Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ (Ro 1:7). Amen.
It is not a typo (not that I don’t occasionally make a mistake when pushing the keys while I am on the computer). It even gets through the spell check (but not the grammar check). It is just not the way that we are used to hearing the phrase. Usually it is, “So and so won’t let you down.”
But it just one extra letter—an “r.” Jesus won’t let you drown. It makes sense. Even more so if we go to the Sea of Galilee. The disciples needed to recognize that. We need to realize it too. Jesus won’t let you drown—figuratively. He comes with his merciful help and with his mighty hand. We read from …
Matthew 14:22-33
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, our present and powerful Savior,
During the summer months, it is not uncommon at some time to be around or in water. We do have 11,842 lakes in this state. In some cases, a life jacket is not just recommended by mom, but required by law. They are valuable when you are swimming or when you are kayaking.
Those activities are fun. But they can be dangerous. So it is good to strap one of those around your chest even though they are unwieldy and even if they are uncomfortable. (There is your public service announcement. The DNR can thank me later.) That is because we don’t breathe too well under water (without an oxygen tank or plastic snorkel, of course). If you haven’t tried it already, don’t. And it also takes a bit of effort and expertise to float above water. Especially in the case of an emergency, the life jacket does its job.
So does Jesus.
Jesus Won’t Let You Drown
1. He comes with his merciful help (22-27)
2. He comes with his mighty hand (28-33)
1. He comes with his merciful help (22-27)
Pools and ponds often have lifeguards. They are not there to work on their tans. They are to guard life. (It is in the name.) In case there is a problem, they lend their professional assistance so that you don’t sink to the bottom and stay there. They do it to get paid. Jesus does it to take care. Jesus won’t let you drown. He comes with his merciful help.
It had been a busy day for Jesus. He had healed the sick (Mt 14:14). And he had fed the hungry—5000+ with a boy’s lunch box of two fish and five loaves of bread. There were even leftovers! That got the people excited. The thought crossed their minds, “Wouldn’t it be great if he would do that all the time?” He would make quite the king with his free food (Jn 6:15).
But that is not why Jesus came—to provide social security, but instead to offer salvation security. So he took action right away. “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd” (Mt 14:22). He quickly put a stop to any plans to put him on a throne. That kind of thinking could not corrupt his followers or continue in their heads.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like groups of people like some stay away from the Great Minnesota Get-together because of the mass of humanity. He needed some quiet time. “After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray” (Mt 14:23). The Son had to speak to his heavenly Father. He had not come to be declared a king by popular choice, but to die on a wooden cross. That is how he would wear a crown. “When evening came, he was there alone” (Mt 14:23). Did he ask for strength to keep on going in those evening hours? Did he plead for his followers in his earnest requests? He prayed. And for an extended period of time.
While he was on that hill, the 12 were in the boat. But this was no pleasure cruise. They had been at it for hours, rowing and rowing. They had made some progress—“the boat was already a considerable distance from land” (Mt 14:24). But then things got ugly. One of the storms that is characteristic of that body of water blew in. That is because it sits in a bowl—680 feet below sea level. Gusts whip over the surrounding peaks and rile up the sea. If you have seen any footage of Hurricane Harvey in Texas you might get a visual. Good thing that many of them were fishermen. They had dealt with this kind of tempest before. But their experience only did so much. Their little ship was in serious trouble—“buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it” (Mt 14:24). It kept on beating and beating against their faces. Their oars did little good. This was getting scarier and scarier as the hours passed. It was the “fourth watch of the night” (Mt 14:25). That is between 3:00-6:00 in the morning. They were more than likely weary and worn.
But those men were never out of sight or out of mind. In fact, Jesus had put them in that vessel aware of the squall that was coming like a mother who takes a toddler to the doctor mindful that there might be some pain. He knew where they were now and what they confronted. That is a good reminder for us. We use that comparison when we encounter difficulties or dangers. We refer to them as “the storms of life.” And it may not be water from waves running down our faces. Those are tears. And then we wonder. Where is Jesus?
He is there. It was that way for the disciples. “Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake” (Mt 14:25). He strolled along on the waves as if it were dry land—on the very thing that they were fighting. This was not along the shoreline, but across the surface. Jesus can do that. He is God.
And that is when superstition got the best of them. It is just like a little boy hears a noise at night and assumes that there is a monster under his bed. Only for them, it went like this: “When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear” (Mt 14:26). Their hearts on the inside matched the weather on the outside. It felt like a typhoon was raging in their chests. We have felt that too.
