Do you ever wonder about miracles – whether they still happen today? Maybe Jesus was walking on a hidden sandbar, and not on water, some have suggested. Do you wonder why there are not more miracles, or how God decides when to let a miracle happen and when not?
When it comes to miracles, I have found a few things helpful to keep in mind. First, as the theologian Karl Barth pointed out, miracles are essentially an interpretation of an event rather than the event itself. What that means is what most of us have found to be true in our own lives. What a person of faith can only describe in terms of being a miracle, someone without faith will find some other way, some other logic, to explain it. There were skeptics in Jesus’ day who discounted his power and there are, of course, such skeptics today. What we see and understand is often based on what we believe and in whom we trust.
Second, all miracles pale before the “grand miracle.” When you think about it, the feeding of the 5000 or the raising of Lazarus from the tomb only made a temporary difference in the lives of those affected. The 5000 were fed one meal, but they would grow hungry again. Lazarus was given a longer life, but he would still die. What is far more significant is what C.S. Lewis called the “grand miracle:” that the Son of God lived among us, that he died to save us from our sins, and that he was raised so that the doors of heaven would be opened for us. That is what really matters when it comes to Jesus and miracles. And finally, when it comes to the miracles, Jesus is never very impressed with the spectacular, even when he is the one doing it. He always has another point to make. There is always something to be learned from these stories that deals only indirectly with what we might call the miracle. What do I mean? Let us revisit Matthew 14.
While we might like to jump to this remarkable scene of Peter jumping out of the boat and walking at least a step or two towards Jesus, it is important to note what has already happened in chapter 14. That day, Jesus and the disciples had been going off to a deserted place to be alone together because they had just received word of John the Baptist’s execution at the hands of Herod. No doubt, it has shaken them to the core.
But the crowds had found them and they were not going to leave Jesus alone. They were too eager to hear him teach and they were too desperate to have him heal the sick. As was so often the case, Jesus had compassion on the crowds. He taught and he healed, and then, as the day came to a close, he made sure all were fed – all 5000 of them.
Now, as our passage begins, Jesus has sent the disciples off across the lake in a boat together. He stays to dismiss the crowds, and promises to rejoin them later, after he has gone off alone to pray.
After the disciples take off, darkness descends and a storm arises. The wind is against them. The waves are battering their boat. The crew on the boat has experienced fishermen, but their rowing strength cannot match the strength of the storm. They are far from shore and making little headway. They are scared…
Peter is in the boat with the other disciples – which is almost always the case. While we are going to be singling out Peter this Lent as we travel with him through the gospels, he will not be alone. I think that the only time in all four of the gospels that Peter is not described being with other disciples is the night when Jesus is arrested and Peter denies even knowing him. You might say that being on his own does not go well for Peter.
At the beginning of this passage, we are given a picture of the church. The disciples are in the boat together: a boat has been a symbol for the church through the centuries. Indeed, the architecture of many church sanctuaries is meant to represent an inverted boat. When it comes to this boat in Matthew, it is also important to observe that Peter and the crew did not apply or earn their way on this boat crew. They are there because they were invited by Jesus – and they are on that stormy sea because they were sent there by Jesus.
This is us. As Tom Long observes, “unlike a bowling league or the Coalition to Save Historic Buildings, the church is not a group of like-minded people who, on their own initiative, rally around a common desire or a worthy cause. The church, rather, is a peculiar people, called by God” to be in the boat together that is sent off from the shore.[1] Sometimes there is smooth sailing. But often, there can be storms with outside winds that keep you from making headway, and high waves which batter the boat. I think this congregation may know something about being on a boat crew far from land in the midst of a stormy sea. As with Peter and his crew, when that happens, we can feel lost and anxious.
