This sermon was preached on Sunday 13th August 2023 at All Saints Church, Oakham.
You are never going to fall when you keep your eyes on Jesus.
I don’t know what is going on in your life at the moment. However, my guess is that you probably have something that you are wrestling with, something that is challenging, something that keeps trying to knock you down. Maybe you are like Elijah. You have been zealous for the Lord, faithful in everything you can do, but somehow you ended up running for your life, saying, ‘I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’[1] In this country, your life is probably not at stake, but it could be many significant parts of your life. You’re living for God, going to church, reading your Bible, praying every day, and trying to tell others about Jesus and share his love. Yet all that happens is you become ostracised from the people at work and all your friends think that you are a class A weirdo and no longer want to hang out with you. You hadn’t gone looking for this, but by being a Christian, you are drawn into the full array of life’s storms.
In our gospel reading, the disciples find themselves in the midst of a storm. Their boat was being battered by the waves as the fighting winds took them further and further away from the shore. As the morning came, Jesus came walking towards them on the lake. The disciples were terrified and cried out in fear, but Jesus responded, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’[2] I find this reassuring to me as a disciple of Jesus today. It puts me at ease to know that I am not the only disciple scared and terrified by what God is doing in my life. Even the very first disciples, who could clearly see that this is their Lord and friend, Jesus, were often scared.
It makes me feel less ridiculous when there is so much in life that can scare me. Paying the bills, buying a house, keeping in shape. What will people think of me? Do they want to be my friend? Will they hate what I say? Will they hate what I preach? (No comments, please)
But into our fear and terror, Jesus arrives and says, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’[3] It is not that these things stop happening or stop being scary, but when Jesus is present with us in our lives, there is no reason to be afraid. For Christianity is not about an absence of fear, but about a hope that is greater than fear. The presence of Christ is a hope that dispels the power of the inferior fear that consumes our lives.
Look at Peter walking on the water. Stepping out onto the water is dangerous and scary. Peter, as a fisherman, knew the dangers and the risks, and he knew that he could drown in this storm. But Peter’s hope in Jesus is greater than his fear of the storm and of a watery death. He calls out to Jesus and says, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’[4] Notice how Peter doesn’t step carelessly into danger of his own accord or in his own powers or abilities. He first turns to Jesus. Peter asks and waits to be invited by Jesus to come onto the water. He waits to hear the call from Jesus and then he responds. So, when he steps out onto the dangerous waters, he does so knowing that this is what Jesus has called him to do, trusting in the hope of Jesus to save him from danger and death.
How many of us do what Peter does here? How many of us seek Jesus first and ask for him to call us before we step out onto whatever the waters are in our life? How many of you pursue a career that is good in the eyes of the world, but you know it is not the job to which you have been called? From a personal point of view, I have seen so many Indian immigrant children follow a career as a doctor purely because they are pushed into it by their parents and society and not because they are called to it. So, when the storms of life surround them as a doctor, they find themselves battered by the waves; drowning as the waters are rising above them. So often we struggle or even fail in the storms of this life when we try to do things coming from our own desires, or the desires of other people. Even if these things are not bad in themselves, like being a doctor (which is a very good thing). But when we inquire of God and act in response to his call, then we will see God’s miraculous work in our lives as he calls out onto our waters. I meet so many people in ministry who cannot believe that they are doing it, nor do they want to be a vicar. I remember saying to a vicar friend of mine, ‘So, when did you know that you wanted to be a vicar?’ And they replied, ‘I still don’t want to be a vicar!’ But they did it because they were responding to God’s call, and when they responded to God’s call on their life, they found themselves doing incredible things for God that they never thought they could.
Look at Peter, he asks for Jesus’ call, and when Jesus calls him, he steps out onto the waters. And he steps out and walks on water. What a miracle! Jesus calls him to do something impossible and Peter miraculously does it, and Peter keeps doing it until he looks at the storms around him, he starts to fear, and he then starts sinking. What just happened here? Why does Peter start sinking? Because he took his eyes off Jesus. He took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the fearful storm, and in that moment, his fear had become greater than his hope in Jesus. Or if not greater, it had at least distracted him from following after Jesus. If you are following Jesus out onto the waters, then you need to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.
