SPEAKER_00: I want you to imagine standing on the shore that evening.
SPEAKER_00: You've just watched Jesus feed more than five thousand people with no more than five loaves and two fish.
SPEAKER_00: You would expect celebration, a grand miracle, rest, a peaceful night.
SPEAKER_00: But instead, Jesus points to the boat and says to his disciples, get in.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew is very deliberate here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not simply invite them into the boat, he made them get into the boat.
SPEAKER_00: He compelled them.
SPEAKER_00: He sent them into the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And that changes the whole gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Because the storm they are about to face is not punishment.
SPEAKER_00: It is not proof that they misunderstood God.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a sign that they took a wrong turn.
SPEAKER_00: They are exactly where Jesus told them to be.
SPEAKER_00: And still the wind is against them.
SPEAKER_00: And that's difficult for us to accept sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Because somewhere along the way, many of us have picked up the idea that if we are doing God's will, then our lives should be easier.
SPEAKER_00: If we're faithful, the road should be smoother.
SPEAKER_00: If God is pleased with us, the storm should stop.
SPEAKER_00: But this gospel tells us something completely different.
SPEAKER_00: You are exactly where God wants you to be.
SPEAKER_00: And you still may be exhausted, still confused, lacking faith, still afraid, still rowing against the wind.
SPEAKER_00: But God has you where he wants you.
SPEAKER_00: Faithfulness does not always remove the storm.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes faithfulness puts you right in the middle of one.
SPEAKER_00: And while the disciples are fighting the wind, where is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, he's up on the mountain praying.
SPEAKER_00: And this detail matters.
SPEAKER_00: While they are struggling, he's praying.
SPEAKER_00: While they are exhausted, he's praying.
SPEAKER_00: While they cannot see him, he has not forgotten them for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples could not see the mountain from the boat, but Jesus could see the boat from the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody here today needs to hear that.
SPEAKER_00: You may not be able to see God from where you are, but he sees you very clearly.
SPEAKER_00: But then Matthew tells us that Jesus comes during the fourth night, fourth watch of the night.
SPEAKER_00: That's an important detail.
SPEAKER_00: That's probably about between three and six o'clock in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: Now the gospel is told us that we've they've been rowing for hours.
SPEAKER_00: Hour after hour, stroke after stroke, the same darkness, the same wind, the same storm, the same resistance.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus waited.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But something I've learned from my own priesthood, God is rarely early according to my schedule.
SPEAKER_00: But he has never been late.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the greatest graces of my life only became visible after I had reached the end of my own strength.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps that's why Christ comes in the fourth watch.
SPEAKER_00: Not when they are strong, not when the disciples are confident, but when they almost have nothing left inside of them.
SPEAKER_00: But then comes the strangest moment in the story.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus comes walking across the water, and they scream.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: The storm is raging, it's been raging for hours.
SPEAKER_00: The waves are pounding on the boat, water coming in.
SPEAKER_00: These are fishermen.
SPEAKER_00: They are used to storms out on the water.
SPEAKER_00: But what terrifies them is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Or more precisely, Jesus, that they do not recognize.
SPEAKER_00: They say, it is a ghost.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if that is not one of the greatest dangers of our spiritual life.
SPEAKER_00: Not that Christ is absent, but that Christ is present and we mistake him for something else.
SPEAKER_00: How often has he come towards us disguised as something we did not want, perhaps disguised as an interruption or a disappointment, disguised as a closed door, or even a difficult person, a diagnosis, a cross that we didn't ask for.
SPEAKER_00: And because he did not come in the form that we expected, well, we call him a ghost.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Elijah discovers in the first reading.
SPEAKER_00: He expects God in this huge, big, dramatic way.
SPEAKER_00: A violent wind, the earthquake, the fire, but God is not there.
SPEAKER_00: He comes in this tiny whisper.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't expect that.
SPEAKER_00: And Elijah knows God has always loved arriving in forms.
SPEAKER_00: The world overlooks.
SPEAKER_00: A whisperer, a carpenter, a crucified man, bread.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus speaks across the storm.
SPEAKER_00: He says to them in the boat, Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: But the words translated in it is I are much stronger than they sound in English.
SPEAKER_00: Because in the Greek, Jesus says, I am.
SPEAKER_00: It's the divine name.
SPEAKER_00: It's the name that's revealed to Moses.
SPEAKER_00: When Moses asks God at the burning bush, who do I say that you are?
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am.
SPEAKER_00: He's not merely telling them who is walking on the water, he's revealing who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Take courage.
SPEAKER_00: I am.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the order.
