When Things Go Wrong, Even Chaotic
PROPER 14 (19)
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Year A
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Matthew 14:22-33
What do you do when things go wrong in your life? When it feels like everything is turning against you? When your life feels too chaotic to make sense of? At these times it is very easy to not trust God even to blame Him. We can easily feel like we have to do everything on our own, fighting against the chaos. But today Jesus calls on a different path. He calls us to patience, prayer, and trust in following him so that we might join him in walking upon those chaotic waters.
Once again, I'd like to invite you to open up your Bible to Matthew 14 on pg. . As the story starts on vs. 22 what does Jesus do? He orders them to go in a boat across the waters. Yet in vs. 24 what is the result? They end up facing a wind that is against them, chaotic waters, a storm. Why would Jesus order them into this?
We could say Jesus doesn't know. I don't think this is the case, because even fully human Jesus is way more in tune and in control than that, but even if this was the case it already tells us that obediently following Jesus will not always be a comfortable life and may even lead us into a stormy life. The kids will be learning at camp that God shapes everything for our good, so even these struggles must be good for us.
So Jesus purposefully orders them into a storm for their good. For the disciples, it becomes many good things. It becomes a trial, a strengthening, a redirection, a vision, and enlightenment. Our trials can be the same. In faith, God can use them to do some wonderful things in us and for those around us.
Your question now might be, did God cause the storm? Jesus does seem to have control over them in the end, but that doesn’t mean he caused them. To answer that question more fully, we have to go all the way back to page one of the bible. Before God brings order to creation, it is wild and waste, formless and void as God’s Spirit floats over the deep. We are given a vision of a kind of pre-creation state, which is like dark chaotic waters with no substance or life. As God’s creation progresses, he brings light and orders those chaotic waters twice. Once to separate the oceans from the sky, which we know would lead directly to life for the birds. Second, to separate the land from the seas, which we know would lead to life for fish, all manner of animals, and us. It is God’s purpose and character to bring order to chaos so that life might flourish and that all might be good.
Yet, we see these chaotic, death waters coming back in the great story of the bible. The most obvious is the flood in Noah’s Ark story. Before the flood comes about, what we find is that humanity has become “the chaotic waters”. Every thought in their heart is evil, through angels coming down and humans trying to be like God the natural and good barrier between the dominion of the heavens and earth is being broken, and death is running rampant. Humanity has become the exact opposite of God’s creation, they have become de-creation. The natural consequence as humanity holds some kind of dominion and rule is that creation breaks down, the barriers of order dissolve away and the floodgates open wide. In some ways, as God and Jesus are in control of everything, we can say that God initiates the flood. Though it is more like God was holding back the flood until then, he was holding back the full consequences of our actions and for a moment, he let go. Even this is for good, which I will admit I cannot fully comprehend. It is interesting that the flood story ends with God promising, with a rainbow, that he will never again release the full punishment we deserve on us. Though, he will release the consequences of our evil on himself in Jesus.
So back to the story of the storm and Jesus walking water. We see that Jesus has ordered his disciples to go through the chaotic waters, not unlike Moses and Israel at the Red Sea. The wind is pushing against them and the waves are beating against them. We as Christians are also ordered to enter into the chaos. We are called to go into those places where everything seems to be working against us, so that we might work for the Lord, all to build His Kingdom, all to bring His order and life where it wasn’t before.
Yet, we are never meant to be consumed by this chaos or defeated by those that work against us. Today’s passage tells that most of the time we aren't even meant to fight, we are meant to rise above the chaos and enmity. Like Noah’s Ark, we are meant to float on the chaos in our little sanctuary with God. Like Jesus in Vs. 25 we are meant to walk on those waters. From this vantage point, we are not unaffected, we are moved, sprayed, and splashed, the wind remains too, but we are not consumed. With Jesus help, we can show, create and become something that chaos can never offer - stability, life, and faith.
As strange as the moment is starting at Vs. 28, Peter has it right when he asks Jesus to command him to come to him on the waters because as an act of trusting God's will he wants to rise above. It starts with Peter asking Jesus to command him, this moment of finding out Jesus’ will is important. Peter is being immensely faithful in this moment, in that he trusts Jesus more than the boat to carry him on these waters. Peter is literally entering into more danger and chaos, knowing that Jesus will help him through it. For a time in Vs. 29, Peter actually does do the seemingly unimaginable, he walks on the water towards Jesus, which is what they were all meant to do.
What happens in Vs. 30 though? Peter loses sight of what is important, who is strong and he loses faith. He looks at the strong wind, which he is obviously feeling, and for at least a moment he becomes more worried about the wind, then he has trust in Jesus. Something that is too easy for us to do too. Notice a surprising thing, it is not the water below him that leads to him sinking, it is the wind around him. The fear of one, leads to the chaos of the other.
I think most of us wouldn’t have found ourselves with Peter walking out on the water towards Jesus. Most of us have a lot of struggle walking into the chaos even when we know Jesus is on the other side. Most of us would have been frightened by the storm as we get scared and anxious about the things going wrong, or the things we can’t control in our lives. I’ve been there, but we need to trust that in following Jesus faithfully, not only are we not consumed, but we will rise above it and ourselves become life and stability in the midst of that chaos. Chaos is the natural consequence of the world we live in, but we are called to be more.
Take a step back in the passage for a second to vs. 23. Why does Jesus send them ahead through the storm? So that He can pray alone. Here they are struggling and Jesus is taking His time in peaceful prayer. This might feel cruel, but it is immensely important and essential for us because that is the exact time when we need to be praying. That is the time when we need to keep our eyes on Jesus and only on Jesus. In some ways, it is the exact same thing that happens with Peter later. Peter turned to the wind instead of Jesus and he sank. Jesus kept his eyes and heart on God and he walked above the chaos. Prayer might not feel like something that will help, but when prayer is about our trust, relationship, and trajectory being for God first, it will make all the difference in any and every situation.
In Vs. 26, the disciples don’t have their trust in God, they aren’t directed towards him so what do they see? They think Jesus is a ghost. The very person who is their life, their stability, their salvation, they think to be their enemy, they turn him into fear. The sad reality of not turning to God through the chaos is that we can make it worse and miss his help when he comes to offer it. Thank God that Jesus comes to us and keeps offering it, but we can still miss it. Thankfully, their eyes are quickly opened and they can hear Jesus as he gives them courage, his presence, and peace, even while the storm rages. Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid. He takes away their fear even while they have a lot to be afraid of. He can do the same with us. Our fears are real, but Jesus is more real. In Him, we can always have courage and we can live in a peace that surpasses understanding, that surpasses our situations.
I know this is easier said than done. Fear can be blinding. Anxiety can be consuming. Our situation can be all we see. But that just shows us even more that we need to have our eyes on Jesus. We need to hold onto the one that rises above the fear, anxiety, and situation. We need the one who can order our chaos so that we might walk on it and work with him to change it.
That is the final moment of this miraculous story, as Jesus and Peter enter into the boat the storm ceases. Once again the chaotic waters are brought into order. In Vs. 32 notice, the storm ceased when They got in the boat. The writer could have very easily written that it was when Jesus got in the boat, but he says “They”. Peter had some part, even if minimal, in the calming of the wind. When we trust and follow Jesus, rising above the chaos, we can join him in his creative work, in bringing life, order, stability, and peace. We can truly give something meaningful and needed to an all too chaotic world. Our lives and the chaos we live with is the place this starts, but then we can listen for God to call us into other situations too. The result is that as chaos is calmed and peace is established in these seemingly impossible situations, people will see God through us and His name will be lifted up as it was always meant to be. AMEN
Childrens sermon
Did you know when you are driving you often steer towards where you are looking? Our walking is also affected by where we look.
How about our lives?
It is so important to look to Jesus, to make him the center of our attention. To not be distracted
The disciples in the boat
Peter on the water
Us in life
Keep him the centre - till we learn to walk straight - my insoles
