LOWMAN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Topeka, Kansas Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors
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“Keep Your Eyes Only on Jesus – Part II”
Sermon by Rev. Dan Waters
June 22, 2008

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33 and Mark 4:35-41

Well, for those of you that were here last Sunday, you know that today is Part II of what I talked about last week, and the continuity is: last week I talked about the other great miracle of Jesus – when he calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Remember, they were all in the boat, and the boat was about to sink, and Jesus was asleep in the boat? And the way Mark tells the story in his gospel, the disciples said, “Don’t you care that we’re about to die?” And Jesus said (by his actions), “Yes, I do care,” because he got up and he stilled the storm. But not only did he still the storm, he stilled their hearts and their souls. And he also (as in this story) said to them, “Where is your faith? Why are you not having the faith to deal with this?”

We talked about (last week) how these kinds of miracles still happen when Jesus calms the storms in our lives, using a more allegorical reference. Jesus calms storms like fear, guilt, loneliness, depression, hopelessness, conflict with others in our lives – but also my conflict with myself (sometimes the hardest person for me to live with is me, and Jesus calms that storm, too). How does Jesus calm storms? He calms them through his power and his presence, through his mercy and his grace, through his strength and his love. And sometimes we receive those when there’s nobody else around; it’s just us. Or we may even be like the old cliché: alone in a crowded room. We may not even be aware of all the people around us, but Jesus just touches us in that miraculous way that calms the storm that’s raging in us. But, more often, it’s someone else that reaches out to us as a channel of Jesus’ love and grace, mercy and power, strength and presence. And sometimes you and I have even been privileged to be that channel in which Jesus, calming the storms, can flow through us to someone in need. And I said that’s what the Church is for – we’re to be storm-calmers, but not just for each other. God calls us to go out into the world and calm storms in other people’s lives, not with our own wisdom, not even with our own love, but with the power and love that God uses through us.

Well, today is Part II. I’m going to talk about the other great miracle: where Jesus walked on the water. Now, the disciples took that as further evidence that he was indeed divine - the Son of God - and they worshipped him, because he had power over the elements. And in this story, also, there’s a calming of the storm. There may kind of be in the gospel re-telling a little blending of several stories here. But as William Barclay - the great Scottish Presbyterian Bible teacher points out - what makes this story so special is that when the disciples had a need, Jesus came to them. Jesus didn’t say, “Well, we built this $5,000,000 building, and put it at the corner of 15th and Gage, and we set up a worship time at 10:15 (or 4:00 on Saturday if you’d rather come then), and when you want help, you come to me.” And yet that’s so much of our attitude toward our neighborhood, and our community, and the world around us. That’s not what Jesus did. Jesus went to them in their time of need, and that’s what Jesus calls us to do. But he also
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calls us to go with him.

There’s something extra in this story, though, and that’s Peter. What does Peter do? Well, he speaks, as always. Peter speaks up. Peter, in the Gospels, is always the one that speaks out, and sometimes he’s kind of off the target. I was sitting here thinking about Physics. Now, I didn’t take Physics (it’s a long story why I didn’t take Physics), but there’s something about surface tension, and about molecular weight of the H20 molecules, and so forth, and why some things float and others don’t, and I thought, “Well, actually, if I remember right, wood floats because it has lots of trapped air in it.” And since Peter was full of hot air…well, never mind. Peter was a great guy, though. He’s our example. And especially today as we think about our own call to get out of the boat and walk on water.

Before I do, I want to read that poem that I read last week. Now, some of you weren’t here, and so you wouldn’t have had a chance to hear it last week. And some of you were here, and you need to hear it again. In fact, I think you’ll probably enjoy hearing it again. It’s from the book called Slow Down, Moses, and that title is a parody or a play on the words of the old spiritual “Go Down, Moses”. And it’s a humorous look at Bible characters. This poem is entitled “Miracles”, and it’s by David Steele.

I well recall my Bible class.
We read how Jesus trod the sea.
I often watched the little lass
Who sat two seats away from me.

I noticed she began to draw
In her book, among her notes,
A quite amazing replica
Of Jesus standing on two boats.

