https://youtu.be/XFEA4Y3klHI
Tell me if you’ve heard this before… “You just need faith. If you had more faith you would get what you prayed for. More faith and your life would be better, easy. If your faith was stronger you wouldn’t doubt, struggle, or question.
Peter sank when he took his eyes off Jesus and worried about the wind and waves. If Peter had more faith, then his fear would have disappeared, the wind and waves would have been of no consequence and he would have continued walking on water.”
That is kind of the typical take-away from this reading. Peter doubted and began to sink. If we just keep our eyes on Jesus, we won’t sink.
I think that there is a real danger in that kind of thinking and understanding of faith. The idea that if we just believe hard enough that something miraculous will happen sets us up for failure and for the loss of faith. To tell someone that if they just believed better, if they had enough faith, they could be healed, for example, can be devastating for the person who doespray – and for whole familieswho pray and get no healing.There is a song written by a guy named Mark Schultz that I think captures the hopelessness that can come from not getting your prayer answered if you are being told you don’t have the faith for it. It is not the reason he wrote the song or what he meant by it, but like any good piece of art, it can speak to different people in different ways. The song is about a father who has a son with leukemia:
I'm down on my knees again tonight,
I'm hoping this prayer will turn out right.
See, there is a boy that needs Your help.
I've done all that I can do myself
His mother is tired,
I'm sure You can understand.
Each night as he sleeps
She goes in to hold his hand,
And she tries
Not to cry
As the tears fill her eyes.
Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel all right?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place some how.
See, he's not just anyone, he's my son.
Sometimes late at night I watch him sleep,
I dream of the boy he'd like to be.
I try to be strong and see him through,
But God, who he needs right now is You.
Let him grow old,
Live life without this fear.
What would I be
Living without him here?
He's so tired,
And he's scared
Let him know that You're there.
Can You hear me?
Can You see him?
Please don't leave him,
He's my son.
As the father of a child who has a chronic illness that has had people tell us to pray harder for a cure, and as someone who has questioned their faith because of the silenceinstead of healing- this song really hits home. If you replace son with daughter and the he’s with she’s, you can hear pretty much what I’ve been praying for years.
Can You hear me?
Can You see her?
Please don't leave her,
She's my daughter.
So I wonder, if perhaps Peter’s mistake wasn’t focusing on the wind and waves and suddenly doubting Jesus… The text shows that he doubted Jesus way before that.
“But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.””
Peter doubted it was Jesus even after seeing him and hearing his voice. He then tries to bargain with God – If its you… prove it to me. How many of us have prayed something similar? God, if this is really you, then give me a sign. Prove it to me. No wonder Jesus told him he had little faith.
This is not the kind of faith that we are called to. It is not what faith is about. That is more like magic than faith.
Let’s go back to the beginning of this story. What did Jesus tell the disciples to do?
“Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds” - I can see Jesus saying – Get in the boat and wait for me over there, I’ll be there soon. So later, they are where Jesus told them to be. In the boat. When he comes strolling up, they freak out and instead of waiting for him, what does Peter do? He gets out of the boat. The place Jesus had told him to be. I can almost imagine Jesus rolling his eyes when Peter asks him to call him out of the boat. “fine, man, if that’s what you want…”
Yet, even in Peter’s unfaithfulness, Jesus is right there, ready to catch him before he sinks. And that is a reality that is easy for us to forget because we don’t have Jesus standing right here in front of us, yet he is still here – ready to catch us if we’ll let him.
There’s a book called “If You Want To Walk On Water, You’ve Got To Get Out Of The Boat” – and as cool as it would be to walk on water, I tend to think that maybe it’s a lot safer to stay in the boat – the place Jesus told me to be in the first place and wait for him to get there.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Tell me if you’ve heard this before… “You just need faith. If you had more faith you would get what you prayed for. More faith and your life would be better, easy. If your faith was stronger you wouldn’t doubt, struggle, or question.
Peter sank when he took his eyes off Jesus and worried about the wind and waves. If Peter had more faith, then his fear would have disappeared, the wind and waves would have been of no consequence and he would have continued walking on water.”
That is kind of the typical take-away from this reading. Peter doubted and began to sink. If we just keep our eyes on Jesus, we won’t sink.
I think that there is a real danger in that kind of thinking and understanding of faith. The idea that if we just believe hard enough that something miraculous will happen sets us up for failure and for the loss of faith. To tell someone that if they just believed better, if they had enough faith, they could be healed, for example, can be devastating for the person who doespray – and for whole familieswho pray and get no healing.There is a song written by a guy named Mark Schultz that I think captures the hopelessness that can come from not getting your prayer answered if you are being told you don’t have the faith for it. It is not the reason he wrote the song or what he meant by it, but like any good piece of art, it can speak to different people in different ways. The song is about a father who has a son with leukemia:I'm down on my knees again tonight,
I'm hoping this prayer will turn out right.
See, there is a boy that needs Your help.
I've done all that I can do myself
His mother is tired,
I'm sure You can understand.
Each night as he sleeps
She goes in to hold his hand,
And she tries
Not to cry
As the tears fill her eyes.
Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel all right?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place some how.
See, he's not just anyone, he's my son.
Sometimes late at night I watch him sleep,
I dream of the boy he'd like to be.
I try to be strong and see him through,
But God, who he needs right now is You.
Let him grow old,
Live life without this fear.
What would I be
Living without him here?
He's so tired,
And he's scared
Let him know that You're there.
Can You hear me?
Can You see him?
Please don't leave him,
He's my son.
As the father of a child who has a chronic illness that has had people tell us to pray harder for a cure, and as someone who has questioned their faith because of the silenceinstead of healing- this song really hits home. If you replace son with daughter and the he’s with she’s, you can hear pretty much what I’ve been praying for years.
Can You hear me?
Can You see her?
Please don't leave her,
She's my daughter.
So I wonder, if perhaps Peter’s mistake wasn’t focusing on the wind and waves and suddenly doubting Jesus… The text shows that he doubted Jesus way before that.
“But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.””
Peter doubted it was Jesus even after seeing him and hearing his voice. He then tries to bargain with God – If its you… prove it to me. How many of us have prayed something similar? God, if this is really you, then give me a sign. Prove it to me. No wonder Jesus told him he had little faith.
This is not the kind of faith that we are called to. It is not what faith is about. That is more like magic than faith.
Let’s go back to the beginning of this story. What did Jesus tell the disciples to do?
“Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds” - I can see Jesus saying – Get in the boat and wait for me over there, I’ll be there soon. So later, they are where Jesus told them to be. In the boat. When he comes strolling up, they freak out and instead of waiting for him, what does Peter do? He gets out of the boat. The place Jesus had told him to be. I can almost imagine Jesus rolling his eyes when Peter asks him to call him out of the boat. “fine, man, if that’s what you want…”
Yet, even in Peter’s unfaithfulness, Jesus is right there, ready to catch him before he sinks. And that is a reality that is easy for us to forget because we don’t have Jesus standing right here in front of us, yet he is still here – ready to catch us if we’ll let him.
There’s a book called “If You Want To Walk On Water, You’ve Got To Get Out Of The Boat” – and as cool as it would be to walk on water, I tend to think that maybe it’s a lot safer to stay in the boat – the place Jesus told me to be in the first place and wait for him to get there.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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