{Prayer}
My grandpa on my mom’s side of the family got drafted and was part of The Pacific Theater in World War II. He was assigned to the Seabees or the Naval Construction Battalion of the US Navy. He was stationed in Okinawa in southern Japan, to help make the island a jumping-off point for invasion into Japan.
Prior to his arrival in Japan, I remember being told as a kid that part of his training was to see how well he could swim. Well, there was a slight problem with this … he didn’t know how to swim. My mom doesn’t even remember seeing him in the water let alone owning a pair of swimming trunks. Yet in the midst of his training, he was taken out into some body of water, was tossed into it, and was told to swim back to the boat. It was a sink or swim kind of a moment. Now I can only imagine the amount of splashing and panicking that went on as him and the others who didn’t know how to swim tried to make it back to the boat.
There is a painting done by Yongsung Kim called “His Mighty Hand” that depicts the moment in our gospel reading of when Jesus rescues Peter. Peter, in the water, touching everything around him but with nothing to hold onto, looks up desperately to Jesus as if Jesus is the last and only lifeline he has left.
When others artists have painted this scene, they usually give you a good side view. They give you a view of both Jesus and Peter and it’s usually from a distance. In those renditions, you see Jesus standing on the water reaching out his hand toward Peter who is panicking, frantically splashing as he is sinking in the midst of the storm. In the painting from Kim though we have a different perspective. Kim painted this moment from under the water.
As he does this, Kim invites you to take your place, submerged under the water with Peter. As you look up, the water obscures, it blurs your vision. Surrounded by water and with nothing to grab onto, the body of Jesus is nothing but a dark shadow and looks so far away. Jesus’ face is a bit clearer, but the clearest thing of all is a hand. His hand, Jesus’ hand is breaking through the surface of the water and is reaching down to rescue you.
In this painting, Kim asks you to imagine that you are Peter. You are the one who is drowning and you are the one who is graciously being saved.
What the artist Kim does so well with the imagery of this painting, Matthew does with dialog in our reading. If you listen to what is said between Jesus and Peter, you can hear what it is like to be drowning in your prayers and yet being graciously saved.
As Jesus approaches the boat in the midst of the storm, the disciples, who are being tossed around by the waves, saw something that absolutely terrified them. Off in the distance, the disciples saw something, someone walking on the water. Nothing can do that so they automatically think that it was a ghost. They cry out, “It’s a ghost!”. But as Jesus approaches, he announces to them that no, it is not a ghost but “It is I.” Surrounding these three little words, Jesus assures the disciples of His presence by telling them to “take courage”, to “take heart” and also “Do not be afraid.”
Notice the power of Jesus. Notice the powerful presence of Jesus. Not only does He walk on water, revealing His power over the storm and gravity, but He comes surrounded with assurance that He shares. Jesus comes to the disciples not come to torment or to torture or to test them. No, He comes to rescue them, to encourage them, and to defend them in the midst of a storm.
And yet, in the midst of the storm, in the midst of Jesus revealing Himself to the disciples … Peter falls into this state of prayerful confusion. After being told to “take courage”, “to take heart”, and “do not be afraid”, Peter says to Jesus, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” (14:28).
“If it is you”. If it is you, that’s one of those conditional like sentences which assumes that the answer is assumed to be true for the sake of an argument. So essentially, Peter is saying, “If it is You, Lord, and for the sake of argument, let’s assume that it’s You, then command me to come to You on the water.” In saying this, Peter isn’t too confident. If he was making a solid confession that the man walking on the water was Jesus, Peter would have said something more like, “Since it is You Lord, command me to come to You on the water.” But while Peter isn’t totally confident, he is not completely dismissing the fact that it is Jesus. If he was, Peter would be like, “Pssssh! Yeah right! You’re Jesus? If it’s You, then command me to come to You on the water.” What Peter says in our reading, it’s somewhere in the middle of a solid confession and a complete dismissal. “If it is You, for the sake of argument, let’s say it is, then command me to come to You on the water”. Peter is somewhere in the middle, wavering here, like the water outside the boat. Peter wants it to be Jesus, but he’s not completely sure.
Think to yourself for a moment … how many times have we spoken to Jesus like Peter is? How often have you and I wavered in the water? How many of us have prayed some sort of, “If You …” prayer?
- If You really love me, Jesus, then fix my marriage.
- If You really love me, Jesus, then help my kids to believe and follow you.
- If You really listen to prayers, Jesus, then help us get an Associate Pastor.
- If You really listen to prayers, Jesus, then help me find a new job, a new house, a new car.
- If You really care, Jesus, then heal my loved one’s cancer, my dad’s dementia, my friend’s medical issues.
- If You are really out there, Jesus, help me.
There are so many different situations in life where we can find ourselves praying like Peter. “If You are the Son of God, then …”. When we do this, like Peter, we are confused in our prayers, we are wavering like the waves of the water, and soon, we too will be drowning like Peter. James writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” (1:5-6).
But this is what is so amazing about this account from Matthew today. When Jesus hears these words from Peter, “Lord, if it is you”, what does Jesus do? He calls out and invites Peter to come to Him. And when Peter fails and falls into the water, Jesus doesn’t let him drown. No, Jesus reaches out His hand and rescues Peter. You see, Jesus does this, He rescues Peter because Jesus has come to be the Savior of people, Savior of those who cry out to Him, even in the midst of prayerful confusion.
Back in Matthew 4, when Jesus was in the wilderness and being tempted by Satan, Jesus heard the same kind of language. Satan tempted Jesus with his own, “If You are …”, demands. “If you are the Son of God, then command these stones to become bread” (Matthew 4:3). “If You are the Son of God, then throw Yourself down” (Matthew 4:6). When Satan spoke like this to Jesus, Jesus resisted.
Yet, the amazing thing is in our reading this morning, when Jesus hears these words from the mouth of Peter, Jesus doesn’t resist Him, Jesus doesn’t push Peter away. No, Jesus answers him. Jesus invites him. Why? Because Jesus came into this world to defeat Satan. He didn’t come to defeat people like Peter, like you and me. He came to save them, to save us. Even when we cry out in wavering prayers, Jesus reaches out to save us with His unwavering grace and mercy.
Isaiah says, “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out” (42:3). At the heart of it all, there lies a simple cry, “Lord, save me!” With a simple cry, there is a simple response, Jesus, reaches out His hand to rescue His people from dying.
Immersed in the waters of baptism, God has joined you to the death of Jesus. No matter how far down you are, no matter how far you fall into the wavering waters of “If you are …” prayers … Jesus is there. He says, “I’m here. Take heart and don’t be afraid. I have borne all the punishment of your sin. I have defeated death itself. I have risen from the grave and I rule over all creation. Nothing can separate you from My protection and nothing can separate you from My love.” Though we may waver in prayerful confusion … know for sure that Jesus is risen and is ruling in His unwavering love. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.
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