It has always fascinated me what some people do in storms.
Not the seemingly uncontrollable firestorms that have ravaged portions of the island of Maui leaving devastation behind that is heartbreakingly apocalyptic. Or hurricanes that damage entire communities with high winds, heavy rains, and storm surges that leave large swaths of land uninhabitable for weeks, months, or in some cases even years. Or tornados which sweep in and sweep up homes and towns almost at a moment's notice. I am talking about those “near-misses” that all of us have lived through, where the skies darken, television and radio programs are interrupted, and sirens blare warning us to take cover.
Some people do reasonable things like go into basements or storm cellars away from windows and anything else that might be sent flying by high winds but, at moments like these, instead of heading to the relative safety of the inner portions of our house my family would head to the front porch to watch the action.
While the Nelson family used to gather on the front porch to watch the storm in heavy weather our tenants would beat a hasty retreat to the southwest corner of the basement. While they were doing push-ups off the ceiling at every streak of lightening, crack of thunder, and heavy gust of wind, my family was cheering every flash and boom and accusing anyone who jumped of having “coffee nerves.” Occasionally they passed each other towels to wipe off wind-driven water.
A storm in the middle of the city can be approached in different ways but a storm in the middle of a lake is another matter.
What I am about to tell you may seem like an even bigger miracle than our Saviour walking on water but not once but twice in my college years friends conned me into a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Northern Minnesota.
Yes, hard as it may be to believe once, twice even, in my life I really did “rough it.”
This was long before I discovered the real joys of five-star hotels, resorts, or cruise ships where “roughing it” became defined as any place where they did not serve drinks poolside and forced me to actually walk the ten or so steps to the bar to get one myself.
Perhaps what swore me off of such “outward bound” experiences were the mosquitoes the size of B-52's and flies that were even bigger. Besides living on dehydrated meals and the lack of even the most basic amenities that made life worth living, like fresh running water, or a shower. Besides all this was the time we were out in the middle of a lake in aluminum canoes when a classic Midwest thunderstorm suddenly came up.
I remember paddling like crazy and promising everything I was, and had, and ever would be, to Jesus if I just arrived back at shore without becoming toast.
In this small, never to be repeated in my life way, I can relate to the fear and trembling that the disciples must have experience in their wild and windy night on the sea.
Remember, the disciples' boat was a great deal like my canoe that had no sophisticated equipment - no radar, no sonar, no running lights, not even a horn. They might have had a lantern but, then again, maybe not. They were out in the dark with the winds and waves against them and their strength beginning to fail.
By four o’clock in the morning they are cold, wet, exhausted, and afraid for their lives. By four in the morning, they have had about all they can take. They are wearied, battered, and seasick from the rough waves. Their hands are blistered from the struggle against the storm. It looks like it is curtains for them.
Just then one of the disciples looks up, and amidst the sea mist and clouds ... sees a figure coming closer on the dark waves. As if the storm wasn’t scary enough, now they are all terrified by what looks like ghost walking on the whitecaps.1
Most preachers and teachers give the disciples tons of grief for misidentifying Jesus as if they could have done better. Nobody I have read on this subject had ever experienced what the disciples were experiencing. We’ve had two thousand years to get used to this scene. Had we been there in a small boat, in a storm, in the darkness, who knows what we might have said. At least, “It’s a ghost!” is repeatable in mixed company.
Peter too doesn’t escape the criticism of the arm -chair quarterbacks who have had over two centuries to review the tape. They are all fairly certain that the last thing they would have done was want to get out of the boat. Most are convinced they would have been begging Jesus to hurry and join them so that he could do something about the stormy weather.
For some inexplicable reason Peter wants to get out of the boat a go to Jesus instead of just letting Jesus come to him and, even more amazingly, Jesus lets him. Jesus says, in effect, “give it a try.” Jesus doesn’t say, “No Peter! You’ll sink like a stone and drown!” Jesus says, “Alright! If you want to. Give it a whirl!”
We know the rest. After Peter has taken a few steps, he begins to sink and here is where the traditional interpretation of this story leaves me cold.
In most Sunday School lessons and sermons that are not much better along with most paintings I have seen Jesus seems absolutely fine. He is almost the “drip dry Saviour” totally unfazed by that is happening around him. Wind and rain, not a problem as his hair is still perfectly quaffed and his clothes are not even damp.
When it comes to the moment of truth, when Peter is yelping, and thrashing, and desperately in need of some sort of rescue operation, in those traditional stories, sermons, and paintings, all Jesus does is gently, ever so gently, reaches out to an adoring Peter lifting him with the ease of a feather and placing him back in the boat without straining so much as a muscle.
But I don’t think that is what happened. I think we underestimate the drama and risk of Jesus and Peter tussling there in the foaming deep.
My belief comes not from extensive study of scripture or theology but from my college Red Cross water safety certification classes in order to be a lifeguard.
Those classes were made up of people on the swim team and when we went out to practice saving someone, we played rough. We made it as difficult as we could for him or her to stop our flailing and drag us back to the deck.
The reason? Because we wanted to simulate a real drowning where the victim might have become so afraid that they took leave of their senses and fought back.
What I am telling you is that I know that if you are going to save someone in heavy seas you are going to have to throw yourself in after them and I believe that is exactly what Jesus did.
I believe that Jesus dove in after Peter and grabbed him. In good Red Cross fashion, I believe he managed to get one arm around Peter’s chest, placed his free hand in the small of the disciple’s back, and pushed him to the surface. Once that was accomplished, I believe, he dragged him back to the boat, and with the help of the other disciples hoisted himself and Peter back on board.
I also believe that when he asked, “Why did you doubt?” They both were dripping wet and breathing heavily. “Why did you doubt?” Jesus sputtered. “What got into you?”
That’s the voice Peter heard over the wind and waves of the storm. “Why did you doubt. What got into you? Look! I am with you! Your friends are with you!” That is the voice the disciples knew to be Jesus because he was with them, wet and exhausted, in the boat, in the storm.
Did you know that one of the earliest symbols of the church was a boat? “The old image still resonates in the word we use for the central portion of a sanctuary, the nave. The Latin word for ship is navis.2 from which we derived nave because the traditional architectural nave resembles an upside-down ship.
1. Gennifer Benjamin Brooks, Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Teaching, (Louisville, KY: John Knox|Westminister Press 2020), pp. 222-234.
2. Mark Ralls, “It’s Not a Ship; It’s a Boat,” Faith and Leadership, accessed August 12, 2023, https://faithandleadership.com/mark-ralls-its-not-ship-its-boat.
3. John M. Buchanan, “Faith: When the Water Is Choppy and Your Boat Is Sinking.” Sermon preached at the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, June 22, 2003.
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Sermon preached at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Luke
19 August 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-uaQaSoYXw&t=2668s
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