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SAVING HANDS
Hands of Jesus, Part 4
March 2, 2008 – Fourth Sunday in Lent
Pastor Bob Sanders
Matthew 14:22-33
22Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” 28Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
We continue in our series on the Hands of Jesus. As we said last week, you can tell a lot about a person by noticing their hands. And that’s what we’re doing in this series: we’re getting to know Jesus by looking at his hands and what he does with them. We’ve seen his hands touch and heal a despised leper: willing hands. We’ve seen his hands holding his own and keeping them safe where none can snatch them away: strong hands. We’ve seen his hands placed gently and lovingly on a little child: blessing hands. This morning we see those hands reaching out to rescue a frightened, sinking friend: saving hands.
We have this well-known story from Matthew – Jesus walking on the water. It’s an important story because it’s found in three out of the four Gospels. It’s here in Matthew and it’s in Mark and also in John. It comes right after the feeding of the 5,000, which is found in all four Gospels. These stories are here because they are nature miracles. That is, they reveal our Lord’s authority and power over nature: no one could do these except God himself. But this story also reveals a great deal about our Lord’s character, and that’s what I want us to think about this morning. I want to try to answer one simple question: “What kind of Lord is this?” And being a preacher I’m going to give you four answers all from this story. “What kind of Lord is this Jesus?” Four answers, and the first one is this: he’s the Lord who keeps his eye on us.
The Lord Who Keeps His Eye on Us
Matthew tells us Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and head out to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, while he went up the mountain by himself to pray. If you’ve ever been to Israel, you know that the Sea of Galilee is situated like a bowl of water surrounded by steep hills. The gaps between those hills act just like the Columbia River Gorge and bring powerful blasts of wind. Sudden storms come up without warning and can quickly turn violent. And that’s what happened on this night. The disciples were caught in a storm so strong it was all they could do to keep the boat upright. Hour after hour the winds roared and the rain pounded and the waves crashed.
But up on one of those hillsides Jesus was watching.
As he prayed, Jesus never took his eyes off his disciples. He watched as they tried to get across the sea but could only get a short distance. He kept his eyes on them as they struggled against the wind and the waves. It was around 3:00 in the morning, and they were alone. They thought he was going to come to them, but he hadn’t. Not yet, anyway.
Sooner or later every one passes through a great storm. It may be a storm that batters your marriage and you can’t seem to make any progress through it. It may be a storm of some terrible disease in your body, or worse, in the body of someone you love. Or you may lose your job and feel like you’re too old to start over. Or your child gets into trouble – serious trouble. Lately all it takes is opening the morning paper or turning on the evening news to make us hunker down as the skies grow dark and the winds start blowing – the storms of war and suicide bombings and school shootings, of deepening recession and mounting job loss.
The thing about storms is that they always overwhelm us and leave us feeling alone and abandoned. The worst time is around 3:00 in the morning – everything seems so dark and hopeless. You’ve been there, haven’t you? Maybe not in a little boat out in a raging gale, but tossing and turning in your bed, battered by worries over your future or your family. And if you aren’t careful, you’ll start to believe you really are alone. The wind and the waves can make you think this trusting-in-Jesus stuff is all a lie. And you need to know what this story tells you about the character of Jesus. He’s the Lord who keeps his eye on you. You may not see him, but he sees you. He watches you. A couple weeks ago our choir sang that wonderful anthem from Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” – the one that comes from Psalm 121 and says, “He watching over Israel slumbers not nor sleeps.” As Ron Mehl, pastor of Beaverton Foursquare Church, used to say, “Our God works the night shift.”
He is the Lord who keeps his eye on you when you feel alone, when you run out of support and don’t know what to do next. He keeps his eye on you when the wind and the waves are at their worst. And the great advantage of being the Son of God is that he has no trouble seeing you, even in the dark, even at 3:00 in the morning. As John reminds us, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. And the name of that light is Jesus.
