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FAITH) IN = BETHANY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

MATTHEW 14:22-33 LAFAYETTE, INDIANA
OCTOBER 21, 1973 JOHN M. BUCHANAN
St rawre
TheTevents related in Matthew 14:22-33 are among the better known In the life of
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vesus.| Walking on the water beeewse=e=s the popular idiom for divinity and supernatural
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power. [\etneomeelas it is obras, usp! negatively; \for instance, when some saintly

soul needs to be brought down to size we may say, \wel after all, he doesn't walk on
vater."] Beond that, it pushes us to the very edge of credibitity.| Like the story of the
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woman whose twelve year hemorrhage stopped when she touched Jesus! robe, this story is

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one that a lot of peopie passionately wish were not in the Biblical record.

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It is well known, in addition, because a famous painting has been done_of Peter
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sinking in the waves and Jesus reaching out to save hin.\ 1+ s a strong symbol \ Most people
have known what it feels like to be sinking - to have the lled out - to have life
o be sinking fe) he rug pulle

coming in the form of powerful, twenty-foot breakers. | And, consequently, most people

have felt that desparation that motivated Peter to call out "Save me,cord."
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It's a popular story, but my Intuition tells me that we'd better deal with the events
themselves before we try to retoct:|tnet we'd better look_at the whole miracle question
before we try to discover God's word in the text\ Because, unfortunately, for many people

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any rationale reflection on the meaning of the miracle stories begins and ends with the

question: |"4i¢ it really happen that way2"\or, \"bi¢ it happen at all?!

| continue to discover that children are, philosophically, the most honest people

sround. [The theologian in my family - the one who always wants to know "how God got born",

bas ]
put me up against the wall last Monday night | was tucking him in and we were talking

a little, and he said, out of the blue,\ "Daddy, | don't know about some_of the stories |

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hear."| | asked him waht he meant because all we had been discussing was the football game

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on television.| Well, he allowed as how these stories about Jesus bothered nin perticulerty

he was concerned with the parting of the Red Sea and the children of Israel walking through
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on dry land. The clincher - the theological juggerneut was - in his words:|"I never saw

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any stuff like that."\

That was Monday night. | On Tuesday morning | discovered that there was authoritative
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philosophic precedent for my little friend's experience. \ A long time ago the German
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philosopher Lessing put it in these words :| "Miracles that | see with my own eyes and have

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FAITH (N CRISIS -2-
an opportunity te fest personally are one thing:\nirecleg that | only know through history,

that others claim te have seen and tested, are quite another...) Reports of miracies are
resides, ene ee biel

"| Ve. We Never aay : Ma up
still far from being miractes." or a shutf Wee + e¥
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eich he i j 2 oot] t 2 BO . . oP anh a ot
Let's begin with the disciples and léok carefully at wha happened | They were n
naive, gullible ven. \ They didn't know as much about the world: and natural laws of cause and
effect as we do, but they knew encugh te cenclude that men don't ordinarily walk on water.

—_— eerie ey

And so they reacted in the same way we would under the conditions: \thoy were frightened -

They thought they were seeing an apparition - a ghost: \they didn't even recognize who it
was.

On the basis of just that much we have to conclude that something awesomely signigicant
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happened to them out on that joke something important enough. that they came back and
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talked about it2[ important enough so that the early Christian Church remembered it and

wrote it into the record some 25 or 30 years after the fact.

Let's grant that much, and then let's grant that ordinarily at this point we're

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asking the wrong questions: \ sor tne issue is no longer [wha at happened exoctly?' but [wher
with askiny aloo dl Wohad appear b
does it mean?" | The trouble is that itis extremely difficult to describe some things \ Boab
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Newhert does an excellent and very funn bey piece That iNustrates the point. | He is an
executive with a manufacturerof games and one day receives a telephone call from a man by
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The name of Abner poubleday.\ {t+ seems that Mr. Doubleday has created a game involving
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nine men, a bat, a little white ball, four bases, three strikes, four balls, three outs.

And the way Newhart strings It out It's apparent that an academic description of basebal |
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is ridiculous apart from the experience of baseball.
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Or more immediately, consider the recent abundance of U.F.O citings.\ the people who
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have seen them are quite certain of the experience \ | remain ‘totally skeptical | |
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havent had the experience: \i+ is not true for me.
See, <a
Jesus, himself, played duwn the significance of the miracles, almost as if he antici-

pated the trouble they would cause lator. \ He criticized people for wanting a sign’ he
refused to jump off the temple in order to prove a point one time.\ And most significant
Cn el i enh al
of all jhe consistantly ordered people not to tell what had happened when they experienced
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the miraculous.| Obviousiy, he didn't want people following him because he was a miracte
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PAITH IN CRISIS a3
worker. | or, we may conclude, does he want our faith to depend on tre miraculous.
paneer <=“ . SCE

Se maemmanaiiaem

Rightly understood, a miracle is any event that convinces us of the power and presence
of cod. || would offer that as a new definition of miracie : "any event that convinces us
=_— A, italian -
of the power and presence of soa." |
The right question to ask then, when we're looking at this story is notj"what

happened:" but, what experience of faith is being described here? \ro what ts the New

Testament writer testifyina?™\ And when we begin to run on that track several possibilities
ew in this text that address the Iimmedlacy and intimacy of our

suddenly are o on.\ | find three; lives. \ One_- in the real life and death crisis dupes

Jesus was absent. \ Two - when he showed up, no one recognized him - but he came anyway.

