The storm was upon them. The Sea of Galilee could be notoriously tricky during a storm – especially a storm at night. It is not like they had gps to keep them on course. They could only use their instincts and the wind direction to keep them orientated. And these boats, sturdy as they were, were not unsinkable.
You can imagine the scene. Lightning and thunder and wind driven rain lashing upon them. Fishing tackle, usually innocuous, now becomes a deadly hazard. And then, in the middle of their tense exhaustion, an apparition. Something – no – someone walking ON the WATER. It had to terrify them. The invitation – “Lord if it really is you, tell me to come to you across the water.” “Come”.
So what was the hardest step for Simon Peter?
A part of me thinks the first one might have been the easiest. “Get me out of this boat.” Masts swinging, waves crashing over the bows, sails and ropes and gear all around – get me out of here. We know that, don’t we? Sometimes life gets so bad that we simply have to escape, we have to ‘get out of there’ – whether it is an abusive relationship, a sinful habit, an addiction that has finally become unmanageable.
The second step – a bit easier for Peter and us – “Hey, look at me, I’m walking on water!” Amazing that I can do this, when I never thought I could. I think of my friends Ann and Dave – as they learn to manage the disease. I think of so many of you in the midst of Chemo and radiation treatment or physical therapy – the hair is gone, you might be using a cane, but look at you, you are walking! And the spirit is unbowed… You CAN do this.
But, somewhere between step two and step three, when Simon realizes how turbulent the wind, and how wild and difficult the sea is; when he realizes that he is sinking – comes the most difficult step, for Simon and for us. The most difficult part of walking on water is THE CHOICE to KEEP WALKING and KEEP HANGING on in FAITH. That is the most difficult step for each of us, when we are beset with difficulties and trials – that choice to keep walking in faith.
Note what Simon cries out at that moment: “Lord, Save Me.” Most us know how to cry out: ‘Rescue me!” We know how to say: Get me out of this mess, this craziness, this difficulty and struggle. Let the storm be over, the suffering be at an end, the weary battle with cancer or addiction be done. I want it to stop. This, we all know how to pray.
It is a very different thing to cry out “Save me.” Save me – let your redemptive, salvific plan of love be at the center of my life. That is the most difficult step for any of us in the walk of faith. That is the step that Jesus makes in the garden when he says: “Not my will, but yours, be done.” That is the step that Simon makes when he reaches out, not to the boat behind him, but the Lord before him.
And that is the choice that is before each one of us in our walk of faith. We can rail at the unfairness of life, the cancer, the disease, the addiction, the poverty that grips us. We can be paralyzed by fear and stay stuck in the boat of our cancer treatments, addictions, habits of sin. OR, we can, with Simon Peter, make that most difficult step to keep walking in faith, following our savior, come what may.
The fact that you are here, says, at least on one level, that you have already gotten out of the boat. You have heard the Lord’s invitation to “Come.” Will you make that most difficult of all choices, the decision to keep on walking in faith, eyes upon the Lord, and his love alone to sustain you?