I thought, “A soul could not obtain
A statement much more lyrical.
That drawing makes completely plain
Her thought about that miracle.”

And when we got to talking
She was clear about her views:
If a man goes water walking
He must wear enormous shoes.

She had chosen the empirical
As her daily regimen,
So she asked of every miracle,
“Did that really happen then?”

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We haven’t met in years.
I wonder what she’d say.
Do you think she still adheres
To that point of view today?

‘Cause I have a new suggestion,
Which I’m ready to avow,
Of a more important question:
“Does that ever happen now?”

Not long ago I very nearly
Forfeited my poise and balance,
By taking on a task that clearly
Overstretched my meager talents.
(And Brendan and Sarah: last week at this point, I interjected
for the benefit of all the Bible School families here –
the task that clearly overstretches my meager talents –
the first one I thought of was parenthood. It about did me in! But…we survived.)

I was going well, pursuing
Goals with vigor, vim, and verve.
Till I thought, What am I doing?
And began to lose my nerve.

Thoughts of failure and of dread
Were the ones that I could think.
I was in above my head
And I felt my spirits sink.

I was ready to give in,
(Which is something I despise)
Till a friend began to grin
As I looked into his eyes.

The message there was plain.
I could see that it was true:
“Stop acting so inane,
For I still believe in you.”

That gave me such a lift!
I’m so grateful to that man!
For I made a major shift
From “I Cannot” to “I Can.”

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I finished simply great.
Oh, success was never sweeter.
And soon I could relate
My experience with Peter.

The way that Jesus reached to save
Floundering Peter in that sea,
And kept his head above the wave,
Was what my friend had done for me.

I was joyful and elated,
More than just a trifle awed.
Had I just participated
In a miracle of God?

I still have not decided
What took place in Peter’s boat.
But I know the Lord provided
Strength to keep my head afloat.
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I think that I could show
My friend, if we should ever meet,
That to traipse on H20
You don’t need gigantic feet.

Has living also taught her
(I have a hunch it may)
That walking on the water
Is quite commonplace today?

So what does “walking on water” mean in today’s reference? Does it mean being able to accomplish something that at times might seem to be difficult, or even impossible? What does that word “impossible” mean anyway? I think it was the Seabees Construction Battalion in WWII in the Navy (and Don Debarge says, “Oh, yeah, we said that in the Marines, too” yesterday to me after church), but they had a poster that said…or a motto that said: The difficult we do right away; the impossible takes a little longer. Yeah, you’ve heard it before, too. And as long as God is part of that equation, I think that’s a wonderful, wonderful attitude to have. In other words, don’t leave God out of it, but include God in it.

And if I had time to show you a video clip, I would re-show you…I think this is my absolute favorite of all my video clips…it may have even been my first video clip I ever showed…it’s the one about Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back, when he’s on the planet Dagobah with Yoda, and his X-wing sinks in the water. And Luke says, “We’ll never get it out.” And Yoda says, “You’re so sure? Use the force, Luke.” And
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he tries and fails, and he says, “You want the impossible.” Then, of course, you know, Yoda, using the force, levitates the ship out of the water and sets it on dry land, and Luke is stunned. And he looks at Yoda, and he looks at the X-wing, and he says, “I don’t believe it!” And Yoda says, “That is why you fail.”

Jesus asked us to do the impossible. Really? Yes, he did. In the story of the Rich Ruler – you remember he came up to Jesus and said, “My life is a mess. What do I need to do to get my life straightened out?” And Jesus said, “You’ve done everything you need to do except one thing, and that is sell all that you have and give the money to the poor.” And the Rich Ruler said, “Uh, I’ll pass on that. I think I’ll keep what I’ve got.”
And so, as the man walked away, Jesus said, “You know, it’s easier to pass a camel through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” And the disciples were stunned! They were scandalized! They were dumbfounded! And they cried out with real (I think) dismay, “Well then, who can be saved?” What did Jesus say next? He said, “What is impossible for humans, is possible for God.” He was saying salvation is impossible for humans, but it’s possible for God. And we believe in salvation, don’t we? Don’t we? That’s a greater miracle than walking on the water, surface tension, molecular weight, and all that stuff aside. God’s gift of salvation to us in human terms is impossible, but we believe in it anyway.

