In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

[Today I am going to preach from the Gospel lesson, but if you love this parish, I strongly encourage you to go back and reread the epistle lesson, because it has a lesson for us on how to build up this community in Christ.]

The main lesson from today’s Gospel is NOT that Christ walked on water – although through this, He demonstrated once again His power over nature – but rather His interaction with Peter and the disciples.  For it is not surprising that God can do amazing things – anyone with eyes to see must be struck by His Power and Glory – but that God cares for us as His own children.

Christ had sent His disciples ahead of Him so that He could pray.  They went out in the boat without Him and ran into a wind-storm.  As they were being tossed by the waves, Christ walked out on the water toward them.  They were afraid, but He told them to cheer up, and offered them His peace.  Peter, the leader of the disciples, asked the Lord to command him to join Him on the water.  Jesus agreed. 

What came next is incredibly important:  Peter began well, but was soon distracted by the strength of the wind, the depth of the sea, and the impossibility of his position.  The world began to have its way with him, and he began to sink; just as the world has its way with all of us.  Old age, illness, the suffering of loved ones, high prices of oil and gas, friendships betrayed, the cruelty of careless people; the many temptations of this fallen world surround us, make us realize that we are sinking into a darkness from which we will not return.  Yes, we know Peter’s position as he began to sink in the storm.

But notice what Peter did in his trauma, because he did the only rational thing any of us should ever do: he turned to Christ Jesus and cried out from the bottom of his breaking heart; “Lord save me!”  This is the only rational response because all others would, at best, only prolong his agony.  Just as we can try to “do more with less”, or surround ourselves only with trustworthy people, or use our riches to isolate and protect ourselves from the bitterness this world offers as its fallen fruit, we must eventually taste this fruit, for until the world is remade in glory, everyone’s body fails.  So even if you can avoid every other storm, your body will eventually give out on you, as will the bodies of all those you love.

Does this depress you?  Does it scare you?  Perhaps it should (for it is a warning): like Peter, the water below us is deep, the wind around us is strong, the waves so powerful as to push us over.  But do not despair (for despair is the real unfathomable deep into which we truly sink), and do not fear, but do as Peter did, and cry out from the bottom of your own breaking heart; “Lord save me!”  Because listen to what happened when Peter said this prayer; “and immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Jesus Christ is always there in the storm.  He will not impose His will on you.  He will not force you take His hand.  But He saves all those with the sense and humility to ask for it.  Nor does He leave them in the storm once He has saved them, for our God is a God of Peace.  Notice that He took Peter into the boat and the wind ceased.

When you accept salvation through Christ, crying to Him “Lord save me”, He invites you into the boat that is His Holy Church.  This is the place of safety and true sailing which Christ never leaves; where every enemy (even death) has been defeated (1 Corinthians 15: 26), and where we join all of the disciples [now Apostles] in worshiping Him, saying as they did and do; “Truly You are the Son of God.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.