August 9, 2020
“The Deep Surrounded Me”
Jonah 2:1-9
Matthew 14:22-33
A couple years ago we took a group of 10 youth to Germany. The easy part was flying from Columbus to Germany. The easy part was climbing the tower stairs of the 13th century church. The easy part was learning how to negotiate the wonderful train system of the country.
But the devil was in the details. The hard part came when you did not understand the electrical outlets. The hard part was to comprehend which things went into the trash and which went into the recycling and even then the trick was to get the correct container for the plastic, the post consumer plastic, the pre-consumer plastic and frankly whether you should even have plastic in the first place.
We have a passage from Matthew and it is one that is rather famous even for the non church-goers. Those who do not hear sermons or read the Bible seem to be somewhat familiar with the story of Jesus walking on water. That is just what happens in today’s passage. The next part is less familiar to the non church-goer and yet many are aware of it. Peter, ever the impetuous one to follow and make declarations does an admirable thing. Upon seeing Jesus walk on water and still doubting just a bit that it really WAS Jesus and not some ghost upon the water…Peter calls out to Jesus, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.”
So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. But then Peter noticed the strong wind and became frightened and began to sink.
The easy part of Peter’s walk on water was the actual walk on the water. The hard part came when he got to really thinking about what he was doing. When he started to think of himself and his surroundings.
The easy part was the walking on water. The hard part was sustaining the commands of Jesus.
Preaching a sermon each week is the easy part, the challenging, though rewarding part is in the details of daily ministry like listening to someone’s report of their health or their struggle’s with an aging parent.
I think we walk on water everyday. Many years ago, I mentioned to my brother about something that was bothering me and he gave me some advice that I have never forgotten. I was lamenting about something that did not work or that some people or committee were not working well together and he said frankly, it was amazing that people got along as well as they do. I was looking for perfection or at least harmony…he was marveling that people got along as well as they did. I never forgot that.
I marvel that in the midst of a contentious political climate that there are men and women who offer solid, well crafted answers to the complex. I do not so much lament that there is strife but I marvel that there is more agreement than we probably have a right to expect.
Read the story of Jonah and then read today’s lament in Jonah 2…read it carefully. Jonah is lamenting the situation of the world as he sees it. It’s a sorry state of affairs…the water closed in on me…the deep surrounded me…weeds wrapped around my head.
Have a nice day. But Jonah is lamenting because his own agenda proved to be worthless. He was fleeing from the Lord God. Jonah struggled with the task of talking to the people of Ninevah on behalf of God and when he rejected the work assigned to him by God, and went the other way…he felt the deep surround him. Indeed in the story, Jonah lived in the belly of a fish for three days and emerged victorious. If that is not a foreshadowing of the three days of Christ’s death, then I am not sure what is.
In essence, the easy part would have been to follow the command of God and preach repentance to Ninevah and get it done with. And we see, that the hard part was living with himself when he neglected to follow the commands of God.
So we go back and remember our time in Germany and realize that it was the small stuff that took the work. It was the things that sustained everyday life, that took getting used to. The food…a bit different. Recycling…Germans are totally in 100% and we felt the need to recycle every gum wrapper if we had one.
Walking on Water is relatively easy…but continuing to walk on water can be quite difficult, even when Jesus stands in front of us on the water and motions us to come. The storms that surround us can divert our attention and then we begin to look only at ourselves. It’s then that we sink.
But, there is some good news for us ordinary folks contained right there at the end of the passage for today. Peter starts to walk and is doing just fine when a strong wind comes up to frighten Peter. Peter shouts to Jesus….”Lord, save me!”
Just as you and I do every day…whether by shouting or in thought or in prayer. The reassurance comes for us in Matthew 14:31. “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.”
Everyday we get to be like Peter: reach out your hand…and immediately Jesus will reach out to you and catch you. Amen