2026-08-09 Pentecost 11

Scripture Readings

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen!

Our Gospel reading from St. Matthew this morning picks up where we left off last Sunday. Jesus had just did the miracle of feeding the 5,000+ size crowd with only 5 loaves and 2 fishes. They were in the desert, a desolate place, the Tim Horton’s had already closed, the Disciples were imploring Jesus to send the crowd away to scavenge food for themselves. But instead our Lord miraculously provided for His people. This is where our reading this morning picks up. Jesus sends the disciples across the lake while He dismissed the crowds. And then finally, our Lord gets to do what He was trying to do this whole time. At the beginning of this chapter, St. John the Baptizer had been killed by Herod. Jesus was mourning for His cousin and desired to go off by Himself to pray. This was the immediate context for last Sunday where our Lord does this amazing miracle - all the while Himself in a state of deep grief. Finally, after sending the crowds away and sending the disciples away, “He went up on the mountain by himself to pray” (14:23).

Off the boys go, rowing across the lake, AKA, the Sea of Galilee. Geographically speaking, this is an interesting spot where weather is concerned. You get the cool air from the Mediterranean mixing with the hot humid air in the narrow lake valley. It sits 200m below sea level with mountains and hills all around it, greatly accelerating winds like a trough. When you get this mix you can imagine what happens. You get some pretty violent and fast erupting storms on the water. This is probably what happened here, because our text says the disciples’ boat was “beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them” (14:24).

Such are many of the storms of life, right? They often spring up on us with little to no warning. We can be strong and healthy and then suddenly we are over come with a terrible illness. Without warning, a family member is injured in an accident. Without warning, that same old temptation comes and tricks us again. Without warning, the bills come past due at the end of the month and you suddenly find yourself having more month than you have money! Life often seems as if we are rowing and fighting and struggling in the opposite way that the winds and storms are blowing. We have a goal and destination in mind, but the waves of life are wearing us out. We set our minds on our children, our jobs, our retirement, our vacations, and so many other things - but the winds of nature and the waves of life slow us down to a crawl. We get exhausted as we try to get to our destination. We end up in the middle of a lake that we would have much rather just walked around.

I think what I love the most about this Bible reading is that in the very turbulent center of it, in the wee hours of the deep dark night, Jesus comes to His people. He comes to His flailing, frightened and exhausted friends. The disciples were terrified, just as we all are when we feel overwhelmed or our safety is threatened. When the grave opens up its gaping jaws and the darkness rears it’s ugly head, old fears rise up. The fear that comes when we wait for those medical tests to come back. The fear that comes when we are driving down an icy, slush covered highway about to be meet a passing semi truck. It is in these moments, some of the very scariest of life, this is when the real presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ comes to us with His blessed assurance.

The disciples look out over the water and are instantly terrified even more than of the storm. They yell “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.” Be of good cheer, fellas! Look who it is. It’s not some evil lake spirit or aqua-geist! It is Jesus - do not be afraid. These simple yet profound words of Christ our Lord calmed the disciples’ fears as they trembled in a boat in the middle of a terrible storm. These same words calm us too no matter where we are in life. In our English translation we miss an important detail. In the original language Jesus says 'it is I - the great I AM' – that age old name of God that Moses first heard from a burning bush. The Great I AM, Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, this is Who has come to you in the storm. This is Jesus Christ, true God in the flesh, come down to earth. This was no ghost, apparition or phantom of the night! It was God incarnate, walking on the water, coming to His people, coming to save and deliver them.

We’ve all heard this story enough times to know why Jesus walks on the water. It’s the same reason He laid down His life for us on the cross. He did it because He loves us, forgives us and wants to be in communion with us. Walking on water also further illustrates that Jesus is truly Divine, that He is actually God in the flesh and that nature is in submission to Him. But have you ever wondered why Peter walked on the water? He could have just marveled from the relative safety of the boat with the rest of them. But no, he says “Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water” (14:28).

