Sermon by Revd Caroline Risdon
9 August 2020 9th Sunday after Trinity
May I speak in the name of the Living God, Our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, AMEN.
Last week while we were on holiday, I did something I never thought I'd do- I swam in the North Sea! I wasn't forced to, I actually wanted to. And it was glorious to be out beyond the breakers surrounded by the sky and the ocean and a wonderful calm. No-one was more surprised than I by that swim of mine and ever since I've been ruminating on how we often limit our expectations. I was so disparaging of our English seaside holiday that I didn't even pack a costume!
Today's parable is also set in the sea, only this time the water is choppy and menacing and the disciples in the boat are scared. Throughout Matthew's Gospel there is a thread about the early Church; how Matthew's community are carving out a space for themselves as early Christians, facing the constant threat of persecution. The evil and chaos all around them is represented by the waters being stormy and the wind howling. Yet, Jesus, who is the opposite of all that, walks across the water towards the disciples. This is obviously so unexpected that the disciples fear they are seeing a ghost. Only Peter seems to recognise that it is Jesus and he takes his chance to be with Jesus.
Peter is of great importance to the early Church and to us. He is a very human disciple: fiercely loyal to Jesus yet also capable of denying him. He seems to blurt out the wrong thing at the wrong time over and over again. But here Peter teaches us a lesson. The only reason he receives a share of Jesus' power, is because he alone recognises who it is walking on the water. Having asked to be near the Lord, Peter is able to overcome his fear and step out of the boat. And this is because he keeps his gaze firmly fixed on Jesus. The moment he looks around and sees the waves crashing and feels the wind pushing, he sinks.
When they are back in the boat, Jesus berates Peter, not for having no faith at all but for the 'littleness' of his faith. And this is a moment I feel sure we have all experienced. In moments of real storm in our lives, now in this current situation and as we begin to feel the impact of the pandemic, it is not that we have no faith in God but that our faith somehow seems to be diminished by all that crowds around us.
Only one chapter later in Matthew's Gospel Jesus names Peter as the rock on which he will build his Church. Now, it seems totally nonsensical to build the Church, the body of the faithful, on someone whose faith is 'little', on someone who doubts. But there is something here about a deeper faith being wrought through our testing and challenging times. Not that our faith is deepened 'merely' by moving through chaos and evil, but that our faith is deepened by moving through chaos and evil while keeping our focus on Jesus.
What a relief! If Jesus can choose Peter as the foundation of the Church, then we too can certainly take our place within the life and work and witness of the Church. We do not have to be perfect or full of faith at all times. But we are certainly going to be tested through our lives. This story challenges us- when it comes to life's storms are we going to respond in panic and fear, or in faithfulness?
I started by speaking about limiting our expectations and so far I have spoken mostly about Peter and how his faith and ours can be limited by fear and by the storms of life. But what about that terrible rut we can get into where we limit our expectations of God? This story shows the magnificent power of the Lord, walking on water and calming the storm. We are so often shut down to God's glory, which is visible all around us in the beauty of creation, but also in all the ways life and light and joy and fun filter into our every day.
Perhaps the most unexpected aspect of the story is also the most moving- Jesus walks into the storm to calm and to carry his disciples. Now this is a limitless truth- there can be no storm which is stronger than God's love for us.
Revd Caroline Risdon, 09/08/2020