As sometimes happens, this sermon took a turn I had not expected once I really got into it. Not a very big one, mind you, but I would up focusing on the gospel lesson instead of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. I do like, when I can, to tie the three lessons together, and these three seemed to be perfectly suited to that approach. Because all three of them illustrate the basic truth that Jesus astonished his disciples with back in the beginning “For man it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” [Mt 19:26] He said this in the context of the story about the rich young man who wanted to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life, and went away sorrowing when Jesus responded, “go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” [Mt 19:21] Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, “Then who can be saved?” [Mt 19:23-25]
Now, this is not a sermon on materialism, or greed, or even on salvation. It is about acknowledging that many if not most of the things that Jesus asks us to do are impossible without God.
First, let’s take a look at Joseph. It’s a very long story, and we’ve only looked at the beginning. But if you read the entire thing - or if you’ve seen Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - you’ll notice that it is filled with impossibilities. First, how can God ask Joseph to forgive his brothers for what they did? They planned to kill him. It was only because big brother Reuben had a mild attack of conscience that they let him live. But being sold into slavery isn’t a whole lot better. There’s not much brotherly love in the Old Testament, starting with Cain and Abel. Obviously, Joseph is another victim of the inexplicable unfairness of life. Scratch Joseph, move on to the next candidate. But no! Not only does he rise to the top of Egypt’s political pyramid, at the end Joseph does forgive his brothers. And there’s more. Look at poor Jacob. He’s not only lost his favorite son, the ones he has left, except for baby Benjamin, are dirty rotten scoundrels. And yet - if you read to the end of the story - God restores Jacob’s son, stirs the hearts of the brothers to repentance, and saves the entire clan from starvation. Impossible? Not for God.
And then look at Paul. You may remember that he started his career as a top enforcer for the anti-Christian movement by holding the coats of the men who stoned the first martyr, Stephen, to death. Paul persecuted Christians from one end of Palestine to the other, all for the glory of God. Again, three impossible things happen. First, God knocks Paul off his horse and opens his eyes to the truth. Second, the Christians he had been persecuting forgive him. And third, Jesus commissions and equips him to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Impossible? Not with God.
And to top off the trio, the gospel text for today presents us with yet another impossibility.
“Early in the morning [Jesus] came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, 'It is a ghost!' And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, 'Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.' Peter answered him, 'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.' He said, 'Come.' So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus." [v. 25-29]
The thing that sets this story apart from the other two is that Peter blows it. That makes it really appropriate for us, because people mostly blow it. Living by faith isn’t easy. The good news is, Jesus doesn’t give up on us, as long as we don’t give up on him.
As long Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to walk on water. But did you notice when it was that he started to sink? It was when Peter saw how strong the wind was, and how high the waves were, he got scared. When he got scared, he began to doubt. And when he began to doubt, he began to sink. But Jesus was right there. Jesus is always right there. That’s lesson number one. No matter how deep you may have sunk into your problems, Jesus is able to rescue you out of them All you have to do is what Peter did. Peter said, “Lord, save me!” [v. 30] And you know what happened? Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” [v. 31]
Now, the problem there for many of us is that we may not recognize the hand Jesus reaches out to us with, because he might use someone else’s hand. I’m sure many of you have heard the story about the man caught in the flood who refused to leave his house because he had faith that God would rescue him. So he waved away the neighbor who offered him the last seat in his car. A few hours later, he waved away the motorboat that came by as he was gazing out an upstairs window. And later still he refused the helicopter that came by as he was perched on the rooftop. Well, when he wound up in heaven he asked God with some indignation, “Lord, why didn’t you save me?” And the Lord said, “well, I sent you a car, a boat, and a helicopter. What more did you want?”
Peter didn’t have that problem, of course. It wasn’t a failure to recognize Jesus that was his problem. It was his inability to stay focused. If Peter hadn’t been so overwhelmed by the sheer impossibility of his situation, he could have done a whole lot more walking with Jesus. But let’s not be too hard on poor Peter. One thing that you have to admire about him is that at least he got out of the boat. He took that first step of faith in Jesus and got out of the boat, even though he wasn’t able to follow through to the end.
Now, let’s look at this situation a little more closely. First of all, when Peter got out of the boat, it was right in the middle of a storm. Second, it was dark. This all took place in the fourth watch of the night, that is between 3 and 6 a.m. There was probably some moonlight, because the disciples were able to see Jesus even though at first they thought he was a ghost. But still it was a dark and stormy night... and yet Peter got out of the boat. And the reason Peter got out of the boat, even in the storm and the dark, was because Peter had faith. He believed that if Jesus said could be done, it was possible - as long as Jesus was right there with him. Even in the midst of a sea storm, Peter was going to believe that Jesus could do it. If Jesus wanted him to. That’s why Peter checked with Jesus first. “Is this something you want me to do?“ is essentially what he was asking. “Is this amazing feat something only for you, Lord, or can we do it too?”
He didn’t think, “Well, anything Jesus can do, I can do, too!” Peter knew this was impossible, that he would need Jesus’ help. That’s the second lesson. When we attempt the impossible, we should try to make as sure as we can that Jesus is calling us to do it. Jesus isn’t there to pull us out of messes we get into because we’ve stubbornly refused to listen to him and gone our own way. Although he’s pretty good about that, too, but sometimes he lets us stew in our own juice so we’ll learn not to do it again. No, the lesson here is, that if it is Jesus who is asking you to do the impossible, it’s not impossible.
