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Walk
on Water, Become All Flame Gospel:
Matthew 14: 22-23 It was the first foot that was difficult. It seemed easy for Peter at first. But, it was not so easy after all. You know how it works. It's always getting started that's the problem. Take exercise, for example. It's not that exercise, itself, is so bad. It's getting up and putting that Nike shoe on your right foot. It is always the first move that sets the others in motion and it is the first action that sets forward the intent of the heart. In the case of really important things - (for me, exercise does not fit in this category - since I avoid exercise at all costs!) taking the first step is the most crucial because it indicates that we are confident that the power we need to follow-through will be there. In other words, we realize with the first step that we have power and potential. Aristotle contended that the tendency in the cosmos was for everything to become what it was meant to be - that is, to reach its full potential. But such fulfillment of potential can only occur when the first brave step is taken. So, get a picture of it in your mind. It had been a busy day and Jesus told the disciples to get in a boat and go across the water while he sent the multitudes away. When he was alone he went up into the mountain to pray. The disciples, meanwhile, were struggling with a fierce wind on the water. Suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward them. We could have a sermon on the mystery of Jesus' water skiing without skis, but what I want to focus on is not Jesus, but Peter. Peter who had the audacity to say, "Lord if it's you then let me do what you are doing. I want to do what you are doing." "Alright, Peter. Come on." Now I said to get a picture of this in your mind. Think of that boat being tossed in the wind, and Jesus standing out on the waves in his bare feet, and Peter getting ready to put that first foot out of the boat and onto the water. The other disciples were probably saying, "Peter, are you nuts? What are you thinking? The last time we checked humans were unable to walk on water!" Even with his nay saying companions, Peter was not dissuaded from his desire to do what Jesus was doing. He put that first foot out onto the raging water. He had confidence that the power he needed would be given to him. He acted on that confidence and did what many of us might have thought foolhardy at best and delusionary at worst. That first step declared the intent of Peter's heart. He showed - at least for a moment - that he believed that if he said, "let me do what you are doing," Jesus would give him the power to do it. So where did he go wrong, as the English say? Matthew says that when he saw how strong the wind was, he became afraid and began to sink. Then he cried out to Jesus to save him. I believe the reason for Peter's fear was much more subtle than facing the same wind he had been battling with for hours. To get at this subtlety, let me share a story with you. Several years ago when I was Canon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of Idaho, there was a congregation near Sun Valley that was in difficulty. Their priest had renounced his orders, the congregation was being held hostage by two families who were threatening to remove their large pledges if things weren't done their way, the congregation was dwindling, and fear abounded. There was an electrician in the congregation who had a gentle and quiet soul. He had never exercised any kind of 'up front' leadership in the congregation, but he was a man without guile. A man of deep faith. I believed him to be the person who could lead that congregation into the future. While I was there meeting with the congregation for the weekend, I asked this man to take on the role of Sr. Warden but he steadfastly refused, feeling woefully incompetent for the task. Until the following Sunday - when I preached about Moses. If you remember Moses' halting journey to obedience you will remember that God asked Moses to take on a heavy-duty leadership role, and he had a bevy of excuses of why he couldn't do it. He sounded like John Denver in the movie "Oh God." "Who am I to do this work?" he asked. "What would I say to Pharaoh? Who could I say sent me? The people won't believe me or do what I say. They'll say I'm lying about getting a message from you. And, besides, God, I am not eloquent. I can't stand up in front of people and talk. I'm slow of speech and inarticulate. Please, God, just give the job to someone else." Did you ever notice what usually happens when God gets an idea? God just won't let go of it. As you might expect, Moses changed his mind in the end. Moses came to believe, like Peter, that God could give him the power to do what he could not ever have thought possible on his own. Well, God still speaks to us in these contemporary days. Gary came to me after the service and said he had felt that God was speaking to him during the sermon and that he was now prepared to do what he had been asked to do. He would be the leader for that congregation during the severe storm they were in. He took the first step, and because he believed that at the bidding of Jesus he could do what Jesus was doing, he rose to his potential. Although it took several years, Gary carried that church forward