I Kings 19:9-18; Psalm 85:8-13; Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33
The Rev. Candice B. Frazer
In the name of the One Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen
Jesus and Moses head out to fish. They are about to rent a canoe when Moses says:
“Jesus, can’t you still walk on water? Why not just walk out there?” So Jesus takes his reel and tackle and steps onto the lake….and falls knee deep in water.
Moses says, “Well….maybe you need a head start or something, why not go to the end of the dock and try.”
So Jesus takes his reel and tackle and steps off the end of the dock and falls up to his waist.
Moses says, ” Well why not rent the boat, go out to the center of the lake and try there.”
So they rent the boat and go to the middle of the lake, Jesus is about to step off and try again when…
Moses says, “Wait. Just to be safe, why not get yourself into the state of mind you were in the first time you did it.”
So Jesus sets down, meditates for a few minutes, and finally he’s all psyched up, and steps out of the canoe…. ..and precedes to drown. So Moses does the water parting thing, and pulls Jesus up into the boat.
Jesus is just beating himself up over this. He just doesn’t see what’s going wrong here. Moses just stares down at the bottom of the boat. Suddenly, Moses says, ” I know what’s wrong! You didn’t have holes in your feet last time!”
There are a few of these Jesus-walking-on-water jokes out there. This one is my favorite, but I am also partial to the one where Jesus retrieves his golf ball out of a pond and when other golfers see him walking on water, they cheekily ask if that guy thinks he’s Jesus. To which Moses replies, “No. He thinks he’s Jack Nicholas.”
Jesus jokes are good for the soul. It’s funny, because not everyone really appreciates a good Jesus joke. There are those who find them offensive. They ascribe some sense of reverence to Jesus—especially in the context of the liturgy—and believe that our worship, even our relationship, with God should be devoid of humor.
I don’t think that is true. I think God has a definite sense of humor—I mean he had a whale swallow Jonah and in Proverbs he tells husbands, “better to live on the corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.” Simply the fact that we and the planet haven’t been destroyed numerous times lends support to God’s sense of humor—how else could an almighty, supreme being with the power of life and death have put up with us for so long. We are created in God’s image—we laugh, God laughs too.
In this mornings Gospel, Jesus has just fed 5000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread. The disciples have collected seven basketfuls of leftovers. Jesus is a bit worn out, sends the disciples ahead of him across the Sea of Galilee, and later follows. This story is told in three of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and John. And though the plot of the story does not vary much, one plot detail and the ending does. In Matthew, the disciples receive Jesus into the boat and acknowledge him as the Son of God, “Truly you are the Son of God.” In Mark, when Jesus gets into the boat, the disciples’ hearts are hardened which is code for “they doubted.” In John, by the time Jesus catches up to the boat, they have landed on the other side—so he never actually gets in the boat with them. It is important to recognize the differences in how this story gets told because the ending tells us something about our faith and God’s good humor and love for us. In all three stories, we get a different ending.
There is still one other plot point that is different—Matthew’s Gospel is the only one in which Peter gets out of the boat. At first, the disciples see Jesus and fear he is a ghost. The winds are blowing, the sea is rough, and it is in the early pre-dawn hours of the morning. As Jesus gets closer, they settle down and begin to sense the goodness of God. Jesus speaks to them and tells them not to be afraid. As they focus on the one who has summoned them; who has called them to come and follow him—not only do they settle down, they begin to experience that peace-beyond-all-understanding we like to talk about in the church. They are no longer distracted by wind and wave. They are focused solely on the one they know to love them; the one who has come to them; then one to whom they have come.
Peter’s response seems obvious in that moment, “…command me to come to you.” He steps out of the boat and begins his journey to Christ—focused and alone. And it is in this moment that he begins to sink. Matthew describes this as a moment of doubt—but it is not doubt about Jesus—Peter calls out to Jesus to save him—it is doubt about taking this step of faith on to a liquid, porous ground which can in no way support his weight. Peter has stepped out of the boat, he takes a couple of steps and, instead of remaining focused on the one who has summoned him, he shifts his attention to the hardships that surround him—the wind and the waves. He doubts his own decision, not Jesus, and so he sinks. When Jesus pulls him up and asks why he doubted and declares him of little faith—it is not faith in Jesus that he is talking about. Jesus is asking Peter why he doubted himself why he has such little faith in his ability? Didn’t God call him to walk on the water? Trust that and so trust in himself. Jesus needs disciples who can trust int eh assurance of self that Jesus Christ has given them in order to offer the assurances of God to others.
The other two gospels miss that point in telling the story. The hardening of hearts as a euphemism for doubt in Mark is a doubt about Jesus and his actions. Their hearts are not only hardened in response to Jesus’ walking on water but to the feeding of the thousands as well, “…for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” John doesn’t really address the faith of the disciples in his version of the story. He simply says they wanted to take him into the boat, but they had already landed on shore.
It is easy for me to hear Matthew’s version of the story and declare his doubt in God—probably because I have doubted in my own life as well. It is harder, though so much more honest, for me to hear this story of doubt in one’s self.
Self-doubt causes us to question our worth and our abilities. We lack self-confidence and lose trust in who we are and what we are capable of. We often compensate for self-doubt either
by listing into co-dependency and relying on others to make decisions for us or we put up a false self that shapes a false identity to the point that we lose touch with ourselves and don’t even know who we are anymore. Neither of these are helpful. They both defeat and deceive our true selves disconnecting us from who we really are…disconnecting us from God.
Jesus needs Peter to not doubt and instead, believe in himself as much as he believes in God. He needs that from us as well. He needs each of you to remember that God made you. God knows you. God loves you. And God trusts you. That is the mantra that helps us realize and remember that we are worthy—not only of God’s love—but of our own love as well.
Each of us is capable of walking on water—maybe not physically—but spiritually. Love yourself. Trust yourself. Remind yourself of all that you are capable of; all the things you appreciate about yourself. You already trust God. The crazy irony is, that in God’s deep sense of humor, God trusts you. Trust yourself.