Matthew 14:22-33
Today’s Gospel story of Jesus walking on the water is filled with symbolism and echoes of the divine in the Old Testament. The disciples found themselves alone in a storm-tossed boat. Suddenly, Jesus was present to assure them, teaching them, and us, that there is no conflict, no struggle, no difficulty or no fear so great that God’s providential care cannot resolve.
Most immediately, the story of the boat in the storm is the manifestation of the Church’s struggles in the first days of her existence and down through history. Likewise, the episode with Peter sinking in the water is an expression of the basic human experience of being totally vulnerable.
Peter is bold and adventurous in his cry out to Jesus, “If it is you Lord, command me to come to you on the water.” (Mt 14:28) Peter begins his walk but reality grabs hold of his weak faith. As Peter faces his moment of truth and begins to sink, he cries out, “Lord, save me!” (Mt:30) This is an expression of the naked and unfiltered truth of our humanity. In the end, we are totally dependent on God.
Jesus says, “Do not be afraid!” (Mt:27). This phrase is one of the most common in all of Scripture. It is uttered over three hundred times in the Bible. Each time it reveals the presence of a saving and compassionate God. To call it a statement of comfort is very short of the mark. It reveals a God profoundly engaged in the human struggle with the power of healing and deliverance. This episode, like so many in the bible, reveals a God who is always personally present to us in our struggles. In today’s episode, as an example, Peter ends up back in the boat rather than at the bottom of the sea.
Peter’s failed venture had some very beneficial consequences. He learned that the acute exposure to his own weakness brought to light the saving power of the Lord. This is the path of faith. For Peter and for us, Our experience of faith is always connected to the call of Jesus and not our wishful thinking. The true encounter with God will always contrast service and sacrifice rather than selfishness and indulgence.
We all have our, “Lord, save me!” moments. They tend to be fewer but more intense as the years pass by. In the end, there is a slowly growing clarity that we are truly in the storm and we are about to sink.
The reality of the need for Jesus grows in our heart. It might be health crisis as we experienced in the pandemic, a child on drugs, the loss of a loved one, the consequences of an economy out of our control, the emerging hostility of climate change or simply the relentless process of ageing. Today we are immersed in the trauma of the war in Ukraine, the racial upheaval of a floundering political process and the on-going stress of an upcoming election year. These elements of stress all put extraordinary strains on our personal, family and communal life. Whatever the situation, these events are all down payments on the ultimate human experience, our mortality. The depth of the cry, “Lord, save me!”, becomes more intense and more dominating. At the same time, the need for Jesus’ hand reaching out gets clearer and stronger and incredibly more important. We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
I want to return to my favorite Carmelite saint, St. Teresa of Avila, to make a clear conclusion from today’s reflections. Teresa says the story of her life is the story of God’s mercy. By this she means that when she had arrived at the deepest and clearest moment of her life, her “Lord, save me!” moment, she learned what it meant to be a creature. She embraced the fact of her reality as creature because for her it meant she was cradled in the loving hands of a gracious Creator revealed in her great friend and Savior, Jesus Christ. The ultimate reality is that God is good not that we are good. In the end, God’s limitless mercy is her victory.
It is a journey for us to know that our life also is, in its final expression, the story of God’s mercy. That, indeed, is a beautiful truth as Peter found out in today’s Gospel passage.
Most immediately, the story of the boat in the storm is the manifestation of the Church’s struggles in the first days of her existence and down through history. Likewise, the episode with Peter sinking in the water is an expression of the basic human experience of being totally vulnerable.
Peter is bold and adventurous in his cry out to Jesus, “If it is you Lord, command me to come to you on the water.” (Mt 14:28) Peter begins his walk but reality grabs hold of his weak faith. As Peter faces his moment of truth and begins to sink, he cries out, “Lord, save me!” (Mt:30) This is an expression of the naked and unfiltered truth of our humanity. In the end, we are totally dependent on God.
Jesus says, “Do not be afraid!” (Mt:27). This phrase is one of the most common in all of Scripture. It is uttered over three hundred times in the Bible. Each time it reveals the presence of a saving and compassionate God. To call it a statement of comfort is very short of the mark. It reveals a God profoundly engaged in the human struggle with the power of healing and deliverance. This episode, like so many in the bible, reveals a God who is always personally present to us in our struggles. In today’s episode, as an example, Peter ends up back in the boat rather than at the bottom of the sea.
Peter’s failed venture had some very beneficial consequences. He learned that the acute exposure to his own weakness brought to light the saving power of the Lord. This is the path of faith. For Peter and for us, Our experience of faith is always connected to the call of Jesus and not our wishful thinking. The true encounter with God will always contrast service and sacrifice rather than selfishness and indulgence.
We all have our, “Lord, save me!” moments. They tend to be fewer but more intense as the years pass by. In the end, there is a slowly growing clarity that we are truly in the storm and we are about to sink.
The reality of the need for Jesus grows in our heart. It might be health crisis as we experienced in the pandemic, a child on drugs, the loss of a loved one, the consequences of an economy out of our control, the emerging hostility of climate change or simply the relentless process of ageing. Today we are immersed in the trauma of the war in Ukraine, the racial upheaval of a floundering political process and the on-going stress of an upcoming election year. These elements of stress all put extraordinary strains on our personal, family and communal life. Whatever the situation, these events are all down payments on the ultimate human experience, our mortality. The depth of the cry, “Lord, save me!”, becomes more intense and more dominating. At the same time, the need for Jesus’ hand reaching out gets clearer and stronger and incredibly more important. We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
I want to return to my favorite Carmelite saint, St. Teresa of Avila, to make a clear conclusion from today’s reflections. Teresa says the story of her life is the story of God’s mercy. By this she means that when she had arrived at the deepest and clearest moment of her life, her “Lord, save me!” moment, she learned what it meant to be a creature. She embraced the fact of her reality as creature because for her it meant she was cradled in the loving hands of a gracious Creator revealed in her great friend and Savior, Jesus Christ. The ultimate reality is that God is good not that we are good. In the end, God’s limitless mercy is her victory.
It is a journey for us to know that our life also is, in its final expression, the story of God’s mercy. That, indeed, is a beautiful truth as Peter found out in today’s Gospel passage.
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