Who is Jesus?

Sermon Notes Pentecost 10
9th August
Based on Matthew 14:22-33

COVID has changed many things. From today we are required to wear face masks. Putting our service online isn’t easy but it’s worthwhile as many people are watching and discovering new faith.  One of many groups that was shut down but is now meeting again is AA where lives are changed by recognizing the need to depend on a “Higher power”.

People saying that they believe in a “higher power” are not often confronted and it’s not too risky to say you are “spiritual” or even “religious”. But some people think it’s sort of dicey to tell others that you “believe in God”. You could be challenged if you are game enough to say “I am a Christian and I believe that Jesus is God”.

This raises a really important question; who is Jesus? How do you know what to believe when you hear some people talking of Jesus as being “just great prophet” or perhaps saying Jesus was only a brilliant teacher? Or the Jehovah Witnesses teaching that Jesus is just one of many Gods?

There was a King of Siam who, in the 1800s, had an English teacher. They got on really well until the Englishman spoke about “water becoming so hard that an elephant could walk on it”.  The King became angry and ended the friendship. The King hadn’t ever experienced ice and he wasn’t prepared to believe something that he couldn’t understand. What should this king have done?

Well, it’s not easy to know what we should do about things we don’t understand. I know many well educated people who are sometimes accepting of things they don’t understand such as computers or wifi. However, it’s not uncommon to run across someone who totally refuses to accept things they can’t understand.

There are times when we miss out on knowing the truth either because we are not prepared to make an effort to investigate or, like that King, we refuse to trust in something we aren’t able to see. This is the problem that Jesus disciples had.

In today’s scripture, a group of Jesus’ disciples have difficulty in recognising him. They don’t know that the figure they see walking along in the roaring waves is actually Jesus. The disciples are in a boat. “The wind was against them,” driving them way out to sea. As dawn breaks early in the morning, they see a terrifying sight. A figure walking toward them on the sea! “It is a ghost!” they yell out in fear.

Then Jesus spoke to them; “Take heart, it is I; don’t be afraid.”  Presumably, even when Jesus spoke to them, they still were not sure it was Jesus because it was then that Peter said something very strange; “Lord, if it is really you, order me to come out on the water to you.” What an odd thing for Peter to say; “Jesus, if it’s really you tell me to do this amazing thing”. That’s how Peter thinks he will know him. If this figure on the water is Jesus he will say “come on! Get out of the boat”.

And that’s how we will know Jesus. Jesus is the one who extravagantly and recklessly commands us to leave the safety of the boat; to step into the sea, and test the waters, to show what our faith is made of. That’s Jesus.

There’s a song sometimes sung at funerals “Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me”. When you think about that, it’s pretty tough isn’t it?  Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling us to risk our life; to throw caution to the wind, to step out of the boat and defy death.

Early in the Gospel story, Jesus calls a group of very ordinary people to drop their nets, leave their business and their families, and go out with him on a perilous sea called discipleship. So maybe we shouldn’t find it strange for one of those people to now say, “Lord, if it is really you, call me to get out of the boat and walk on the waves”.  

I studied theology at the Bible College of Queensland with some great young people who had given up successful careers with bright futures. There were teachers, occupational therapists, classical musicians, managers, computer programmers who had given up well paid careers to serve as poor missionaries.

Who would have commanded them to do such a thing? Could it have been Jesus?

In the hills behind Coffs Harbour, there’s a very successful ministry given to sufferers of drug and alcohol addictions. It’s called Sherwood Cliffs. I know that they received regular financial help from a young couple who were both on limited incomes. This couple had made a promise of regular support to Sherwood Cliffs on top of what they were already committing to their church.  How could they, on their limited incomes, make such a commitment?   They said, “we just thought this was the sort of thing that our Lord Jesus would expect of us. We both know how important our youth are and how tough it can be growing up these days. So, we made this commitment.”

Is this the sort of thing our Lord would expect of us? What sort of Lord would expect such sacrifice?
Could it be Jesus?      

The good news is that, when Peter climbed out of the boat, even though the going was rough, even though he almost sank and perished, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, just at the right moment. He helped Peter back into the boat, he stilled the wind and the waves, and Peter was saved.

But if Peter had not moved, had not obeyed Jesus call to walk on the water, then Peter would never have had this great opportunity for recognition and rescue by Jesus.

I wonder if many of us are only splashing about in the safe inshore shallow water and consequently are missing out on opportunities to test our faith. If we want to be close to Jesus, this Gospel story today is suggesting that we need to get out of the boat. We are being encouraged to take ourselves out into the deep, dark sea.  We’ve got to prove God’s promises through trusting God’s promises, through risk and adventure.

Henri Nouwen was a great Dutch teacher, psychologist and Priest. He wrote many books, but my favourite was The Wounded Healer. Nouwen gave up a brilliant career of international lecturing and served in an institution named Daybreak as a carer for the severely disabled. What made him do it? What force drove him to this place of giving to others rather than taking all he could get?

Someone had called him to step out of the boat, to risk walking on water, to defy the forces of nature, to swim against the stream, to come closer to him, to venture out into the storm.

Could it have been Jesus?

So if in the dead of night, or maybe near dawn, you should hear a voice, calling your name. If there’s a strange voice calling you to get going, to sail away, to risk the storm and to defy the waves; there’s a good chance that voice could belong to none other than your very Lord and Saviour.

Who would dare to call an ordinary, not very spectacularly faithful person like you or me to be adventurous and to take a bit of a risk?

I think you know who.