Pentecost 11A | August 13, 2023 | Matthew 14:22-33 | Dr. Judson F Merrell, STS |<\/p>\n
22<\/sup> Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23<\/sup> And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24<\/sup> but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25<\/sup> And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26<\/sup> But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, „It is a ghost!“ and they cried out in fear. 27<\/sup> But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, „Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.“ 28<\/sup> And Peter answered him, „Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.“ 29<\/sup> He said, „Come.“ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30<\/sup> But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, „Lord, save me.“<\/p>\n \u00a031<\/sup> Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, „O you of little faith, why did you doubt?“ 32<\/sup> And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33<\/sup> And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, „Truly you are the Son of God.“ (Mat 14:22-33 ESV)<\/p>\n Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n One of the historical treasures of our state is the ruins of Prince William\u2019s Parish Church, also known as Old Sheldon Church.\u00a0 It is near the town of Yemassee, SC, on the way to Beaufort.\u00a0 If you drive by it today, you will only see the brick walls and columns still standing, along with the gravesites of those that are buried there.\u00a0 What exactly happened to the church is still debated.\u00a0 Initial thought is that Sherman burned the church on his march through the south, as he did with many places.\u00a0 However, there was a book published a few years ago that contained letters to and from a family that lived near the church during the civil war.\u00a0 The letters tell about the damage the church sustained and how it was possibly raided for its scraps.\u00a0 The letters even claim that the church was fixable.\u00a0 What actually happened will probably be forever up to debate.\u00a0 The stories of our past teach us how to live today, and in the case of Old Sheldon Church, we have two very different stories.\u00a0 We have a story that generated lots of emotions, with fear being the primary emotion.\u00a0 The story of Sherman burning the church has long been thought to have originated from within his very army.\u00a0 Then we have a story that speaks to how we take ownership of the things that are important to us in life.\u00a0 This is what we take away from the letters.\u00a0 Without someone to stop looting, salvageable parts of the church were taken and reused in other ways.<\/p>\n As we look at our Gospel lesson today, we have a story that gives us the emotion of fear and a story that teaches us about ownership of the things that are important to us, and in this case, what we have ownership of is our faith.<\/p>\n This lesson piggy backs on our lesson from last week, which was about Jesus not being able to grieve the death of John the Baptist because a crowd of 5000+ had gathered around him.\u00a0 He had compassion on them, and instead of sending the crowd away, he was able to break bread with them.\u00a0 Having collected the leftovers, now Jesus is finding time to once again grieve the loss of John.\u00a0 He puts the disciples in a boat, and he goes up on the mountain by himself to pray.\u00a0 By early morning, the waves and the wind had pushed the boat far out to sea.\u00a0 I find that little nugget of info to be intriguing.\u00a0 Several of the disciples were fisherman, they knew how to sail a boat.\u00a0 Even if the wind is coming straight at you, if you know how to sail, and they did, then you can get to shore.\u00a0 For some odd reason though, they did not return to shore, and Jesus comes walking to them on the water.\u00a0 And when they saw him, they cried out in fear that it was a ghost.\u00a0 Jesus hears their anti-confession, and speaks to them, \u201cTake heart, It is I; do not be afraid.\u201d\u00a0 The fear is running deep within the diciples.\u00a0 In the midst of a situation that they know how to handle, fear overcomes and becomes their first instint.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always loved Jesus\u2019 response, but to be honest our translation does us a little disservice.\u00a0 What Jesus said as it is written in the Greek is: \u201cTake heart, it is I am!\u201d\u00a0 Translated that way, Jesus uses the very name that God gave to Moses at the burning bush.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t a proper noun like our names, but instead a verb that means \u201cthe one who is\u201d or \u201cthe being one\u201d or \u201cI am who I am\u201d.\u00a0 He reminds the disciples that they are not seeing a ghost, but instead are seeing God in the flesh, God incarnate, walking on the water straight towards them.\u00a0 Here we find another intriguing nugget of info\u2026We are supposed to fear looking at God.\u00a0 Exodus makes clear that if we see the face of God we will die.\u00a0 But here on the water, Jesus turns that around, not promising death to these disciples who plainly see him, but instead offering peace and calm in the midst of fear.\u00a0 What a blessing it is to have a God that knows our weakness, and offers us grace when we need it most.<\/p>\n Peter though, ever the doubter, doesn\u2019t believe.\u00a0 Think about this a minute\u2026.Peter in our pericope last week just saw Jesus feed 5000+ people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.\u00a0 He has seen Jesus heal people, even his own mother in law.\u00a0 He has heard Jesus teach parables.\u00a0 He has seen Jesus cleanse lepers and even still a storm.\u00a0 And yet Peter doesn\u2019t believe?\u00a0 Here is where the second lesson from Old Sheldon church comes into play. \u00a0Peter has everything he needs.\u00a0 But he doesn\u2019t take ownership of it.\u00a0 He questions his very faith.\u00a0 He questions Jesus\u2019 power.\u00a0 He questions the very things that God has given him.\u00a0 Now We know how this story ends because we just heard it.\u00a0 Peter gets out of the boat, and as long as he is focused on Jesus, everything is fine.\u00a0 But when he loses that ownership, he starts to sink and Jesus has to rescue him.\u00a0 Jesus even asks him:\u00a0 \u201cWhy did you doubt?\u201d\u00a0 Our lesson for today ends with the disciples worshipping Jesus and having a true confession:\u00a0 \u201cTruly you are the Son of God.\u201d<\/p>\n Why is it so hard to take ownership of that?\u00a0 Perhaps it is because faith can be hard.\u00a0 But it is not just an issue of faith.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you how many times I have heard excuses when it comes to church.\u00a0 That is until people need the church.\u00a0 It\u2019s not even just the church.\u00a0 Taking ownership in something is demanding. And yet the very things we have in this world are ours because God has entrusted it to us. We have dominion over creation and are therefore the stewards of creation. \u00a0The same goes for our faith.\u00a0 The same goes for our families.\u00a0 Everything we have is because God has entrusted it to us, it is all a part of creation, and since the dawn of creation the duty of humanity was to care for creation.\u00a0 It is a crucial building block in our relationship with God.\u00a0 As hard as it may be, let\u2019s make sure there is no fear when we see God show up in the world, but instead, look for and hope for that calming presence in our midst.\u00a0Because like Jesus came to the disciples on the water, God comes to us.\u00a0 Not with a heavy hand, but with a calming reassurance.\u00a0 \u201cTake Heart, it is I am, do not be afraid.\u201d\u00a0 The story that we write today and in truth each and every day is a story that will continue to be told.\u00a0 It is the story of the people of this congregation, their faith, and their trust in God. But more so, it is the story of how God is active in this place.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let it become a story of ruins, but instead leave your fear behind and take ownership so that it becomes a story of joy for future generations.\u00a0 In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pentecost 11A | August 13, 2023 | Matthew 14:22-33 | Dr. Judson F Merrell, STS | 22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,157,853,108,110,235,461,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-18687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-matthaeus","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-current","category-engl","category-judson-f-merrell","category-kapitel-14-chapter-14-matthaeus","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18688,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18687\/revisions\/18688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18687"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=18687"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=18687"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=18687"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=18687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}