RCL Year A (Proper 14) - August 10, 2008

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A (Proper 14) - August 10, 2008

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Psalm 105, 1-6, 16-22, 45b
Romans 10:5-15
Matthew 14:22-33

When I was about 4 years old, my parents were determined to teach me how to ride a 2 wheel bicycle. I can remember my father or mother securely holding the seat of the bicycle while I peddled and tried to steer strait.

Again and again I would try, and knowing he or she was back there made it ok…

Ok of course, until they let go. Then I got scared…

I was unable to go it alone… the front wheel would start to wobble a little and I would eventually fall… over and over again I would try… and after a case or 2 of band-aids, I got better and better, growing more and more confident… and less fearful…

Now - quite unlike trying to ride a bike, in today’s gospel, we hear the story of Peter trying to walk on water. We all know the story well. And it’s not like he got a whole lot of practice…

The disciples were alone in the boat, a terrible storm had come up, and Jesus was walking toward them across the water like ghost or an apparition, and the Gospel says that they were filled with fear… they were down right scared.

The storm was very, very real, and they were in that small fishing boat. If you have ever been in a small boat when a storm came up, you know what I am talking about… they had good reason to be scared.

And then, to see Jesus walking across the lake in the dark, in the violence of the storm, doing what was impossible by any human standards - That must have been completely terrifying.

In fact, to try to do anything that might be considered impossible all alone… all by ourselves, without God, is always terrifying.

but Peter listens… And Jesus simply says, “Come,” and Peter gets out of the boat in a response that defies every bit of logic that we can imagine. Peter walks a few yards… but Peter could not walk on that water for only one reason: fear. He looked around at the worldly reality of the storm, the physics of the water, the incomprehensibility of the situation, the total absurdity of it all, and his own fear overwhelmed him. Peter began to sink.

And then Peter did what we must all do at times. Peter cried out, “Lord, save me!” because In our life, we all create our own boats… and these boats are often symbols of false security, often reflected in our materialism, our bank accounts, what we drive or where we live… And these boats of ours are also floating on troubled waters… and they are being tossed and turned by the way we live our lives…

So I ask you this morning… to overcome your fear and get out of your boat… What is the boat in your life that you are afraid to get out of? What is the boat in your life that prevents you from following God’s call to come? What is the fear that imprisons you and makes you sink and start to drown in the stormy waters?

You know, I eventually learned how to ride a 2 wheel bicycle – In fact, I got right good at it and when I was growing up, you could hardly get me off of my bike. (but I probably don’t ride often enough today.) Thinking back, I remembered how I learned to ride… and that is what parallels the gospel story this morning.

See, my fear started when I thought that my father had let go… I learned to ride because, I stopped worrying about it… and just imagined him there, right beside me all the time… helping guide me and keep me balanced. How do we live this life… knowing that we are loved and protected… knowing that we are safe and guided by the very hand of God???

We shout out… Lord save us! Lord save us all!

The Paul’s letter to the Romans today gives the directions for what we must do to receive that salvation of Jesus. We must ask. We must cry out, “Jesus save me!” We must believe in our hearts – really believe – that it is Jesus the Christ who gives us life… forever eternal life. And we cry out.

We proclaim it with our lips. We believe, and shout it out loud, “Jesus is Lord.” And then we can get out of the boat and walk on the water, the water that tries to overtake us and drown us, we can rise above the troubled water of fear.

Jesus save me! Amen!