Get In the Boat ~ Matthew 14:22-33 ~ August 7, 2011

Say what you want about Southwestern Pennsylvania winters—there's one big advantage to living here: we enjoy relative safety from natural disasters that plague other regions of this country.  Our hilly terrain keeps the tornados away.  We’re far enough from the coast so that we don't have to worry about hurricanes.  We’re nowhere near a fault line, so we don't have earthquakes.  There are no volcanoes around. 

Yet we are not immune to flooding.  Every time we get severe rains, there's always someone, somewhere who tries to drive across a flooded road and ends up stranded.  As the flood waters rise around them, they climb onto the roof of their car, waiting to be rescued.  The news helicopters hovering overhead bring the terrifying footage right into our living rooms.  The best hoped-for ending is for firefighters and police to risk their lives and rescue the helpless victim from the clutches of the powerful torrent. 

But have you ever seen anybody simply get out of their car and walk on top of the waters to safety?   Could a person with iron-clad faith save themselves from the clutches of death? 

We all know the answer: no.  No one gets saved from a flood this severe without a rescuer. 

So would it be any different for Peter?  As the winds raged and the waves battered the boat, should Peter have been able to get out of the boat and walk to Jesus without getting his feet wet?  Would Peter have been able to save himself from the clutches of death if he had kept his eyes on Jesus and had enough faith? 

One thing to note is that it wasn’t Jesus’ idea for Peter to walk on water.  This was Peter’s idea.  When Peter saw Jesus, he decided to put Jesus to the test.  “Since it is you,” he said, “command me to come to you on the water.”  Peter stepped out of that boat in hopes of proving to himself that it truly was Jesus walking toward him.   Jesus granted Peter’s request—but not so everyone could see what was possible if they all had enough faith…  When Peter’s faith melted away as the winds raged around him, Jesus had the perfect opportunity to show himself for who he is—the Savior of the world.  No one gets saved from a storm this severe without a rescuer. 

All throughout Scripture, we’re taught that we can move mountains with faith... nothing is impossible with God…  Four times in Matthew Jesus says to people “your faith has made you well.”  So we believe that if we have faith, things will work out for the good.  And much of the time, that works out just fine for us.

But what happens to our faith when the floodwaters rise?  What happens when the storms of life roll in and we’re battered by the winds and tossed about by the waves?   What happens to our faith when we feel ourselves going under?

Don’t get me wrong—miracles happen every day.  Prayers are answered.  God intervenes in mysterious and awesome ways to deliver us from life’s trials and tribulations.  By faith, we can do awesome and amazing things.  

But when that miracle doesn’t come—is it because of our lack of faith? 

It’s so easy to think that our struggling faith is a failure on our part.  We feel as though we’re slamming the door on God with all of our fears and our doubts.  All the clichés start stirring around in our minds: “have faith” or “trust Jesus;” “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle” or “God only helps those who help themselves.”  We end up feeling that we’re worthless and dead in God’s eyes when God is so hard to believe in.  So how can we believe that Jesus Christ is with us when all the things happening to us suggest he’s not?

To answer that question, we cannot look within ourselves—because faith is not something that we can simply do through our own effort.  The only way that we can have faith is by the Holy Spirit.  Faith is a gift—not an achievement.  Faith isn’t about smiling and smoothly sailing through life’s worst storms any more than it’s about walking on water.  It’s about crying out to God for help again and again—even when the only answer we seem to be getting is silence.  Faith is about believing that Jesus is listening…  It’s about believing that Jesus is right there with us when everything around us would tell us otherwise.  It’s about believing that Jesus’ arm is stretched out to us when we feel like we just can’t go on…

Even when we do not believe—when our eyes aren’t set on Jesus; when we’re feeling overwhelmed and overcome by whatever has thrown our lives into chaos—Jesus is still holding onto us.  Peter may have taken his eyes off of Jesus, but Jesus never took his eyes off of him.   That is the good news of this story.  Having faith doesn’t save us.  Jesus saves us.  Faith is all about believing that Jesus saves us—because no one can be saved from the powers of chaos and death without a Savior.  The cliché “God only helps those who helps themselves” makes no sense.  The gospel is the story of God doing for us what we are too weak, too stubborn, and too scared to do for ourselves.  Faith isn’t walking on water—because only Jesus can do that…  Faith is about you and me believing that Jesus is walking on the water, holding onto each of us so that we’ll never be swept away by the winds and the waves.

But no one can know that they’re being saved unless they hear the words of promise—and the words of promise remain just words unless they become real…  And that’s why there’s a church; that’s why we’re here…   Here in the church, God’s saving work becomes real to us.  It becomes real in word and sacrament.  We come together as a community and we see God at work in each other.  We make it real in the love we show to our neighbors and whenever we share our gifts with those in need. 

We’re all weathering the storms of life—we’re all struggling to keep our heads above the water as we’re battered by the winds and waves.  But the church is the lifeboat.  Jesus has brought us aboard so that we can all sail together with him through the storms to the land of promise.  Far too many people are treading water in the sea, gasping for air, not knowing that their rescue is under way.  Our job is to join Jesus in bringing them aboard. 

The sky may be dark, the winds may be hard, the waters may be high—but we are rescued.  Jesus is with us in the boat as we weather life’s storms.  And because Jesus is with us, we will survive the storms—and we will make it to the shore.