Scripture: Romans 12:9-21

 For a lot of people music is a big motivator when it comes to working out.  The type of music that people favor though depends on the workout.   While all lists are subjective, I found a list of workout songs for running on the website Marathon Handbook while Muscle and Fitness put out a list of the best weightlifting songs.  These lists were very different.  The running list tended to feature high energy songs with a fast beat count while the lifting songs tended to feature hard rock with guitar power riffs.  However, there was one song that appeared on both lists: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.  Even if you are not familiar with the song by name, you have heard it because this song was made popular by the Rocky movies, and it is the ultimate training montage song.  

 Training montages are a movie trope that was perfected in 80’s sports movies but have shown up in just about every genre of movie since then.   These sequences cut from training scene to training scene, always set to a catchy song of some sort.  At the beginning of the montage the people training are hopeless and unskilled, but by the end of a 2–3-minute song they have gone from zero to hero.  Training montages are effective storytelling in cinema, but they have the detriment of making improvement look easy.   A well-done training montage can make the viewer feel like I too could do this, but the reality is that learning a new skill, especially to an expert level, takes longer than one power ballad.

 The reality is that before we can get to the level that is shown at the end of a training montage, we first have to learn the nuts-and-bolts basics of the skill.  Often learning the fundamentals feels a long way from where we see ourselves being, but learning a new skill is not possible without first learning and struggling through the basics.  This is true of sports, it is true of artistic endeavors like playing musical instruments, and it is true of professional skills.  It is also true of our faith.   This morning’s scripture gives us the nuts and bolts fundamentals of how we live as a disciple of Christ. 

Sometimes what keeps us away from trying new skills is that it is intimidating to learn because there is so much to remember.   It can be intimidating because there are so many steps, so many things to keep straight, and so many individual aspects to the skill that we do not even know where to start.   I know this is how I felt with golf when I attempted that.  I just wanted the ball down the fairway, but there were so many instructions about how to stand, how to hold the club, how to swing, how to follow through, that I would be so focused on trying to remember all of this at once that I would often miss the ball all together.  This morning’s scripture has a bit of the same problem. 

It comes from the end of Romans where Paul has finished his big theological points, and he has moved on to more practical points about how to live daily life as Christians.   Paul gives a rabid fire list of directives in this short scripture, to the point it can be intimidating.  In this scripture he tells us that we should 1) be devoted to one another in love 2) honor one another 3) not lack in zeal but keep spiritual fervor serving the Lord  4) by joyful in hope 5) patient in affliction  6) faithful in prayer  7)  share and practice hospitality  8) Bless those who persecute 9) do not curse 10) Rejoice with those who rejoice 11) Mourn with those who mourn  12) Live in harmony  13) do not be proud  14) do not be conceited  15) do not repay evil for evil  16) live at peace with everyone  17)  do not take revenge and 18) overcome evil with good.  That is eighteen directives in just 11 verses!   There is so much that it can be hard to know where to start, and it can feel overwhelming.  

One of the skills that the best coaches and teachers have is that they are able to break down a more complex subject and then teach it in sections.   A similar approach can be taken to this scripture.  This list of directives can be broken down into three categories: 1) Our daily attitude 2) how we relate to each other  3) how we relate to others.  In each category there are multiple verses.  Again, to try and tackle all of them it can feel overwhelming but we can focus on a couple of points from each. 

               When it comes to how we should approach each day this scripture gives some practical advice.   Verse 11, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”  I do not know if you have ever had the opportunity to take part on a mission trip, but they are amazing experiences because they give hands on experience of living this scripture out.  From my experience, by day three of a mission trip most people have some aches and pains, and they are more tired than normal, but zeal is not lacking.  This is because everyone wakes up with purpose and intention to serve the Lord.  Knowing that the work of the day is making a difference, building God’s kingdom, and tangibly making the love of God known goes long way to keeping up one’s spiritual fervor and zeal.   Perhaps, we could keep that same approach to our daily lives.  Because every day is a gift from God and every day is an opportunity to serve the Lord and make a difference in the world.   How we are to do that is not as clear cut in daily lives as it is on a mission trip but everyday provides the opportunity.   Perhaps instead of approaching every day as another one to grind through, we could see the day as a new adventure to discover how we can encounter God in the ordinary. 