The only thing worse than being in a boat in a storm is being in the sea itself – as Peter soon learns. The storm is raging and it is still dark when the disciples spot a figure walking toward them on the water. They think it is a ghost, Matthew tells us. But it’s not; it’s Jesus. Jesus answers their fears saying, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Then, “before Jesus has a chance to set foot in the boat, Peter jumps up and says, “Lord, if it is you, ask me to come to you on the water.”[2]
It is a startling comment. Wouldn’t you expect Peter to say instead, “Lord save us!?” But Peter’s request is similar to others who want Jesus “to prove who he says he is by performing some miracle to someone else’s specification – [that is] a bait [Jesus] never takes.” What did the devil say to Jesus during his time of temptation in the wilderness? “If you are the Son of God, turn this stone into a loaf of bread.” What will the religious leaders and Roman soldiers say at the cross? “If you are the Messiah, let yourself down from the cross.” Here, as Anna Carter Florence observes, Peter wants Jesus to prove who he is by making Peter himself walk on water. That has got to be “one of the weirdest conditions a disciple ever set.”[3]
Jesus goes with it – for a little bit. “Come,” he says to Peter. And for a step or two, Peter does it. He is walking on water. If he wants proof about who Jesus is, he’s got it. But then Peter takes his eyes off Jesus. He notices the strong wind and the raging sea. He becomes frightened and begins to sink. He cries out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reaches out and grabs Peter, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” And then, the two of them get into the boat, “and the wind ceased,” Matthew tells us.
We may have not tried to walk on water, but we have an idea about what is happening here with Peter, don’t we? Haven’t there been times when we have challenged God to do something in our lives? Or, haven’t there been times when God has called us to step out of our comfort zone and do something new, something difficult?
Maybe we did try to respond, maybe it started well. But then we forgot to keep our gaze fixed on God. We looked at the towering waves around us and we started to sink. Don’t we know what it is like to have Peter’s mixture of faith – and doubt?
A congregation senses a call to start a new ministry serving the community. At first, there is great enthusiasm. But then, someone raises questions about the cost. And then someone raises questions about the difficulty of doing what needs to be done. And so it happens that plans are set aside for another day, a sunnier day, even though the needs are there now. That congregation looks at the storm and becomes frightened and starts to sink in the waves.
One of us answers God’s call to try to heal a broken relationship. We reach out, but then find no warm and fuzzy response. The other person is still rude or skeptical about us or still angry with us. We don’t get the results we expect right away and so we give up. We look at the storm and become frightened and start to sink in the waves.
Or our self-improvement plans go nowhere. We start to read the Bible and pray, but then things get in the way. We are sick and need our rest. Work gets hectic, our days too busy. And we decide it is no use and give up. We look at the storm and become frightened and start to sink in the waves.
This is the choice that we face whenever we face trouble: are we going to look at the scary wind or waves or are we going to look towards Jesus? If Peter had kept his focus on Jesus, how far could he have walked in that storm? What would he have seen in Jesus’ eyes?
When we look at Jesus – we will see this: Jesus he thinks we can do it. As Rob Bell points out: “As we read the stories of Jesus’ life with his…disciples, what do we find frustrates him to no end? When his disciples lose faith in themselves.…Notice how many places in the accounts of Jesus’ life he gets frustrated with his disciples. Because they are incapable? No, because of how capable they are. He sees what they could be and could do, and when they fall short, it provokes him to no end. It isn’t their failure that is the problem; it’s their greatness. They don’t realize what they are capable of.”[4]
Jesus is provoked with Peter to no end. But that does not mean that he gives up on Peter. Far from it. Two chapters later he will tell Peter he is a rock – not a rock that sinks in the waves, but a rock that can be the foundation for the early church. At the end of the gospel, he will tell not only Peter, but the rest of the disciples who have not even bothered to get out of the boat, that they are the ones that he is entrusting to “go and make disciples of all nations.” To quote Rob Bell again, “I have been told that I need to believe in Jesus. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that Jesus believes in me.”[5]
Which leads us to this final point: while we may be inclined to focus on Peter, his audacious challenge to Jesus, and his faltering steps on the water, it is Jesus we need to focus on here. Ultimately this encounter between Peter and Jesus in Matthew 14 is not about who Peter is and what Peter can do. No, ultimately, this story is about who Jesus is and what Jesus can do.
Jesus is the One who is Lord over the sea and storm. That is, Jesus is the One who is greater than all of the forces and powers that scare us.
Jesus is the One who will walk on water to be with us.
Jesus is the One who calls to us over the tumult of the waves.
Jesus is the One who rescues us and pulls us back into the boat.
Jesus is the One who believes in us and sends us back out into the sea with the rest of the crew.
Jesus is the One who promises to always be with us to the end and beyond. And very soon, these disciples will see him prove it. Amen.
[1] Thomas G. Long, Matthew (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), 166.
[2] Anna Carter Florence, A is for Alabaster: 52 Reflections on the Stories of Scripture (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Books, 2023), 204.
[3] Florence, 205.
[4] Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 134.
[5] Bell, 134.