Text: Matthew 14: 22-33
How do you feel when troubles come your way? I’m not talking about a flat tire or a bad day at school. I’m talking about those troubles that bear down on us. How do you feel? When the doctor tells us something we don’t want to hear. When the company announces that layoffs are coming. How do we feel when we’ve been punched in the stomach with the news that a loved one is dead. I’ve had to deliver that news at times. How do we feel? In the middle of a bright shining California day it might seem we are surrounded by darkness. We can feel all alone.
On a dark night long ago, Jesus’ disciples found themselves right in the middle of one of life’s problems. It seemed to them that they were all alone in a storm with no one to help them. But Jesus used that situation. He used that storm to teach these men something we all need to learn. We might even say it this way:
THE SON STILL SHINES IN THE DARKEST OF STORMS
I. He knows the storms you face
II. He takes hold of your hand to save you.
Remember what these men had just witnessed? Jesus took a few loaves of bread and fish and fed more than 5000 people. Needless to say, all were impressed. So impressed the crowd wanted to make Jesus their king. But not the kind of king the Son of God came to be. For this King had not come to put bread on the table and get us through the day. He came to be the Bread of life who could get us through death. This King did not come to sit in some palace and have people wait on him hand and foot. No he came to serve, to save people like you and me who could not help themselves.
Think of Jesus words in the gospel of John . Everyone who sins is slave to sin. (John 8:34) That’s you. That’s me. And that’s what we were. Slaves to sin with no reason to hope. But we know what this King came to do. He came to redeem us. To pay the price to set us free. And so one day he would go to Jerusalem. And there our God and King who had healed the sick and given a widow back her only son would offer himself to bleed and die for you and me as our humble Savior.
But the crowd this day was not looking for that kind of king. And Jesus knew his disciples were susceptible to that way of thinking. So he told them to get in the boat and start rowing. Then he sent the crowd home and went up on a mountain to pray to his heavenly Father.
It must have been about 6 pm when the disciples pushed away from the shore. Well sometime later they found themselves trying to navigate a storm. And if you haven’t been out on a lake in a small boat during a storm, let me tell you. It’s no place to be. So too on the sea of Galilee. The wind and the waves can kick up into something violent and dangerous. And that’s what happened this night. The waves pounded against the boat. In fact, Matthew uses a word that can mean tortured. That how bad things got. And no one was wearing a Coast Guard approved life jacket.
And so the disciples rowed in the darkness. They rowed for hours to keep their boat from turning and capsizing. They rowed on and on, against the wind, hardly making any way, backs aching, hands worn and tired, but not daring to stop for a moment. And maybe wondering if they were going to survive this night.
Most of us don’t spend much time in boats. But storms do come our way, the storms of life. The wind and waves of life’s problems can kick up so quickly and turn a sunny time of life into sorrow and darkness. And like these disciples it might seem to us that we are all alone in the darkness.
But we’re not. The Son of God still shines in the darkest of storms. And he knows what we are going through. Think about it. It was dark. The disciples were miles away. But Jesus knew what they were up against. The gospel of Mark tells us Jesus saw them straining at the oars. Jesus knew what they were going through all along.
It’s no different with you and me. The Lord Jesus knows. He knows what you are up against and he has a plan. A plan not to harm you but to give a hope and a future.
But let’s not get the wrong idea. It doesn’t mean that Jesus will always take our troubles away. It doesn’t mean that he will always calm those storms.
Some years ago, my nephew cut his leg pretty deep on a piece of chicken wire. The little guy saw the blood and the wound and thought the worst as they brought him to the hospital. He asked his mother, am I going to die? Will I be in a wheelchair? We chuckle about it today but he was very worried. Now think about that. He was going to suffer some pain when he got to the hospital. But his mother took him there anyway. She took him because she knew that the pain involved in stitching him up would prevent something far worse.
That’s how God sometimes deals with us. We see that here. Jesus let his disciples go out into that storm. And he allows us at times to suffer those storms. But he does it because he knows, he can make even life’s storms or earthquakes work for our good.
And so the Son of God comes to us this morning in his Word. He comes to us as he came to his disciples. Not walking on the water. He comes to you this day in his Word. And he knows He knows the storms you face. He knows that final storm of death that comes to us all. But in that darkness, Jesus wants you to know that you are not alone. As you strain at the oars of life, know that his words are also for you. Take courage, It is I. Do not be afraid.
What grabs your attention in this account? When I was a young boy, of course, Jesus’ walking on the water. But more than that, how Jesus enabled Peter to do the same. That grabbed my attention. So much that once I asked Jesus to help me do that.
But now what impresses me is something else. The picture of Jesus’ reaching out his hand to save Peter. I love that picture. For that’s the kind of Savior we have. He takes hold of your hand to save you.
Remember the seven dwarfs in Snow White. Each had a name which described them. If we gave names to the apostles, I think I would call Peter, impulsive. For better or worse, always caught up in the moment. Lord if it’s you… tell me to come to you on the water. What was Peter saying about Jesus? Like the Centurion. Just say the word. For Jesus’ Word has that kind of power. His word at creation. His word that called Lazarus back to life. His word that made you God’s child in your baptism. Tell me to come to you on the water. And Jesus did. And with that one word he enabled Peter to step out of that boat and defy the laws of physics.
So Peter stepped out. He stepped out in faith in Jesus’ word and began to walk on that water that only moments ago threatened his life. Yet as so often happens with us, his faith got distracted. He took his eyes , worse yet his heart, off of Jesus. He looked at the wind and the waves and he panicked. After walking by faith, he doubted. He doubted and began to sink. Yet he knew where to turn. Helpless, drowning, he cried out to Jesus, Lord, save me.
Lord, save me. We say the same to our Lord every time we come to this place. We may not sinking in a stormy sea, but we need Jesus’ hand just the same. So we confess our sins, sins that would otherwise damn us to hell and we say to our Lord, have mercy. Lord forgive me. Lord, save me. And Jesus does. He does as he lifts us up in God’s forgiveness won for us long ago.
Well here the Son of God heard Peter’s anxious prayer. 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. And let’s think about that. Sometimes we hear people say, if your faith is strong enough Jesus will do this or that. And when he doesn’t what’s the implication. Their faith was too weak.
But look here. Peter’s faith had faltered. But Jesus reached down to take hold of his hand to save him. He took hold of that tremb ling hand He took hold of that empty hand, with nothing to offer the Savior for his mercy.
You see, Jesus doesn’t say, I will help you if you have enough faith. No dear friends. He hears the prayers of those who cry out like Peter struggling and afraid. Lord, save me. He hears those prayers and reaches down to take hold of your hand. Sometimes he lifts us up and out of that problem. But other times he does something no less amazing. He brings us through that storm. He helps to persevere. And he gives us each other to weather it together.
And even though it’s can be painful, even though it might seem that the Lord has left us all alone in the darkness, this he promises you. I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you. Do not fear, I will help you. (Is 41:13)
So let’s ask ourselves the same question that Jesus asked his very wet friend. Why did you doubt? The same Savior who walked upon that water. The same Savior who stepped into that boat and calmed that storm. The same Savior who loves you so much he stretched out his hands on a cross to die for you and rose from his grave…he has taken hold of your hand and he will save you.
Do you know the old name for the place where you sit in church. It’s called the NAVE. It comes from a Latin word which means boat. Well when Jesus and Peter climbed into that boat, the disciples worshipped Jesus. May that be the case for every one of us who sit together in this nave, this boat. For here Jesus comes to us, the Son of God who shines in even the darkest of storms. So come, let us worship Him. Amen.