Rev. Charles Lehmann + Matthew 14:22-33 + Pentecost 12
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
Where is God? Where is He when a tornado damages your house? Where is He
when you have cancer? Where is He when you lose your job or when you just had
a fight with your wife? Where is he when your husband refuses to listen?
Sometimes God seems distant. Sometimes it seems like even if He's there, God
doesn't really care that much.
For thousands of years foolish intellectuals have mocked the true God.
They have pointed to sickness, suffering, and death and they have said, “Where
is your God?” They've even gone so far as to say, “If your God exists, He is
evil. No good God would allow such evil to go unchallenged.” That is what
Satan wants you to believe. Even though it is the devil's hands that are
stained with the blood of billions, Satan wants to lay the blame at God's feet.
His constant refrain is one of doubt. Satan knows that God wants to give good
gifts to you, His children. Satan knows that God has stopped at nothing in His
desire to save you. He knows that God loves you and has sent His only begotten
Son to bear your sin and be your Savior.
Satan knows God's love for you and He hates you for it. He wants to drive
any wedge he can between you and your Lord. He might try to make you to see
God as an uncaring and distant creator who doesn't really care about what's
going in your life. He might try to make you see God as someone you can
manipulate to your own ends so that you can get what you want.
In today's Gospel lesson, the disiples were probably asking questions
similar to the ones we sometimes face. Where is God? Partiularly, where is
God when you're afraid? Where is He when you are at the mercy of a horrible
storm in a small boat in the middle of the night. Where was Jesus? Didn't He
care? Why wasn't he there to protect them?
The disciples knew in their minds what God was really like. They knew He
was not remote or distant. They knew that He actually cared about them. They
remembered the confession of faith that Moses had written in Deuteronomy, and
they had probably spoken it many times: “A wandering Aramean was my father.
And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he
became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us
harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. Then we cried to the
Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our
affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt
with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with
signs and wonders. And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a
land flowing with milk and honey.”
The disciples made this confession even though Roman legions were
quartered in Jerusalem. With idolaters in control of the holy city, Israel
probably didn't feel like a land flowing with milk and honey to Jesus'
disciples. But God had a track record with them. Even though God sometimes
afflicted the Israelites for awhile, it was because He loved them. Like a
father disciplines his children, the Lord chastened Israel. He showed them
that they could depend on no one else for life, peace, health, or safety. When
the Israelites trusted in themsleves, the Lord sent famine. When they looked
to idols for good, He smashed them into pieces. But His love never failed. He
brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. The
devil, the world, and their sinful flesh could not overwhelm them, because the
God of Israel was their strength.
The faithful Israelites had in their God a comfort in despair that could
not be shaken. They had confessed the mercy of their God when they were in
exile in Babylon. They had done it when evil foreign nations threatened
Jerusalem, and they had done it even when their own kings worshipped false gods.
The God of Israel was different from the false gods of the nations. The
false gods didn't love their people. The false gods viewed humanity as an
annoying brood of slaves. All they wanted was simple minions to offer them
sacrifice and give them servile worship. The false gods gave no good gifts.
The false gods knew nothing of mercy. The false gods did not adopt those who
worshipped them as their children. To the false gods, humanity was a brood of
stinking vermin, a problem to be dealt with only when absolutely necessary.
So the nations spent all their time trying to keep their gods away. The
gods were fickle, mean, and evil. If they were not kept at bay by sacrifices
and empty rituals they would come upon the people with plague and famine. They
would send invading armies and make sure the crops failed. And so in these
other nations the priests were a mysterious and feared class. They knew the
secret knowledge that could control the gods. They could manipulate the
heavenly powers for your good or for your harm.
Not so Israel. They rejoiced that their God was not far, but near. They
cried out to Him in their need. They would pray, “O God, be not far from me; O
my God, make haste to help me!”
Israel had confessed the mercy of their God for over a thousand years.
They knew He loved them. They knew He would save them. But though they knew
what sort of God they had, that didn't make suffering any easier. These twelve
disciples were used to knowing exactly where God was. They were used to having
Jesus with them, in the flesh, day in and day out. But when the wind and waves
were buffetting the sides of their boat, the disciples felt very alone on this
night. On this night they knew Jesus was on the shore, and they were on the
lake. They feared that God might have abandoned them to their deaths.
But Jesus was not far, but near. He did not leave them at the mercy of
the wind and the wave. He did not send them onto the Sea of Galilee so they
might be buried in watery tombs. He walked out to them. He crossed the water
as if it were land. He came to save them.
But when they saw it, they were afraid. They thought their Lord was a
ghost. Perhaps they even thought that this person walking across the sea was
the devil coming to claim them for the watery depths. In the mind of the
Israelite, the sea was an image of hell. It would have made perfect sense to
them to see a ghost walking on the water.
What joy it must have given them to find out that their fears were
unfounded. Our translation put Jesus' words this way, “Take courage! It is I”
but that's a little different from what our Lord actually said. He said, “Be
of good cheer! I am!” What wonderful words! What joy they gave the disciples
immediately. “I am” had come to them. “I am” was walking to them in their
need. Peter's joy was so great that he said, “Lord, if You are, command me to
come to you on the water.”
Peter rejoiced at His Savior's words because Jesus was the “I am” of the
Old Testament, and he had nothing to fear ever again. He had nothing to fear
during the raging storm and nothing to fear after. And if the “I am” commanded
him to walk on water, he could. And so Peter walked out toward Jesus. And as
long as Peter focused on His Savior, he was safe. And even when Peter's faith
wavered and he began to sink, “I am” did not let him drown. Jesus did not let
the watery depths claim Peter, son of Jonah, as their prey.
He caught him and brought him into the boat. And the disciples rejoiced
with Peter. They said, “Truly you are the Son of God.” And when the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is present, there is nothing to fear. Jesus has
shown himself to be the God of the burning bush. He is the one who has said to
His people, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt
and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,
and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.”
And you, dear Christians, had your own sojourn in Egypt. You labored
under your taskmaster. The Law gave you no mercy and no rest. It demanded
your sweat, your blood, and your very life. And as long as you labored under
the demands of the Law in your sinful flesh, you were slaves.
But Jesus is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has seen your
affliction. And He has delivered you from the demands of the Law with a mighty
hand with with arms outstretched on the wood of the cross. He has borne your
sins to Golgotha. He has died. He has redeemed you.
Your God is not far, but near. He is there when the tornado comes. He is
there when you fight with your spouse. Your God still cares for you if you
lose your job. And you do not need to wonder where you can find Him. He is
ever and always where He promises to be. He is in His Holy Word. He gives you
His body to eat and His blood to drink in His Holy Supper. His Spirit dwells
within you by the waters of your holy baptism.
Fear not, people loved by God, the God of Israel is your Savior. Surely
He has seen your affliction and has brought you out of Egypt out of the land of
slavery. You are forgiven and free.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your heart and
your mind in faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Rev. Charles R. Lehmann
Pastor, Saint John's Lutheran Church, Accident, MD
http://chaz-lehmann.livejournal.com
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