—

Three ~ Peter's haif-nearted, unstable falth was enough. \ Jesus rescued pim.\ Let's examine
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them,

The disciples in the boat in the middle of a raging storm weren't having a prayer

neoting.\ Rather they were engaged in a rather routine task when a crisis was thrown at

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them. \ They had started across the Iske ~ a journey of about 5 mites and at 3:00 A.M. a
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sudden wind squai | hit.\ And in meeting the crisis they weren't thinking about God or

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Jesus or faith:\there were too busy, frantically doing what neéded to be_done to stay

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afloat.

I've never been in that particular set of circumstances, but | have lived through
some crisis situations that demanded action immediately, and so have you But then after-

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ward, sumetimes, we ask("Where was my faith?") Somewhere along the line we've heard that
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Seemed

when the chios are really down a man ought to be able tT rely on his deepest re! Igious
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convictions, \ Sut for most of us that only happens fn books \ We sense that we've met our

crises as they came, without prayer, meditation, or any awareness of God at all.jAnd that

is exactly the picture of the disciples that | se in this text;\men in crisis, doing the

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best they could to resolve it - and that's all.

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That's a corfort to me, because honest people acknowledge that most of life is lived
a Lei tiene es

apart from any awareness of cod. \ what bothers me is That wo spend $6 much 1 Une being

eprint

concerned about i+2{ and that people stay away from church because they don't feel religious

24 hours a day - even though the Bible doesn't have it that way at all.
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This story begins realistically - where we are - and undergirds our experience by

FAITH IN CRISIS ~4- : 3

saying there's nothing wrong with you if you are not aware of God - or turned on by Jesus -
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every waking oment \ But then it pofnts to the miracle.\ In a time of real crisis God is

there. | You may nor know it:| you may not recognize him:\ but count on it.\ Het]! be there.
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That was the experience of the disciples that they brought tac k and talked about \ They

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were frightened by what pappened:| they diun't recognize him — but he came and shared the
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expertence with then.

Did you ever consider the possibility that you may be looking for God in the wrong

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places? | Like in Church - or reading the Bible white the Biblical witness is that he
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comes to mén af unexpectsc<] Times and in ways that are not always obvious.
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In an excellent book, ‘To Eelleve Again" Helmut Thielicke writes:
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[rere is offen conspicuous by its si:sonce.\ How few moments there are when | can

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consciously recognize that | am performing an act of faith, when | can establish completely

clearly and unambiguously AtNew | believe.) Furthermore, faith is unstable. | Sometimes

on a quiet evening, perhaps after hearing Bach's St. Matthew Passion, | am filled with

faith..\ But the next morning it takes only one fow blow... to snuff out that feeling

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again." (P.70)}

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We've experienced tnot-| Our faith is like a yorys|up and down \ It can appear and

disappear several times [n the course of a day \ I"ve come down here on Sunday morning
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with @ thousand things on my ming, irritated, impatient, wishing for all the world that |
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was still in bed.\And in the course of an hour been so moved by our experience that }

couldn't begin te describe it-\ ang, of course, the reverse has happened.

Jesus did tell his disciples, on occasion, when he would come to them and where they
could expect fo find him. \ ln one memorable story he said he'd be In the sick man, the

naked, hungry, Blind man, the man in prison. \And when you think about that for & moment

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you realize that we are so offended - that cur middle class, antiseptic sensitivities are
so repulsed by these types - Tees - that we go out of our way to avoid thom. | They are

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the fast people jn whom we expect to confront our Lord.
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So l'm never tco surprised when people come to church Icoking for God and tall to
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Tind him. \ For what the Bible teaches is that he will come to us in ways wo least expect.
Worship becomes that celebration of Ged finding us - in the incarnation - in Jesus Christ

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PAITH IN CRISIS ws an

and his constant coming to us out cf The everyday people and ev ents of our lives.

