Paramus Congregational Church, & Paramus Presbyterian Church
August 11, 2002, Pentecost 12 Year A
Scripture: Paul’s letter to the
Romans 10:5-15 The Gospel of Matthew
14:22-33
Sermon: “Sent
to Sea by Jesus” Reverend
Edgar S. Welty
“Why are you making us get in this
boat?” might have asked Jesus’ disciples.
We, too, might have many questions we might ask about today’s gospel
passage. Why did Jesus not let his
disciples wait until morning? How did
the disciples feel when, soon they found themselves in the midst of a
storm? Why does Jesus walking on the
water, frighten them? Why does God
still send the faithful into tempests?
How do we when we are in the midst of our lives’ storms receive the
assurance of Jesus who says, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
The answer
to the first question can be found if one looks back at what has just happened
to Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel and remembers that our Lord was fully human.
Jesus has been preaching in his
hometown but, “They took offense at him.
.. And he did not do many deeds
of power there, because of their unbelief.”
In Luke’s gospel, the mob tries to throw Jesus over a cliff!
Then Jesus receives the news, John the Baptist has
been killed. Jesus’ ministry started at
the Jordan with John. Their ministries
had been parallel. John was a relative,
co-worker and friend. Matthew says that
after the Baptist had been beheaded, “John’s disciples came and took his body
and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a
deserted place by himself.”
Also we know that after Herod had
John killed he started hunting Jesus.
“Herod heard reports about Jesus; and he said , ‘This is John the
Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are
at work in him.’”
Now that John was dead, Herod would have thought Jesus too needed
to be eliminated. In the Gospel of
Luke, “Pharisees came and said to Jesus, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants
to kill you.’
But in spite of this,
Jesus interrupts his much needed retreat. “When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion
for them and cured their sick. He also
gave a feast known as the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus was overdue for a retreat, for time by
himself to pray to and commune with his father in heaven.
I think we all have times when
things were overwhelming. I can think
of an incident, which allows to me to feel I know how Jesus felt when he needed
to get away.
It was the first day of the
semester, when I received the news.
Stella, my assistant called me over to the phone saying, “Mr. Fischer
wants to speak to you. As I worked my
way through the law students crowding the bookstore I managed, I wondered: Why
is the head of company interrupting me on one of the busiest days of the year?
Stepping over doubled bagged orders
of textbooks, gesturing just a minute to the mobs of shoppers, I squeezed into
the corner behind the main register.
Leaning against a cabinet, I took the receiver, and said, “Good morning,
sir!”
He asked,
“Are you sitting down?”
I
restrained myself from saying, “Are you nuts ? Don’t you know how crammed the
store is?” Instead I wedged myself onto
a ledge so I could somewhat truly say, “Yes”
Mr. Fischer
announced, “Lee has been shot and killed, I don’t know details but I’m letting
everyone know.” I thanked him for
telling me and hung up.
I worked my way over to at the
refund desk and sat down. I stared
vacantly and said to a customer, “That’s odd, my colleague and friend has been
shot and killed. Take this slip to
either register, you can use it to make a purchase or receive cash.”
Other details came in during the
day. It was said, a gun had gone off in
the course of a game of Russian roulette.
But I still think he was murdered.
Whatever the truth, a man who was a co-worker and friend had been cut
down senselessly.
By the end of the day, I was a
walking zombie. My assistant kindly
offered to secure the day’s receipts and cashier tapes in the safe. I determined I could reconcile the books,
write the reports, prepare and make the bank deposits the next day. I left Stella in charge and then withdrew to
my church to be alone and pray.
In today’s gospel we heard,
“Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the
other side, while he dismissed the crowds.
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by
himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.” Remember this is after: Jesus’ rejection at
Nazareth; his receiving of the news of the senseless murder of his friend and
co-worker John and his compassionate healing of many and the feeding of the
five thousand. Jesus, the man, was
physically and emotionally exhausted.
When we hear of this we should remember Jesus’ humanity.
But what of
Jesus’ disciples? They have just fed
five thousand people. They took the
bread, Jesus blessed and broke, out into the crowds, which with women and
children numbered over ten thousand.
They gathered up the twelve baskets of leftovers. All this in the eve of a day during they had
probably been doing ministry on their own.
Before this, the disciples had been
thrown out of Nazareth along with Jesus.
Many had known John. If Herod
was hunting Jesus he was after the disciples as well.
But Jesus sends
them out on a journey into a storm. I
remember such a journey.
It was
Christmas Day, my parents were separated but Dad had come up for the
holiday. Towards evening it came up
that my father needed a ride back to his school in Tijuana Mexico. Suddenly, there was one of those rare
California downpours. Mom volunteered
to drive. But since Dad’s house was in
a dangerous neighborhood, I was asked to accompany her. Mom was in her sixties by this point and I
was full grown.
By the time
we reached the border, it was dark. Dad
sat in the front passenger seat with a rag.
Only with furious wiping was he able to keep the windshield from fogging
over. As we drove, Dad barked out
directions and seemed nervous. Unlit
dirt streets under construction had turned to mud. Vast puddles covered much of the surface.
When we
arrived at his place, Dad gave the return directions and a warning. He said, some puddles were only a few inches
deep but others covered pits six to eight feet deep, which could swallow a car. He told us, “The road workers down here
don’t put up caution signs, and usually it’s not a problem because it rarely
rains.
Dad
disappeared into the storm. I got into
the front, picked up the wiping rag, and looked at Mom. I think we both had the same thought at
once. We’re going to drown!
Days after the storm our vehicle will be found in a mud
hole. After the tires and any useable
parts were stripped off, someone would report our deaths to the U. S.
Consulate.
