Why Did You Doubt?
Matthew 14:22-33
Do you ever
worry? That may sound like a strange
question to ask. Who doesn’t worry? We all worry from time to time about a variety
of things. You worry about your
health. You worry about finances. You worry about the weather. You worry about your children. Children worry about their parents,
especially when the parents get older.
You worry about the government.
You worry about world affairs.
Did you ever wonder why you worry so much? As we think about what happened in the Gospel
lesson for today and we apply that to our own lives, I pray that you will be
able to understand yourself a little bit better and that you will find that
your faith and trust in the Triune God are just what you need in the times when
you are tempted to doubt and worry.
Our Gospel lesson
from Matthew 14, tells us what happened to Jesus and His disciples after He had
fed the large crowd near the Sea of Galilee . Jesus sent the disciples off in boat as He sent
the crowds on their way and He went off to a solitary place to pray. Later on when the disciples were well on
their way, Jesus came to them walking on the water. This in itself was an amazing experience for
the disciples. At first they thought He
was a ghost. Fishermen on the Sea of Galilee knew about the superstitions that had been
around for generations that said if you saw a phantom image out on the water
that something bad was going to happen very soon. That was their first thought. This is a bad sign! They did what most people would have done
under the circumstances. They
screamed! They were scared out of their
wits.
But Jesus spoke
to them and said, as He often did, “It is I.
Do not be afraid.” His comforting
words drove away their fear but at least for Peter, the fear was replaced by
curiosity. We can imagine what he was
thinking. “How does He do that? I wonder if He would show me how He does
it.” His curiosity got the best of him
and he said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” That was a pretty bold request but Jesus
granted his request and said to Peter simply, “Come.” At Jesus’ command, Peter got out of the boat
and walked to Him on the water. Imagine
his surprise. Imagine the shock and
surprise of the other disciples who stayed in the boat. We don’t often think about them and their
response to all of this but they must have had many thoughts racing through
their minds as they saw their companion walking on the water with Jesus. “How could this be? Do you suppose I could walk on the water too?” When it was all over we are told that they
worshiped Jesus and proclaimed, “Truly you are the Son of God.” That is generally the outcome when Jesus did
a miraculous sign. That was actually one
of the purposes of miraculous signs, to show people that Jesus was the Son of
God and the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the Messiah.
We need to go
back to Peter though who actually walked on the water until he began to realize
what he was actually doing. He looked
around at the waves and felt the wind and must have thought to himself, “What
am I doing here?” When that thought hit
him, he began to sink and cried out to Jesus to save him. Jesus reached out and took hold of him and
helped him get back into the boat. Jesus’
word’s to Peter exposed his lack of faith.
“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Why did Peter doubt? Jesus described him as being of little
faith. Didn’t Peter believe in
Jesus? He was one of His strongest
supporters. Why did he doubt? Think through what happened again. Peter desired to do something. He asked Jesus
to allow it to happen. He did what he
wanted to do. He doubted. He sank.
Jesus rescued him. He believed
that Jesus was the Messiah. He had
faith. But when times got difficult, his
trust in Jesus wavered. The devil
planted seeds of doubt in his mind and Peter’s human nature took over. That sinful human nature relies too often on
only human thinking that is limited to human experience and human reason. It caused Peter to doubt and when he took his
eyes off of Jesus and instead looked only at the waves and felt the wind, his
trust in Jesus and His word disappeared and he began to sink into the
water.
Before you shake
your accusing finger at Peter and say, “How could you let that happen?” you
have to think about how you react to the call of Jesus in your life. When you are brought to faith through the
working of the Holy Spirit, you are given the power to believe and trust in
Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You
believe and trust that God made you and has promised to provide you all that
you need in this life. You believe what
the Scriptures say about how the Holy Spirit has given you the gifts and
talents to serve the Lord and His Church.
Like Peter, you see the Lord doing amazing things in your life and in
the lives of others. You have heard the
Lord’s command to go and make disciples.
You have heard the Lord’s promise that He will be with you always. You have heard the Lord’s command to grow in
your faith. Like Peter, you desire to do
all that the Lord commands.
On the day of
your confirmation you promised to be a faithful disciple of the Lord. You meant it with all your heart. Like Peter, you prayed for the Lord’s will to
be done in your life. You were filled
with the Spirit and you had every intention to live a Spirit- filled life of
love and service to the Lord, His Church and to those in need. Like Peter, you also may have stepped out of
the boat, out of your comfort zone, and tried something you had never done
before. You did it. Then like Peter, you began to doubt. You became afraid of what might happen, what
others might think, you became discouraged when some of your efforts
failed. You started to rely on your own
reason instead of trusting in the Lord and, like Peter, you began to sink. In your desperation you called to the Lord and
He pulled you up and placed you in the safety of His church. There you were assured of His love and
forgiveness for your doubt and fear. You
were reminded of the grace of God for fallen sinners, those who gave in to the
devil’s temptations. There you are
reminded through the Word and the Sacraments, the Means of Grace, that through
the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, you are restored. You are strengthened so that when you hear
that command of Jesus to step out of the boat, your comfort zone, and you will
be ready and equipped to use your unique gifts and talents to serve.
As you think
about what happened to Peter, you come to realize that this is actually a
summary of God’s whole plan for our salvation.
God gives us His law, whether written on the tablets of stone like the
Ten Commandments or that law that is written in our hearts. Even though you know God’s will, you go your
own way and fall short of what God expects.
Sin drags you down and finally you call to the Lord for help. Your sorrow over your sin is the beginning of
the process of repentance. You call to Jesus
for rescue and He pulls you up, not because of your good intentions but because
of His grace, His undeserved love for you.
Your sins are forgiven and you are renewed and restored. Like Peter, you are not allowed to sink but
you have new life each time you are declared not guilty by the gracious hand of
your loving God.
Like the
disciples, you can stand in awe of the love and power of the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit. When you realize
all that has been done to rescue you from the eternal punishment that you
deserve because of your sin, you are moved to worship and proclaim Jesus as
Lord and Savior for all to hear. That is
why we come together as people of God.
When we sink because of our sin, Jesus picks us up in spite of our
little faith and our doubt. Therefore we
praise and thank Him as a church and as individuals all our days. Amen.
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