Have you ever experienced a miracle ?/An event that convinced you of the power and
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presence of God? [! would suggest that you have - but that you haven't even called it by
name, |i: a major theological work dealing with the significance of the death of God
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movement and the secularism of our age, Langdon Gilkey maintains that al] men_experience
at acnsacrntrrritinll

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some sense of ultimacy ~ or God - at the extremes of human Hise. \ so, when | think of
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miracles - that Is, experiences that have broken through to me with a new awareness of God,

| think Inevitabt f birth 1 de tnilor the birth of m hitd un | f life endi g + the
in nev I yo and dea e birth, my chitdre o e ending a

side of a sick bos. \ Ang alftheugh | realize that | cannot make my experience yours, | have

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known - with all the certainty in me ~- the presence and power and love of God | Nothing

about those experiences had fo do with my faith - m education - my profession - my commit=
y faith ~ my educat y professi

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mant. | My faith at the moment was on the sheit.| rather the experiences were given to me.

H are F os [ide ] a Moog a: 1 ‘ i an
And only year's fer am | abl e to identity them for what They “wer \miracles \eo coming
God breaking through in the middle of a crisis.

freien. Cin |

So - the men jn the boat, and Christ coming to then. | And Peter, alone decides to

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take a chance |r get out and walk on the water.\ And Peter alone - because he took the

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chance - almost arowned. \ And Peter ~ alone - experienced the saving power of Jesus Christ.
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Talk about mixed notives\\ Talk about doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, or

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the wrong thing for the right reasons. \Petor did it again:\so enthralled with the exper=

jence he couldn't teave well enough aione:| maybe he was overcome with raitn\neybg he was

on an ego tri \ in any case he got out of the boat.) And as amb i uous as it seems. we have
go Pp y g g :

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to conctude that Jesus had something !ike that in mind:\that Jesus preterred the impulsive

eniemniniimninbhabmnemmmaindadaas tl
faith that was willing to take a chance rather than the reflective, introspective faith that

examined alli the alternatives, measured the risk,\and concluded that it was safer to stay

trai.

seated.

Back in the sixties, when ministers were packing their bags and going south to parti-
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cipate in Civil Rights demonstrations there was a lot of talk. about risk and motivation,

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There were a lot of suggstions about martyrdom and the good feeling that accompanies

suffering a bit for one's convictions. \ And se they went - took the risk - got beat up

rn aateeammammialll l inhiiehiemeen'’ icroicnin

and spat on - and unceremoniously slapped in jai!.\ And then they came back and talked
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FAITH IN CRISIS -6-

about God coming - about the miracle of love and brotherhood and communion happening in

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their stinking cells.fAnd that, | believe, wil} be the lasting effect of their experience:

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not that they changed history - becauss They aiant+.\ But that for once In the life of the

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American Church - some people got out 2 ot the boat and walked on the water, albeit briefly -
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and when they sank, they experienced the miracle of God's power-and presence.
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In any case, at the decisive moment Peter's faith fled \ He had bravely stepped out
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onte the water - In rather clear symbclism ~ took his cyes off Jasus ~ and promptly
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sank. \And if There is enc lessen to be learned about falth In this passage It is here:

not that you'll sink if you don't kee, looking at jesus. \ Byt thet even when you_ stop

—

looking: feven when your faith makes 2 hasty exit ~ God does not. leave you.
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—

Again Theilicke says it puautitul ty) “Our feith's grip on the father may joosen.\But

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he in whom we believe holds us fast in his crasp. | the decisive. events between God and

me do not happen In my psyche, my consciousness, at alt:\they yvecur in the heart of my
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tora. | Hore (and only here) there is constancy and faithfulness... even though my fever

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chart fluctuates between faith and little faith, between trust and gout. AtP.70)

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\ God saves us {vs dant t
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That is the Gosoel of Jesus Christ. \Trat is the Good News
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and can't save vurselves.\ God loves us ~ evan when we don?t love him. Ged believes In
| an! el rennet
us ~ even when we're totally sracecupicd with the crises of life.

“
Even in the valley of the shadow of death f will fear no evil \for thou art with

ne. \i4 | take the wings of the morning ana dwe!! in the uttermost parts of the sea, even
“ os
there thy hand shall {ead me, and thy right hand shi! held me."

This story was a favorite of the early church during the years of_parsecution \So_ tp

us ~ it speaks of a Goa whose love for us is constant 2 God who will come to_us in crisis —
a FT rr ——a ee

despair, anxiety, sickness, jeath - whatever You can expect it \you can count on it.
—— i a —_ eed ns

‘ddl libel,

Perhaps when all is iz anu done, a hymn says it best. \ Out of a Life time of misery
el ——saent . —

and sickness George Mathoson wrote:

"QO Joy that seekest me through pata,
ft cannot ciese my teart To thee,
| qrace the rainbow Threugh the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain that
Morn shail tearless be" AMEN
Father, we are grateful That your love for us does not depend on our faith. We are grateful
that in the crises of our lives we can depend on your presence. We are grateful that in
Jesus Christ youhave found us. AMEN