first words, but that’s Peter for you. Then, what does the Lord say? The Lord Jesus said, “Come.” Now, we are not told exactly how it happened, I mean Peter’s getting out of the boat. As I was pictureing this event I wondered. Did he just jump out of the boat like a person jumping oof a diving board. Did he gingerly put his hands on the side of the boat and slowly put his foot down on the water to see if it wold sustain his weight…like a person stepping from dry ground onto a patch of ice.
Just imagine the reaction of the other disciples…first to his words…Peter said what…then to his actions, “This is going to be interesting. Hey Peter, “You go guy…will sit here and watch. Then to their surprise, Peter got out of the boat. And, by faith, became the second man in the history of the world to walk upon the water in the middle of a raging storm. Raging storm did you say?  Peter looked around, the wind whipped at his face, large white crested waves crashed at his feet. His great faith crashed in doubt as he looked at the water and took his eyes off of Jesus…and he began to sink. Peter knew how to swim. You don’t need faith to do that. But swimming cannot help a crisis of faith. That was the storm that Peter was in. He doubted that Jesus was the Lord, even the Lord of the storm. He took his eyes off of Jesus.

            We all know what happens when you take your eye off something. You loose it, loose track of it, you become distracted. Many of us have played some kind of ball game, whether it is baseball or softball, or basketball or soccer. As we have played and watched these games and we have heard the all to familiar words… “Hey, keep your eye on the ball. After all, you can’t play the game well unless you concentrate on the main object used to play the game. I had a problem with this. My uncle was hitting me fly balls and grounders. I kept missing the majority of them. Then he said those all to familiar words… “Keep your eye on the ball. The very next grounder I lounged for the ball and it hit me squarely…right in the eye. Proudly I looked at my uncle with one of the best black eye shiners I ever had and said.. “Hey, I kept my eye on the ball” even though I knew that isn’t exactly what he meant. Oh, well!. Any way, Peter took his eye of Jesus. He didn’t get a black eye. Rather, he got his feet wet, and his hands, and his head. As he bobbed up and down in those waves and as his head broke the surface he came up with a bruised faith and a cry for help.

II.        Jesus, the Lord of the Storm

                        A. Lord of the Storm. The story of Jesus walking on the water is recorded in Matthew, Mark and John. As I studied and prepared for this sermon I was surprised that Matthew was the only one that included Peter walking on the water. Why?  You would think that something that significant would be told and retold by the gospel writers. After all wouldn’t it serve to point out the great potential of our faith or show us our faithless shortcomings?  The main point of the story is not Peter and his crisis of faith. The main point of the story is that Jesus is Lord over all the storms of life, both physical and spiritual. Last week, in the feeding of the 5,000, we saw that Jesus was the bountiful provider. This week we see that he is Lord over earth and sea and is able and willing to give protection from the storms of life. Last week in the story of the feeding of the five thousand we see that Jesus can and does provide for those who believe in Him, as well as those people that don’t believe in Him. In this story. We see that Jesus saves those people that believe and trust in Him, even if they have a weak faith.

                        B. Lord of Our Doubt. As Peter sank into the sea he didn’t need to be saved from drowning in water. He needed to be saved from drowning in disbelief. He cries out, “Lord save me”. Week in and week out this is our cry too. In the Kyrie we say, “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. As we are battered by the storms of our lives and drowning in our own doubt, what more can we say?  The Lord saves us just as He saved Peter. The Lord reached out His right hand and grabbed doubting Peter. For our sake, it is good thing that Peter began to sink as he walked toward Jesus. Peter’s impetuous attempt at walking on the water shows us that faith, both strong and weak, cannot stand on it’s own. Faith must cling to Jesus who protects and provides. The eye of faith must always be on Jesus. Faith must look to Jesus who gave His own life on the cross to protect and save us from the storm of God’s judgment on our sin. We grip the hand of God by faith as He holds onto us. Like Peter we are saved. We are saved, not from the storms of life that often assail us, rather we are saved from our own weakness and doubt as we cry out “Lord save me”. The Lord is ever ready to save. He is our comfort, our only help in time of need who preserves us from temptation and gives us patience in tribulation.

Conclusion:  And those in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God." Matt. 14:33. The Disciples stumbled and fumbled on many occasions. The Gospels go out of their way to record the many flubs and moments of confusion by the Disciples to show that they were human and vulnerable just as we are. The Disciples demonstrate the failings of humanity even when put in such a great position. Yet, these men came to the right conclusion. God lifted these men in their faith that they
might rightly confess the answer to the most important of all questions - who is Jesus? Some like to paint the Disciples as men who were unsure, confused, wavering in their own certainties. Some like to claim that these men never understood who Jesus was or why He came. Of course the statements of Peter,
James, John, and others reveal this to be untrue. And so, we today, having not seen but believing, join them in saying: "Truly You are the Son of God."

            As we face life’s storms and as we sometimes do doubt the Lord’s presence and power in our lives. We may forget that the Lord knows exactly where we are in the raging sea of life. Yet gathering around God’s Word, communing at His table and worshipping with His people is exactly what we need and His church is exactly where we need to be. Here Christian struggle together in the storms of life and find strength. Here in church we, like Peter, look towards Jesus. He bids to us as he bid to Peter “be of courage”, “do not fear”, “it is I”, don’t worry about the storms of life. Get out of the boat, and follow me. I will catch you when you fall. My arms are strong to save. Amen!