Sermon 06/29/08 (Matthew 14:22-33)

“Baptized in Faith”
Matthew 14:22-33
Rev. Désirée H. Gold
St. Mark’s United Church of Christ, Baltimore, MD
Sunday, 29 June, 2008
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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 Two clergy who had been in the town many years decided to welcome a new colleague, Rev. Oscar, by taking him out fishing one morning. Out in the boat, Rev. George reeled out his line, which immediately caught on a log. Without batting an eyelash, George walked out across the water, unhooked his snagged line, and walked back across the water to the boat.
A few moments later, Rev. Andrea threw out her line, and it caught on an old boot just below the water. Immediately, she stood up, walked across the water, and unhooked her line.

Rev. Oscar tossed out a line, and it too got caught. He had been astonished by the faith of his colleagues, and decided to demonstrate his own faith as well. He got out of the boat and immediately sank in over his head.
As the Revs. Andrea and George hauled the sputtering Oscar into the boat, Andrea whispered to George, “Maybe we should have told him where the rocks are.”

...All joking aside, picture the scene of this morning’s gospel story: In the midst of a stormy sea, the disciples see a figure walking across the water toward them. “Is it a ghost?” they wonder in fear. No, it is their beloved Jesus -- and as far as we can tell from the story, he is not walking on rocks beneath the water but is walking on the surface of the water itself. He calls to Peter, and by faith Peter begins to walk toward him on the water...until his trust falters, and he sinks.

The story of Jesus and Peter walking upon the water is striking. We see, as his disciples would have, that Jesus is something truly special. Depending on how you look at it, the story either demonstrates that Jesus has great powers of his own, or it shows his own tremendous trust in God his Parent, to save him from the waves. As we would expect, the very human Peter does not have faith as strong as that of his teacher, Jesus. He starts out alright, walking across the water at Jesus’ beckoning. But when he sees what he perceives to be the danger of the water all around him, his heart sinks...and so does he. It is too difficult for even Jesus’ disciple to trust him when the seas become too stormy.

So it is with us. Most of us, I hope, are willing to admit that we are not Jesus and that we do not have faith so strong that it would exceed Peter’s. Even the strongest of faith -- even Christ’s first disciples -- have moments of faltering, moments of doubt. When the storms of life began to slam us, we begin to shrink in our fear, and we lose the ability to trust ourselves, our loved ones, and the Christ who lifts us up. These fears are legitimate. They are part of our human nature, and we know that things will not always turn out the way we want. Sometimes we will sink. Sometimes we will lose our loved ones, or our jobs, or our own health and well-being. Those of strongest faith still endure the storms and the hardships of life -- they still have tragedy, they still have pain, they still have fear. But notice what happens at the end of today’s gospel:

When we read this story, we tend to focus either on the miraculousness of Jesus walking on the water, or on Peter’s perceived lack of faith. But at the end of the story, what happens? Peter cries out to Jesus, and he is rescued from the horror of being alone and sinking in a stormy sea! As Biblical scholar Douglas Hare puts it, “In the depth of the crisis, when all seems lost, [he remembers] to call on the Savior and finds his grace sufficient for [his] needs.”1 Even after Peter’s moment of doubt, when he cries out Jesus reaches out to him and lifts him up.

Now, we know from our own experiences that we, too, sometimes lose faith, and even when we cry out for Christ to save us, our lives do not always become easy. We are not always saved from the storms themselves. But when we remember that Christ is present with us in the storm, we are saved from the worst aspect of our troubles: being alone. We might still suffer, we might still grieve, but we will not do so alone when we remember to call on Christ’s name in the midst of the crisis. We will be lifted up by one whose strength and presence is boundless.

I hope that you will allow me to use the example of one who is among us this morning. In a few moments, we will celebrate the baptism of the newest addition to our church family, Gabriela. At two months old, Gabriela has endured the trauma of birth, and she endures the daily “traumas” of hunger, discomfort, and the need to be held. As is the case with every healthy baby, her life essentially revolves around a daily routine of “eating, sleeping, and pooping.” She has not yet become aware of the dramas of life in the way that we “old folks” know them. She is, we imagine, blissfully unaware of the kinds of pains we endure. She lives in total trust of her mother and other family members, who comprise almost the entirety of her world. She has not, we imagine, learned to notice the storm -- unless it is her growling stomach or dirty diaper. She has not learned to doubt that her family will answer to her every need and will save her from whatever storms come her way.

But we know that she will learn these things. In time, like the rest of us, she will face stormy seas. She will face struggle. Even if, as we pray, she lives a good and healthy life, she will face times of difficulty and trouble. So, what good will faith do her? Why trust in God?

We welcome Gabriela into the church today and promise to raise her in faith, because it is our hope that when she faces those storms she will know that she is not alone. She will know that there is One to whom she can cry out, and who will be present with her in the midst of it all. We pray that she will never lose her ability to trust in the One in whose name we bless her today.

We hope that in the inevitable moments of her doubt, she will remember to cry out to God. And now, in our own trust, in our own cries to God, let us pray.


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1. Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew (Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching) (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993) 170.