Jesus came to them when they were in that desperate situation with his merciful help. Don’t miss that. Jesus came to them. That is the way that the Lord handled Elijah when he was discouraged and disappointed as he commented and complained: “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (1 Ki 19:10). Not in the howling wind, the trembling earthquake, or the roaring fire. But in the gentle whisper of his word (1 Kg 19:12). That energized and equipped Elijah to carry out his assigned tasks of anointing certain individuals. Jesus also had comforting words for those struggling men: “Jesus immediately said to them” (Mt 14:27). (That is the second time we come across that word “immediately.” He didn’t wait.)
“Take courage!” (Mt 14:27). They could be bold. Jesus was there.
“It is I” (Mt 14:27). He is the changeless One (Ex 3:14). He still was all-knowing and all-powerful. And that would not ever be different.
“Don’t be afraid” (Mt 14:27). That emotion could now stop.
When trying times pound on us—and they will, Jesus is present with us. “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (Mt 14:27). He may take it away. He may take us through it. Either way, Jesus comes to us in his Word. We can be still (Ps 46:10). God is God even now or even then. He will not abandon us all the way to our dying day (He 13:5; Ps 23:4). Jesus will not let us drown. He comes with his merciful help in his Word.
2. With his mighty hand (28-33)
I suppose that if you are close enough to the side or the shore, a lifeguard can reach out and pull you to safety. Or he might toss a life preserver or she may lob a life ring and drag you away from the threat of drowning. Jesus does the same. Jesus won’t let you drown. He comes with his mighty hand.
It was Peter who was the first to open his mouth when there was no way of a mistaken identity. It was really Jesus. And he makes a bold request. “Lord, if it’s you (it is in the sense of “since it is you”), tell me to come to you on the water” (Mt 14:28). That is good desire—to be with the Lord. And Peter didn’t assume; he asked. Jesus gave him permission: “Come” (Mt 14:29). I wonder if the others didn’t get mad that they didn’t think of that too. Because it happened. “Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus” (Mt 14:29). This wasn’t a sandbar or a shallow spot. He walked on the water.
Well, for a time. “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid” (Mt 14:30). This last Monday the warning was sounded, “Don’t look directly at the sun during the eclipse or it will burn up your retinas. You need special glasses for that.” (The cloud cover helped with us missing the spectacle of the century.) Peter was supposed to look straight at the Son. Because when he looked down, he went down. When the waves got bigger in his eyes, Jesus got smaller in his view.
Now he was in jeopardy. “Beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” (Mt 14:30). The disciples were probably not so jealous anymore. They weren’t much safer than him, but they were at least still in the boat. Peter proves that a short prayer is often long enough—three words. It wasn’t, “I am kind of in a precarious spot at the present moment. Jesus, if you could, please stretch out your arm far enough that you might grab me and then draw me up so that I could stand once again at your side.” No. “Lord, save me.”
“Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him” (Mt 14:31). (That is the third time we come across an “immediately.”) No delay. And then the question: “You of little faith, … why did you doubt?” (Mt 14:31). Peter didn’t have a decent answer. But do we? In the middle of a tough setting—when we might not be below the surface, but the water seems to be at our bottom lip, we fail to fix our eyes on Jesus and fixate on the circumstance. That is not what he desires (He 12:2).
And Jesus doesn’t let us drown with his mighty hand. We learn to state confidently with the psalmist Asaph: “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory” (Ps 73:23,24). It is like a parent and a child crossing a street. The dad holds on to the child’ hand, not the other way around. He is the strong one, not the little one.
And we can trust his powerful hand. “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down” (Mt 14:32). Another miracle. He controls nature. And because Jesus conquered Satan and sin on the cross, no one will be able to snatch us from his hand (Jn 10:28). We join the disciples kneeling in the boat here sitting here in church as we worship him together, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God” (Mt 14:33). Yes, Jesus is the Christ, as Paul pointed out: “who is God over all, forever praised!” (Ro 9:5). Jesus won’t let us drown. He comes with his mighty hand over all.
In the long run an “r” doesn’t make a difference. It is true whether we claim, “Jesus won’t let you down” or “Jesus won’t let you drown.” In reality it comes out the same, doesn’t it? Jesus is with us as seen at the Sea of Galilee—with his merciful help and with his mighty hand. It is so and will be so. Amen.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you (Ro 16:10). Amen.
August 27, 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment