The true gift, the miracle Jesus gives, is to be in the boat with you and me, giving life and strength and hope for our calling to be Christ.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 19 A
Texts: Matthew 14:22-33; 1 Kings 19:9-18
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Wouldn’t this have been great to see?
Jesus walking on water in a storm, a group of terrified disciples, Peter trying it for himself? Ever since I was a child, I’ve wished I could have been there to see that.
But I’ve come to realize it wouldn’t necessarily strengthen my faith if I could. After all, some of the religious leaders who witnessed the raising of Lazarus didn’t come to faith in Jesus. They saw it as a last straw, the reason Jesus and even Lazarus had to be eliminated.
In the Upper Room on the Sunday after his resurrection, Jesus said, “blessed are those who trust in me without seeing.” Faith is trust without proof.
So if we can’t go back in time and see, and even if we could it wouldn’t help, and if faith is trust without evidence, how will we ever find faith?
Well, in this story the answer is in the boat.
Jesus climbs into the boat, after pulling Peter out of the drink. And the storm calms. He’s no longer a scary figure on the water that makes them think of ghosts. And for the first time in the Gospel narratives, people are said to worship Jesus.
Faith is found in the boat with Jesus, not looking out at the water for miraculous things to see. It’s Jesus’ way – and part of the reason he often tells people to keep quiet about the miracles.
Jesus came to restore the relationship between the Triune God and the people of this world, but not by by flashy miracles and interventions. He came to do it by relationship with us. With the believers, the searchers, the frightened ones, the doubters, the ones just looking for help, the lost and hurting ones.
Jesus creates a community out of love – the people in the boat with us – to surround us and support us and help us in our faith. And in the middle of the boat sits God-with-us, the One whose love is the reason for all in the boat to live.
And really, that’s the only way any of us have come to faith, isn’t it?
We call this room where we all sit the “nave” – it’s from the Latin for “ship.” And here in the boat of the Church we have met Jesus, have met God through him, have known the deep and abiding love of the Triune God, and been given the gifts of God for faith – bread and wine where God’s very presence dwells; water which not only cleanses us but brings us into new life from death; Word of God which guides and shapes and teaches and comforts and challenges.
Here, in the boat with Jesus, we can let go of our fear and marvel at what we know and see, and worship: “truly you are the Son of God,” we say with the disciples
See, this part of today’s story is always your truth. You may not see or experience identifiable miracles. But the Son of God is always in the boat with you, with me. Bringing you to faith. Calming your fear. Teaching you. Loving you. There is nothing to be afraid of if Jesus is in the boat. That’s the true miracle today.
But the boat isn’t Jesus’ ultimate goal for us.
It’s where he shows up to be with us, where he’s put us together, and helped us to faith. But it’s a boat, not a fortress. That means it’s going somewhere. Jesus and the disciples today are traveling to another place to do ministry.
Our nave, our boat, isn’t a sanctuary for us to hide in from the world. Paul says to the Romans today there are so many places who need to hear this Good News, so many places of ministry we need to reach – some literally neighbors to our boat, others that will take a little travel.
That means a few things.
First, you’ll want to pay attention to Jesus, to where he tells you your next place of ministry is, where he’s sending you to go, when Jesus teaches and guides and leads you and me in this boat.
And second, we’re not always going to get along inside the boat. The first disciples didn’t, so we shouldn’t expect that we will. Because Jesus fills the boat, not us, and brings whatever people he wants to. It’s his boat, after all. That can be hard. We naturally want to pick and choose our boatmates, and that’s just not our call.
And third, it’s a much bigger boat than just this nave – it’s the whole Church on earth now and throughout time. And especially with the Church on earth as it is now, that means that there really will be lots of folks in the boat with us that we just don’t like. But the thing is, Jesus knows our strengths and abilities, and brings folks into the boat who have differing gifts and abilities, all so the work that needs doing can be done. So he asks us to learn to love each other. And everyone else in the boat, as big as the boat is.
Because Jesus loves you. And all of them, too.
Not everyone gets a vision or a miracle to see.
But with God-with-us in the boat, like Elijah today, like Peter and the others, everyone gets the strengthening of faith and the gift of the Spirit’s power to do their ministry.
I’ll take that trade-off any time.
And I rejoice that all of you share this particular boat with me. And pray that together we’ll find the joy of seeing where Jesus will take us next.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