It would read: Associated Press
International: Tijuana Mexico two Americans found in Datsun station wagon. sunk
in construction pit. Apparently drown
because their doors jammed shut against the muddy walls: Identification pending
notification of next of kin. Dad would
just shake his head and say, “I thought I gave them clear directions.”
It probably was less than an hour
but it seemed like forever. We inched
our way down the muddy roads through the sheets of rain. I got soaked trying to keep both the inside
and outside surfaces of the windshield clear of fog. We both were soaked in a cold sweat before we reached dry
pavement, lights and the border.
Once we arrived back on the U. S.
side, Mom. pulled over. She pulled out
her large metal thermos full of hot tea.
I prefer coffee but I found a spare cup and shared the comforting warmth
of the weak brew. We were stopped for
thirty minutes to calm down.
Like my parents and I, Jesus’
disciples started their journey in the evening. Since, “The wind was against them”, when it became dark the disciples
had only made it halfway across the six-mile width of the lake. When the storm broke, any light from the
moon or stars would have been blocked out.
In the pitch-blackness, the men in the boat lost their bearings. There was nothing to do wait and bail out
the rain and water splashing into the boat.
Any effort to reach land was put on hold.
The Greek says it was “About the
fourth watch of the night”, when the disciples see Jesus. “Watch”, the biblical term is a period of
time for people stuck in place. These
include guards at a prison, sentries on post, servants waiting for the return
of their master, shepherds watching their lambs or sailors at sea. All these are marking time. The disciples were in the same situation,
stuck all night on a six-mile wide lake.
As light broke over the lake the
disciples must have been relieved. But
then they saw Jesus watching on the water.
And “they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’” This fear of the disciples might seem
unreasonable. But remember ghosts
traditionally can hover over land or sea.
And it was known that Herod was seeking to murder Jesus.
Then ,“Jesus spoke to them and
said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’” And Peter comes out on the water with Jesus. When Peter’s fear of the strong wind
overcomes his faith and he begins to sink, Peter is caught by the real hand of
our Lord.
“When they got into the boat, the
wind ceased”. Then the disciples
remembered that God has power over the sea.
Those who are divine or have a special relationship with God could
according to the traditions in Jesus’ time walk on water. Also Jesus has used the formal name for God. The Greek term used for, “It is I” refers to
God’ name, the “I am that I am” Which is what we heard spoken out of the
burning bush to Moses. Thus we hear.
“Those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of
God."
But what does this have to with us today? First: We have to admit that God still sends
the faithful into tempests. I don’t
know your individual stories, at least not yet! But I know what we as Americans have gone through recently. Some of these have particularly impacted
this area. We all know a month from
today will be the anniversary of 9-11.
Many people here know victims of that great tragedy.
All of us have had to adjust our lives in light of the fact
that this nation has been attacked. The
impact on sectors of the economy such as tourism and the airline industry has
hit this area hard. I am sure many of
you have personal stories to tell which relate.
Other adjustments have had to be made as the government has
shifted its spending to the “War on Terrorism”. And just when we‘ve absorbed these shocks: the financial world
has been shaken by the greed and misconduct of some corporate leaders.
Why has our world been buffeted by these storms. First I think we need to realize that it is
not because we have done wrong, Jesus
elsewhere in Matthew’s gospel says , “Your Father in heaven; ..
makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
righteous and on the unrighteous.” In
other words the winds, which buffet us around, blow not always according the
worthiness of those who are affected.
Rabbi Kushner teaches in his book, Why Bad Things Happen to Good
People that there is random awfulness in the universe that does not come
from God.
The disciples in today’s story did not suffer the terror of
a night storm because they were being punished for some wrongdoing. Nor was it because of any foolhardiness on
their part. They obeyed Jesus, our
Lord, who ordered them out onto the sea.
I did not seek an adventure in the back streets of Tijuana,
Mexico. I went on that journey as a
loving Son. I was in that storm because
my parents had told me to be there.
But where ever we go God is there
to comfort us. Or as Rabbi Kushner
teaches there may be times when things happen beyond God’s intent but God is
always with us.
The assurance may come in the form
of hot tea in a Thermos. Or Jesus may
come walking to us on the water of our lives saying, “Take heart, it is I; do
not be afraid.” And with Jesus we can
find ourselves in the everlasting arms of God.
But also we have a Savior who
became one of us. We heard today that:
Jesus was hurt when his hometown rejected his mission, sorrowed when his friend
John was killed, and knew what it was liked to be hunted. Our Lord became exhausted needed rest and
time with God. But he only took that
time after having compassion on the people.
Because of these human qualities we can be assured that Jesus understands
and cares.
What then does this mean about how
we are to endure or to prepare for life’s Storms? Lowell R. Ditzen says : “There are three ways that prepare us for
life's trials. One is the Spartan way
that says, ‘I have strength within me to do it, I am the captain of my
soul. With the courage and will that is
mine, I will be master when the struggle comes.’ Another way is the spirit of Socrates, who affirmed that we have
minds, reason and judgment to evaluate and help us cope with the enigmas and struggles
of life. The Christian way is the third
approach. It doesn't exclude the other
two, but it adds, ‘You don't begin with yourself, your will or your reason. You begin with God, who is the beginning and
the end.’” Through grace we endure,
“Many dangers, toils and snares.”
The disciples started their voyage over the sea by
obeying Jesus, their friend and loving teacher. At he end of that journey they realized Jesus was God’s Son and
worshiped him. The beginning of our
faith is to see Jesus as the fully human one who knows our struggles the end or
goal is accept the Christ as risen and divine.
May we who are created in the image
of God have our Creator ‘s face shine upon us.
May who seek to follow Christ feel for each other as he does for
us. May we who gather together invoking
the Holy Spirit be assured of the
eternal presence of God. Amen
