Matthew 14:22-33
Fear is
in the boat
Let’s say there
is a ship on the high sea, having a fierce struggle with the waves. The storm
wind is blowing harder by the minute. The boat is small, tossed about like a
toy; the sky is dark; the sailors’ strength is failing. Then one of them is
gripped by . . . whom? what? . . . he cannot tell himself. But someone is there
in the boat who wasn’t there before. . . . Suddenly he can no longer see or
hear anything, can no longer row, a wave overwhelms him, and in final
desperation he shrieks: Stranger in this boat, who are you? And the other
answers, I am Fear. . . . All hope is lost, Fear is in the boat.” – Dietrich
Bonhoeffer
January 15,
1933 Germany
was in the midst of fearful and turbulent times, indeed. The devastation of
defeat from World War I, just 14 years earlier, was fresh on the people’s minds
and hearts. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 compounded further pressures on the
struggling German economy, driving the number of unemployed to more than six million.
The new Weimar Republic lacked political stability and leadership, and fears of
communism and extremism loomed large. As these dark waves battered them from
all sides, many Germans—including German Christians—feared what the future
would hold.
“Fear is in the boat, in
Germany, in our own lives and in the nave of this church—naked fear of an hour
from now, of tomorrow and the day after.” Much like 1933 fear is very much in
the boat here in NC in 2020.
22 Immediately
Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side,
while He sent the multitudes away.
Immediately! We understand the word immediately
because we are an immediate society as is evidenced by our newest god the
Smartphone. However, that is a sermon for another time. So, immediately after
what? The events listed in the previous verses. Right before this Jesus saw a
great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them and healed their
sick. This went on for most of the day and then as evening came the disciples
begged Jesus to send the people away because it was dinner time. Jesus says
they don’t need to go you feed them dinner. The disciples go we don’t have
enough food for ourselves much less for these thousands of people! Jesus then
blesses the food they do have and tells them to hand it out and it multiplies,
and multiplies and multiplies until everyone was full and there were twelve
baskets full of leftovers. A basket for each disciple.
We know from John that the people were getting ready
to try and make Jesus king and why not? This is a guy who just fed everyone to
the full and it didn’t cost them anything. It would make a catchy campaign
slogan “Vote for me and eat for free!” However, Jesus knowing that His kingdom
was not of this world sends the disciples away into the boat and then sends the
multitudes away as well.
23 And
when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to
pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.
So what does he do next? Go and join the disciples? No
He goes up to the mountain by Himself to pray. Why does He do this? Well this
is actually his second attempt at doing this on this particular day. He tried
earlier in the morning and that was when the multitude tracked him down. So now
He finally has His alone time. Brethren, If our Lord took time away from
everything to commune with the Father in prayer why do we think we don’t need
to do the same?
Specifically what was Jesus praying about? Scripture
doesn’t record but I got a good idea of what. You see at the beginning of
chapter Herod has John the Baptist executed. John’s disciples take the body,
bury it and then go and tell Jesus. When Jesus hears it he departs to a
deserted place to mourn and pray and that is when the multitudes track Him
down.
Three early martyrdoms are recorded in the New
Testament: John the Baptist in ca. AD 31, Stephen in ca. AD 35 and James the
apostle in ca. AD 44. So, John the Baptist, friend and cousin of Jesus becomes
the first Christian martyr to die for his faith, and for his unwillingness to
compromise that faith. Jesus gave testimony of John when He said in Matthew
11:11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen
one greater than John the Baptist” Jesus mourns for this loss, Jesus mourns
knowing that John is the first of many who will lay their life down for their
testimony of Him.
We should note that not only does Jesus take time to
be along with the Father but that Jesus takes time to mourn. In our immediate
society we want to speed through everything. We should never rush our mourning
or those that do. However, we do not grieve as they who have no hope according
to 1 Thess 4:13
24 But
the boat was now in the middle of the sea,[a] tossed by the waves, for the wind
was contrary.25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them,
walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea,
they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
So the Disciples were sent out on the boat at evening
time. This would have been around 6pm. Jesus goes to them during the fourth
watch of the night which was between 3-6AM in the morning. They have been out
on sea, tossed by the waves all night long. So tossed by the waves and the wind
was contrary doesn’t seem that bad I mean who hasn’t been on a boat and it
bounced around a bit? Well this is where the English is sorely lacking.
Greek for tossed is basanizo = to vex with grievous
pains, to torture. Contrary = enantios = hostile & antagonistic in feeling
or act. So it better translate the disciples had been out at sea for almost 12
hours and they were tortured by the waves because the wind was hostile towards
them.
The Sea of Galilee location makes is subject to sudden
and violent storms. When cool air from the east drops over the warm air coming
from the sea it can make for quick and furious thunder storms in a short time.
The disciples were caught in one of these storms and they faced imminent death
because of it.
Jewish people
of the time feared the Sea of Galilee; they described it as “an abyss, a
fearsome place of darkness, chaos and hell.” Now being caught in a terrible
storm in his horrible place they are seeing ghosts and they know that death has
come for them. At the end in their fear and despair they cry out. Beloved take
note here it is at this very moment that Jesus speaks to them. This is when He
speaks to us in our brokenness, in our fear, in our despair.
