Jesus Walks On Water - A Short Sunday Reflection

 

Thanks to our newfangled three year lectionary, we reflected on St. Matthew's account of Jesus walking on the waters of the lake, where he meets his disciples in the fourth watch of the night. There they are, a long way off from land, making no headway because the waves and the wind are against them. Terrified at the dimly seen presence of Christ they cry out, thinking they've seen a ghost. Jesus replies:

"Take heart, it is I, have no fear," Θαρσεῖτε, ἐγώ εἰμι· μὴ φοβεῖσθε. Then, after rescuing a drowning Peter, Jesus enters the floundering boat, stills the storm and the disciples worship him, "Truly, you are the Son of God." What does this teach us?

To state the blazingly obvious, that Jesus is God, Psalm 29 come to life, "The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders; * the LORD is upon the mighty waters." And that's worth the emphasis, the miracle happened, the Word made Flesh, the I AM who spoke to Moses from the burning bush, note the Greek, ἐγώ εἰμι, (I am) now speaks in power to his disciples on the water. 

The miracle is real and by it Jesus reveals himself as God to his friends so that they might put their faith in him and be saved, in this case from the storm, but we can go further. The Fathers of the early Church, no small authority, saw the miracle as an allegory or symbol of the Christian life, the life of the Church. Thus:

The disciples represent the faithful, their boat the Church, the ark of salvation. The waters of the lake are the waters of the world and its waves are its tribulations, at every level, which pound against the ship. And the wind is the tempestuous blast of Satan, who would blow the Church off-course from the far side of the lake, which is the Kingdom of Heaven, paradise.

Yes indeed. In every age the Church sets sail across the waters and is pounded by the world and by Satan, both of which hate and would destroy her. And note, apart from Christ the disciples make no headway, as Jesus says elsewhere, "I am the vine, you are the branches... apart from me you can do nothing."

Exactly, but with him, with the Lord upon the waters, we find salvation, both corporately as the Church writ large, the Mystical Body of Christ visible and militant on earth, and personally, as the Church writ small. Here Peter's experience speaks powerfully. It is a miracle within the miracle which illustrates the whole.

He glimpses Christ and hears his voice and asks, "Lord, if it's you, bid me to come to you across the water." Jesus replies, "Come." Peter does, stepping off the boat and into the water, impetuous, only to be distracted by the wind. He begins to sink, to drown, and cries out, "Lord save me!" Jesus does, he catches him and brings him to the safety of the ship.

Is this not the story of our lives? We glimpse Christ, we hear his word and Christ answers our questioning faith, "Come." So we set off across the stormy water to meet him and be with him. Then calamity, catastrophe strikes. The waves pound, the wind blows and no earthly power can save us, so we cry out with Peter, "Lord, save me!"

It's the prayer of desperate faith and Christ, in his love, mercy and strength hears that call and lifts us up from the depths, de profundis, to safety, to union with himself, and puts us back on the vessel of salvation.

I tell you, I've been there many times, no fooling, and I know you have too in far more extremis than I. But take heart, have no fear, the Lord, who is God upon the waters, is with us and is even now guiding his Church and we ourselves to the far shore of paradise. Fall down then, with the disciples in the boat, and worship the Saviour.

Here endeth the Lesson,

LSP

Sunday Sermon - Christ Walks on Water

Christ walks across the water of the lake to the disciples' boat, which is being beaten by the waves. After rescuing Peter, who goes out to meet him and sinks, Jesus enters the boat, stills the storm and guides the ship to shore.

The imagery is powerful. Jesus, appearing in the midst of the turbulent water in the darkness of the 4th Watch. So too is the symbol. The ship of the church, the ark of salvation, is beaten by waves of disbelief, iniquity, and hate only to rescued by Christ.

This is true in every age, not least our own, but consider. As in the miracle, Christ saves his church. For example, he raises up El Cid and Charles Martel, and the False Prophet is driven from Spain and France. The Jihad is routed by Sobieski in 1683 and Vienna saved, the evil, satanic Nazis are utterly defeated and the Iron Curtain blown away like so much noxious smoke.

Point being, as surely as he came to the beleaguered disciples in the midst of the lake, Christ saves his Mystical Body from the tempest which rages against her. He will save the church in our age too if we remain faithful, even desperately so, and cry out with Peter, "Lord, save me!" That must be our prayer.

There, in the act of faith, shouting out in the darkness, against all the odds, lies the path to paradise. Christ catches Peter by the hand, restores him to the safety of the boat, and in the end, to Paradise itself, the far shore of the lake.

So take heart. Our lord and Savior is infinitely more powerful than the iniquity which rages against his Body the church and against us, his faithful.

Sermon over,

LSP

Jesus Walks On Water

Once you get over the video, in which rich sybarite hippies rip-off someone's pricey sailboat, consider this.

When Christ walks on the water He proves His divinity. The Word who spoke creation into being has power over its elements. And the mystical meaning?

The faithful, in the ark of salvation, set sail on the waters of the world as Our Lord ascends the mountain to commune with the Father. In the evening of the day, after many centuries, tempest threatens to overwhelm the Church. But Christ, appearing in the 4th Watch, at the very end of time, stills the storm and rescues the faithful, taking them to the other side of the turbulent sea, to Paradise.

And the moral meaning?

The ship of the soul, endowed by Christ with virtues and graces, signified by the disciples, sets out over the waters of creation while He is in Heaven with the Father. In the evening of the day, as life progresses towards its end, trials and tumults, storms, threaten to swamp the soul but at the final moment, in the 4th Watch, the Judgement, Jesus returns and stills the storm, leading the faithful soul to safety.

So the Gospel does at least three things. Reinforce or prove the divinity of Christ and show the timorous Christian that not only does He have the ship of the Church in hand but also the soul. 

Both will reach the other side of the sea, regardless of the storm. But what about Peter, does he act as a focus or summation of the literal and mystical meaning of the miracle. It seems that he does.

Peter stands for the literal. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," he says in his confession of faith; He is the rock, accordingly, on which the ship of the Church is founded. As such, he is the faithful soul who goes out to meet Christ across the waves. And when he sinks under their tumult, as we all do, Jesus takes him by the hand and rescues him from the tempest.

Lord save me! cries Peter. 

I cannot think of a better prayer.

God bless,

LSP