Stepping Out Of The Boat

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

August 14, 2023

in Spritual Growth

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August 13, 2023
11th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2023
Readings: Jonah 2: 1-9
Romans 9: 1-5
Matthew 14: 22-33

Christ shows us His compassion for humanity to all who have believed. When John the Baptist was beheaded, the disciples took the body, and told Jesus that John had died. Jesus left immediately to a remote place in the mountain. The multitude followed Him. When He saw them, He felt compassion, met their needs and even fed them. After this incident, He tells the disciples to take the boat and go to the other side. He tells the people to go home as well for it was getting dark. He then proceeds to the mountain so He could be alone to pray.

As the disciples were crossing the sea, the storm suddenly came and this could have been around 3 AM. Jesus, while still praying, felt their fear and leaves the mountain to go to them. The boat was gone so He just walked on the water. Everything happens for a purpose and a reason. Deuteronomy 32:11 “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft.” Jesus is teaching the disciples how to handle situations like this on their own, like how a mother eagle would teach her young how to fly.

We see Christ walking on the water in this tempestuous storm to go to where the disciples were. The disciples thought they saw a ghost from a distance, but Jesus told them it was Him, calmed them and told them to take courage. Then Peter asked Christ to command him to walk on the water. He did get out of the boat and started walking. But when he left his eyes off Jesus and saw the wind, he panicked and began to sink. Jesus immediately goes to him and saved him. In the Old Testament, we find Jonah thrown into the sea and was swallowed up by a whale. Scripture tells us he was inside the belly of the whale for three days but managed to survive, when the whale finally threw him out. Symbollically, it’s like a picture of our baptism and how we were brought out of darkness and brought into the light of new life. Now in the New Testament, when Peter “saw” the wind, he saw the problem which made him lose his focus on the Lord and began sinking. He cries out to Christ to save him. Christ came, lifted him up and the two of them walked back to the boat safely. When they did, the storm stopped. Peter’s faith had to be developed. It had to be used. Even in our weakest moments, Christ will still save us. In the world today, people are denying and rejecting God. But in spite of this, He still feeds us. He still heals us. The story of Christ walking on the water is really powerful. It speaks to us of hope- that even in our failures, our doubts, He is there to save us. 1 John 4:4 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” Ephesians 2:5 “made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” When Christ rose from the dead, we were brought up with Him to be seated in the Heavenly Places. Galatians 6:14 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Romans 8:35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”

In this Ordinary Time, we should be walking in a manner that is pleasing to God. We should not look “at the wind” but focus our eyes on Jesus. Why did He send the disciples out into the sea? He wanted to prove to them that even in the midst of the storm, He will save them. He will not waver. He will save us as we call upon Him.