27 But
immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be
afraid.” The
So what does He say to them? Be of good cheer. It is
I! Do not be afraid. Now minus any of you that are secretly British does anyone
here go around saying be of good cheer? No? Thought so. It’s pretty close to
our use of “Cheer up!” Now when do you use cheer up? When someone is sad over
something trivial like your favorite team lost, your favorite band broke up,
it’s raining and you wanted to go outside, or you just found out that Burger
King no longer offers the Angry Whopper. It’s typically not something you use
for someone who’s in a life threatening situation. Why should they cheer up? The storm is still
going, the boat is about to sink. Is His presence enough to cheer them up? Is
His voice enough to calm them down? Is it for us? Should it be?
Fear of Corona Virus. Everyone is so scared right now
whether they admit or not. Change is hard. We are creatures of habit and when
those routines are thrown off it’s chaos, when we are forced to change it’s
even worse. I know your mad at the governor, and the superintendent and the
president and virtually anyone else you can think to blame. Yet, we are called
to pray for our leaders. I know your worried about tomorrow and how your going
to pay your bills if you can’t go to work. Anger and fear are very closely tied
together. This is unprecedented territory and fear has a tendency to reign
supreme in the face of the unknown.
Fear crouches in our hearts,
hollows out our insides, breaks down our defenses. It gnaws and eats away at
all the ties that bind us to God and to one another. When we turn on each other
in fear God weeps and hell rejoices.
Nothing makes us so conscious
of the reality of powers opposed to God in our lives than this loneliness, this
helplessness, this fog spreading over everything, this sense that there is no
way out, and this raving impulse to get everything you can for yourself and who
cares how it effects anyone else? Fear takes away our humanity. This is not
what a person made in the image of God looks like.
This passage is not about
being afraid but of conquering that fear! We don’t have to be afraid, we
shouldn’t be afraid. This is what makes us as Christians stand out from
everyone else. In the midst of every
situation where there is no way out, where nothing is clear, where it is our
fault, we know that there is hope, and this hope is called: Thy will be done,
yes, thy will is being done.
“This world must fall, God
stands above all, his thoughts unswayed, his Word unstayed, his will forever
our ground and hope.” Do you ask: How do you know?
Then we call upon the name of
the One who makes the evil inside us recoil, who makes fear and anxiety themselves
tremble with fear and puts them to flight. We name the One who overcame fear
and led it captive in the victory procession, who nailed it to the cross and
committed it to oblivion; we name the One who is the shout of victory of
humankind redeemed from the fear of death—Jesus Christ, the Crucified and
Living One. He alone is Lord over fear; it knows him as its master; it gives
way to him alone. So look to Christ when you are afraid, think of Christ, keep
him before your eyes, call upon Christ and pray to him, believe that he is with
you now, helping you . . . Then fear will grow pale and fade away, and you will
be free, through your faith in our strong and living Savior, Jesus Christ.
Jesus saw Peter’s fear and spoke 3 simple words.
“It is I.”
There’s a lot of debate over those 3 words. I think
it’s a declaration of deity. It’s the same phrase used in Exodus 3 when Moses
says “Indeed, [when] I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God
of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What [is] His name?'
what shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I
AM."
28 And
Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on
the water.”29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the
boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the
wind was boisterous he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying,
“Lord, save me!”
Peter encouraged by these steps out of the boat! Mind
you the storm is still going on. He has been brought up to be in fear of Sea,
and it’s very unlikely that he knows how to swim. He starts to walk on water
and then the wind becomes too much and he starts to sink. Many of us look down
on Peter for doubting and sinking but how many of us would have stepped out of
the boat? How many of us are ok with following Jesus until the storms come?
Until the wind is boisterous? Until we actually have to make a change or
confront the sin in our lives? . There are daily chances to roll over and play
dead. So here is Peter, scared and sinking and He cries out the wisest words He
will ever say “Lord, save me!”
31 And
immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O
you of little faith, why did you doubt?” What is the Lord’s response? The
same one He offers us. Immediately. Immediately. Jesus saves him. He could have
calmed the storm that very moment. He could have let Peter float. He could have
waved his hands or blinked his eyes and Peter would be standing on the water
like it was ground. What did He choose to do? He reached out His hand and
caught him.
Psalm
40:1-2 “I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my
cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set
my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.”
Isaiah
49:16
“See, I have inscribed you on the palms [of My hands]”
John
10:28
“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall
anyone snatch them out of My hand.” Later on in life I bet Peter had many
occasions to doubt and I bet he recalled these words and remember when the Lord
reached down and brought him up.
32 -33
And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in
the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
What we’ve yet to consider is the entire point of this
passage. When Jesus sent them out on the boat they were following his orders.
They went into an area they were afraid of, that they knew was dangerous and
that they knew that the Lord had sent them too. Jesus being God knew that He
was sending them into a storm, knowing that they would tried and tested. Yet He
sends them anyway. Why is this? Why does God do this to us? Why does He
knowingly, willingly send us into the storms of life? Look at the end result
brethren.
Those who were in the boat came and worshipped Him
saying “Truly You are the Son of God.”
When contemplating this passage Mark Stuart penned the
following words:
Just like peter I want to go farther
tread on the sea and walk on the water
step where he steps and go where he goes
side by side when the sea billows roll
I'll be alright when the wind comes
I'll be alright when the waves come crashing
I'm not afraid for this is my father's world
If I keep my eyes on Jesus I can walk on water
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