Any of us who have been around teenagers for any period of time know how difficult it is to keep them focused! In my days of serving as a youth director, I couldn't make it through at single Sunday School lesson or youth group program without have to say "Focus guys!" at least once; and usually more like five or six times. It's just so easy to get distracted, for teenagers and for us. Teenagers tend to have trouble focusing because of friends or games or TV. For adults, the distractions can be a bit more complicated. Nonetheless, staying focused on the right things is important for all of us, especially when it comes to matters of faith.
Last week, our lesson focused on the feeding of the 5,000, which happens just before the scene we heard recounted a few moments ago. The story of the feeding of the 5,000 is a lesson about discipleship and our call as Christians to make sacrifices in service to others and to God, not excuses. The story of Jesus walking on water is a lesson about faith, and about staying focused on Christ in faith, even when things are not going all that well.
If you remember from last week, Jesus had just learned of John the Baptist's death when a crowd gathered and he spent an entire day healing the sick, and then he had fed the multitudes with just a few loaves and fish. Now that the day is over and the people have been fed and satisfied, Jesus finally finds that he has some time for the much-needed solitude he had been seeking earlier in the day. So Jesus sends the crowds away, he instructs the disciples to go ahead of him in the boat, and then he escapes up the mountain to pray. After several hours, Jesus decides it's time to catch up to the disciples. Or maybe the storm had rolled in and he got concerned about his friends and decided he needed to find them. Either way, a storm was roiling, the disciples were having quite a rough go of it, and in the midst of it all, Jesus does something God-like. He walks on water.
Now, the disciples were studied fisherman. They knew the Sea of Galilee like the back of their hand. They had surely ridden out storms before. But for some reason, this storm is worse, and the disciples are tired and concerned. It's no wonder that when they see some sort of figure heading toward them in the midst of this great maelstrom that they were "terrified"!
"'It's a ghost,' they said, and cried out in fear." That's when Jesus speaks, immediately responding to the distress of the men in the boat. "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." What an amazing and wonderful word from our Lord. Isn't this exactly what this world needs to hear? Isn't this the word we need to hear? "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
So many people are so frightened today, terrified. Everywhere, people feel they are in way over their heads. The storms of life of raging, and where there should be joy, there is only fear. We've got plant managers struggling to make payroll in a down economy; parents with rebellious teenagers, marriages trying to survive, elderly folks trying to pay astronomical hospital bills out of tiny pension checks, working folks worrying about whether there will even be a pension when they retire. Indeed, modern life can be like a deep and stormy sea that threatens to swallow us whole. And certainly, we all need to hear the words of Christ over and over and over again in the midst of it all: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
As Jesus' words echo across the tossing waves, without hesitation, Peter responds. "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water." Peter tends to get a bad rap in a lot of ways. He's impulsive, he takes risks. He acts first and thinks later. When it comes to this story, people say Peter didn't have enough faith because when he saw the waves and the wind, he began to sink. But what did it take for Peter to get out of that boat in the first place. In the midst of that crazy storm that had every one of the disciples scared, what did it take for Peter to step out of the boat? It took faith. He had to have faith in who Jesus Christ was in order to say to him, "Lord if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water." But that's exactly what Peter said; impulsively, without even thinking about it, in faith. And do you remember what Christ says about faith even the size of a mustard seed?
So Jesus tells Peter to "come" out into the raging waters. And "Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus." Amazing, isn't it? The rest of the disciples are hunkered down, their knuckles white from clinging to the sides of the boat. They're not about to move, not with all this mess going on around them. They couldn't even seem to muster the little faith that Peter had, not even enough to stand up and take a look at the man coming towards them. Yet they had seen so much of Jesus' power. They had heard his teachings, and watched him heal people, they had just fed a crowd of "5,000 men besides women and children" with five loaves of bread and two fish that Jesus had blessed and broken. But they were still afraid.
Let's put ourselves in that boat for a moment. Can you imagine yourself there? What are you doing? Are we more like Peter who ventured out toward Jesus without a moment's hesitation, or are we more like the disciples hunkered down in the boat? And what about the world? Our world has learned so much, discovered so much, and yet still lacks the power to do many of the things that really matter. We have invented amazing machines for making war, but nobody has found one that will make peace. We can put a person on the moon, but we can't put food in hungry stomachs. We can listen to the songs of the whales singing on the ocean floor, but we can't hear the crying of human souls on the next street down.
And much of our world knows at least a little bit about Jesus. Some find him frightening. Others wish he's go away and leave us alone. And even many who believe in him, like the disciples did, don't know what to do with him. But sometimes, there are those who get the idea that it would be good to copy him. And some of us set off with the aim of doing just that; to bring Jesus’ love and power, Jesus’ peace and hope to a lost, frightened, and needy world. So, we start walking out to Jesus. We see him on the water, inviting us to step into what seems to be impossible waters. All we have to do is go in faith. But then we let our eyes drop for a moment to the waves and the howling wind. And we suddenly feel as if we are just one person trying to fight against all elements, just a drop in the ocean.
That’s what it can often feel like when we try and bring God’s love and healing power into a world that so often rejects him. It can feel like a lost cause. So, we lose our focus. We take our eyes off Jesus, and suddenly we are afraid again; afraid of what people might think of us, afraid of rejection, or failure, or inadequacy. And if we begin to allow that fear to win over our hearts, and minds, and souls; we, like Peter, will begin to sink.
This is something we should never forget. As long as Peter kept his focus on Christ, he could do anything--even walk on water! But when he let his eyes leave the Messiah, he started to sink. Yet, this is what it is like for each of us as we dare to “get out of the boat” and head toward Christ. All of us will begin to sink at one point or another. It is inevitable. We are broken vessels in the midst of a stormy see. But, notice what our gospel lesson says to us today. It doesn’t say Peter went “ker-splash!” into the sea! It doesn’t say that Peter suddenly found himself swimming rather than walking. It says that Peter was “beginning to sink.” And isn’t that how it usually works? In most cases, it’s not as if we are walking along just fine and dandy with Christ and then in an instant we are ready to die. The downward spiral is usually a slow and deceitful one. It starts with just one little glimpse of danger, or a quick glance at the sin; we might not even be aware of it! Then we begin to sink as we take our eyes off of God and start looking at ourselves. Keeping our eyes on Jesus is a serious matter. Think of the trouble we get in when we take our eyes off him, when we lose of focus.
So how do we keep from sinking all the way down? We do what Peter did, we go back to our faith, the gift of God given to us, and we cry out to Jesus, “Lord save me!” When Peter did this, “immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.” The moment we are most strongly tempted to give up, we need to remember that Jesus is always just a step away, or even closer than that! Sometimes we have to stop what we are doing and concentrate on Christ. If we don’t do this, we will find ourselves sinking into the world of miseries. We all must be intentional about looking to God; about reading God’s Word, praying, worshiping, and fellowshipping with other believers. All of these things are vital if we are not to drown in the stormy sea.
It’s only as we look to Jesus that we see hope. It’s only as we look to Christ that we see the one who is able. We’ll certainly make mistakes, but remember Christ is only a step away. In the midst of this dark and stormy world, let us always stay focused on our Savior, who pulls us out of the depths and calms the stormy seas.
