The Way: Peace in the Midst of the Storm

 Matthew 14:22-33

March 6, 2016

Mark S. Bollwinkel

            The gospel writer Matthew takes this original story of “Jesus calming the storm” from the gospel of Mark and adds a few twists.  In Matthew, Jesus isn’t asleep in the boat, rather we walks on the water out to the ship.  Matthew adds a profound and marvelous dialogue between the disciples and their Lord.

            Matthew is writing to a church in the beginning of persecution by the Roman authorities.  He is writing to Jewish converts who face the scorn of their families for their new faith and excommunication from the synagogue.  Matthew writes to people who expected the world to end in their life times and must now adjust their faith to await the glory promised by Jesus.

            The storms in life were very real for the believers in Matthew’s church.

            The boat, a metaphor for the church, is in trouble without Jesus.  It is a night of fear and helplessness.  It is the fourth watch, about 3 hours before dawn, the darkest time of night.

            […maybe some of us have been there before, too?…]

            Terrified by the storm and what they initially perceive as a ghost, the disciples cry out.  To which Jesus replies, “Take heart, it is I: Do not be afraid.”

             “Do not be afraid?!”

            In the Bible God is always telling us not to be afraid. 

When the angel interrupts the Mary’s sleep to tell the 13 year old unwed girl that she is about to give birth to the Son of God, Gabriel says, “Do not be afraid!”  (Luke 1:30, also note 2:10, 5:10, 8:50)

            God will call Abraham to leave his home to settle in a strange land.   God will command Abraham to circumcise himself and all of the males in his household.  God will rain sulfur and fire down upon Sodom and Gomorrah.  God will call Abraham to sacrifice his own son Isaac on a stone altar.  And God will say to Abraham, “Do not be afraid!” (Genesis 15:1, also note, 12:1-f, 17:1-f, 19:24, 22:1-f)

            God will commission the prophet Daniel to confront the most powerful King in the world resulting in Daniel being cast into fiery furnaces and lion’s dens, and God will tell him, “Do not be afraid!” (Daniel 10:12)

            The apostle Paul will be jailed, tortured, nearly beaten to death three times, ship wrecked and finally martyred and God says to him, “Do not fear!” (Acts 18:9, also note, 27:24)

            One would suppose that God is trying to comfort those called into service but who is God trying to kid?  God doesn’t guarantee a blissful existence even to the most faithful!

            How can we not have fear?

             How can we not have fear in a world where the media tries to convince us of impending doom?

            How can we not be afraid when each must face cancer, heart disease, stroke or HIV-AIDS?  Illness doesn’t just happen to the other person, but to those we love and to us.

            The storms of life are real.

            There are plenty of things which warrant our anxiety.  Fear can overwhelm even the strongest people.

            In the comic strip, “Frank and Ernest”, Frank says to his partner while reclining on a park bench, “I didn't go to college.  I figure a broader education would have just helped me discover more things to worry about.”

            Jesus’ comforting words, “…take heart…do not be afraid…” are wonderful.  But let’s be honest, aren’t we a bit skeptical hearing them, knowing full well how pervasive fear is in our lives?

             Peter is skeptical.

            He replies to Jesus’ assurance with the phrase, “If it is you…”

            Now who else would it be?  Who else could walk on water, in a storm, in the dark of night, proclaiming, “Have no fear!”?

            Here Peter is representing our own faith.  We want to believe, but we need some encouragement to get out of the boat.

            Peter is our hero, after all.  Throughout the gospels, he plays our struggle between fear and faith in dramatic fashion.

            Peter drops his nets to follow Jesus (Matthew 4:18-22).

            Peter is the first to publicly proclaim that Jesus is the Christ (Luke 9:18-22).

            Peter is the first disciple to rush to the tomb and see it empty on Easter morning (John 20:6).

            And…Peter is also the one who rebukes Jesus for suggesting that his Messiahship must come at the expense of his death (Mark 8:32-33).

            Peter is the one who will betray our Lord three times before the cock crows (Mark 14:66-72).

            Peter is the one who runs away from Golgotha, rather than face the reality of the cross (John 19:17-30).

            It had to be Peter who would question “if” it were the Lord.  It had to be Peter who upon receiving his call, steps out of the boat and walks on water himself.

            Isn’t Peter’s struggle our own?