               Paul summarizes the viewpoint of how we should relate to each other as fellow followers of Christ in verse 10: “Be devoted to one another in love.  Honor one another above yourselves.”    Throughout this morning’s scripture he then gives three directives about how we do this.  The first is we share with those in need.  That sounds easy enough, but often we inadvertently trip each other up on actually doing this.  I have full confidence that all of you would be willing to put this scripture into practice.   If another member of this congregation came to you with a need, and you could meet it, then you absolutely would.   I am also fairly confident that most of us would much prefer to keep our needs to ourselves.   Often, we do not give our siblings in Christ the opportunity to practice this scripture, because we do not want to admit that we need help, we want to handle it ourselves.   This is why in this scripture Paul also tells us do not be proud and do not be conceited.  If our desire to be self sufficient and not rely on anyone else is born out of pride and conceit, then it is not a virtue. 

               By God’s design, it is in the Christian community of the church that we grow in God’s love because we practice loving one another with the very love of God.   We cannot practice if we do not give each other the opportunity.  Again, I truly believe that you all would be quick to help a brother or sister in Christ out in love, but this only happens if all of are willing to accept the help of each other.  

               Sometimes doing this can be easier than we think.  The second two directives related to how we do this are to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.   To do this, often all we have to do is show up.  I am reminded of a story that Mark Hall, the lead singer of Casting Crowns, tells about Steven.   Steven was a big, football player, in the small Alabama town where Mark Hall was working as a youth minister.   Steven’s father was killed in a tragic work accident.  Several of the teens in Mark’s youth group were friends with Steven and they wanted to help him, but they did not know what to do, they did not know what to say, they did not know what scriptures to quote.  Mark encouraged them just to be there with them.   In the book Lifestories he writes about what happened next, “As I pulled in [the funeral home parking lot], I noticed a truck parked to my right.  It was Steven’s. . . He sat slumped on his tailgate, looking down.  And there, all around him, were my guys.  They weren’t flipping through their Bibles.  They weren’t trying to explain away everything.  The more I watched them and the closer I got to them, I saw that they were simply sitting there with him.  Nobody was talking.  They were just there for him.”     
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               The way that we rejoice with another, mourn with another, and honor one another above ourselves is just to be present.   We do not have to have the answers, we do not have to fix anything.  Often the most powerful act of love that we can do is to be present for one another.   Much like developing a skill requires practice, being present requires taking the time to show up for one another.  We do not love by accident; it requires intentionality and an investment of time on our part.  It is only through that intentionally and investment that we can be devoted to one another in love. 
               The final category is how we relate to others.  Paul states how to do this in verse 18:  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”  Even in this verse Paul acknowledges that living at peace with everyone is easier said than done. This is in part because peace is only possible if all people are willing to pursue it, which is why Paul put the disclaimer as far as it depends on you.  But even with that caveat, it is still easier said than done.   This is because there are times when other people are just plain mean to us.  They are unkind, and they do us wrong.  There are times, if we are being honest with ourselves, we do not want to live at peace with everyone because we would rather start something and pick a fight.   It is for those times that Paul wrote this morning’s scripture where we are encouraged to bless those who persecute us, not repay evil for evil, and to overcome evil with good. 

 In the face of other people being terrible, the most powerful thing we can do is be good.  When others go low, we go high.   The way that we can witness to the goodness of God in the world is through how we respond to the evil of others.   The way we overcome evil is not by getting even, it is by loving care.  I remember seeing this illustrated from a non-Christian source years ago.   In 2017 Ohio Chapel United Methodist Church outside of Columbus, IN was severely vandalized.  On Sunday they could not use the building because it was taped off and still a crime scene under investigation, so they had their worship service outside.  Right as the service was getting ready to start a floral delivery truck drove up and dropped off flowers expressing sympathy.  This token of love was not from the church down the street or even another United Methodist church.  The flowers were sent by the Columbus Islamic Association.  In this particular case it was Muslims who actually took the most Christ like act.  They responded to an evil in their community with an act of goodness and loving care.  This token of love helped with the healing of a hurt and grieving congregation. 

This morning’s scripture gives us a lot of nuts and bolts fundamentals on how to live as a Christian.  The reality is even when we try to live it out, we will not always get it right.  There will still be times when our zeal wavers, when we fail to practice hospitality, or we prefer to hang on to the idea of getting even.   We will not get it right all the time, and there will be times when our honest attempts do not quite pan out.   But we should do it anyway.  English author and Christian apologist GK Chesterton once wrote, “If it is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.”   We will not get it perfect out of the gate, but if it is worth doing then we should still do it even if our best is not that great.  Because this is the only way we get better.  Practice makes progress, and living out our faith, living like Jesus is always worth doing.   So may we put our faith into practice, and may we practice our faith, as we strive to live a life of sincere love that overcomes all with good. 
 

Scripture:  Matthew 15:10-20

               June 6th, 1944, is a day that is forever cemented in history.  Even if history is not really your thing, there is a decent chance that the date at least sounds familiar because it was D-Day, the day of the allied invasion of Europe.   To this day, this remains the largest seaborne invasion in history.  The invasion utilized over 7,000 ships and put 156,000 allied soldiers on the beaches of France.   The D-Day invasion was a strategic and logistical achievement, but a lesser known and perhaps greater achievement was Operation Fortitude which made the landings possible.  Operation Fortitude was the massive undertaking that convinced German High Command that the invasion was not going to happen at Normandy.  This was done by creating fake armies.   The allies created a fake paper trail of non-existent divisions of soldiers, they sent out radio transmissions from bases that did not really exist, they attacked enemy radar stations nowhere near the actual invasion site, and they actually created fake landing craft which generals spent time touring and inspecting.  

               Operation Fortitude required mass coordination among multiple entities and absolute secrecy.  Amazingly it worked.   German high command communication indicates that on the eve of the invasion, they knew at attack was imminent, but they believed the main invasion was a diversion so that German forces did not end up concentrating in Normandy.   Operation Fortitude worked because it created the outward appearance of an army, when there was not anything actually behind it.  This morning’s scripture reveals that sometimes people attempt to do this with faith.   A lot of energy is put into creating the outward appearance of righteousness, but much like the fake armies created by Operation Fortitude there is a little real faith at the center.   We get the impression from this morning’s scripture that this type of performative religion that is all about outward appearances is something that Jesus has little patience for.   This morning’s scripture is a reminder that faith is not about our outward actions, it is about a changed heart at the center of our being. 

This morning’s scripture picks up in the middle of a story.  This morning, we kind of jumped to the really good part.   Jesus was traveling around the Sea of Galilee teaching in the various villages.   His reputation must have been spreading because Matthew 15:1 records that some Pharisees and teachers of the law had come up all the way from Jerusalem.   I think we have to read between the lines a little bit here to really capture what is going on.  We started at verse 10 which states Jesus addressed the crowd.  This implies that Jesus was surrounded by a crowd of people that he was teaching, and it is in this very public venue the Pharisees and teachers of the law interrupt to ask Jesus a question, which we find it 15:2, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?  They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

In our modern-day context with all that we know about germs that honestly comes across as a reasonable issue to address, but that is not quite what the Pharisees and teachers of the law were talking about.  The clue here is the phrase the “tradition of the elders”.   The Pharisees and the teachers of the law took following the law, the conduct for living found in the first five books of the bible, really seriously.  They took it so seriously that starting after the Jewish people returned from exile, they began meticulously creating extra rules around the rules found in the bible just to ensure that they would not be broken.  It is these extra rules that they refer to as the “tradition of the elders.”  The Old Testament law does some rules about food that can be unclean as well as other occurrences that can make someone ceremonially unclean.   It seems to be that this hand washing the Pharisees are trying to call the disciples out on, is some sort of ritualistic washing of the hands that was undertaken to ensure that someone did not accidently make themselves unclean because they had some sort of incidental contact with something ceremonially unclean throughout the day.  

So that is the issue that the Pharisees are addressing, they are upset that Jesus’ disciples are not following the tradition of the elders, the extra rules they made up for ensuring purity.  Remember, this is not a private conversation over coffee between Jesus and a couple of Pharisees.  There is a crowd.  This is a public argument.  The Pharisees were not asking the question in good faith.  They were asking the question to discredit Jesus.  They were trying to pull a quick “gotcha” to discredit Jesus by showing his disciples were not really that righteous.  In verses 3-9 of chapter 15, Jesus points out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees because they are being incredible literal on tradition while interpreting the actual scripture, the law they are supposedly protecting, in a far less strict way.  That culminates with the start of this morning’s scripture reading in verse 10, where Jesus addressed the crowd and specifically answers the Pharisees question with the profound wisdom “what goes in someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” 

In verse 12 the scripture seems to jump ahead a few hours, because now Jesus is alone with the disciples, and apparently the Pharisees left in a huff, upset at what Jesus had said.  I imagine what happens next, caused Jesus to make a big sigh.  Because he was in the place that just about every teacher has found themselves where they have taught something, and the teacher thought it was easy to understand.  The initial reaction of the students seems to imply they got it, but then one well-meaning student asks a question that makes it clear, that nope the lesson really did not connect. That is what Peter does here, by asking Jesus to explain the parable.  While Jesus is exasperated, he does anyway and makes the point he had hoped the disciples would get very explicit.  What makes someone unclean is not on the outside, it is on the inside.  It is not a person’s hands that need to be cleaned, it is a person’s heart.  In other words, it does not matter how it looks on the outside, it is what is in their center that matters. 

            When his disciples did not immediately get this, Jesus did ask them “are you still so dull?”  I have to wonder how many times over the centuries Jesus has shaken his head and had the same thoughts about his followers.  From generation to generation of Christians this is still a scripture that we get tripped up on.  We still get so drawn to the outside appearances of righteousness.  Just like the Pharisees of Jesus day, we like coming up with and emphasizing little rules about how followers of Jesus should dress or act.  We like to create molds of what a righteous person looks like and then expect everyone to fit that mold.   Just like the Pharisees these molds tend to emphasize outward, observable behavior and ignore what is really at the person’s center. 

We see this same pattern repeatedly today.   In 2022 journalist Brandon Flannery published the results of research he conducted as to why people have walked away from Christianity.   One of the very top reasons was the behavior of Christians.  These people who stepped away from Christianity because they observed outward behavior that did not match the harsher language and attitudes of the people they worshipped with. 

 One of the examples that the research pointed to was the online behavior of Christians. I know not all of you spend a lot of time online, but one of the cardinal rules of being on the internet is don’t read the comments because usually the comments are on a big news article, popular video, or viral post are generally hateful, toxic, and awful.  Unfortunately, people who identify as Christians make more than their fair share of toxic and hurtful comments.  It is often not a surprise to find the most offensive hateful comments have been left by someone who is quoting bible verses in their profile.    It seems that when given the anonymity that comes from being hidden behind a screen a lot of people who profess following Jesus let the evil thoughts of their heart come out in absolutely vitriolic and hurtful comments or posts.  In our modern era this bad behavior is pushing people away from Jesus. 