The Lord Who Comes to Us
He is the Lord who keeps his eye on us. That’s the first answer. Here’s the second: he is the Lord who comes to us. “Early in the morning,” says Matthew, “he came walking toward them on the sea.” He is the Lord who comes to us through the howling winds and across the stormy waves. Have you ever wondered how he did that – how he could walk on water? Lots of jokes about this, I know, but the fact is, it wasn’t all that hard. Not for him. You see, before he walked on the hills of Galilee, he made them. Before he walked on the waters of the Sea of Galilee, he made the water. John 1:8 says, “All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made.” Before they hung him to the cross and hammered nails through his hands and feet and rammed the crown of thorns on his head, he made the wood on which they crucified him. It was quite easy for the Son of God to walk on water because he made it. And he still walks on water. He still comes to us and does the impossible. He is still the Son of God, the One whom death could not contain, the One who is alive today and one day will come and take us home to himself. That’s the kind of Lord he is – the Lord who comes to us walking on the water.
He comes to us. That’s so important. We don’t work our way to him. Whatever Christianity is, it’s not a do-it-yourself religion. It’s not about doing all the right things and making your way towards God. It’s about this Lord who comes to us. Even in storms. Or maybe I should say, especially in the storms. As a number of us have discovered, our Lord does some of his best work in the storms of life, when we’re at wits end, alone and exhausted. He finds us. He doesn’t wait for us to find him. He is the Lord who comes to us walking on the water.
The disciples in the boat weren’t expecting him, weren’t looking for him. In fact, they were terrified when he showed up. They thought he was a ghost. “Take heart,” he says to them, “it is I; don’t be afraid.” If you go home this afternoon and open your Bible and read it through from cover to cover, and count how many times the Lord says, “Don’t be afraid,” you’ll discover that it’s 366 times – one for every day of the year and an extra one for leap years like 2008. I suspect each of us needs to hear Jesus say, at least once a day, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t lose heart. Trust me.” I know I do. I love the hymn we sang earlier – “How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in God’s excellent Word!” I especially love the second verse, where we hear the Lord say,
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed.
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
He is the Lord who comes to us, who finds us in the storm and says to us, “Fear not.”
The Lord Who Calls Us to Come
What kind of Lord is this Jesus? He’s the Lord who keeps his eye on us. And he’s the Lord who comes to us. And third, he’s the Lord who calls to come to him. Peter says, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” That’s important. Please notice Peter doesn’t just recklessly jump out of the boat. He takes some time and tries to discern whether this is a crazy impulse on his part or whether it’s something the Lord is calling him to do. Before you get out of the boat, before you do something for the Lord, especially something unusual, be sure Jesus thinks it’s a good idea. Get some people to pray with you about it and listen to what they think.
Peter said, “Lord, if it’s you command me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus said, “Come on.”
Can you see this in your imagination? Try to picture the violence of the storm. Imagine the size of the waves, the strength of the wind, the total darkness of the night. It would be tough enough to try to walk on water when the sea was calm, the sun was bright, the air was still. Imagine trying to do it when the waves are crashing, the wind is at gale force, and it’s three o’clock in the morning – and you’re terrified.
But that’s what Peter does. He puts one foot over the side, carefully gripping the edge of the boat. Then the other foot. He’s holding on with grim determination and white knuckles. Then he lets go! He abandons himself to the power of Jesus. And for the first time in history, an ordinary human being walks on water.
And for a while it’s as if only Peter and Jesus are there. Peter is beaming with delight. Jesus is waving his arm, “Come on, Peter!” And then the text says he “noticed the strong wind.” Peter takes his eyes off of Jesus and sees the next big wave headed for him. And it dawns on him, “What was I thinking? I can’t do this!” And he starts to sink.
I think Peter gets a pretty rough deal from most of us, certainly from most preachers. We talk about how Peter denied Jesus. And, yes, he did – three times. But the fact is Peter was the only one left that night to do any denying. The rest had scattered. Peter may have failed, but at least he was still around. And, yes, he took a few steps on the water until got distracted and started to sink. He failed. But at least he got out of the boat when Jesus called him. The rest stayed there.
“Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus says, “Come.” And in the words of John Ortberg, who wrote the quote on the cover of your bulletin, “If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat.” Out of the place of comfort and security. Out of the place of despair and hurt. Out of whatever it is you cling to. Your boat, says Ortberg, is whatever you are most afraid of losing. That’s what you have to step away from to answer Jesus’ call.
Maybe you’ve been in a lousy job for too long, and the time has come to step out of the security it offers to do something you are gifted at doing, something you were created to do. Maybe you’ve avoided taking responsibility for your own life because it’s more comfortable being a victim. If you’re ever going to start living you’re going to have to climb out of that boat of fear and blame. Maybe your faith has grown stale and boring. Maybe you’ve settled for a comfortable, conservative, convenient Christianity that sits tight in the boat.
Could it be Jesus is calling you to get out of your boat? To take a risky step of faith? To do something or give something or become something that’s outside your comfort zone?
Let me put it to you this way. Are you trying to do anything today that you simply cannot do apart from the power of God? Think about that. Is there something you’re trying to accomplish that cannot be done without God’s help? If you cannot identify anything in your life that requires God, then you really don’t need God. If that’s the case, you’re still in the boat and not moving towards Jesus, because he’s that kind of Lord – the kind who calls us to take risky steps and come to where he is, right in the middle of the storm.
The Lord Who Catches Us When We Fall
We’ve said Jesus is the kind of Lord who keeps his eye on us, who comes to us, who calls us come to him. And lastly, he’s the kind of Lord who catches us when we fall. It’s important to see that stepping out of the boat does not guarantee success. Getting out of the boat will get you closer to Jesus, but it doesn’t mean you won’t get wet. Peter got partway to Jesus, then noticed the wind and the waves. He took his eyes off Jesus, and felt the cold water start to swallow him.
“Lord, save me!” he cried. And verse 31 says, “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.” I’m so grateful for those words. Jesus didn’t turn away in disgust and let him go under. Or stand back with his arms crossed and offer advice on how to tread water. No, immediately, it says, Jesus extended his hand and caught him. And as he pulled him up, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” I don’t hear that as Jesus criticizing Peter. I hear that as Jesus wishing more for him. “I wish you could have stayed up a little longer. I wish you’d kept your eyes on me and trusted my power was greater than the wind and the waves.”
The saving hand of Jesus. Has it ever reached out to grab you? Have you ever been in a sinking situation, a place of danger or uncertainty, and had him take hold of you, snatch you from danger, pull you out of the drink? Maybe you’ve heard him calling you to get out of the boat, to do something risky, something beyond your power to pull off. You’ve taken a step or two of faith, you’ve begun to walk on water. But then fear hit you. You realized how hard this was going to be, how long this was going to take, and you got tired. Maybe you took some criticism and got some pushback and you grew discouraged. You heard the wind and saw the waves, and you took your eyes off Jesus. You began to sink.
“Lord, save me!” And then that strong, sure hand grabbing you, lifting you up. You were never in the danger you thought you were. Not when the Savior is nearer than the wind and waves. Not when that saving hand is there to catch you. If you decide to get out of the boat, to take the risk and answer his call, you can be sure that at some point you’ll fall. At some point, like Peter you’ll start sinking in the wind and the waves. But keep your eyes on the One who standing nearby, the One with the strong, outstretched, saving hand.
What kind of Lord is he? He’s the Lord who keeps his eye on you, even when you’re battered by the storm and it’s 3:00 in the morning. He’s the Lord who comes to you right through the wind and the waves. He’s the Lord who calls you to get out of the boat and come to him. And he’s the Lord who catches you when you fall.
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Lord Jesus, when the strong wind is raging against the little boat of our life, give us the vision to see You standing near, and to know Your saving hand is there for us, no matter what the danger. Give us the courage we need to get out of the boat and come to You. Amen.
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