Year A, Pentecost 11 Matthew 14:22-33
You of little faith. I have always struggled with that phrase when
I see it in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew
uses some variation of that phrase five times.
The other three Gospels (in total) use it once. What annoys me about the use of this phrase,
is that it’s often in the context of a few verses that I really love. Then Jesus just ruins the moment by reminding
the disciples (and us) of how little faith we have.
The interesting
thing about the use of this phrase is that it’s always used with the apostles.
It’s never the Pharisees or the scribes—those who Jesus tends to be a little
critical of. It’s the apostles with whom Jesus uses this phrase. These are the men that Jesus chose to be
closest to him and then carry on his message after he Jesus ascended to
heaven. Two of the times, this phrase
was directed at Peter…the man he would refer to as the rock on which he would
build his church. Jesus called Peter the
rock in chapter 16, only 10 verses after he had referred to the apostles as
having little faith for the 5th time. It just doesn’t make sense to
me. The context is all wrong.
Here is what I am wondering, what if
“a little faith” is enough? What if Jesus isn’t castigating his chosen apostles
for not having enough faith, instead he’s saying, “you’ve got a little, and
that might just be enough.” There a book called “The Message.” It’s not a
translation of the Bible as much as it’s an interpretation that is supposed to
help us hear the words a little differently. Sometimes I read this version,
because the work was done by a scholar and pastor, using the original Hebrew
and Greek texts, but it’s more accessible.
Anyhow, instead of Jesus saying, “You of little faith, why did you
doubt?” Jesus says, “Faint heart, what
got into you?” That makes more sense to me.
Because it was never about Peter’s ability to believe. It was never about the amount of faith he had. It was about where the faith was placed—with
whom his faith was placed.
When the apostles saw Jesus walking
across that choppy water, they were confused and afraid, which is understandable. He said, “Take heart, it is I, do not be
afraid.” The more literal translation
here is, “Take heart, I am…” The phrase
“I am” is the name of God. In that
moment, he was not just saying, “It’s me Jesus.” He was saying, “I am the one true God.” The use of the phrase “I am” is especially
important in the Gospels, because it connects Jesus to the God of the Hebrew Scriptures. It’s the way that God identified Godself to
Moses in the Book of Exodus. In saying
that, Jesus was revealing who he really was.
Peter knew in that
moment that not only did it mean that Jesus could walk on water, but his
command alone would give him (a mere mortal) the ability to walk on water. Peter didn’t suddenly have this crazy belief that
he too could walk on water. He was so
convicted of the power of Jesus which meant that Jesus’ command would enable him
to walk on water. That is what gave him
the courage to get out of that boat. It
wasn’t faith in his own ability, it was faith in Jesus.
Can you imagine
the courage that would have required just to step out of a boat in the middle
of a storm? The apostles were already terrified because the boat was being
battered by waves in the dark. Peter
left the relative safety of the boat to walk through the very water that was
the source of the fear. It would be like
driving on the Schuykill at rush hour at night and then deciding to get out and
walk through the traffic. Peter was able
to get out of the boat because he had put his trust in Jesus.
When he started to
sink, it wasn’t that he stopped believing in Jesus. It’s not that he suddenly became plagued by
doubt. It was just that he wasn’t sure if
he could keep going. You see, if he had
stopped believing, he would not have called out of Jesus to save him. He knew that he wasn’t in control, but
neither was the storm. It was Jesus who
was in control and it was Jesus who saved him.
“Faint heart, what got into you?”
Who knows what the answer to that question is. It could have been the waves. Maybe he suddenly felt the water and it was
cold. Maybe he thought, ok, I am walking
on water, now what?
Have you ever been there? You are feeling pretty good, like maybe you
have just figured this “how to be a grown up thing” and then something
happens. It could be major, it could be
just a feeling, a build up of anxiety or worry. Then you think, now what? Where
do I go from here?” Sometimes those
moments pass. Occasionally those moments
turn into much longer periods and can be paralyzing. In those moments, Jesus asks us: Faint heart,
what got into you?
If you have heard enough of my
sermons, I hope you will know that I am not the kind of preacher who tries to
make Jesus’ words more palatable. I am
always talking about how hard it is to be a Christian. We have to put effort
into our relationship with God, just like we have to put effort into any
relationship that matters. There were
times that the apostles let Jesus down. There were times he reprimanded him,
but it wasn’t in these moments of fear and panic. It wasn’t when they were putting their faith
in him and taking risks. Those were the
moments that Jesus reached out and said, “Do not be afraid…” A few weeks ago I talked about how the
Apostle Paul talks about weakness. In
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he quotes God as saying, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Jesus encourages us to
acknowledge our weakness because it gives us an opportunity to depend more
heavily on God.
There
are so many times in life when we forget that God is in charge, when we think
we can just put our head down and power through whatever we are facing. Sometimes it’s when we feel we are at our
strongest when we become faint hearted and we forget the one who saves us every
single time. But the good news is that
no matter how far you might sink, no matter how bad the storm gets, all you
have to do is call out to Jesus. “Lord,
save me.” Jesus won’t reprimand you. He
will pull you up and then ask you, “Faint heart, what got into you?” Again,
that’s not a reprimand, it’s an opportunity to remind that you aren’t in
control and maybe this is a time to consider where you are in relation to God.
As long as you have that connection to God, it doesn’t matter how meager your
faith may be…it’s always enough. God’s grace is always sufficient.
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