Unfortunately, this sort of behavior is not new.  We can go back several decades and find people making the same observation about a disconnect between the outward appearance of Christians compared to what seems to come out from within them.  Author and Hosier Sheldon Vanauken wrote about this in a letter to C.S. Lewis when Vanauken was contemplating with converting to Christianity.  Vanauken wrote: “the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians — when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.”

We can go back even further to find this has been a pattern repeated time and time again.  It is a pattern we see in our collective history.  John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement learned this firsthand.  Early in his adult life Wesley was committed to spiritual disciplines.  His daily practices of prayer, scripture reading, and fasting would be even the most pious of us to shame.  He had a lot to say at that time about the importance of these disciplines, but much like the Pharisees of Jesus day it was all about the outward focus.  It was about the actions that were done and not about internal motivation.   When John Wesley fully accepted his need for grace and the salvation that Jesus offered, he described it as his heart being strangely warmed.  His faith went from being focused on his outward actions to an internal transformation in the center of his being that was brought about by amazing grace. 

 A heart changed by grace is the most fundamental basis of our United Methodist expression.  It is our historic perspective that religion is not just about the actions we take to honor God, it is a religion of the heart.   Being a Christian is fundamentally being transformed from the inside out to being a more loving person.   This emphasis on a transformation in the center of our being is clearly evident in John Wesley’s 1742 pamphlet “The Character of a Methodist”.  He begins that work with: “A Methodist is one who loves the Lord his God with all his heart.”  Wesley continues on that “[a Methodist’s] heart is lifted up to God at all times in all places.”  And he also wrote, “[A Methodist] is pure in heart.  Love has purified his heart from envy, malice, wrath, and every unkind temper.”

A Methodist is one who’s heart has been changed by grace. We are to be a people who do not have evil thoughts coming from our heart, because our heart- the center of who we are- has been made clean by the love of God, the grace of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit.  As we consider how we live out the character of a Methodist in our modern world, let us reconsider those internet comments.   Chances are most of us here are not the ones making the rude or mean off-handed comments.   Chances are most of us are not saying anything at all.  We think being silent is being polite and nice, but we should do better than that.  We should be kind.  If the actions of some have Christians a bad rap for being unkind in their words and behavior, then may our words and behavior be the counterbalance.   May we be quick to comment in ways that build up and not tear down.  May our words convey grace, love, acceptance, empathy, and a desire to care for others.  We as a single church cannot change the perception of our entire culture, but we can ensure that when people interact with us they do not encounter more bad behavior from believers, but instead may they know we are Christians by our love. 

In this morning’s scripture Jesus reserves his harshest criticism for the religious leaders because faith is not about doing the right things, it is about having a changed heart in the center of our being.  May we all be less concerned with how righteous we appear on the outside and may we be obsessed with what is going on within us.   May we pursue making Jesus our center, may the beat of our heart, may the essence of our life to be as Christlike as possible.  May we constantly keep pursing Jesus, and may we seek to have the character that John Wesley believed is possible for us.  May we love God, in all times and places with all of our heart, and by the power of Christ may what we all have in the center of our being be a truly pure heart.  

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33

               Perhaps it is because we need water to live, but people as a whole love to be close to, on, or in the water.  Often one of the reasons why so many people look forward to summer is because it is a chance to get back on the river, visit the lake, jump into a pool, or lay on a beach next to the ocean.  Water is something most people seem to love, but it is also something we should be respectful of because water can be dangerous.  This is one of the reasons why we build boats after all.  Boats allow us to venture into deeper water safely, and several years ago I learned the value of staying in the boat.

