Matthew
14:22-33 - Jesus Walks on the
Water
Immediately
he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side,
while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went
up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but
by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the
wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking towards them on
the lake. But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were
terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. But immediately
Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’
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, started walking on the water, and came
towards Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and
beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Jesus immediately reached out
his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you
doubt?’ When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat
worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’
GET OUT OF THE BOAT
This time of the
year and the scripture today got me thinking about the ocean. I love the ocean. I can stare at it and listen to the
waves for hours, even days. And if I could swing it, I would spend weeks and
weeks by the ocean. Do you
remember how it is to be at the edge of the water? I can. I love those moments
when you screw up your courage to get into the water. You know it is going to
be a cold shock to your system. But the water and movement are going to be such
a delight. So you hover there, with
what? Fear? Trembling? Anticipation? Excitement? Maybe a little bit of dread? Do remember those moments when
you either dive or jump or you inch by inch wade in? Some of you may be waders and some of you might be
jumpers. But those moments are moments
of truth. They are crucial pinpoints in time, when we go forward, plunge, dunk,
and wade. Or we don’t. We may decide to stay on the shore. Sit in the beach
chair. Or play it safe and passive.
Today’s scripture is
about just such a moment. Of course it seems that anything with Jesus is
heightened and deepened. So
instead of wading into the water, Peter is walking on water to meet Jesus. And
all of this is heightened by awe and fear as they recognize in Jesus, divine
power. But that moment, that
instant as Peter stood on the edge of the boat might be a little like our
childish experience on the edge of the ocean.
You all recall what
happens when as children we took the plunge? We were thrilled and chilled and buoyant. I recall how
delightful the ocean was. Once I got in the water the perspective was
completely changed. I could be a
fish or a porpoise. The world was much different and it looked more like this.
Once you are totally in the water the limits of the old world are changed. This is true of Peter too as he walked
mysteriously buoyed up. This can
be true of us too. We can live and
work and walk in a new and fearless perspective. How great would it be to let go of all our land bound dreary
fears and concerns and worries.
How great is it to have those times when we are living in deep trust
with a God who wants to take our hand.
Where by the very power of God’s love and gaze we are buoyed up.
But then Peter
looked down and let fear rule him and he sunk till Jesus grabbed him. This
reminds me too of what happens so often as we struggle in our spiritual
life. When we let fear rule us and
we sink. I have another moment
from childhood at the beach that seems to speak to this moment. So I’ll ask you to remember the time
that you suddenly became afraid of the water
or all the things that could be in water.
Do you remember? For me it
might have been 1975 when Spielberg’s Jaws came out. But I think it was a little earlier, when something skimmed
past me in the water and I was 13 or so and suddenly conscious in adolescence
about how dangerous the world could seem.
Or maybe it was because that was the summer after my dad died. We all learn to view the world and the
ocean as dangerous and by extension all of life as dangerous and so we don’t
plunge in. This was Peter’s issue and this is our issue. But if we are going to
do something dynamic and real with our church and our faith and our lives, we
need to make this plunge.
We need a
resurrected life, a deep trust and a God point of view. One thing that got me
thinking about this is something called the “blue ocean strategy.”[1]
According
to W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, authors of Blue Ocean Strategy, the
business world is divided into red oceans and blue oceans. In red oceans,
companies try to outperform their rivals through head-to-head competition. They
fight like sharks for the same limited profits, and their cutthroat competition
turns the ocean a bloody red. In blue oceans, on the other hand, companies expand
beyond existing boundaries, or they take their business into whole new areas.
Competition becomes irrelevant because the rules of the game are still in the
process of being created. Long-term success comes not from fighting
competitors, but from creating “blue oceans”— untapped new market spaces ripe
for growth.
This is true in
business, but it is also true in faith, in our individual faith and our church
as a whole. We need to be blue
ocean Christians and a blue ocean church.
Could we jump into life and worship and maybe create whole new form of
outreach? This church, this community and this world are ripe for growth. The
problem is that we are stuck in red ocean thinking. —If we think that we’re in
competition with other churches in our area, that worship only occurs at 11:00
on a Sunday, or that there are just not enough people out there who need the
good news of Jesus Christ, then we are stuck in a red ocean mindset.