until it was established and growing. He not only took the first step into the wild water, he walked on that water until the task he had been given had been fulfilled. In a little congregation in Idaho on that Sunday morning, Gary, the quiet electrician, became a Moses and God's power was unstoppable in him. So what was the difference between Gary and Peter? Why did Peter get so frightened? I said earlier that I think that the reason for Peter's fear was much more subtle than being frightened of the wind. The wind may have been formidable, but Peter's real fear was not external, but internal. I'll tell you what I believe scared Peter out of his wits. He saw the power of God working in his own life, flowing through him unbidden and uncontrolled. When he, a simple fisherman, saw the Divine Presence working in his own life his knees shook, his faith failed, his heart dropped, and he began to sink into the water - a victim of unbelief - unbelief in himself and in God's power in him. He had taken the first step, because seeing Jesus walking on the water had given him courage, but what stopped him was the realization that his ability to walk on water was even more impossible than Jesus'! The truth is that when we act on the belief that at God's bidding we can do what God does, and we begin, by God's divine power, to actually do it, we are scared out of our skins! We realize in that moment, how very powerful God is and how weak we are. Our fear becomes the obstacle to our faith. Even when we are competent in various skills, we still find ourselves fearful about doing the work of God. Take Peter as an example. Peter was a fisherman. He understood the vagaries of water. He was a good swimmer and should not have been in danger of sinking and drowning. But when those very skills were put at the disposal of God, his fear overcame his natural competency. We are no different. We are no different from Peter, or Gary or Moses. The faith that enables us to take that first fierce step can turn quickly to doubt when we become alarmingly aware of the reality of God's unlimited, uncontrollable, inescapable power in us. It is difficult enough to accept our frail yet sometimes influential humanity. But, to accept the power of God's divine action within us can make our knees shake, our faith fail, our heart drop. We can begin to sink into the water - victims of unbelief - unbelief in ourselves and God's power in us. Carl Jung was very close to the truth when he commented that we really don't believe that anything good can come out of our own souls. We often respond to this inner terror by deciding to keep God at a safe distance. We let those whom we consider to be more spiritual or more theologically trained do the work of God, and we are content to sit on the sidelines as spectators of God's work in the world. Now, I want you to get this - so pay attention! <grin> This kind of thinking will cause you to sink. In Christ, you are called to be more than you ever imagined yourself to be! You are called to do what Jesus does. And the miracle is that your deepest fear - that of being too powerful - is met by God's undeniable presence, power, and grace. So get up off the couch, step away from your desk, open the door of your heart. Now I can hear you thinking of excuses - just like Moses - just like Gary the electrician. "I'm too old, (Abraham and Sarah) or I'm too young. I'm too sick or too full of health. I am too useless or too busy. I don't know enough, or I know too much. There's not enough money in it, or I'd have to give up my money to do it. I have sinned too much, or I don't know how to deal with sinners. And actually my life is already too complex and complicated." We all have some inadequacy that we believe to be sufficient for exempting us from being a vessel for the power and love of God. What I want to say to you is this: "There is no inadequacy in you that prevents you from doing what God does." That's right. There is no inadequacy in you that prevents you from what? Doing what God does. Why? Because God will give you the power to do it. And, there is no incompetency in you that prevents you from what? Doing what God does. Why? Because God will give you the power to do it. And, there is no inability in you that prevents you from what? Doing what God does. Why? Because God will give you the power to do it. There was a disciple who came to one of the old rabbis and said, "Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate. I live in peace and as much as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else is there for me to do? The old Abba stood up, stretched his hands toward heaven; his fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, "If you will, you can become all flame." In other words, you can be so filled with the power of God that you not only take the first step - you become a living being enflamed with the power and love of God.
What do you
suppose would happen if you set aside your inadequacy and fear? If you
took that first step to live the life of Jesus with power - to do what
Jesus does? Well, I know what would happen. Your feet would begin to move
and your ten fingers would sparkle. You would walk on water. You would
become all flame. Amen. Copyright 2002 Calvary Episcopal Church Gospel:
Matthew 14:22-33 |
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