We notice how Jesus answers. He gives Peter the proof that it is indeed Him, not unlike doubting Thomas who wants to touch and see the resurrected body of Christ. Jesus says “Come” – and out goes Peter! It’s remarkable because Peter doesn’t ask to walk on the water per se, but rather he asks to come to Jesus. His desire isn’t to do great and majestic miracles, to have glory and far reaching fame, but rather, he simply desires to be with the Lord. Because of God’s grace, Peter is able to participate in this divine miracle as long as he keeps his focus on Christ. As soon as he gets distracted though, what happens? He begins to sink! This makes perfect sense though. The name ‘Peter’ in Greek literally means “rock” - “upon this rock I will build My church” Jesus said. And what do rocks do on water? They sink! Though I’m sure Peter found his faith much stronger walking on water in the winter time!

If Peter could walk on water, miraculously defying the laws of nature, because of God’s all powerful Word, just think of what that same Word of God does for you. It forgives sins, it conquers the grave, it raises from the dead, it creates faith, it makes water a real spiritual cleanser and it makes bread and wine the body and blood of Christ! Again, this Gospel text, just like the feeding of the 5,000, spurs us on to ask that amazing and humbling question: “what is impossible with God?!”

St. Peter did just fine, until he took His focus off of Christ. “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord save me!’” (14:30). We know how this goes too, right? I guess we all have the same problem as St. Peter, we’ve all got a little spiritual ADD - Attention Deficit Disorder! Everything seems to be going fine, then you start to look around and check things out. Then the white caps splash you in the face and the wind bites at the tips of your ears! You see your sins bubbling and churning up out of the depths! Then Jesus is no longer the focus, the center. Instead it is just us and our sinful selves, lost, overwhelmed, sinking and terrified. The only thing to do is what Peter did, cry out to the Lord of Hosts and pray “Lord save me!”

It is then, in the midst of our sin, our fear and our anxiety that a strong, mighty hand reaches out to us and won’t let us go. It is that same hand that bears the marks of the Good Friday nails, the same hand that rescued St. Peter from drowning and the same hand that will raise us and all the faithful on the last day. “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (14:31) The question for us is exactly the same: why do we doubt?

The amazing Good News that fills our hearts with joy and peace is that Christ will never let us go. Christ will never fail us. He died for us and rose for us. Take heart. Do not fear. Jesus is with you, all your days until the end of the days. The hand that snatches you from the jaws of death will not let you go. Ever. Do not fear anything in this world, for nothing can break His hold on you. Not the cancers, not the bullets, not the bullies, not the terrorists, not the bad government, not the devils and demons, not the the darkness of your soul. Not even your sin. And when doubt overtakes you, and sin overwhelms you, and waves of guilt and shame wash over you and threaten to drown you, say with Peter, “Lord, save me.” And Jesus will. He always will.

“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” (14:32-33). Not only does Jesus deliver Peter from the water, He also has control over the entire storm. Even the wind and the waves obey Him. This is kind of like what we talked about last Sunday with the prophet Elijah, having control over the rain. This was a reference to the True God of Israel being bigger, stronger, better than Baal, the storm god. And all the false gods were manifestations of the same issue. We can’t control the weather, the rain that brought life and fertility to the land. But if we worship this god, or do a ritual or make a sacrifice at his temple, then the god will do what we want. All idolatry follows this same concept.

For example, who has ever met the economy?? Ever had the economy over for supper? But we hear on the radio and the TV about all the great stuff he does for us. He controls all of our destinies! If the economy is bad, we need to find out what we need to do to make the economy happy and then the economy will be good again! Then everything will go well for us! It’s exactly the same thing that the ancients did with their storm gods.

But here we see the truth. Here we see that Jesus is really in control. It’s the same lesson that ol’ soggy bottom boy Peter learned in the middle of the lake. The disciples literally bow down before Him in the boat confessing that He is Son of God. This should be our response too. Replace this worship and trust in Jesus with your worry about the economy, the future, wars, health, whatever. Rather, “keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, [Who] for the joy set out for him He endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). In His name, Amen!