Jesus has a blue
ocean strategy. Not in terms of business plans, but in terms of stepping into
wholly uncharted waters. He turns away from the best practices of the scribes
and the Pharisees, and takes his ministry in an entirely new direction. Jesus
is anti-establishment, unconventional, and counterintuitive, outside the box. In
the red ocean of first-century Palestine, the rule was, “You shall love your
neighbor and hate your enemy.” But Jesus creates a blue ocean of “Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44). Red ocean:
Blessed are the strong. Blue ocean: Blessed are the meek. Red ocean: Blessed
are the rich. Blue ocean: Blessed are the poor. Red ocean: Blessed are the
warmongers. Blue ocean: Blessed are the peacemakers. Red ocean: Blessed are the
satisfied. Blue ocean: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. In the red ocean
of scribes and Pharisees, godly people did not pollute themselves by eating and
drinking with certain people. But in the blue ocean of Jesus, it’s a mark of
honor to be called “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (11:19).
In the red
ocean of religious regulations, you were forbidden to pluck heads of grain on
the Sabbath. But in the blue ocean that Jesus enters, famished disciples are
free to forage, because “the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (12:1-8).
In
the red ocean 5,000 hungry people cannot be satisfied with five loaves and two
fish. But in the blue ocean that Jesus creates, all of them eat and are filled.
(14:13-21).
We have examples of
a blue ocean faith right in our midst. One of our members Rich Gigilotti came
to the session of Calvin with a passion and an idea that expands what church
usually does. The idea is to engage in a new kind of mission, an after school
program called Encompass Point. This program turns a red ocean experience into
a blue ocean grace. Unsupervised
Teens are the most at risk in one particular time frame, the after school releases
them and before parents are home from work. This is the time when most drug or alcohol use is consumed.
This is the time when teen crime happens. This afterschool gap is a dangerous
time. So Rich has created a
program for Calvin to help in a concrete way and a relational way. What if we
turned this dangerous time into a time or fun, and learning and friendship and
safety? We have Kathy Efau and Kim
Boyd home from the trip to Ghana, a mind blowing and world-expanding trip. How can a trip abroad do anything for
the growth of the church here?
Well if you want to see the truth of Jesus statement, “Blessed are the
meek and the poor.” Then go see
the meek and poor and witness the tremendous and dynamic power of their faith. And then bring that desire of God’s
power right back here. These are women
who have seen and experienced blue ocean Christianity. These are two examples of what happens
when you hear Jesus call to you and you jump out of the boat and to jump right
into the blue ocean.
Let’s look at our
scripture once again from a Blue Ocean viewpoint. Jesus steps out onto a deep blue sea after a wild and windy
night. I know many of you are laboring away in some small boat in a large stormy
world. You are working hard. The wind and waves are against you. When morning
comes, you slump over your oars, discouraged, exhausted and seasick.
Suddenly
Jesus appears, walking on the water. You’re shocked, surprised, stunned ...
even terrified. Is it a hallucination? A ghost? A god? Certainly nothing human
can walk on water. But then Jesus says, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid”
(14:27).
Jesus invites you to step into this blue ocean with him, and so you
carefully put a foot out. You begin to make your way across the waves, but the
wind suddenly whips up and startles you, and you begin to sink. Jesus reaches
out, catches you, and chides you gently, “You of little faith, why did you
doubt? (14:31).
To succeed with a blue ocean strategy, you have to trust the
power of God. If you are called
you can be held and supported, encouraged and blessed.
The Ocean is out
there.
If we dare to make such a move, we’ll discover that Jesus is way out
ahead of us. He’s anxious to release us from outmoded rules and fears. He’s
hoping to connect us with people who may never hear his story unless it comes
to them through our words and our deeds. All this begins with our response to
his invitation, “Come.” All this comes to life as we tap into God’s power, and
trust Jesus to lead us across the deep blue sea. Then we’ll be a church that
walks on water.
Amen.