Walking on water can be a difficult example to relate to, but maybe take the everyday example of driving. Where do you look when you are driving? This isn’t a trick question. You look ahead at the road you are following – that’s how you drive. Yesterday, Cecily and I were driving past Leicester and we saw a huge, complete double rainbow that was the brightest rainbow I had ever seen. However, as this rainbow appeared, Cecily, who was driving, started looking more at the rainbow to the side of the road rather than looking at the road ahead. And can you guess what started to happen? Cecily started to wobble and veer a bit on the roads. Why? Because she wasn’t looking at the road ahead. You know that if you look off to the right side of the road, you are likely to start veering to the right, and vice versa with looking to the left. You drive smoothly and accurately when your eyes are fixed ahead on the road. And this same principle applies to when we journey through the storms with Jesus. If you are looking at Jesus, you will move closer to Jesus and follow him in the direction that will bring you through. However, if you are looking at the storms around you rather than at Jesus, then you start to veer towards the storms rather than the power of Jesus which upholds you on the waters.
This is what Peter did. He started looking at the storms and was veering away from Jesus and the power that miraculously stood him on the waters. And so, Peter started to sink. The problem here wasn’t that Peter saw the storm. Remember, Peter knew he was in a storm when he first stepped out onto the waters. The problem was that he lost sight of the Jesus who first called him out onto the waters in the storm. Similarly, following Jesus onto the waters doesn’t mean that we forget there is a storm around us or pretend like it isn’t happening. But we keep Jesus as our focus and leave the storm in our periphery. It was scary for Peter to step out onto the waters, and it is scary when we step out onto our waters, but we know that when we hope in Jesus and keep our eyes on him, the dangers of the storms fade away. We must have the courage, the hope and the faith in Christ not to doubt, not to see the risks, but see Jesus. That is what brings us through the storm onto the waters.
That is all very well, but what happens when like Peter, we look at the storm, lose sight of Jesus, and begin to sink? Well, look at what Peter did. He cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ and Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.[5] As soon as Peter called on him, Jesus came and saved him. This was the promise that Paul talks about in our Romans reading, that all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.[6] Peter called on the name of the Lord, and immediately Jesus comes and pulls him out of the water and saves him. When we find that we have lost sight of Jesus and begin to sink in the waves and the storms, we need only call on the Lord and we know that he will save us. This is what our faith in Jesus is all about. It’s not the absence of dangers or storms, but the presence of a Saviour in the storms. We call on Jesus and we are saved. We are saved so that we may see and respond to his call and eventually walk on the waters he calls us upon. This is grace. This is the rich life of faith, the joy of discipleship to Jesus. Jesus calls us out upon the waters, and we walk upon them with eyes fixed upon him, and if our sight may fail, Jesus will save us as we call upon his name.
It is easy for some to brand Peter as having little faith, but he had the faith and hope in Jesus in the first place to ask him to call him onto the waters, and he had the faith and hope to step out onto them. Yes, his faith wavers and he starts sinking, but at the end of all of it, it was only Peter who walked miraculously with Jesus on the water.
So as we turn to our lives and ask Jesus, how do we take Peter’s story and apply it to our lives? Ask yourself, are you asking Jesus for his call? When you are called onto the waters, are you stepping out? Are you keeping your eyes on Jesus instead of the storm? When you start to sink and fall, do you call on Jesus to be saved? For all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.[7]
For Christianity is not an absence of fear but a hope greater than fear. Christianity is not the absence of danger, but the presence of a Saviour. In Christ, we walk on water.
Amen.
[1] 1 Kings 19:10 [NRSV].
[2] Matthew 14:27 [NRSV].
[3] Matthew 14:27 [NRSV].
[4] Matthew 14:28 [NRSV].
[5] Matthew 14:30-31.
[6] Romans 10:13.
[7] Romans 10:13.
Shakeel Nurmahi 