 It was the final day of a youth mission trip.   We spent the week in the Appalachian region of Kentucky helping with roofing houses and building accessibility ramps. Before we left to come home though, the plan was to spend the morning and early afternoon white water rafting on a local river.  When we got to the rafting place, the owner/operator pulled me aside and explained the situation.   The stretch of river we were on normally had class 2 to 3 rapids.   However, the water was way up and the rapids were class 3s to one strong class 4.  For reference, the scale ends at six, and class four is considered advanced with a high risk if you fall into the water.  He asked me if we still wanted to proceed.   I had a group of teens and adventurous adults who had waited all week for this moment, so of course I said yes.   After we got through the first strong class three rapid with two boats flipped over, I began to wonder if this was a mistake.
  Then, about halfway through the trip, the raft I was in was navigating around a rock.   I went to paddle while a bump pushed the boat up.   I was expecting to meet the resistance of the water, instead the paddle hit nothing, and I was off the balance so that the next bump put me straight into the water.   Luckily, we had to wear helmets because mine had a newly made scratch in it as I was pushed over a rock.   Fortunately, the guide of the raft was very skilled, and he managed to pull the thing around and pull me out of the water very quickly.   I had a life vest on and there were plenty of people who knew what they were doing so I was never in huge danger.  Yet, that unexpected plunge gave me a new appreciation for the power and potential danger of water. 

  I tell this story because my experience in some small way helps me appreciate what Peter might have been experiencing in this morning’s scripture, because water can be scary.  This story is often taught to Peter’s detriment.  One of the common takeaways from this story that Peter only began to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus. The tendency is to focus on what Peter did wrong, and how he messed it up.  However, what we take away from this morning’s scripture should not be about what Peter did wrong, it should be about what he did right because he shows us that faith is one small step after another. 

I think this morning’s scripture is one where it benefits us to read it in a way where we try to really step into the story, and we try to understand things form the disciples’ point of view, because by the time Jesus comes strolling up walking on water, they had already had a bit of a whirlwind of a day.  The gospels of Mark, Matthew, and John all record these events but emphasize different details.  The morning started with Jesus telling the disciples that they needed to get away for a bit and they set off to a more isolated place around the lake, and as buzz about Jesus spread around the villages and towns that dotted the lakeshore, they discovered a crowd waiting for them.  This incident led to one of Jesus’ other well-known miracles, the feeding of the five thousand where five loaves and two fish manage to feed everyone.  At this point the sun was probably getting low in the sky, and the disciples had already had a long day. 

               However, their day was not done.  The gospel of John records that after Jesus performed the miracle of fishes and loaves the crowd got a little rowdy and wanted to make Jesus a king.   This morning’s scripture starts with “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead.”   In the Greek the word translated “made” has the connotation of “to compel”.  We get the sense that Jesus saw where this thing was going and so he wrapped it up before it got out of hand.   So the disciples were in the boat, out in the lake, crossing over to the other side but it was not going well.  The wind was against them, so they were putting in a lot of effort to go nowhere fast.   The scripture specifies that Jesus came walking on water during the “fourth watch” which would be between 3 am- and 6 am.

Even though the Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake, the attitude in that boat was probably a little salty. The disciples had been struggling in the boat with uncooperative weather for at least six hours and likely several more than that.   This was on top of an already long and somewhat emotional day.  The disciples would have been tired, they would have been cold, and they would have been wetter than they wanted to be.  It was likely a boat full of twelve grumpy men.   This is the scene when Jesus appeared walking on water and scared the disciples.   This is the mindset that Peter would have been in when Jesus said, “come.”

               Again, I do not think we give Peter enough credit here.  Remember, there were eleven other followers of Jesus in that boat, but only Peter took a step out of the boat.  He did that despite having a long day, despite being tired, and despite not being his best.  I imagine that the first step out of the boat was a hesitant, small step, but we have to acknowledge just how big of a step it was Peter. 

It is worth remembering Peter was a fisherman.  He had grown up on the lake.  He had seen his share of rough storm, and he may even have known someone who suffered a mishap on the water.  He would have known and appreciated the danger the water posed.  He would have known how much safer the boat was, but despite that he took one small step out into the water anyway, because Jesus had told him, “Come.” 

