Our Daily Leap--August 14, 2023
"Immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, 'Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter answered him, 'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.' He said, 'Come.' So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus." [Matthew 14:27-29]
The more I think about this story, the more it hits me as one of the most practical, relevant, and immediately useful passages in the Bible.
I'll admit: I didn't always think that way.
This well-known story from Matthew's gospel, which many of us heard in worship this past Sunday, always used to hit me as completely untethered from my real-life existence and daily routines. I've just never imagined myself in a position where I would ask Jesus to put me in a more dangerous situation like Peter does here. I mean, asking Jesus to order you to walk out onto the water, defying all the laws of physics and everything your whole life (and job as a fisherman!) had taught you about the danger of the open water? Who does that?
And not to pile onto Peter, but this is a completely unnecessary miracle that's being asked for here, isn't it? I mean, when a father pleads with Jesus for help to heal his dying daughter, we all see the merits of the request. When Jesus interrupts a funeral procession to raise a mother's only son back to life and restore a grieving family, we can say, "Yes, this was a good use of Jesus' time and energy." Even when Jesus (goaded into helping by his mother) turns water into wine at a wedding after the wine had run out, you can see the rationale of sparing a newly married couple shame and embarrassment on their wedding day. All of those feel like valid, compassionate, and worthy occasions for a miracle. And then there's Pete here, basically provoking Jesus like a kid on the playground, "Do you DARE me to go out on the water? Jesus, do you DARE me? Huh? Huh?" Somehow it just seems frivolous, even childish.
At least that's how my thinking has often gone with this story. And so every time I've read and reflected on this scene, I've found myself thinking this little episode has nothing to do with our actual lives. None of us are going to be out on the Sea of Galilee with Jesus, after all, right? At no point in your Monday will you be cruising through your to-do list and stop your errands to pray, "Hey, God, just to prove you're real, would you dare me to jump off a cliff and then give the ability to fly so I don't plummet to my death?" No, all of that sounds more like the temptation the devil puts to Jesus in the wilderness: "Why don't you fling yourself from the pinnacle of the Temple, because you know that God will send angels to keep you from even stubbing your toe?" None of that feels AT ALL like the real situations and real problems we face in our daily lives, right?
Except... that maybe we really are put in Peter's situation every day. At its core, Peter's call to Jesus on the water, "If it's really you, Jesus, call me out onto the water with you," is about whether Peter will dare to trust what Jesus says. It's about whether or not Peter will take Jesus' view of the universe more seriously than all the other reasonable voices telling him it's insane. And, from Peter's perspective, it's a matter of saying, "Jesus, if you say I can walk on water, I believe I can, even if everyone else thinks it's lunacy." In other words, the question is whether Peter will take Jesus' word more definitive on his life than what anybody else says about him or "how the world works."
And in that sense, that's exactly what each of us has to ask and answer every morning when we put our feet on the floor to face the day. Will I dare to believe what Jesus says about me, even if the world around tells me differently? Will I dare to do what Jesus directs me to do, even if it runs against the grain of conventional wisdom? Sure, that's less likely to be Jesus literally commanding you to go and step out of a boat and onto some choppy seas. But Jesus does as a matter of fact call us to believe and live in some pretty countercultural ways that sound like nonsense to the rest of the world. "Blessed are the poor?" Yeah, right. "Happy are those who are excluded and left out because they care about justice?" Sounds preposterous. "Love your enemies, and do good to those who would do violence to you?" Sounds as sensible as trying to step out of the boat and walk on water.
And that's just it: maybe we don't realize it because it's happening in our ordinary everyday lives, but we are constantly being dared to take Jesus' claims about us more seriously than what the world thinks is "the way things are." To a world bent on revenge and domination, we are called to answer evil with good and serve all people. To a culture obsessed with getting profits and cutting deals to maximize your own advantage, Jesus calls us to do good precisely to the ones who can never pay us back. To a society that wants to define our worth in terms of our cash value or tax bracket, followers of Christ are dared to believe we are beloved as we are, apart from our money, power, or status. Each of those really is as bold a leap of faith as it was for Peter to step out onto the waves--it's just that we are called to make those steps daily in the course of our ordinary lives.
So maybe we really are in Peter's situation more often that we would like to admit. We're always facing the question of whose voice we will take more seriously--the conventional wisdom that tells us one way of seeing the world, and the voice of Jesus whose vision seems altogether upside-down. It's a leap of faith, but it's a daily leap for us. Maybe Peter's call out to Jesus, "If it's really you..." isn't frivolous after all--maybe it's the vital question we need to ask on this day, too.
Lord Jesus, call to us and remind us who we are as your beloved, so that we will find the courage to live out of step with the world around us.
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