Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side,
While he would send the crowds away.
After sending the crowds away,
He went up into the hills by himself to pray.
When evening came,
He was there alone with the boat,
By now far out on the lake.
He was battling with a heavy sea,
For there was a headwind.
In the fourth watch of the night,
He went towards them,
Walking on the lake.
And when the disciples saw him walking on the lake,
They were terrified.
It is a ghost,
They said,
And cried out in fear.
But at once Jesus called out to them,
Saying,
Courage,
It is I.
Do not be afraid.
It was Peter who answered.
Lord,
He said,
If it is you,
Tell me to come to you across the water.
Come,
Jesus said.
Then Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus across the water.
But as soon as he felt the force of the wind,
He took fright and began to sink.
Lord,
Save me,
He cried.
Jesus put out his hand at once and held him.
Man of little faith,
He said.
Why did you doubt?
And as they got into the boat,
The wind dropped.
The men in the boat bowed down before him and said,
Truly,
You are the Son of God,
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you,
Lord Jesus Christ.
One thing I,
Well,
One of many things,
But one specific thing standing out that I cannot grasp,
That I cannot understand of God is God's infinite patience with us.
Here we see the disciples,
People that swear by him,
People who say they're ready to lay down their lives,
Test God yet again.
It doesn't really say that,
Does it?
But let's look at this.
They see Christ walking on the water and,
Okay,
Maybe they didn't recognize the man that they'd been spending all of this time with,
First interesting question.
Although it might have been dark,
So let's give them that.
But now Christ comes and Christ says,
Courage it is I,
Do not be afraid.
And guess what does Peter do?
He puts God to the test.
Lord,
If it is you,
Tell me to come to you across the water.
Now,
Why,
Why,
Why,
Why?
And it is something that we tend to do in our daily lives as well.
We tend to always want to question God.
I give you,
I give you everything.
Yes,
But how do I know it's true?
I don't.
I don't.
I had a discussion with,
With Father Bruce earlier today on exactly this.
Why do we lack faith?
And he said something quite profound.
Faith is not ours.
Faith is a gift.
Faith is a gift from God.
And it is up to us to accept the gift of faith.
See what Peter does.
In the beginning,
He accepts the gift of faith from Christ.
He walks on water.
And then he allows the world,
The external to influence him so much that he loses that faith and starts thinking,
How often do we not fall into the trap of Peter?
How often don't we test God?
God gives us what we ask for.
And then we let the external come and break the faith.
Not God taking away the faith from us.
No.
How often the wind,
Interesting that they mentioned specifically,
It was the wind,
Says Matthew,
That Peter heard and felt the force of the wind.
How often don't we come to a place of peace where we feel,
Where we become aware of the presence of God?
And then I start thinking,
What's for dinner?
I haven't spoken to that person in a long time,
But I really don't want to because I don't like them.
And they said this and this and this to me two years ago,
And I really don't like them.
And all of a sudden,
This beautiful sanctity of silence is filled with gale force,
Thought winds,
Thought winds,
And we find ourselves sinking.
Man of little faith,
Why did you doubt?
Let us this week not focus on our faith because our faith is useless.
It's not something internal.
But what if we start focusing on accepting the gift of faith from God,
The gift of faith that this isn't all there is,
That the things that I think separate me from other beings on this planet are just things that don't truly exist,
That we are all connected,
That we are all part of the one,
No matter what our religion is,
No matter where we live,
No matter what our skin color is,
No matter how much money we have,
What car we drive,
No matter anything,
No matter if we are alive or not,
We are all part of the one.
We are all connected.
And this is a fleeting moment in our journey with God called humanity.
And God gives us this gift of faith to know that there is more than this,
That I don't end here where my skin stops.
I extend and I connect,
Even if I don't necessarily understand it.
It is there.
Let's walk on water.
Let's know that this isn't all there is.
When we walk on water,
Let's be an example so that others can see that and we can give all,
Not just the ones we like,
But we can give all hope and compassion.
Amen.