SPEAKER_00: Courage on one side, fear on the other.
SPEAKER_00: And in the middle of that, God.
SPEAKER_00: That's where Christian courage comes from.
SPEAKER_00: Not because the storm is small, not because the waves are imaginary, but because God is present.
SPEAKER_00: And notice something else: Jesus does not calm the storm immediately.
SPEAKER_00: The wind keeps blowing.
SPEAKER_00: Because before he changes their circumstances, he gives them himself.
SPEAKER_00: That's often how God works.
SPEAKER_00: We ask for answers, he gives us his presence.
SPEAKER_00: We ask for explanations, he gives us himself.
SPEAKER_00: But then Peter speaks Lord, if it is you, command me to come out to you on the water.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus has come.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter gets out of the boat.
SPEAKER_00: We criticize Peter because he eventually sinks.
SPEAKER_00: But let's give him some credit.
SPEAKER_00: The other eleven stayed in the boat.
SPEAKER_00: He's the only one that stepped out.
SPEAKER_00: And for a few astonishing moments, he's walking on the water.
SPEAKER_00: The impossible held him.
SPEAKER_00: But then Matthew says that when he saw how strong the wind was, he became frightened.
SPEAKER_00: But the wind had been strong all night.
SPEAKER_00: The wind did not change.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's attention did.
SPEAKER_00: That's often what happens to us.
SPEAKER_00: Christ has not moved.
SPEAKER_00: The promises of God has not changed, but our attention shifts.
SPEAKER_00: We become distracted, overwhelmed, relying only on us.
SPEAKER_00: But from Christ to everything shaking around us, and Peter begins to sink.
SPEAKER_00: But then he prays perhaps the most honest prayer in all of the gospels.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Lord, save me.
SPEAKER_00: Three words no eloquence, no great theology, no carefully prepared speech.
SPEAKER_00: Lord save me.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately Jesus reaches out his hand and immediately he grabs him.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss the contrast.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus waited hours before he walked out across the water.
SPEAKER_00: But when Peter began to sink, he did not wait one second to catch him.
SPEAKER_00: God's timing may sometimes feel slow to you.
SPEAKER_00: It's not on your time, it's on God's time.
SPEAKER_00: But something that we cannot miss is that his mercy is never late.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus takes Peter by the hand, they climb into the boat, and only then does the wind become still.
SPEAKER_00: Then something happens that is even greater than walking on water.
SPEAKER_00: All of the disciples fall down to their knees and say to Jesus, Truly you are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: They did not say this after the multiplication of the loaves.
SPEAKER_00: They did not say this after a very successful day out in ministry.
SPEAKER_00: They say it after the night that almost broke them.
SPEAKER_00: There are things you will know about God in a storm that you will never know when the seas are calm.
SPEAKER_00: There are prayers you will only learn when there is a storm.
SPEAKER_00: There are truths about Christ that only become real when everything else you trusted has failed.
SPEAKER_00: And so perhaps the real question of this gospel is not, will storms come?
SPEAKER_00: Of course they will.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, will you recognize Christ when he comes to you in the middle of one?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you so distracted in your head, so consumed by the me, me, me?
SPEAKER_00: Because in a few moments he will come to you.
SPEAKER_00: Not in an earthquake, no fire, no dazzling night, no huge event, just bread.
SPEAKER_00: Simple bread.
SPEAKER_00: Ordinary in its appearance, the world may see it as a cookie, easy to overlook, easy to take for granted, and yet beneath that humility is the same Lord who walked across the sea.
SPEAKER_00: The same Lord who said, Take courage, it is I, I am.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you will approach this altar today carrying a storm nobody else knows about, a struggle that you are going through.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are tired from rowing.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have lack of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are frightened, some of you feel like the water is rising and coming into your boat.
SPEAKER_00: When you come forward, do not simply receive communion.
SPEAKER_00: Recognize him.
SPEAKER_00: Recognize the one who has seen you all along.
SPEAKER_00: Recognize the one who's been praying from you from the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: Recognize the one who into the storm, who comes into the storm before he calms it.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have nothing left, then you have Peter's prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, save me.
SPEAKER_00: Because the same hand that reached out through the waves is the same hand that caught Peter.
SPEAKER_00: It is the same hand that stretched out his arms on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same hands that come to you in the Holy Eucharist.
SPEAKER_00: The question is no longer whether Jesus is coming towards you.
SPEAKER_00: He is coming towards you.
SPEAKER_00: And he sees you.
SPEAKER_00: The question is whether you leave all the distractions, will you leave all the noise and recognize him when he's there standing in front of you?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.