[Readings:1 Kings 19:9-18, Romans 10:5-15]

Did you know the disciples were a lot like you and me? Yes. Sometimes they were grumpy and jealous and petty. They argued among themselves about who Jesus loved the best, and their faith failed them often. You may wonder why they could not believe in Jesus when he was right there, living with them. They saw him heal the sick and make the blind to see. But they were a lot like us. They were brought up to believe in things that were real and safe. When something they couldn’t explain happened, they were afraid. This is what happened.

 Matthew 14:22-33
It was a lovely sunny evening at the end of an exciting day. All the people who had gone to listen to Jesus had seen an amazing miracle! It had been a long day and everyone was hungry. So they were amazed when he had given them a picnic from just five small loaves and two fish. There were about 5,000 men, plus women and children, so this was a lot of food for a lot of people! But now it was time for everybody to go home, and Jesus wanted to be alone to pray. He sent everyone off, including his friends, saying to them, ‘You set sail across the lake, and I’ll see you later.’ That’s what they did. Off they went across the calm Lake Galilee.

 Jesus went up a hill to think and pray. He was up there a very long time. But the disciples hadn’t been long out from shore when Peter said, ‘Feels like there’s a wind starting to blow.’ And sure enough there was. Soon they were rowing against a strong wind. They kept going, on into the night. But the wind blew stronger and stronger; and the waves bounced the little boat up and down. The wind and waves got bigger and bigger, stronger and stronger, wetter and wetter. The disciples were very afraid, and utterly exhausted.

 Around about three o’clock in the morning, Peter screwed up his eyes and peered into the distance to see how far they were from land. Suddenly he spotted a sight that made his already exhausted legs turn to jelly. He had seen… a ghost! Now Jesus’ disciples, including Peter, were fishermen, men of the open lake. Such men shared stories on long dark nights of people drowning at sea and stories about ghosts that came out in winds and storms. And right now Peter was seeing a ghost! It couldn’t be anything but a ghost walking across the waves. All the disciples screamed, until a voice drifted across to them: ‘Don’t worry! It’s just me! Don’t be afraid!’

 ‘What?’ said Peter. He knew that voice. It sounded very much like Jesus. At that moment he forgot about the wind and waves. Frightened and excited he called out, ‘If it is you, Lord, tell me to walk out on the water to you!’ Peter knew that if it was a ghost, it wouldn’t reply.

 But there was an answer. ‘Come on then!’ Jesus called out. Peter, needing no more encouragement, jumped out of the boat as if he was jumping into a puddle, not into the waves on a deep lake with fish in it. If Jesus told him to do something, Peter trusted him. He found he was walking on water! It was crazy! With a big grin he walked boldly over to where Jesus was… but then he heard the strong wind, and saw the big waves, and he took his eyes off Jesus’ face and he started to sink. ‘How can I be walking on water?’ he thought. ‘Lord!’ he cried out. ‘Save me!’

 Straight away Jesus reached out and grabbed Peter’s hand before he sank. ‘What little faith you have! Why did you doubt?’ he said gently. Together, with Jesus holding on to Peter, they walked through the wind and waves to the boat.

 As soon as they got into the boat, the sea calmed down. The disciples looked at Jesus amazed. And they worshipped him. ‘Truly you are the Son of God!’ they murmured.

 What about us?
We too have situations as desperate, frightening and exhausting as that storm.
How do we cope with the “storms of life”? Let us think of some difficult times that may be ahead of us or in our past. To whom do we go? Whom can we trust? From where will we receive our strength and courage? How do other people cope? What have we learnt from our experiences?

Fear
In today’s reading, Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid!” The Bible tells us many times not to be afraid. In the NRSV, “Do not be afraid” appears 59 times; “Do not fear” 43 times. The angels say it to the shepherds on the day that Jesus is born. Jesus says it often. All of us know what fear is, and in truth there are things that should make us afraid. Fear will motivate me to take my boat back to harbour when the waves are so high that other boats disappear from view and the fog hides the nearby rocks. Fear can help keep us safe. However, there are times when fear is not our servant, but our master—times when we can’t name what frightens us, but we have a sense of dread. Matthew 14 has a prescription for paralyzing fear. We are to look to Jesus and trust that God is always with us. The storms, and there will be storms, will never sink us when we look beyond them to the God whose love provides a safe harbour.

Sometimes there is something stopping me from believing with all my heart. Sometimes I am distracted by the shiny television or the next new thing. I need to spend time with Jesus, to listen to the Bible and get rid of my fear. Why do we doubt? Because we are just like the disciples. And just as he said to them, Jesus says to us, “Don’t be afraid!”

Trust
‘Trust’ may seem a stronger word in English than ‘faith’, implying as it does practical and applied action rather than simply what is assented to in the mind. Certainly Elijah trusted God when he encountered Ahab and then the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (I Kings 18). This tested his trust in God. But the threat from Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, comes as the last straw to his strung out nervous system (I Kings 19). He flees, and runs into hiding. Like Job or Jeremiah, though things have got very bad and Elijah is at his wits’ end, he has not lost his ability to believe and trust in God, however small the mustard seed of his faith (Matthew 17:20).

In fact, in what is often referred to as ‘prevenient grace’, God takes the initiative. That is always the case, and it is humanity’s responsibility to respond to God’s approach. Elijah turns to God if only to complain that things have turned out so badly. But that is enough, as it proves to be for Job, Jeremiah and many psalm writers. It is the beginning of God’s saving action. God reveals himself to Elijah and restores his vision and hope. God still has great things for Elijah to do (I Kings 19:15-18). Like all of us, he is saved for a purpose – to serve God, not to enjoy his own comfort or ease.

The experience of Peter and the other disciples in Matthew 14:22-33 was similarly terrifying to that of Elijah. Being God’s servants is not for the faint-hearted (see Hebrews 12:28,29). To be out on the water at night was cause enough for basic courage but Jesus’ appearance terrified them (Matthew 14:26). Once again, however, an encounter with God led not to destruction but to salvation and growth. Peter at least was wonderfully eager to throw himself into Jesus’ care. His trust was amply rewarded as Jesus saved him from sinking. No one ever threw themselves into God’s care to be lost.

Check out this ad from AA Insurance, voted NZ’s most trusted insurer.
Trust. We take it seriously. Buying insurance is buying a promise that when the unexpected happens, your insurer will be there to help. It’s all about trust – that one all-important word that’s so hard to gain but easy to lose. That’s why at AA insurance our approach is simple – treat every customer as we’d like to be treated ourselves. And with over 100 years of AA heritage behind us, we’ve had plenty of practive. For us, trust comes down to three simple things – reliability, efficiency and treating our customers fairly when dealing with every claim.”

Sounds like a church’s manifesto! It is very biblical.
The promise – God will be there to help when needed; so will we.
Trust – hard to earn; easy to lose.
Treat others as we’d like to be treated. That’s what Jesus told us to do.
Case-by-case fairness. That’s God’s way of dealing with people.
Reliable so that you know what to expect from the company. God is reliable and we know what to expect from Him.

Jesus is God as a human being. Peter had been in the presence of God and had discovered that not only could he trust God but even when he did not trust God, God was still trustworthy and rescued him. Elijah had had a tough time but he discovered that he could trust God too. Thinking about Elijah’s story we can see that, like Elijah,
We may find it hard to trust God.
We may not want to listen to what God is telling us to do.
We may feel we are too weak to do what God says.
We may be afraid and cannot believe that God really will protect us and rescue us.

But it is only when we truly trust God (and that may be risky) that we discover how trustworthy God is.