Bible Passage: Matthew 14:22-33
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: August 13, 2023

Bulletin August 13, 2023

Due to technical difficulties, we were unable to record the service. The printed sermon is below.

He Reached Out to Save a Sinking Doubter

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,
Recently I was reading about a man who had spent the larger part of his life searching. He was searching for meaning. He was searching for contentment. He was searching for peace. He had read the “sacred writings” of many religions. And then he began to read the Bible. And this was his comment about the Bible. “I finally found a book that understands me!” That’s an interesting comment. He didn’t say that he understands the Bible, but that the Bible understands him.

I wonder if we don’t all get a sense of what he meant in today’s text. It is the story of Jesus walking on the water, and also Peter walking on, and then sinking into, the water. In this text the Holy Spirit has preserved a story that “understands” us. It understands that we are all people who encounter wind and wave in our lives. It understands that we are all people who are an odd and unpredictable mix of faith and doubt. It understands that we need to see Jesus do what he did on that night on the sea of Galilee. He Reached Out to Save a Sinking Doubter!

The miraculous feeding of the 5000 is now over. The disciples have cleaned up the scraps that were left over – twelve baskets full! Now Jesus wants to pray by himself. So he tells the disciples to get into the boat and sail back to the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. He goes up on a mountain to talk to his dear Father.

Down on the lake, the disciples are struggling. One of those wind storms has come up on the lake. The Sea of Galilee was well-known for these wind storms that could come up quickly and unpredictably. The winds are coming out of the west and the disciples are heading directly into the wind and the waves. We are told the boat is taking a pounding from the waves. But they were too far out in the lake to turn around. So they press on.

This goes on for hours. Somewhere between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. the disciples notice something strange. It looks like a figure out on the water coming toward them. It takes their breath away. They are terrified. It’s a ghost! They think it a spook, a phantom. But immediately, through the wind and the early dawn light they hear that familiar voice, that voice that always means everything is going to be okay. It is Jesus. Take heart! It is I! Do not be afraid. (v. 27)

Friends, in every gusty, wavey, scary time of life, if you listen, there is a voice that tells
you, Do not be afraid! There is a voice that means everything is going to be okay. It is the voice
of Jesus. It is heard in the Word of God.

Peter heard that voice. He perked up. The words made him bold. Even courageous! Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water. (v. 28) Jesus calls back, “I don’t have to prove myself to you!” No he doesn’t! In condescending love, he says one word, Come! Peter does!

He gets out of the boat and walks on water! And we want to cheer Peter on! “You’re doing it, Peter! Yes, you are doing it! You heard the words of Jesus, Don’t be afraid and Come, and you are walking upon them! You are trusting Jesus and his word and you are doing what is impossible – you are walking upon molecules of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen!” But all that changes in the next moment. Peter forgets the words of Jesus and he looks at the wind and waves around him. Reason and logic take over. This is scary. He doubts. Now the water beneath his feet is like…water! He sinks! He yells, Lord, save me! (v. 30)

Pause! If you didn’t know the rest of the story, how might you think it would go? Perhaps Jesus will let him thrash around a bit. Gulp a few mouthfuls of lake water. Then, before grabbing him, secure a promise from ol’ Peter, “Now Peter, you ever going to doubt me again?” Or maybe, Jesus just lets him go down and then looks at the others in the boat and says, “Now let that be a lesson to all of you what happens when you doubt me! Capiche?”

None of that. Jesus immediately…stretched out his hand, took hold of him. (v. 31) He reached out to save a sinking doubter! Of course he did! There is no other way. And of course, my friends, he still DOES. That is the story with each of us. Each one of us is the now-strong, now-weak Peter in our text. We have days of walking confidently on the promises of God, and days when we shamefully take our eyes and ears off of Jesus and his Word and we begin to sink. Martin Luther had a keen observation: “God will let us sink, but he won’t let us drown.”

Do you know the Lenten hymn “What Wondrous Love is This”? There is the verse that says, “When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down/ When I was sinking down, sinking down/ When I was sinking down, beneath God’s righteous frown/ Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul/ Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.” (CW 120:2) There on that lake that early morning, Christ without a crown, grabbed a sinking doubter and saved him. And on a Friday afternoon, the Christ without a crown, died on a cross, reaching out, grabbing, and saving sinking doubters like you and me. Our desperate, unworthy cry goes up, “Lord, save us!” A strong hand grabs tight. The water and Word of Baptism, the sound waves of the spoken absolution, the taste of the Lord’s Supper on our lips. These “grab” us! We are saved!

Those who were in the boat worshipped him. (v. 32) Peter is going to jump out a boat again to go to Jesus. It happens not long after Easter. Peter and a few others have spent the night fishing on this same lake. They caught nothing. As they near shore, someone calls from shore and tells them to put down their nets on the right side of the boat. They do. And just like that, 153 “keepers” are in their net! Peter perks up again. “It’s Jesus!” He grabs his robe and wraps it around himself. You might think if he was going to jump in the water he would take off his robe. But he puts it on; maybe he thought he was going to run to Jesus on the water! This forgiven, sinking doubter just had to rush to be with the risen Lord! So may it always be that we forgiven, sinking doubters are eager to love, trust, and worship our risen Jesus! Amen.