Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Matthew, the14th chapter:
When evening came, [Jesus] was [on the mountain] alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Thus far the text.
Dear friends in Christ,
So many times I’ve heard sermons on this text. And so many times, this text gets twisted so that our eyes are on Peter, the doubter, the one of little faith. But that’s not where Matthew is trying to take us. That’s not it at all. Instead, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, even the author and perfecter of Peter’s little faith.
See, the point of this text is not to say, if you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat. That’s just dumb. If I get out of any boat, I’m gonna sink. It’s the way it is. And if the point of it is to say that I need to take chances to achieve and live my dream, then that’s dumb, too, because sometimes dreams fail. In fact, most of the time, dreams fail. Most new businesses fail in the first few years. Children leave the house. Families fall apart. People shipwreck their faith. Everyone dies. And I still don’t have the supernatural ability to fly. Dreams often fail.
So, that’s not the point of the story. If the point of the story is to have more faith, well, then we’re all in trouble. We all fall short. We all come up wanting. Again, I still can’t walk on water, so my faith must not be big enough. That kind of reading to this story makes it seem like it’s my work to grow my faith, my work to make sure I believe enough, my work to do whatever it takes to do whatever it takes. And that just doesn’t sound Christian at all.
If the point of the story is to learn how to worship Jesus when the wind and the waves are against you, well, at least that’s closer to something sort of Biblical, but what that does is gives us just an analogy. That makes this story nothing more than just a Biblical moral tale.
But, what if the point of this story isn’t there to do any of these things, but to show us that Jesus is God Himself? What if we’ve been hearing this story all wrong? What if we’ve missed it? What if we’ve missed Matthew’s point in relating this tale of Christ? And what if we’ve missed it all because of a simple Bible translation?
Sometimes, we change what is simply obvious for the readers of the original languages to something that makes more sense to the English-speaking reader. We do it to make it easier; but it’s not always better. Sometimes, we miss the very words that will declare to us the point.
But our God doesn’t fudge on words. The very God who spoke all things into existence by His own, single word, is the one who speaks good cheer into the hearts of disciples who believe He is some type of ghost or phantasm. And this Jesus, God incarnate, God-in-the-flesh, speaks a good word to them, not, “It is I,” as our translation give to us, but the words, “ἐγώ εἰμι.“ I am. ἐγώ means “I,” εἰμι means “am.” Jesus says, “I am.” I am what? I am here? I am not a ghost? I am walking on water, look at me, look at me?
No, Jesus says I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am the God of Moses. I am the God in the burning bush. I am the pillar of fire by night and I am pillar of cloud by day. I am the Angel of the Lord. I am the God who created you. I am the God who calls you. I am the God who brings you to Himself. I am the one who creates faith in you. I am the one who washes you. I am the one who feeds you. I am the Shepherd of the sheep. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star. I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. I am making all things new. I am coming like a thief in the night. I am the one who has the keys to Death and Hades. I am holy. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. I am in the Father and the Father is in me. I am with you until the end of the age.
This Jesus, walking upon the water in the midst of a heavy wind, is the great I am who has been, who is, and who is to come. He is the I am who spoke the world into existence. He is the I am who is the Word of God. He is the I am who is with His people, for He, this Jesus, has died to redeem His people from their sin and has been raised from the dead to give them new life in Him forever. This Jesus is the great I am, and perhaps that is the point.
For this Jesus doesn’t care if you walk on water. This Jesus doesn’t care if you can get out of the boat. This Jesus doesn’t care if you try your hardest to create more and more faith in yourself. This Jesus doesn’t care about any of that.
This Jesus cares… for you. He cares for His disciples who struggle against the wind and the waves. This Jesus cares for a sinking Peter. This Jesus cares for all the men, women, and children He gave food to in the feeding of the 5,000. This Jesus cares, because He is the I am. He created you, He redeemed you, He gave to you His Word, His Sacraments, because He cares for you.
This Jesus is greater than our fear of the waves. This Jesus is greater than our suspicions of ghosts and phantasms. This Jesus is greater than a boat on the sea of Galilee. This Jesus is greater than the long way from land that the boat was. This Jesus is greater than our faith. This Jesus is greater than the elements of this world. He created them all.
You see, sometimes, we forget all that. Sometimes we forget that our Lord is the one who keeps and guards us. We let our sin run us. We let our sin ruin us. We think that we should be the ones who should control everything. After all, we know best, don’t we?
Yet, our Lord, even in Job 38 today, asks us where we were when He laid the foundations of the earth. He laid out the measurements, controlled everything, gave the morning stars their song, and let the angels rejoice in the heavens. Where were you when He did all that? You weren’t even a twinkle in your daddy’s eye back then. Yet, your Father in heaven knew you, and He did it all for you. He knew that you would forget Him. He knew that you would forsake Him. He knew that you would rather His Son dead and bleeding on a tree. Yet, He created this earth, giving to us all of His created gifts, food, shelter, land, animals, and all that we have, because He loves us… and because He can.
He can do all things, for He is God and Lord over all. He even sustains us in our faith, our little faith, our little trust in Him. He sustains us when we want to be judged by the Law instead of Christ’s righteousness. He sustains us when we, in great weakness, call upon the name of the Lord. He sustains us when we find it hard to believe in Jesus for our salvation, much less to walk upon the water as Peter did. Jesus sustains us.
And when we fall, when we drown, when we try to walk away from our Lord, Jesus will indeed stretch out His arm, for you are His creation. And He loves you dearly. He died for you. He took your place. He was raised from the dead, all to give you eternal life. Our Lord Jesus cares for you, for He is the great I am when I am small. He is the I am when I am not. He is God, and I need Him, and you need Him, not only to keep you from drowning, but to sustain you in all your life, all your works, all your faith, all your doubt. He is greater than these things, and the great I am, Jesus the Christ, truly the Son of God, is with you always, even until the end of the age. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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