The obvious and most central lesson in this entire passage is, of course, that Peter could only do the impossible as long as he focused on Jesus instead of on his surroundings. And of course that’s directly applicable to us as well. As long as you are telling yourself that the situation you’re in is impossible, that there’s no way out, that surely you’re going to drown any minute now, you probably will begin to sink. But if you change your focus, and start telling yourself instead that Jesus is there to help you and that he will not yet you down, it is simply amazing how solidly Jesus will come through for you. Remember, there is no problem too big for Jesus. It may be too big for you. In fact, all the most important things are too hard for us to do on our own. But they are not impossible with Jesus.
And even though Peter didn’t finish as well as be began, since he was still pretty new at this walking by faith stuff, the inescapable fact remains: he did get out of the boat.
So the question we have to ask is, “Why didn’t the other 11 disciples get out of the boat?”
There are at least 3 reasons why they stayed in the boat.
The first reason was, of course, because they were afraid. Even though Jesus assured them that he wasn’t a ghost, they were still afraid. Remember that it was dark, and it was stormy. Who wouldn’t be scared?
The second reason they stayed in the boat was because they had doubts. Even with Jesus’ assurance, they still had doubts. Who wouldn’t? They knew the Sea of Galilee! They knew there wasn’t a sandbar or stepping stones or anything else that would explain this apparition. Sometimes modern theologians explain away the miracles that the evangelists tell about by saying, “Well, these are poorly educated, credulous men... they believed things we modern, sophisticated, scientifically knowledgeable folks simply can’t swallow.” But they weren’t stupid. They might have believed in ghosts, but they knew for sure people can’t walk on water. So of course they had doubts!
No man has ever walked on water. But even if the other disciples did realize that Jesus Christ was no ordinary man, and that he could indeed walk on water, it didn’t occur to them that with his help they could do the same. It didn’t occur to them that with Jesus, they too could do the impossible.
The third reason why the eleven didn’t get out of the boat was because they felt safer staying in the boat. Even with Jesus setting them an example, they preferred to stay right where they were, thank you, because that was what they knew. That was what was familiar.
So there are the three reasons only Peter got out of the boat. They were afraid, they had doubts, and they wanted to stay with the familiar. But before we criticize them, let’s take a look at ourselves. How many of us have stayed in the boat? How many of us have been afraid to come when Jesus called, how many have doubted that Jesus would equip us, how many of us have chosen to stay in the boat instead of taking a risk for Christ?
Now of course I don’t mean a literal boat. I mean our comfort zone. And it may be a zone that isn’t in fact very comfortable at all. Our life situation may be tossing up and down in the storm, it may be filling with water from the waves, and yet it’s what we know. We’re less afraid of the familiar chaos than the risky unknown. If it looks like we’re sinking, we may even stick to the old solutions, maybe baling like mad or pulling for shore, instead of lifting our heads and seeing Jesus, hearing Jesus call us to a different place, a different path. And of course if it is nice and calm, there’s no reason to step out in faith at all. Except to answer Jesus’ call.
If God calls us to do something, no matter how radical it may seem, we haven’t any excuse not to do it. James says, “Anyone... who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.” [Jas 4:17]. If you know that you are supposed to do something then you are held accountable for doing it. God may be calling you to something that seems humanly impossible. Guess what? It is.
It doesn’t require faith to do something easy. It doesn’t take faith to stay in bed and pull the cover over your head. It doesn’t take faith to take the easy way out of a problem - like the corporation exec who reclassifies expenses to make the books look good, or the student who cheats on an exam because “everyone does it.” It does take faith to step out of the boat and into the will of God. And that is exactly how Christians are called to live. For the true Christian, every step we take in life is an act of faith, not in ourselves or in our abilities, or in our own goodness, but in our God. Paul says in his letter to the Romans, “the one who is righteous will live by faith.” [Rom 1:17] He echoes it later on when he says “We walk by faith, not by sight.” [2 Cor 5:7]
We shouldn’t allow the storms of life to distract our attention from the One who is calling us. But of course we do. And here we can learn from Peter as well. What did he do when he started to sink? He prayed! As preacher Steve Dow puts it, “You focus not on the crisis, but on the Christ.” You can’t pray without focusing on God. Peter’s prayer was nothing fancy, but if was effective. I think it may have been Martin Luther who said, “The fewer the words, the better the prayer.”
And there’s good news even for those of us who haven’t found the courage yet to get out of the boat. Jesus didn’t leave the disciples there in the middle of the storm, shrugging his shoulders and moving off to find a more obedient set of followers. He got in the boat with them, calmed the storm, and continued to teach them. Jesus is patient with us. And as long as we cling to him, even in the middle of the storm, our hearts can be calm and unafraid.
There is still an unanswered question. If God really loves us why does he allow storms to come into our lives at all? Two reasons. First of all, we bring many of our problems on ourselves. Someone has said, “If you could kick the person responsible for most of your troubles in the backside, you wouldn’t be able to sit down for two weeks” [Bits and Pieces, December 1990].
The second reason is illustrated by a truly wonderful story that a friend sent me on the internet. A group of women who met for Bible study came across a verse in Malachi that says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” [Mal 3:3] This puzzled them and one offered to find out more about the process of refining silver, and to get back to the group the following week. The woman then called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him work. As she watched, he held a piece of silver over the fire and explained that it was necessary to hold the silver in where the flames were the hottest, so as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God, and about hot spots, and about the verse, “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the entire time the silver was being refined. The man answered yes, that not only did he have to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on it the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “But how do you know when the silver is fully refined?” He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy: when I see my image in it.” Can Jesus see his image in you yet?
What’s your boat? What’s your storm? What is Jesus calling you to?
Jesus asks us to do the impossible. But when we take him at his word, step out of the boat and follow him, two amazing things will happen. First of all, we will - with God’s help - see the impossible become a reality. And second - and perhaps even more important - we will start to look like Jesus. Either one of these should be reason enough - but both? It’s an offer you can’t refuse.
