Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. (Amen.)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
In the American rock-band “The Cars” 19‑84 video for its song “Magic” (YouTube), lead‑singer Ric Ocasek walks on the water of a swimming pool, and various characters stand on the edge of the pool, seemingly marveling at Ocasek or worshiping him, and, near the end of the video, some of those characters even attempt to reach Ocasek, by stepping onto the pool’s surface, only to sink down into the water (Wikipedia). The music video reportedly emphasizes the “isolating nature” of celebrity (Billboard), but, while that emphasis may be the music video’s point of having Ocasek stand alone on the water in the center of the pool, the Lord Jesus was hardly isolated or alone when He was standing on the water with Peter and the other disciples in today’s Gospel Reading, and the point of today’s Gospel Reading, as we consider it this morning, is that, as Jesus did with Peter, so “Jesus saves you”.
Immediately after Jesus used only five loaves and two fish to miraculously feed about five thousand men, besides women and children (Matthew 14:13-21), as we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. We are not told exactly how or why Jesus “made” His disciples go, but maybe the disciples who were experienced fishermen—such as James and John and Peter and Andrew—knew that a storm was coming. Regardless, the boat got a long way from the land, but it was beaten by the waves, for the wind was against the disciples. The scene of distress at sea was set, ready for God’s saving action. And, whether or not the disciples really needed Jesus’s intervention in order for them to get to the other side, eventually He came to them, walking on the sea.
The disciples likely knew, as we have heard today, some of the Old Testament background for distress at sea that is resolved by God’s saving action. For example, in today’s Old Testament Reading (Job 38:4-18), the Lord told Job that He—that is, the Lord—set limits for the sea and walked in the recesses of the deep. Similarly, in today’s Psalm (Psalm 18:1-16; antiphon: v.46), David likened his afflictions to torrents of destruction and many waters, and David sang that he called upon the Lord and was saved from his enemies, the Lord’s having come, as it were, swiftly on the wings of the wind and covered in thick clouds dark with water. So, when the disciples, having seen Jesus walking on the sea, were terrified, saying that He was a ghost, and cried out in fear, immediately Jesus spoke to them, telling them to take heart, that it was Him, and that they should stop being afraid. When Jesus spoke to them, He arguably identified Himself using the name of the Lord given first to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14), and so verbally claiming to be God in human flesh, which His walking on the sea demonstrated that He was. Peter may or may not have tested Jesus’s identity, but, either way, Peter experienced the Lord’s love and mercy, when Peter cried out, Lord, save me”, and Jesus immediately took hold of Peter. As Jesus did with Peter, so “Jesus saves you”.
When Jesus and Peter got into the boat, the ones in the boat worshiped Jesus, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God”. In relationship to Jesus, they likely confessed who they were as sinners, as Peter had fallen to Jesus’s knees and confessed his sin in a boat, back when Jesus first called Peter to follow Him (Luke 5:8). Likewise, this day we worship Jesus as the Son of God, along with worshiping God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, both by sorrowfully confessing who we are as sinners in relationship to the Triune God—sinners who deserve both death here and now and torment in hell for eternity—and by trustingly seeking from the Father, the forgiveness of sins for His Son Jesus’s sake, by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. When we so repent, then God truly does forgive us.
Because Jesus is the Son of God in human flesh, Jesus can of His own walk on water. Unlike other religious traditions, we do not deny that the Son of God exercises Divine omnipotence through Jesus’s human nature. Of course, the Son of God did not take on human flesh primarily to walk on water, nor to rescue the disciples from the storm, nor to deliver us from our daily difficulties. Rather, the Son of God took on human flesh primarily both to live the perfect life that we fail to live and to die on the cross for our failure to live that perfect life. Jesus affirmed for the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas that He was the Son of God (Matthew 23:63-64), which affirmation in part led to His death on the cross for us. Those who passed by the cross mocked Jesus’s identity as the Son of God (Matthew 27:39-40), as did the Jewish leaders (Matthew 27:43), but the centurion and whose who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, were filled with awe, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). And, Jesus’s resurrection in part proved that He is the Son of God (Romans 1:4). The crucified and resurrected Jesus manifests incredible power and is graciously willing to save you, as you even with a little faith trust in Him and cry out to Him, seeking His forgiveness in the ways that He promises to give it.
Jesus, having reached out, takes hold of us with His Word in all of its forms, including His Sacraments, and, with all the water in today’s Readings, we especially think of His Sacrament of Holy Baptism. St. Peter writes that, as God by His power and mercy in the ark brought Noah and his family safely through water, so God by His power and mercy in Holy Baptism now saves us (1 Peter 3:20-21). As in the so-called “Flood Prayer” by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, God keeps us who are baptized safe and secure in the holy ark of the Christian Church, separated from the multitude of unbelievers, and serving God’s Name at all times with a fervent spirit and a joyful hope (Prayer #501, Lutheran Service Book p.269). With the Small Catechism, we believe, teach, and confess that by daily contrition and faith we return to our baptisms, drowning our sinful nature and letting our redeemed nature daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever (Small Catechism IV:12). We confess to our pastors the sins that particularly trouble us for the sake of Holy Absolution, and then our pastors admit us to the Holy Supper, where they give us bread that is the Body of Christ and wine that is the Blood of Christ, which strengthen and preserve us in body and soul to life everlasting.
As Jesus’s disciples were miraculously fed before Jesus made them get into the boat, which then was beaten by the waves, so we are miraculously fed before we do what God wants done. As we prayed in the Collect of the Day, our Almighty and Most-Merciful God preserves us from all harm and danger that we, being ready in both body and soul, cheerfully accomplish what He wants done. We do not need to be afraid when we find ourselves in difficult situations because of our faithfulness to Christ (confer Davies and Allison, ad loc Mt 14:22, p.501), for the omnipotent and merciful Lord is present with us. We cry out to Him, “Lord, save me”, and, having reached out His hand, He takes hold of us. We may not be fully and completely delivered as fast or in the way that we might like, but we know that God delivers us in the time and in the way that He knows to be best for us. In the meantime, we pray that He increases our faith (Luke 17:5), dispels our doubts, and helps our unbelief (confer Mark 9:24).
“The Cars” shot the video for the band’s song “Magic” at the Hilton family house in Beverly Hills, and the plexiglass platform that was set under the surface of the water for Ocasek to stand on reportedly collapsed on the first take and had to be rebuilt to support the singer’s weight. Hollywood “magic” may fail, but there are no such failures when our omnipotent God mercifully acts to save us from our daily distresses and eternal damnation! Today’s Gospel Reading made clear that, as Jesus did with Peter, so “Jesus saves you”. Truly, as St. Paul wrote in today’s Epistle Reading (Romans 10:5-17), if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Indeed, everyone who so calls on the Name of the Lord and believes in Him will be saved.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +
