This Sunday's Gospel lesson is the story of Jesus walking on the water. This is one of my favorite stories from the Gospels, but not for the reasons you might think. 

The story goes like this: Jesus sends the disciples ahead of him in the boat; now I'm not sure how they expected Jesus to meet up with them, but they go on ahead of him, leaving Jesus stranded on the other side of the lake. I am told that the Sea of Galilee is prone to violent storms forming very quickly and without warning, and it is one these storms that the disciples find themselves fighting as they cross the water. Imagine the scene. The disciples are in a small fishing boat, sailing across one of the deepest lakes in the world, and they encounter a violent storm. They must have been afraid. Then out of the mist from the rain and wind they see someone walking across the water toward them. They must have been afraid. We are told that Jesus tells them not to be afraid, but I have my suspicions that those words did little to relieve their fear. 

Here is why this is one of my favorite stories. It's not because Jesus broke the laws of physics and walked on water. It's because Peter asks to walk on the water with Jesus, and so he does. We often hear this story told as yet one more of Peter's faults, because he is accused of having so little faith. But does he? No one else stepped off the boat, in the face of the storm, and stepped on to the water. But Peter did! No one else walked toward Jesus. But Peter did! The rest of the disciples sat in the boat, waiting for Jesus to come to them. Peter got out of the relative safety of the boat and walked toward Jesus. \

It is when Peter became distracted by the waves and the storm that he began to sink, and we all become distracted by the things happening around us, those things that create fear. When we take our eyes off Jesus, we begin to sink. But isn't it wonderful to know that Jesus is always there when we begin to sink. He's always there reaching out his hand to catch us, and all we need to do is take his hand. We may get wet, but we won't sink.

Grace and Peace,

Fr. Jeremy