For Sunday
Proper 14A
Collect
Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Reading
Reflection
There are two boat moments in the gospels. And they both have to do with fear.
In Matthew, the first comes in chapter 8, when there is a big storm, threatening to destroy the boat and the disciples in it. And Jesus just makes the storm go away. Which freaks the disciples out more than the storm. Because, up to that point, they assumed Jesus’s power was just healing people. Not weather manipulation.
This second story comes immediately after our favorite miracle, when Jesus feeds thousands of people on some bread and fish. And, again, he makes them afraid by exercising his power. This time, by walking on water.
I remind myself of their fear because I’m likely to be all “Jesus can do anything!” like it’s automatically a good thing—and not something that actually would terrify me in real life. As if seeing someone walk on water wouldn’t freak any of us out.
It’s like watching superheroes in movies and being all “just fly already” or thinking that, unlike those dopes on the screen, we’d be all calm about somebody lifting up a car.
Of course, I don’t know what to do with this fear exactly. But I think Jesus does give us some sense of that part. Because he puts fear against faith—not as opposites or even opponents. These aren’t all-or-nothing concepts. But that fear has a negating character to faith.
My favorite part of this story is that Peter is so excited to join in the miracle, that he asks to do what Jesus can do. He asks for the power. And Jesus gives it to him. And Peter literally walks on water.
Of course, it doesn’t last. The fear gets in the way.
But he does it. And there’s something about this. That we’d rather focus on the sinking than the doing.