            Many commentators interpret Matthew’s scene here as an example of the failure of faith; Peter glances away from Jesus and concentrates on the wind, thus sinking.

            But at least Peter tries.  At least one disciple was willing to leave the boat, respond to the Lord’s call and try to walk on water.

            Paul Tournier writes in his book, Reflections: A Personal Guide for Life’s Most Crucial Questions:

“The fear of not succeeding is, for many people, the biggest obstacle in their way.  It holds them back from trying anything at all.  And for lack of trying, they never give themselves a chance of succeeding, the very thing that would cure them of their doubts.  It is not, after all, such a terrible thing not to succeed straight away in some new undertaking.  What is serious is to give up, to become stuck in a life that gets emptier.”

            At least Peter lives with passion, even in his failures.  On the night of Jesus’ arrest, it is Peter who pulls a sword to defend his Lord only to accomplish nothing (John 18:10-11).  In spite of his blunders and his own terror, Peter did not give in to the reality of fear.

            How many of us live lives, adhering to the words of Charlie Brown in the Peanuts comic strip, “I’ve developed a new philosophy…I only dread one day at a time.”

            At least Peter is honest about his fear, crying out as he sinks, and “Lord, save me!”

            There come many instances in a life time for appropriate desperation.  The death of a loved one.  Marital separation or divorce.  Losing a job.  Watching your children grow isolated from, and intolerant of, your love.  The list can be long.

            Yet how few of us are willing to honestly face the fear and call out for help.  I find no fault in anyone who crises, “Lord, save me”.   But I can see disaster guaranteed for those who refuse to ask for help.

            If we were to look at the life of Abraham Lincoln prior to 1860, when he was elected President, we would probably label him a failure.  He was defeated twice for Congress, twice for Senate and he twice failed in business.  After the death of his sweetheart in 1835, he suffered what we would have called “a nervous breakdown”.  He struggled with depression most of his life.  Yet in the few short years he served as President, he became one of our greatest leaders.

            During the Civil War, Lincoln was asked by a friend how he could personally withstand the strain of his responsibilities, to which Lincoln replied, “I have often been driven to my knees in prayer, because there has been no place else to go”.

             Jesus doesn’t condemn Peter for his failure of faith but merely asks, “Why did you doubt?”  We can’t condemn Peter either.  I am convinced that such was Matthew’s intention in teaching his church…and us…how to live with fear by faith.

             We may be people of little faith.  Some clinging to the boat.  Others willing to venture out.  But all of us come to those testing experiences which at worst can break us and at least most certainly move us to our knees.

            It’s convenient to criticize Peter as a failure of faith from the comfort of the boat, but at least Peter had the faith to try, to live with passion and to honestly ask for help.

            That is how we can face fear and not be defeated.

            After the winds ceased and Jesus is on board, the disciples corporately confess, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”

            We are not alone in our struggle with faith and fear.  There is strength and hope to be found in the boat, in the community of believers, which is willing to travel with this Jesus.

            That is Matthew’s lesson to us on how to endure.

            Jesus says to his disciples, “I am the way, the truth and the life”.   This Lenten Season as we consider what it means to be “children of the way” we are not offered an insurance policy which would guarantee protection from the storms.  In fact, faith offers us no escape.  Rather, faith empowers us to face fear, to muster the courage to risk; and even in failure, faith never leaves us alone but keeps us in a community of fellow travelers.

             In the Gardner Museum in Boston hangs Rembrandt’s painting of “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee”.  The artist recreates the scene so powerfully that a viewer can sense the danger and panic of those who are on board.  The small boat is being lifted in the crest of a giant wave.  Sail and lines are torn loose from the riggings.  Five disciples are struggling to reef the sail while they hold on desperately to the mast.   The rest are in the stern of the boat, clustered around Jesus.  Some frightened almost to death.  One miserably seasick, hanging over the side.  It is apparent from the calm expression of the face of Christ that this is the moment when he says, “Do not be afraid!”

            There are 14 figures in the painting.  The twelve disciples.  Jesus.  And a stranger.  It is Rembrandt himself.  There he stands, clutching one of the stays, holding his head in terror.  There is where the artist saw himself and painted himself into the scene.

            It is there that many of us find ourselves.

            If so, don’t forget to turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Although the storms will rage, you’ll never go under.

                        Amen.