ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET

Eleventh Sunday after Trinity 2005
Fr Allen Shin


The beheading of John the Baptist prompted Jesus to begin his earthly ministry. But before recounting what Jesus did, Matthew must first establish the identity of Jesus. In order to do that, he tells two miracle stories – the feeding of five thousand with two fish and five loaves which we heard last Sunday and today’s story of Jesus’ walking on water, in which the disciples finally declare Jesus to be the Son of God. Up to this point, Jesus has taught, performed healing miracles and given warnings about the kingdom of God at hand. But, He is more than a wise rabbi or a prophet or a wonder worker. Both miracles point to the glory of Jesus as the Son of God. He is the Messiah, the Saviour of the world and that is the central point of Matthew’s chapter 14. Jesus takes up where John the Baptist has left off, not just as a prophet but as the Messiah whom God has sent.

In the story when Peter saw Jesus walking on water, immediately he wants to try it too. We can identify with that impulse. I remember that as a child I used to be fascinated by this story and imagine all sorts of ways how Jesus walked on water. Perhaps he doused his feet with thick greasy oil which allowed him to stay afloat. Or maybe he learned to move his feet so fast that he didn’t sink. Or maybe Jesus had Chinese blood in him, because the only people I know who can walk on water are Chinese.

The fascination with walking on water has led some to name a surf camp in San Diego Walking on Water. Their purpose is to reach out to the global surfing community with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Where else but in California would they come up with something like that? Surfing and walking on water? I suppose for humans surfing is as close as it gets to walking on water. But, it doesn’t quite make it.

Then I learned that there are a creatures that actually walk on water. They are the water spiders. Scientists used to think that their legs secreted wax-like liquid which allowed them to float on water. But, a recent research has shown that these water spiders’ legs are covered with microscopic hairs which trap tiny air bubbles in between them, allowing the creatures to float. N0w this calls for a pair of incredibly hairy feet to be able to walk on water.

There comes a point in life when we stop focusing on walking on water and simply and humbly accept the fact that we cannot walk on water on our own. Yes, the whole point of today’s miracle story is the glory of Jesus Christ who is divine and has the power to perform miracles beyond human comprehension. But, the story has a deeper and grander purpose than to simply show Jesus’ superhuman power and capacity. The important point is what does his superhuman capacity have to do with us?

Jesus did not come down to earth just so he could demonstrate his power like Greek and Roman pagan gods. The whole point of the Gospel story is to show that Jesus the Son of God came down to earth to save the world. Yes, our salvation is at stake in this seemingly simple miracle story. And the story sets out a distinct pattern of the Christian understanding of salvation.

Jesus comes to the disciples who are trapped in a small boat in the middle of the sea. This is symbolic of how the early Christians must have often felt, surrounded by people and authorities hostile to them. Today we can at times identify with such feelings, confronted with increasing hostilities against the Christian religion.

The disciples are frightened and Jesus comforts them saying, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” They find comfort in Jesus their master. Then Peter has this impulse to both get nearer to Jesus and try walking on water himself. He asks Jesus to give him the command to walk toward him and Jesus does so. And Peter in fact does walk on water for a brief moment. Here too we can identify with Peter in this scene. How often do you ask God for things beyond your ability? Just do this once for me, God, and I will do all the good deeds that I am supposed to do. And sometimes our requests are answered like Peter in this story. We too find ourselves walking on water for a brief moment sometimes. But, like Peter it doesn’t take much to sink deep in the water. Fear, self-indulgence and pride get better of us as it did Peter.

We often use the phrase, ‘walking on water,’ as a metaphor for someone who is above the ordinary human ordeals, someone who seems to have the capacity to come out unscathed from difficult situations.

Recently I heard a story about Tony Blair and the pope. Mr Blair is one of those politicians of recent who seem to have the knack for escaping from difficult political traps and come out unscathed. The rumour spread and the pope heard that Mr Blair could walk on water. So, the pope decided to pay him a visit. He came to 10 Downing Street and said to Mr Blair, “Now as the holder of the Petrine chair, I thought I was the only one who could walk on water. But people tell me you can, too. Show me how you do it.” Mr Blair, of course, rose to the challenge and said, “In fact, I have to pay a visit to Jacques Chirac and set him straight on some European Union matters. So, let’s walk together across the English Channel.” So they arrive at Dover and go across the Channel to France. Well, the next thing you know, the headline in the French news media said, “The British Prime Minister does not know how to swim.” Perhaps he should have tried the Atlantic ocean.

Scared of the strong wind, Peter soon sinks into the water. And now here comes the critical moment, the crucial turning point of the story. Peter instinctively cries out, “Lord, save me.” And Jesus’ response is not that of a cold and aloof God, leaving him alone to fend for himself. After all it was his own fault that he sank into the water. But, Jesus reaches out his hand and pulls him out of the deep water and saves him.

In this short and simple story, the central paradigm of God’s salvation is already laid out as Jesus prepares to begin his ministry. God searches out his creatures. As Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, the Bible is not so much the story of Man in search of God as the story of God in search of Man. The story further shows the intimate relationship God yearns to have with his creatures. There is a sense intimacy in the conversations Jesus has with his disciples. Then as Jesus reaches out and pulls Peter out the deep water, we have a glimpse of a God whose image is not aloof and reluctant to save but a God who is swift and not afraid to dirty his hands, so to speak, to save his disciple. What unfolds from here on is the elaboration of this paradigm until the climactic point of the Crucifixion, which is the ultimate and full revelation of how God brings about our salvation.

Archbishop Michael Ramsey said, “The importance of the confession ‘Jesus is Lord’ is not only that Jesus is divine but that God is Christlike. God is Christlike and in him is no unChristlikeness at all.” When the disciples finally confess to Jesus, “You are the Son of God,” it is not just a witness to the divinity of Jesus Christ, but rather a radical testimony that God is fully revealed in Christ – in his Incarnation, Crucifixion and Resurrection.

“The word is near you,” Moses said to the Israelites in Deuteronomy. Jesus is always near us yearning to have an intimate relationship with us and constantly calling us to him. We do not need to walk on water to get nearer to him. All we need to do is to humbly cry out, “Lord, save me.” “Lord save me,” and reach out to hold on to his saving hand.