Trust in the Midst of the Storm

Matthew 14:22-33

We’re not told why he asks them to go across the sea just as it’s getting dark. 

But perhaps he knew that the only way that they would get peace and rest is away from the crowds.

But there they are.  In a boat in the middle of the sea.

and something happens which the disciples knew was a possibility, being, many of them, experienced fishermen,

something happens that they knew was a possibility but were crossing their fingers wouldn’t happen that night.

The winds came down from the hills.

This is something that happens in the sea of Galilee.

I read about this.

“Due to the height of the hills (1,200 to 1,500 feet) surrounding the below-sea-level lake, abrupt temperature shifts occur, causing sudden and violent storms, as the NT accounts indicate (Matt. 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25; Matt. 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52; John 6:16-21). The northern end of the lake has little protection and remains subject to strong winds.” (Harpercollins Bible Dictionary)

I emailed Jake Edson since he has been touring Israel this past week.

And I asked him if he saw one of these storms while he was at the sea of Galilee.

He said “Nope just clear blue skies, why?”

I said, "The text this week is Jesus walking on the storm tossed sea of Galilee thought it would be cool if you could write me a firsthand account if you had seen that.”

In reply he said, “Nope but I can tell you that according to my tour guide you can't swim there in the afternoon because winds come down off the mountain and blow so hard that they'll send you 3 miles across the lake before you can swim back. So there's an interesting little tidbit for you.”

And here are the disciples in their small fishing boat, crossing the lake at the northern end where the strong winds are worst.

And so after a long day they face a long night.

It seems to happen that way sometimes doesn’t it?

A long and exhausting day when you’ve felt like you needed rest the most, and the storm comes.

Not necessarily one of our New Hampshire thunderstorms.

But the spiritual storm.  The emotional storm.

The one that doesn’t let you sleep.

You could sleep if it was just the noise and light of thunder and lightning and hard rain.

But you can’t sleep when your heart is beating and your mind is racing because of fears of what might happen – or worries about something you did or something you said that someone might have misunderstood.

Worry about the future and regret about the past work together like winds and waves against the frail boat of our hearts and minds.

Human beings are universally beset by fear.

Fear drives us to do many things that are not good for us, not good for our neighbors.

Fear drives much of our politics these days.

Fear spreads like an infection in our communities even as it does in our own hearts and creates sickness of the mind and body.

We are familiar with the way that fear can cause us to close up and withdraw from our neighbors – and can make us divide the world into two camps – and we sort through all that we see and put all that we understand in the camp “us” and “safe” and put all that we don’t understand into the camp called “them” and “dangerous”.

Fear divides us against ourselves. 

And fear divides communities against themselves.

And fear keeps us up all night – rehearsing the “what if”s and “I hope not”s

The storm came and the exhausted disciples went into the night fighting against the storm.

But then the fourth watch came around. 

Our text translates this “Between three and six o’clock in the morning”

But this time of night is what sailors know as “the fourth watch” and that’s what the Greek says here.

The preacher Barbara Brown Taylor says that she asked a fisherman about the fourth watch and she said when he heard “fourth watch” “his eyes got big”

“that’s the watch just before dawn, when the funny stuff starts to happen,” He said.  “Everyone else is asleep and its just you out there surrounded by black water as far as you can see – especially if there’s no moon – and your eyes start to play tricks on you.  You stare at the waves long enough and you begin to think you see land, or worse.  You think you see rocks rising up in front of you, or phantom ships drifting with all their lights off, or sea monsters.’

‘Pretty soon the waves start sounding like people whispering, or like the breathing of some huge invisible being.  Then you start realizing just how alone you are, and how far from home, and how many ways there are for you to die.  But you can’t think about that too long or you’ll go crazy, so you make a peanut butter sandwich, or see how many hymns you can whistle, or polish the compass until the sun comes up.’” (Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life)

Well there were the disciples.  I can’t imagine if the storm was still going that too many of them were asleep. So on this particular night they were all doing all the watches.

And bleary eyed, the disciples see a shape coming to them across the waters.

And there are a couple of reasons why I don’t blame them for being terrified.

I have had the most irrational fears between 3 and 6 in the morning.  Waking up from a dream with a thousand thoughts racing.

But Jesus comes closer and in the midst of the wind and the waves of the storm.  And in the midst of the screams and the terror of the exhausted disciples he says this:

‘Courage!’ he said.  ‘It is I.  Don’t be afraid!’

or another way of translating it,

“Take heart”

Courage, take heart.  Don’t be overcome by the darkness and fear in your minds and hearts.

Don’t be afraid.

And it’s as if Peter had an instant excited realization.

And while the others were confused and looking at one another,

Peter speaks out saying, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

And Jesus says, “come.”

So Peter, not seeming to think twice, gets out of the boat, and starts walking on the water, coming toward Jesus.

Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Courage.”  And Peter responds.

Now I don’t think it’s right to say that Peter did not have fear.

Courage does not happen in the absence of fear.

Courageous things are not done in the absence of chaos or difficulty.

We will always be in the middle of challenging circumstances when God calls us to stand up and to come.

Courage does not ignore fear or difficulty.  Courage recognizes them, but finds greater strength in seeing the bigger picture.

In Jesus’s face, Peter was reminded of the bigger picture.

Peter was reminded that he was not alone in this life, that all the fears about what had happened or what might happen became much less powerful when he remembered who he was as a child of God, as a follower of Jesus.

Fear overwhelms when we forget that we live in the constant care of a good God who has called us child and friend.

Fear drives us to all kinds of bad choices because we work under the assumption that we need to find a way to control our world for things to happen as we want them to.

Fear causes us to forget that we are not alone and we are not left to ourselves to control the chaos in our midst.

We are beloved children in a universe created and held and guided by God’s loving hands.

Courage comes when we are given the grace to see beyond the winds and the waves and see God with us and God for us in the face of Jesus Christ.

Because what we really want in our heart of hearts is not for things to go smoothly and for no problems to ever beset us.

What we really want is to know that we are not alone in the struggles of life and to know the loving presence of God beside us and within us.

Peter did not forget the wind and waves.  He saw them and he feared them but he also saw beyond them to the grace and love of Jesus who called to him and he took courage.

But Peter like us was not able to sustain that trust and that bigger picture.

And in his peripheral he sees the crashing waves.  And he feels the intensity of the wind.

And distracted, he begins to feel alone and afraid once more.

And so he calls out, “save me.”

And Jesus holds out his hands and catches him.

Even in our courage we can falter.  We can fall.

The times when we see the big picture and step out of the boat and with joy and peace of heart walk strong in the midst difficulties will be followed by times of great discouragement.

We forget very easily who we are as children of God.

Like anything in life worth having, trust takes time and takes practice.

We have stories like this one in the gospels to remind us that Jesus will come to us in the midst of the storms of our lives.

And when we remember who we are as friends and as children of the God whose creation it is that brings the winds and the waves, we remember with Paul that there is nothing, “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

When you feel yourself overcome with fear whether it’s in the fourth watch of the night – just before dawn – or in the middle of the day.

Take a few moments to remember who you are as a child of God, as someone who is created and intimately known by the God of the universe.

And let go of the fears and the sense of being control,

Let go of the feeling like somehow if you struggle hard enough on your own or exhaust yourself you will finally be at peace or happy.

The antidote to fear is not work and striving and building up strong fortresses against others and against the world.

The antidote to fear is trust.

These are the two ways of experiencing the world.

Fear operates on the assumption that we’re on our own.

Trust remembers that God is with and for us.

and Jesus calls us to take courage and trust in God in the midst of the storm

and the one who calls us will always be there to catch us when we fall.

Amen.