Word to the Wise
Monday, August 3, 2020 - Monday in the 18th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jer 28:1-17 and Matt 14:22-36]When the disciples saw [Jesus] walking on the sea they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter said to him in reply, "Lord, if it is you, commend me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." Peter got out of the board and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and beginning to sink he cried out, "LOrd, save me!" Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt:" [Matthew]
Which is the better course: to stay in a sinking boat with all our fears or to get out of the boat at Jesus' command and walk on the water toward him? It was only when Peter allowed fear to overcome him that he began to sink. When our fear is stronger than our faith, we will be in trouble and truly have to call on Christ to take us by the hand.
It takes a lot of courage to do what Peter did, but one might ask if Peter was bluffing! If so, his bluff was called and honor required him to make the effort to walk on the storm-tossed sea! Others might say Peter was faced with what is called a "Hobson's choice" - a forced choice between two or more difficult alternatives. However, in the Gospel According to Matthew, the "difficult" alternative, presented in the Sermon on the Mount, leads to life. Staying in the boat with comfortable beliefs in ghosts leads to death.
Some traditional interpretations see the church as the storm-tossed boat and Peter as the pope in leadership. That's perfectly good, but could have the effect of divorcing the personal meaning from the story. We may "all be in the same boat" but how many of us can hear Jesus' challenge to focus on him? Would we prefer him to command us to "Bail like crazy!" instead of "Come!"? It should be noted that Jesus eventually gets in that boat and that's when the storm calms down. Maybe there's a lesson for our church in that thought! Instead of clinging to our fears, we should invite Jesus into the boat. Or maybe we might just have the courage to walk on the sea toward him? It's quite a choice! AMEN