Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Battered by the waves, wind blowing, it does give the picture of a storm doesn't it, at least rough seas of some sort and there is Jesus taking a stroll. This is such a great story with so many things going on it. Last week we heard the miracle feeding story, 5000 men and many others. Those are the verses right before this story. After the miracle and before the miracle Jesus goes off to pray. For himself, Jesus needs to pray. For the sake of his relationship with his Father in heaven Jesus needs to pray and so he does. For we who hear the gospel story, we see Jesus pray and know the power and the importance of time spent in prayer, of being people of prayer. God's relationship with you is nurtured, fed, strengthened by prayer, by time spent in prayer. 

Then comes the walk and the sighting. No one should be out on the Sea of Galilee taking a stroll, not done. So the disciples, struggling with wind and waves in the boat, do the only normal thing one would do in such a situation. They cry out in fear, terrified. Interesting observation, Jesus told them to take the boat and go to the other side. So they are where they are because Jesus told them to go. They are where they are told to be and still adversity, a storm comes upon them. 

Okay, so Jesus did not tell them about his plan to take this little stroll. Maybe he hadn't even decided for himself how he was going to catch up with the disciples. If the sea had been calm they might have already been to the other side. The point is there is absolutely no reason they would be expecting Jesus to catch up to them out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, in the middle of a storm. So they panic. Who walks on water? No one. Must be a ghost. “IT'S A GHOST” becomes their cry. 

Crying out in fear, I think there has been a fair bit of that going on these past several months. This virus among us, we do not see it. We do not know who can spread it. We do not know if we have caught it. There are many conflicting messages and experts who have studied such diseases for their entire careers are being ignored. The numbers continue to rise. The numbers of deaths continue to rise. The havoc which is being wreaked on our country is certainly cause for fear. 

In the midst of the storm Jesus cries out to those who are crying out in fear. It is I. Ego eimi, Greek for I AM. It is an echo of the pronouncement when God speaks to Moses from the burning bush. I AM. It is the echo of Isaiah 43. “But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. 2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. You are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.” Courage, it is I. Do not be afraid. It is a command, isn't it? What would that command do to those who heard it? Would it give what it commands? Would it create what is commanded? That is often how the word of God works. God commands, declares, and it is so. The word, the command spoken by Jesus certainly must have had some effect. Peter, Peter being Peter, in response to the command ask to be commanded again. He asks Jesus to command him to come. 

Peter asks Jesus to command him to come. Until I was reading a commentary on this section of Matthew's gospel I had never caught that part of the story. Peter asks to be commanded. It is an amazing image. Why do you think it Peter said it? Was it a test of his own faith? Was it a desire to be close to Jesus? Maybe he thought things would be better with Jesus than with the rest of the disciples in the boat. Would it be to one up the rest of the disciples? Or was it impetuous Peter being Peter? 

Something important to remember here, Matthew's gospel was written to the church, the followers of Jesus was beginning to figure out what it meant to be followers of Jesus. It was written for that community of early believers who were trying to figure out what it meand to follow Jesus and how that would be different from being Jewish. This story of Peter then is a great story about what it means to be a follower of Jesus or even a community which is always figuring out how to follow Jesus. In my mind that is what the church is. We are a community which is always in the process of figuring out what it means to be the body of Christ today and how will we live out that reality tomorrow. We as the church, as the body of Christ should have as our refrain those words of Peter, command me Jesus. For Peter it was about walking out on the storm tossed sea of Galilee. Where might Jesus be, where might we be commanded to come as we follow him? What storms will we walk through in order to obey the command of Jesus? Through what sort of adversities will our path of following Jesus take us? 

When Jesus speaks to his disciples it is no ordinary greeting. It is the divine Lord addressing the storm tossed church. It is our savior Jesus showing up, being present, reassuring, and commanding. It is what the church needs, Jesus present speaking words which tell us who we are and tell us who we are to be. It is what he does. In the waters of baptism it is exactly what Jesus does. Baptism, that marvelous sacrament of claiming and naming, of making that indelible mark, is Jesus telling us who we are. 

Jesus commands Peter and Peter can walk on the water. The command of Jesus gives to Peter, enables Peter to walk on the water. The commands of Jesus are too often seen as laws laid down when they are in truth words that shape who we are, giving us what we need to be the church. It is how the body of Christ works, empowered by the one who sends us out to live as that body. Storms come, adversity hits. Life gets sideways and upside down and there are more things to worry about than you ever thought possible, and Jesus speaks words of command. The command gives us what we need to be who we are called to be. 

Then Peter starts to sink. Looking around, seeing where he is, realizing what is going on Peter starts to sink. Again, I love Peter. I am so thankful for Peter. He gets it right so well and then also not so much. Peter is full of faith. It is a great prayer. Command me. Peter is full of unfaith and so he sinks. He is full of feats and failures. I think that is probably a good description for just about anybody who has ever followed Jesus. We are both as Luther describes us so very well. At the same time we are saint and sinner. We are the ones made right with God by God and the ones who forget and don't live that way. We are the loyal servants and the ones who don't follow so well. 

Peter starts to sink. Jesus saves him. This amazing act of faith, that prayer of command me Jesus, is not a test. Acts of faith are never a test. If it would have been a test, pass fail, Peter would have been swimming with the fishes. Sorry Peter, too bad for you, next. No, that is not how our gracious Lord our loving Savior deals with us. Fear is not failure. Here's one more thing I love about this story. Courage is given. The command is given. It's not permanent though. Peter sinks. There are a few more times in the story when Peter sinks. He isn't left to sink. When his courage, his faith, his whatever falters Jesus is there immediately to reach out his hand and rescue Peter. Notice also please that the sea is not calmed so that Jesus can save Peter. As the storm still carries on Jesus rescues Peter. The storm quiets when they get back to the boat. It is not about our Jesus banishing the storm, whatever shape it may take in your life. It is about Jesus present in the storm to give courage, to be present as the storm rages. 

That is the promise for Killian which is made today. It is the promise made in the waters of baptism for you each day. It is not a banishing of the storm. It is the promise of Jesus with you in the storm. It is the promise of you are loved child of God through each and every storm. It is the promise proclaimed and renewed with each breath you take. The breath of God, the Spirit of God gives you life. You can't get more present than that. Each day, every day, day after day the winds and the waves of the world buffet us. Lord save me is a darn fine prayer for anyone and everyone to pray. It is cry we cry because we know where our help comes from. We know how loved we are. We know how blessed we are. Lord save me. Once saved, then we can repeat once again that great refrain of the church, command me.