Sermon: Walking on the Water, (Matthew 14:22-33), August 9th, 2020

Reflection: Walking on the Water

I like today’s story. We can relate to this story pretty well. Most of us, or even all of us, have had those moments. You are in water, and in a moment, you need to decide whether you would swim further (that means going deeper) or should return to the shore. We all know that water is enjoyable, and at the same time, has the potential to put us in danger. Whether we would sail or swim, or rather stay away from it, it should be our individual decision. It would be influenced by our personality, preference and past experience with being in water. Wisdom and experience will help us to make decisions for safety and purpose in the right moment.

In today’s story, being in water does not require just a decision, but ‘faith’. What is concerned in our story today is not swimming or sailing but a miracle – walking on the water!

First of all, it’s a wonder story to teach us to see a bigger picture, a visionary picture about what our faith should be like and why we need it and when. It is a miracle story, but a miracle is not to be repeated. Miracle is to evoke wonder and trust. Our story does not tell us to repeat the miracle but to pursue the deeper meaning, to understand it, in the reflection of our own personal life and social, religious and political context.

What is interesting to me is that the cultural difference-- how each culture perceives water-- also influences stories, and how we, after thousands of years, would read them.

I remember I was inspired and thought a lot about it when I encountered a Buddhist faith expression by a highly respected monk when I was in university. It goes, “Look, a mud buffalo walks into water.” In this expression, a buffalo is our ego. We live as if our ego, our ‘self’, is an independent entity which has a solid, unchanging boundary that would set us apart from the rest of the world This false sense of independence and separation creates an attitude such as greed and attachment. However, our ego, our self, in ultimate reality, is like a mud that would dissolve into water, when a water buffalo walks into it.

In Buddhist truth, the water (or what the water represents) and I are not separate; they are what have risen from each other and so would dissolve into the Emptiness (where there is no separation and such hard things as independent self.)

Now, in today’s story originating from the Hebrew culture, what Jesus shows is that he walks on the water! Jesus is not dissolving into the water, but walks to his friends, and encourages faith.

I would also like us to pay attention to the fact that in the story, Jesus does not order or initiate calling Peter to walk on the water like he has, and to come to him, but when Peter asks Jesus, “"Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.", Jesus responds to him, “come”.

I imagine Jesus’ voice being compassionate. In verse 30, “But when he [Peter] noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” Verse 31, “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’. It’s not the voice of scolding, but rather Jesus speaks in the tone of loving concern. Note that Jesus “immediately reached out” his hand and caught Peter.

Stories and metaphors are cultural artifacts. That means they are created in human minds, inspired by the holy, to deliver the divine truth or the Ultimate’s reality. Our Gospel story recalls images of Yahweh walking over the waters in the Psalms. Most of the nature miracles in Gospel stories have been shaped by Old/Hebrew Testament images. For example, the stilling of the storm is shaped by the affirmation in the Psalms that Yahweh rebuked and calmed the seas. Jonah is asleep in the boat in the midst of the storm, as if the Gospel writers all wanted to shout out to everyone that Jesus is the Holy One: Look, people! Jesus acts like Yahweh, because he is Yahweh. But sacred stories should be more than telling others what to believe. They are to change lives.

In the Hebrew culture, the waters and the great sea were deemed a threat. Their culture was not a great surf culture! Revelation offers a vision of paradise where the sea will be no more (21:1)! The sea is traditionally the source of deep and threatening powers, dragons. It is linked to the abyss, the sea. An Australian theologian commented that its equivalent in Australia could be the great inland, the feared desert. Israel’s epics also give colour to the picture: Crossing the sea, crossing the Jordan. These are moments of great transition, great liberation.

Today’s story affirms that Jesus is endowed with Yahweh’s power. And the creator’s heart as well. The power in Jesus stills the storm, calms the follower’s heart, encourages their faith, and ultimately has authority over the deep, destructive power that threaten the lives of the beloved.  When Jesus says to Peter, “You have little faith. Why did you doubt?”, he is encouraging Peter to remember that he shares the power in Jesus, through faith, (therefore, he shares the power with Jesus) whose power is compassion and healing. Jesus teaches Peter that those who share power with Jesus would not need to be afraid of the sea: the deep, destructive power of the world. We also learn from the story that we, as followers of Jesus, have a role to play, an awesome role: we are called to rise up with people, to support and assist the beloved, to access that creator’s power: calming the fear, stilling the storm of oppression, instilling the courage in people’s heart to resist and resurrect from the destructive power. That power that oppresses and threatens our lives. 

We may have different personalities, preferences, past experience, and different life circumstances with regard to the sea. With regard to deep water. With regard to power. And there are different kinds of power. Power that threatens and oppresses. Power that destruct. Also, power that lifts up the spirit and lives.  The power that comes from courage, compassion and faith in healing. Like water, power is positive and enjoyable, but when it’s abused, it can put us and/or others in danger. We hear the cry out from all over the world that demands and calls for justice. Justice is the state in which everyone has the access to positive power equally and diminishes the opposite kinds of power. Today’s Gospel story teaches us to see our world, ourselves and God’s people in a bigger and visionary picture: We have the power of compassion, healing, challenge and change, and we must reach our hands and catch others by heart in order to rise up and walk on the water together, above the harm and fear, to the point of freedom, safety and liberation for everyone. With Jesus. In faith.