               Even though Peter was worn out and common sense was telling him to stay in the boat, he still attempted to step closer to Jesus, and I think there is a lesson there for us.   We may not find ourselves in a boat looking out at Jesus walking on water, but we will often find ourselves in a situation where we are tired, where we are grumpy, and where we would rather stay right where we are.  It is often in those times in our lives where, if we are listening, we can Jesus saying “come.”  Just like Peter, we can be invited by our Lord and Savior to take a step into the unknown, to be more like him, and to do the impossible.  However, unlike Peter we may not be as willing to take that one small step.  

               At the point Jesus showed up Peter and the rest of the disciples had been going through a rough few hours after an exhausting day.  In the same, we all have exhausting days.  Sometimes we have several of them in a row.  We can find ourselves worn out by the daily expectations and stresses of life.  We can find ourselves worn down by the seemingly endless supply of something else that needs to be done.  We can get to the point where we just feel so tired in the depths of our soul all the time.   During those times it becomes easy to ignore the voice of Jesus telling us to “come.” 

 We tend to tell ourselves that we will do the thing that is on our hearts, we will take the step in faith, we will be more serious about following Jesus, when things calm down.  Friends, I know most of you have lived enough life to know that is not how life works.   Yes, whatever our current struggle is might pass, whatever our current major worry is might be resolved, but that does not mean things are going to calm down.  It seems that something else, some other struggle, some other unexpected event, will come along.   Life can be beautiful and joyful, but it is also unpredictable and more chaotic than we want.   If we decide that we are going to wait until the seas are calm, the wind isn’t blowing, and there isn’t a cloud in the sky before we take a step out then we are never, ever getting out of the boat.  If we truly want to follow Jesus then at some point, we have to walk where Jesus is walking, we have to move with purpose when Jesus says come, and we have to get out of the boat-even if we are tired, even if we are grumpy, and even if the conditions are less than ideal.

This is what Peter does in this morning’s scripture, and he does the impossible.  He does what Jesus is doing, Peter walks on water.   At least to start.  He does eventually sink and we get a glimpse to why he sinks in verse 31: “Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.  ‘You of little faith, he said, ‘Why did you doubt?” My immediate question to this verse is what did peter doubt?   More than once I have asked this question in a youth group or in a young person Sunday school class, and inevitably the immediate response is “Jesus”.  That is not a surprise because often the takeaway of this story is Peter took his eyes of Jesus, and that is why he began to sink.  However, I am not convinced that Jesus is the right answer to the question what did Peter doubt.  Peter was not doubting Jesus.  As soon as he started to sink, he cries out Lord save me!    Peter had full confidence and faith in Jesus.    Who Peter doubted was himself.  The wind and the waves were a reminder that he was doing something that he never thought possible, and that led him to doubt that he was truly capable of what he was already doing.   Peter doubted that he could be like Jesus.  He doubted that he could do what Jesus was doing, that is why he began to sink. 

What sticks out to me is even though Peter doubted he could be like Jesus, Jesus did not.  Jesus told Peter to come because he knew that Peter could do it.   He knew that Peter could do what he was doing.  In the same way, Jesus knows we can do it too.  Whatever we are called to do, we can do.   So that passion to change the world, the way that you just know you could make a real difference, the step of faith that you have been holding yourself back from taking- why do you doubt?   Because our savior does not.   God does not call us to something as a test.   We do not take holy risks because it is sink or swim, because Jesus already knows that we can walk.   We can be like him, through Christ who strengthens us we can do all things, and through him we can transform this world.

Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, “faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the staircase.”   Living out our faith is taking one small step after another.   It is taking one small step, even when we are tired, even when we are busy, and even when we are not sure we can do it.   We might doubt that we can do what Jesus did and making a real difference, but our savior does not doubt us.  Jesus says come, so may we go.   May we get out of the boat.  May we get our feet wet, and make we take one small step, and then another, because in doing so is how we will make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.