Miracles with Water (Proper 14A, Pentecost 11 2023)

Text: “31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”

This is an interesting moment in Jesus’ life and ministry because it’s almost lighthearted. There are no great theological debates with Pharisees and Sadducees; there are no blind or sick or lame pleading with Jesus to heal them; there aren’t even huge crowds clamoring to hear Jesus’ teachings. It’s almost lighthearted.

And it’s fun to speculate about this moment. Why did the disciples think that Jesus was a ghost? Why was Peter’s immediate reaction to ask Jesus if he could do it, too?

It’s fun to speculate about what walking on water must have been like. What did the water feel like beneath his feet? Was it slippery? Did he have a solid footing?

If we let our imaginations run a little further, you can imagine Peter standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, years later, and just dipping a toe in the water to see if he could do it one more time. Whatever it was like, Peter did it. He walked on water.

We can speculate, but that’s all it would be.

As lighthearted as this moment may be, there is an important side to this event for you and me. The more important part is Peter’s faith and his doubt.

He walked on the water— until he doubted. While He trusted in Jesus’ command and promise, He walked on the water. He had that experience that no other human being has had.

But then he doubted. His focus shifted from Jesus’ words to the storm around him. His focus shifted from Jesus’ words to the fact that he could not possibly be doing what he was doing. He doubted and he sank. The storm did not suddenly grow stronger; Jesus’ power did not decrease; the Apostle John didn’t sneak up and push Peter in. Peter doubted and he sank.

The important part here is Peter’s faith and his doubt. As long as Peter’s faith was fixed on Jesus’ command and promise, he was literally able to walk on water. But when he doubted; when the storm became more powerful, in his mind, than Jesus’ words; when the reality that people don’t walk on water seemed more powerful than Jesus words, Peter went under.

This is a wonderful lesson on faith. In fact, not only is it a wonderful lesson, it’s a very fitting lesson for you and me. It’s fitting to give thought to Peter’s faith and his doubt because Jesus has come to you over the water, too.

At the time, most of you were too young to know what was going on. He wasn’t visible for you, in that moment, like He was for the disciples that day— so there was no danger of you mistaking Him for a ghost— but He was there. He came to you over the water when you were baptized. And what He did for you was even more miraculous than what He did for Peter.

You, too, were called by Jesus. He called you to be His own when He came to you in the waters of baptism. He did not give you the power to walk on water— at least for a moment. He did something far greater. He made you holy. He washed you by the power of His word, combined with that water, so that He might present you to Himself in splendor— without spot or wrinkle or any such thing— holy and without blemish. That is who He called you to be. If you’ll forgive a little bit of a pun, that is how He called you to walk in this life.

So I have one question for you today: O you of little faith, why do you doubt?

Yes, the winds of this world seem irresistible. The waves of temptation are powerful. So what? Why do you doubt who you are in Jesus Christ? Why do you allow yourself to sink back into what the world values, how it thinks? Why do you cast yourself back into the deadly waters of sin for that fleeting pleasure? ...for that moment of satisfaction that proved to be so empty? Why does any of that seem more powerful than the command and promise of Jesus Christ that you are holy? ...that you are a child of God?

O you of little faith, haven’t you had enough of drowning in sin and death? Why do you doubt what He did for you there in the water? Why do you doubt what He gave you there? …what He made you?

This passage from Matthew’s gospel is about the power of faith. And, thankfully, the power of faith does not lie in Peter, the power of faith does not lie in you or me. Remember, faith, itself, is nothing. Faith, itself, is meaningless without knowing what your faith is in. There are many who are very sincere in their faith. And they are very sincerely wrong because the people or things they believe in can not save them.

The power of faith lies in the One you believe in. It lies in the power of what He was willing and able to do for you.

What made Peter able to walk on water that day? The command and promise of Jesus. Because it was focused on Jesus Christ, even the faltering faith of Peter gave him the power to walk on water.

Your faith, too, is in Jesus Christ. It’s founded upon what He has done for you. The same One who challenged Job in our Old Testament Reading, asking him, “Have you entered intothe springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?” (Job 38:16) now comes walking to His disciples across the top of the water. The creator of the universe, the one who laid the foundations of the earth, who determined its measurements, who stretched the line upon it; the one who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, who prescribed limits for it, and said to it, “Thus far you shall come, and no farther. Here shall your proud waves be stayed,” That same One took on the form of one of His creatures. He became like you in order to walk the road that led Him to the cross to redeem you.

The One who challenged Job, asking, “Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?” (Job 38:17) has come to destroy the power of death; has come to seize the key to the gates of death and hell. Because He did not simply come to demonstrate His power by walking on water. He came to allow Himself to be crucified, to die, and to be buried in the depths of the earth in your place.

The One who has seen the gates of Death has passed through death and hell and has risen, victorious, for you. There was no price He did not pay, up to and including His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. He took your sins upon Himself and gave Himself up for you in order to sanctify you— in order to make you holy.

And so He comes to you again today. He comes to you in the word of absolution. He comes to you in bread and wine. He comes reaching out the hand of His grace and forgiveness and pulling you back out of the depths of sin and death and reclaiming you as His own. He invites you to begin each day in that same promise: in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit— as a reminder that you are a baptized child of God. He invites you, each morning, to put to death the Old Adam in you by contrition and repentance and rise to meet that new day in the new life that He gave you when He came to you over the waters.

O you of little faith, why do you doubt? Yes, the winds of this world are strong. The waves of temptation are powerful. But the power of the One who came to you in the waters of baptism, the power of what He did for you there, is greater than those winds— is greater than those waves. Even when the cords of death encompass you, when the torrents of destruction assail you, the One you believe in is greater. And He has promised you everlasting life.

Do not doubt. After you receive the fullness of His grace and promise here at this font, this altar, and this pulpit, walk boldly out those doors with the eyes of your faith firmly fixed on Jesus Christ, in the confidence of His promise to you.

Amen.