What else does God ask us to do that’s impossible? When Jesus was having his “going away” address to the disciples in the Upper Room, in John’s gospel it records that Jesus said, “After I’ve gone back into Heaven, you’re going to receive the Holy Spirit, and that’s a good thing for you. And then, you will do greater things than even I did.” “Huh? You’re the Son of God, you’re our Savior, and you say we’re going to do greater things than you?” Jesus said, “Yes, because you’ll be doing them without me here to lead you in person. You’re going to be winning the world to have faith in me. You’re going to be building the Church, not into an organization, but into a kingdom where all the people know the love of God, and know the love of each other. You’re going to be like me.” Over and over again, Jesus says, “If you want to be my disciples…if you want to be my followers…you have to become like me.” Well, how hard is that? Is it impossible? In human terms, it is. In other words, Jesus was saying you need to “get out of the boat”.

All humanity, all of us, are in the same boat, going through life, and we have things that happen to us. Some people have relatively easy lives. They don’t have apartment fires that mean that all of their possessions are destroyed and they have to go somewhere else; they don’t have tornadoes that destroy their communities; or floods that wreck their economies; they don’t have tumors or birth defects, or things like that. But, pretty much all of us face those kinds of things from day to day. But Jesus was talking about more than that. He was talking about “getting out of the boat” to follow him, and to do the greater things that he was talking about with his disciples: serving others, witnessing to our faith, and building the Kingdom of God here in this world. It’s so easy to just stay in the boat, and just go along for the ride! And nothing changes…nothing changes out in the world…and nothing really changes in here [taps chest]. Even if we
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say we believe in Jesus, and we love Jesus, if we never get out of the boat, we don’t grow. We don’t become like him. And we don’t receive the kind of life God wants us to have: abundant, and eternal, and full of gifts and fruit through the Holy Spirit. So, Jesus says, “You’ve got to get out of the boat!” It’s a little scary, isn’t it?

And then he says, “And you’ve got to let go of the side, too!” I think a lot of us are kind of wanting to split the difference. We want to have one foot out on the water and say, “This is my Christian self”, but this side we want to hang on to the boat and say, “This is my worldly self”, and I kind of bounce back and forth between the two, and that doesn’t work very well. It’s a start, but we need to go that next step of faith and get out of the boat and follow him. The only way it’ll work is if we do what? What’s the sermon title today? Keep our eyes fixed only on Jesus. You see, that’s what we can learn from our friend Peter. At first, he did okay. But then what happened? He got distracted. He started thinking about just how scary this was (the wind); he started thinking about a lot of other things, and he forgot to keep his eyes on Jesus, and he sank.
But the good news is Jesus reached down and pulled him up, and Peter eventually became the head of the church. And thanks be to God for that.

Now, when you get out of the boat and you keep your eyes on Jesus, you will be living in God’s will, and it isn’t always the same as your will. You might have the idea that you need big shoes. If you just had those big…in fact, when my boys were growing up and they had really big feet, I used to call their shoes “canoes”. I hadn’t ever heard this poem before, but I’d say, “Get your canoes on and let’s go.” We think we know how to organize our lives so that we can do these things, but Jesus says, “No, I’ve got a different plan for you.”

I want to share with you a poem by Dr. Howard Rusk from the New York University Institute of Rehabilitative Medicine, although it’s been around the internet a few times attributed to an unknown Confederate soldier, and I don’t remember who else…Roy Campanella - it was attributed to him:

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve,
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy,
I was given poverty, that I might be wise…
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of all people,
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things…
I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
Among all people, I am most richly blessed.
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And the last thing I want to say is: in our office there down the hall, somebody – maybe it was Robin, maybe it was Wally, because it was there before I came – put this little poster up on the bulletin board, and it says: What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? Well, first, we’d have to get out of the boat, and then we have to let go of the boat, and most importantly, we have to keep our eyes fixed firmly on Jesus.