Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.
“It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Matthew 14:22-33
If any of you have seen a baseball game at Fenway Park? You know when they water the field, they bring this huge hose out. In the front, there is always one person who gets to direct the hose, and trailing behind there are four others who just have to carry those hose under the direction of the lead guy. I sometimes wonder if this is just a metaphor for life. Sometimes in life, we are feeling really good and are so happy that we get to direct those and be in charge. And then other times, it feels like we have the weight of the world on our shoulders, and we are just carrying the burden of everything that is going wrong in our lives and it is very hard to carry. Life sure isn’t fair.
Many of you know that I like to climb mountains. It always puts a smile on my face. It is where I feel at Peace with God. The thing is, many of you may not know that I worked in Boston for a lot of years. I would take the Commuter Rail train into work and back from the Reading depot. And I will tell you that there were many days that if anyone looked at me the wrong way, I felt that I was going to snap. I just felt tired. There were many days that I felt like an old soda bottle in the trash. Tired, broken, dented, worthless and ready to be thrown out. How do you reconcile the two feelings? The mountain top experience and the thrown out soda bottle experience. Why doesn’t God want us always to feel like we are on the mountain top? I am no theologian, but I understand that is not how the system works. But I will tell you how the system is set up. And this is the true miracle of the system.
God is there for us on the good days and the bad days. God is there for us through thick and thin. God is there for us on the mountain and when we are feeling like the thrown out soda bottle. God is there for us when we are feeling like we are directing the hose and when we are just carrying the hose. And all the feelings in between. You see – the same breath that God used to create us, is the same breath that uttered the words on the cross, “It is finished” and that is the same breath that will welcome us home to our eternal salvation. And it is this same breath that whispers to us, “My Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. It is the same breath that whispers to us, “Everything will be ok” when He puts his arms around our shoulders. Jesus offers us Peace in the good times and the bad. That is what Jesus promises us.
This is why I love the bible verse of Peter walking on water. It captures a slice of life as we know it. Sometimes we all feel like Peter who stands up in the boat and excitedly says, “I want to try something new!” And sometimes we are like Peter who is walking on water, and is saying, “I am doing it! I am doing it.” And then sometimes, we are like Peter who is tired, afraid, upset with the water above our heads. It is then Jesus grabs us and brings us on the boat. But during all three instances Jesus is with Peter. Jesus never lets us go. And that is why I love this story. Jesus is with us through the good times and the bad times. And all the times in between.
When I look at this bible verse, I see all of life’s struggles in one story. The good, the bad… And under it, I see a boat that is big enough to handle all of it. I see Jesus boat. And it is a boat that can handle everything life has to offer. That is Jesus’s promise to us. As Christians, we believe Jesus is present with us in the highs, the lows and everything in between. That is the miracle of Jesus death on the cross and the promise of eternal salvation. We are clothed in the Light of the cross and Jesus’s eternal promise. During all of this life, Jesus offers us Peace, whether we are on the mountain, or on the train, feeling like a soda bottle and everything in between.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen