Taking the Boat to the Other Side Jonah, 2:1-9, Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:22-33 August 7, 2005, Year A, Proper 14 The Rev. William V. Livingston, Rector Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi I give you fair warning, this sermon is not one you can drift off and come back later and have it make any sense - no opening story nor humor, but getting down to basics, offering what I think you will find is a unique interpretation of today's Gospel text. As when one tells history or someone's story, the narrator or author picks and chooses what to emphasize and what to ignore. The Gospel accounts are no different. Matthew's narrative has two very distinct themes or characteristics: first, to shape and guide the ecclesia, the first century followers of Jesus forming what was to become the Church (that is to shape and guide who we are today) and, second, to contrast the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. The 11 verses we hear today are filled with abundant imagery and profound instructions for us. Immediately following the feeding of the 5000, he made them get into the boat and go ahead to the other side. Come on Jesus, we were already hot and tired, and we just fed all these people for you. Was that impressive or not? Come on Jesus, we've got a great building here, good liturgy, can't we just stay here? Come on Jesus, I just got my kids through college, just renovated the house, how about if I just sit in my lounge chair for a while? Jesus doesn't feed the crowds to impress them or us. We should not be about building churches just to admire them or to have a comfortable place to worship, nor seeking a deeper spiritual life only to find an inner peace. If we do, we didn't hear today's Gospel. No sooner than we catch our breath, it's time to move on. There's still a hurting world who has not heard the Good News, still hungry who need to be fed, sick who need to be healed. Then, we find ourselves in the dark, in a wave battered boat far from the land. Darkness and water biblically represent evil or chaos. Before God spoke there was only darkness and water, but God spoke and there was light that overpowered the darkness. God spoke and the waters were gathered together and dry land appeared. When humanity corrupted the earth, God released the waters which once again covered the earth. Look around you at this space. Consider a first century boat: high sides, a sail mast at the point of our vaulted ceiling, disciples sitting next to each other. Yes, being sent to the other side, is dangerous business. No matter which way the disciples set their sails and no matter how hard they worked; the wind blew the opposite way. The boat itself was "battered"; a word which means tortured or torn apart. They were alone. As a church we can identify with this imagery. As individuals its reality is clear. Even for us who think we have our feet planted firmly on dry land, the experience of being battered is not foreign to us: the death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job, a child involved with drugs, or those less significant stresses that come at us from every direction so that we feel torn apart. The result is we feel numb, beaten down, just getting from one day to the next. Then Jesus comes walking toward them: into this chaos, through this darkness, and Matthew says they were terrified. (Listen carefully because I'm about to take us down a different path in hearing this text.) Notice Matthew says nothing about fear before they saw Jesus. These were fisherfolk who knew about such storms. Fighting against the winds was part of daily life. As the Israelites had wailed their condition in Egypt but not been fearful until God led them into the wilderness, so the disciples were accustomed to fighting the winds of the sea but to experience Jesus in such a powerful and personal way terrified them. Describing their fear, Matthew uses the same word as used to express Herod's fear at getting the news from the magi that a child was born to be king. It is the same fear that rendered Zechariah mute when an angel of the Lord appeared in the Temple; the same fear when they will later think once again it is a ghost appearing in the upper room after Jesus is crucified. Yes, we become so accustomed to those things that tear us apart emotionally and spiritually that the chaos becomes normal. It is the offer of something totally beyond our imagination that terrifies us. Jesus says, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." It is I or I am the same statement made to Moses from a burning bush. Do not be afraid. We talk of angelic visions with such fondness, but each biblical angelic encounter begins with the angel saying, "Do not be afraid," the same words Jesus spoke to Peter, James and John at the Transfiguration. Jesus' words recall Moses' words to the Israelites on the edge of the Red Sea with the pursuing Egyptians right behind them. "Take heart; do not be afraid, stand firm and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today." We complain through our daily struggles that beat against us, but we have to be calmed in those glimpses of the Holy. Then there's Peter. (You're going to have to really hang in here with me, because as have I, you have heard innumerable sermons about Peter taking his eyes off Jesus, looking down at the water and sinking because of his lack of faith. So ingrained are these interpretations in our culture that we talk of "stepping out in faith.") However, consider the possibility that his lack of faith came in his words. "Lord, if it is you, if you are who you say you are, if you are I am then command me to come to you on the water." Yes, he uses the title of a believer: Lord, but Matthew quotes him with the same words Matthew quotes Satan when tempting Jesus in the wilderness: If you are, then command. Yes, Peter walks toward Jesus, however, by wanting to walk on water, Peter doesn't want to follow but wants the power of the Messiah. He leaves the boat. (Look around you once again.) He leaves the community. He no longer needs the community, he's got special privileges. Later, this behavior of Peter's would result in his telling Jesus how to go about being the Christ, resulting in another rebuke when Jesus says, "Get behind me, Satan." Because the Gospel authors used Peter to metaphorically represent future disciples, Peter is always bad news and good news for us. He is bad news, in that like Peter, we at times seek God's power more than we follow it. Our extreme Peters become the Eric Rudolphs of the world. To remind you, Eric Rudolph was the young man who used his religious beliefs to justify his bombing an abortion clinic in Birmingham and the Atlanta Olympics. This being Peter and telling Christ how to be Christ and leaving the other disciples in the boat has become far too common in our 21st century American Christianity in which we no longer discern God's will but claim to be the voices of God's will. We Episcopalians are not exempt because by our actions we have said to the Anglican Communion, "We know how to walk on water and the rest of you don't, so we're stepping out of the boat." Before those of you who agree with that statement celebrate too exuberantly, I'll see if I can also step on your toes. We're in the boat together, we're all being battered by the waves, "So, saying if it's not done my way, I'm out of here or you won't get my money" is still telling Christ how to be Christ and still saying, "God have me walk on water, prove me right and show them how wrong they are." That's the bad news. The good news is that after we get out of the boat, after we leave our fellow disciples, after we begin sinking, as the waters are about to cover us, if we let go of our pride and have the sense to cry out, "Lord save me!" Christ's hand still reaches down and pulls us out of the chaos and puts us back into the boat. Look around this space one more time. We are in a boat together. Out there is a world that is hurting As Bishop Gray lays out his vision for our Diocese, he will be asking us to take our diocesan boat to the other side. This fall our parish will begin a discernment process during which I will encourage us to take our parish boat to the other side. Is there the risk of chaos and having to struggle against the storm? You bet, but it is where Jesus had directed us all along - to the other side, to the challenges, and maybe indeed dangers, on the other side - and the one who has already been there for us calls to us, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." The opportunity for new courage and new heart awaits us all! And with Jesus' steady arm, we are sure to endure! My friends, faith is not about walking on water; nor is faith about throwing the prophet Jonah into the sea; faith is staying in the boat, allowing those prophetic voices to speak and daring to believe in the darkest time of night, in face of all that seems to be going wrong and working against us, that God is with us in this boat, made real in the community as it makes it way through the storm, battered by the waves. Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid!