This week’s gospel may be the most important story in the gospels that never gets talked about. Which, is kind of weird, right?
- It has action.
- It has miracles.
- The disciples are amazed.
It is exactly the kind of story that should get remembered. But it also has a “vibe”. A kind of don’t-know-what-to-make-of-it thing.
I bet we aren’t sure what part is important.
Not because we’re dumb. Or because there’s something wrong. But because, in the West, we’re obsessed with the singular answer. Which means we miss the point by searching for the point. So we think there’s a single important piece—a right answer—and that should tell us everything about Jesus, God, and humanity.
Jesus walks on water. And so does Peter.
And something about our approach—our desire to see something tremendous here—means we don’t stop to notice this.
That Peter walks on water.
And I don’t know about you, but that seems like a really big deal.
It doesn’t matter that he can’t keep it up.
He does it anyway.
And the other piece that just kills me, makes sense when you start imagining the scene in your mind. Not in the collecting of information way, but in the dramatic, staging this moment way.
Peter, aware, of this incredible moment, begins to sink.
In a sense, it is the opposite of Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner off the cliff. We don’t begin to sink in water. We drop.
And maybe I’m putting way too much on the telling, especially in English, but take the moment to just consider this idea: that Peter is sinking. Not drowning or dropping suddenly. Something far more gradually.
Our perception of belief shouldn’t be either/or.
But it usually is.
And here, there is belief and doubt and confusion and fear. And Peter is sinking but he was just walking on water. Now he doesn’t know what to do. But Jesus told him what to do and he knows what to do because he was just doing it.
And yet, he’s sinking.
Not because he is full of doubt. Or is reckless. Or stupid.
He knows what to do. It’s just that he’s afraid to do it.
And right now, the doubt and fear has the edge in him. When a moment ago, faith and conviction led him to walk on water.