Faith When Life Gets Us Wet

Matthew 14: 24 – 32

            When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea, they were terrified. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter yelled out to him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come on, Peter!” And Peter jumped out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing and hearing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “Peter, you have such little faith, why did you doubt?”

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            I love Saint Peter. He was a man after my own heart. He was emotional, impulsive, and quick to panic. I can relate to that. Yet Peter was one of Jesus’ very best friends. Jesus trusted him so much that he left him in charge; and here we are, twenty centuries later, in Peter’s church.

            But in his impulsive exuberance in today’s Gospel, Peter was expecting Jesus to make magic; to make it possible for him to defy the laws of physics — God’s laws of physics — and walk on water.

            And when that didn’t happen he panicked and started to sink. Our Lord reached out his hand and pulled his friend to safety, “O, you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

            Life is a gift, but it’s not easy. There are times when things happen around us and to us that can make us panic and even call us to despair:  a diagnosis or recurrence of  cancer,  betrayal by a friend or a spouse, loss of livelihood, death of a loved one, news of a suicide — the list goes on and on. And when these things happen we get wet and, like Peter, we can start to sink. That’s when faith comes into play. Jesus never promised magic. He never promised Peter that he wouldn’t get wet; he never promised that life wouldn’t get us wet. He only promised that he would always be there to pull us safely home to God.

            The Jesuit theologian Father John McMurray wrote that those who have an immature, religious faith believe something like this, “Fear not, trust in God, and the things you are afraid of won’t happen to you.” But those who possess a mature, enduring faith believe much more deeply, “Fear not, trust in God, and the things you are afraid of may happen to you, but you’ll get through them with God.”

            Mature, enduring faith does not expect or wait for magic. It never gives up no matter how wet, how wounded life gets us. It trusts that no matter what happens, somehow, someway, somewhere, whether in this life or in the next, God will make us whole.

            The bad things that happen in life are locked in a moment in time. While we are alive we cannot see beyond that locked moment; but our immortal souls are timeless. And somewhere deep in our souls, beyond our fears, beyond our thoughts, our anxieties and grief, there is an intuitive knowledge that in the end God will make everything okay. If that weren’t true we wouldn’t be writing and reading this blog today.

            Let us pray that our faith will continue to mature and endure. And let us always know that Jesus is walking alongside us here in time, walking on the water, holding our hand, bringing us safely home.

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Readers of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on Amazon.com:

Just to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday Life

Synchronicity as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Ministry