Matthew 14:22-32

22Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

23And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.  25And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.

26But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.

27But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

28Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

29He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.

30But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

32When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  33And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Barbara Brown Taylor writes of this moment, “What if Peter had not sunk? What if he had jumped out of the boat with perfect confidence, landed splat with both feet flat on the water and smiled across the waves at Jesus, gliding toward him without a moment’s hesitation? What if the other disciples had followed suit, piling out of the boats after him…It would be a different story. It might even be a better story, but it would not be a story about us.”  

I like this quote because Rev Brown Taylor is pointing out that real people like us are not perfect.  Tom and I went canoeing and swimming in Estacada lake last weekend, and you should have seen me trying to wade out across the slimy rocks to where it was deep enough to swim.  I was all shaky, and sliding, and making all kinds of undignified noises and then there were crawdads in the water, right in front of my toes.  My Toes were naked and afraid!  

Friends – I can barely walk through ankle deep water.  

I totally would have sunk faster than Peter!

And yet, I was taught in Sunday School, and my Sunday school teachers before me and their Sunday School teachers before them — because I promise, I did not have the world’s worst Sunday School teachers!  They just didn’t know better and neither did I until I learned!

But I was taught that Peter was a failure because he sunk.

That Peter’s faith was pathetic.

That Peter was always getting things wrong because Peter was some kind of no-faith Nelly.

But Jesus did not actually say to Peter that his faith was too small.

What Jesus actually said was that Peter’s faith was undeveloped.

Warren Carter, in his commentary, “Matthew and the Margins,” notes that Jesus’ words, “you of little faith” is used a few times in Matthew and “indicates not the absence of any faith, but” an out of shape faith.  A faith that needs exercise, as if courage is a muscle and us as individuals, and as a church community, need to exercise our faith in order to grow it.

Jesus was not telling Peter that he was a failure!

Jesus was telling Peter that his faith needed exercise.

Peter needed to keep climbing out of the boat, again and again and let God show him just how much God can do.

We are living in a time that calls all of us courage. To be intentional about the risks we take. To make sure we are working towards those first steps, 

knowing and accepting we will sink. 

We will fail.

Things will not go as planned.

We will sink.

And, God will catch us.

And what we didn’t plan just might be better.

bell hooks writes of courage and fear in cultures like ours: 

“Cultures of domination rely on the cultivation of fear as a way to ensure obedience. In our society we make much of love and say little about fear. Yet we are all terribly afraid most of the time. As a culture we are obsessed with the notion of safety. Yet we do not question why we live in states of extreme anxiety and dread. Fear is the primary force upholding structures of domination.”

What is one thing you are afraid of right now?
What are you doing with that fear”When are you most likely to mistake someone as a threat, a ‘ghost’ coming your way, when they are actually a companion or a spiritual teacher?
What makes the difference between believing God can empower us and work through us and having an over-inflated sense of self or a savior complex?