MESSAGE – IS IT TESTING GOD OR TEMPTING FATE – August 9, 2020
Last week, I talked about the compassion Jesus had toward the poor and downtrodden of his day.
When people were sick, he didn’t interrogate them about whether their woes might be caused by having sex with demons in their sleep.
He healed them.
When they were hungry, He didn’t berate them for their lack of planning in not bringing enough food with them.
He fed them.
This is a consistent theme throughout scripture.
At the head of today’s order of service I have printed a few words from Psalm 74:
Forget not the life of your poor ones forever.
Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
Let the poor and needy praise your name.
But one of the interesting things, not just about last weeks story of feeding the multitude, but in so many other places in the Gospels, is that Jesus enlists our help.
He sends his disciples out to proclaim the Gospel of God’s love, to feed, to heal, to encourage and forgive, and to be living examples of that Gospel.
How we might best do that changes over time.
Related to today’s Gospel, I remember hearing a story long ago, about a church that in a closely contested decision decided to call its first woman pastor.
As the new minister settled into the parish, she decided to do her best to win over some of those who had been most opposed.
So she went fishing with a couple of the good old boys.
And just as they arrived at the first spot where they were planning to drop a line, one of them said, “Darn, I left my tackle box on the dock. We’re going to have to turn around and get it.”
The new minister, seeing an opportunity to make a good impression, said, “Don’t worry, I’ll go get it.”
She stepped out of the boat, walked across the water back to the dock, and as she was returning to the boat, the guy whose tackle box she was carrying said, “Well, I guess she’s going to work out after all.”
But his curmudgeonly pal grumbled, “I told ya we shouldn’t have hired a woman. She doesn’t even know how to swim!”
Change is hard. I get it.
I’m an old guy who doesn’t much like new ways of doing things, much less new ways of seeing the world. And yet in that reluctance, I wonder how much of the childlike joy and wonder of life, I miss. To say nothing of becoming less and less effective in accomplishing what God asks of me.
Let us take today’s reading as a parable for our times.
The boat in which the disciples have set out, from that very place where they helped Jesus feed the multitude in last week’s story, is struggling against the wind, battered by high waves, and going nowhere very fast.
And suddenly they think they see a ghost.
It’s Jesus walking across the water to join them.
And he says to them, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
And Peter says, “Well, if it’s you, prove it. Command me to walk across the water and join you.”
So Jesus says, “Come,” and Peter hops over the side, and all goes well, at first. But then he starts to pay attention to the wind and the waves and not to Jesus, and he begins to sink.
How often do we do that?
We start something we truly believe that God is calling us to do, but then, when it gets a little difficult and scary, we throw in the towel and give it up?
Or worse yet, are scared off before we even begin?
I think we need to be more inclined to ask “Is this the right thing to do?” rather than, “Can I afford it? Do I have time for it? Am I smart enough to pull it off?”
Now, I am not advocating that you leap before you look. It’s OK to start with baby steps.
By this time the disciples had been following Jesus around for long enough to know him. Here we are in chapter 14; he had called Peter and Andrew to abandon their nets and to follow him and learn to fish for people way back in the middle of chapter 4. And the others came along soon after.
They’ve heard him teach and preach, they’ve seen him heal and do miracles, handle opposition, and deal with the crowds. He’s even sent them on a practice mission.
They’ve just watched and been a part of feeding a multitude of hungry folks in the middle of nowhere.
Is it any wonder, that Jesus says sadly to Peter sinking beneath the waves, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
But notice also, that as he says this, Jesus is already taking him by the arm and lifting him up.
There is a famous missionary from an earlier time, Hudson Taylor, who labored in China for 51 years, who out of his zeal to help those in need, studied medicine and became a doctor in order to bring healing and the message of God’s love to people in dire need, who, despite all the faults of European colonialism in his day is still remembered as doing far more good than harm.
In that sense he kind of reminds me of a family friend from my childhood, also a medical missionary, who upon his retirement was honored by the government of Oman and given a house to live in for as long as he needed it.
Among other things, he was beloved because as the Omanis told him, “You worked selflessly among us, building hospitals and bringing healing. You were here before there was oil, before anybody in the outside world cared.”
We don’t all have to make that kind of difference. We may not be in a position to do big things.
But God’s love calls us all to do something.
And in the doing of it, whatever it is we are called to, large or small, I am convinced that Hudson Taylor’s most quoted words still apply:
God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack for God’s supply.
And so do the words of Jesus to Peter, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
I may not know what the future holds, But I know who holds the future.
In the name of God,
our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.
Amen.
Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash