Parallels, Peter and Prayer

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Parallels, Peter and Prayer. My focus is on Matthew (14:22-33). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

As I started thinking about this passage, it dawned on me that there are quite a few movies, songs and books about people’s experience on the sea. Many people have seen at least one version of Titanic. Many still laugh at episodes of Gilligan’s Island. A few of you might sing along with Gordon Lightfoot when you hear The Edmund Fitzgerald. And if you haven’t read a good book lately, I suggest Boys in the Boat, a true story of the 1936 US Olympic crew team.

Moving from popular culture to personal experience, my time at sea has never put me at peril. Mine is limited to cruising. Cindy and I love cruising. We cruised Alaska for our honeymoon, and five years ago, Hawaii. We also cruised the Caribbean and the Rhine River. We love being on the water.

Cruising is difficult work for the crew, as it also was for the seasoned sailors in the Gospel. So, as we examine our passage, let’s have all hands on deck to check two other parallel passages; the insertion of Peter into Matthew; and Jesus at prayer.

First, parallels. Everyone knows that parallel lines are equidistant from each other and never meet. Gymnasts swing and balance on parallel bars and cartographers plot points according to latitudinal parallels. However, how many of you have ever read Gospel parallels?

Gospel parallels compare and contrast Matthew, Mark, Luke and John by aligning them side by side to show where they agree, complement or differ from each other. One of the easiest passages to examine found in Matthew, Mark and Luke is the Parable of the Mustard Seed. Gospel parallels allow us to plunge deeply into a study of The Last Supper, The Passion of Christ and The Resurrection. One of the better online resources for Gospel parallels is the one provided by the University of Toronto.[1]

In the parallels for Matthew’s version of Jesus Walking on Water, both Mark and John preceded it with the Return of the Twelve and the Feeding of the Five Thousand. All three Evangelists tell us that after the feeding, the disciples got into the boat. Mark and Matthew wrote that Jesus made them do so, but John does not. Mark says that they sailed towards Bethsaida; John says they sailed towards Capernaum; and Matthew says the other side, but reports later that they landed in Gennesaret.

Jesus then dismissed the crowds before going into the mountain to pray alone. John does not include this. At night, all three report that Jesus then walked on the Sea of Galilee during rough waves for quite a distance, perhaps several miles, in the middle of the night and caught up to his disciples in the boat. Mark adds a comical line that Jesus intended to pass them. Seeing Jesus walk on the sea frightened (John) or terrorized (Mark and Matthew) the disciples who cried out not because of the rough water, but because they thought they were seeing a ghost (Mark and Matthew). Jesus calmed his disciples by saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

Now, Mark and John tell us that Jesus got into the boat. Whereas John wrote that the disciples “were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going;” Mark wrote that Jesus “got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” I am going to return to those last words of Mark, but for now, I would like to move on to my second point, Peter, because up until verse 28, Matthew sticks to earlier script of Mark, which, in case you were not aware, Mark was the first written gospel. Matthew, however, inserts Peter into the action.

By adding four verses to the story, Matthew does not contradict Mark or John, nor can we say that he fabricated a story. Matthew changed the ending of his version and added Peter for a reason. Remember, all the Evangelists wrote for a particular church in a distinct culture at different times. So, let’s examine why Matthew inserted Peter into the action.

Starting with verse 28, Matthew stresses his own concerns about church. This theophany, this glimpse of Jesus’ divinity – walking on water and his words of self-revelation (“it is I”) is reminiscent of Job saying that God “trampled the waves of the sea.”[2] In Isaiah we read, “Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters.”[3] In Exodus God revealed himself to Moses, saying “I AM WHO I AM.”[4] Again, in Isaiah we read, “I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.”[5]

So, his revelation to the boys in the boat so encourages them that Peter, the leader of the disciples, is emboldened to ask the Lord for the power to walk on the water to meet Jesus. Peter’s address to Jesus as Lord expresses the most solemn form of reverence. His words, “if it is you,” express not doubt but rather confidence that Jesus has the power to make such a thing possible simply by his presence and his command.[6]

Jesus gives his disciple a share in his own power, and Peter is able to act on that grant of power until his fear in the face of such a great peril weakens his faith. As he begins to sink, he repeats the prayer for aid spoken by all the disciples. Recall that earlier the disciples were at sea during a storm and Jesus was sleeping as they were swamped by waves. They were all afraid that they were going to perish and cried, “Save us, Lord!”[7]

Continuing the role of Yahweh in the Old Testament, Jesus stretched out his hand to save Peter from the waters of death. It reminds the reader of Psalm 144: “Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters.”[8]

Jesus then rebuked Peter neither for his rashness in stepping out of the boat nor for his total lack of faith. Rather, he asked a rhetorical question, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”[9] Peter is a man of little faith, but for Matthew, the disciples do have faith and understanding, something that is not the case in Mark. Recall, Mark ends with “their hearts were hardened.”

In Matthew, the problem of the disciples is that, when a crisis comes, when danger looms and everything appears to be about to collapse, the disciples panic and act as though they had no faith. This is what we call ‘littleness of faith,’ which expresses itself in wavering, oscillating and doubting. Doubt is not a denial of faith. In Matthew doubting refers to that personal vacillation in the presence of danger or confusion which can seize even the believing disciple. Even at the final commission (28:17), some of the eleven disciples doubted when confronted with the risen Jesus. This littleness of faith can cause the disciple or church leader to lose his share in the power of Jesus. Yet, Jesus hears the prayer spoken out of imperfect faith, and saves Peter from the waters of death, and the same goes for all those with him.

When we look at the parallels of Jesus entering the boat in Mark and Matthew, we see in the latter that the whole church – those in the boat – bowed down in worship and made a formal profession of faith, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

The believing community professed what God revealed, what Satan tested, and what the demons proclaimed – that Jesus is the Son of God (2:15; 3:17; 4:3,6; 8:29). As opposed to the secrecy of Jesus’ identification in Mark, the profession of faith in Matthew is public – Jesus truly is the Son of God – and He is the guardian and savior of his imperiled church, especially its weak leaders. Folks, if there is anything you should want from your church and for your church, it is a deeper faith in Jesus whenever we waver.[10]

Whenever any of us waver, whenever any of us doubt, we should only say what the sinking Peter shouted, “Lord, save me!” or better yet, “Lord, save us!” In that prayer spoken out of imperfect faith, Jesus will save you and me from the waters of death, from loss of faith and eternal damnation.

Now that we have covered parallels and Peter, let me turn to prayer. In between the scenes of Jesus dismissing the crowds and walking on the water, “he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.”[11] He went up on the mountain by himself to pray. … Have you ever wondered and researched how Jesus prayed? There are many verses in the Gospels and other writings about Jesus praying.

Often, he withdrew to lonely places to pray (Luke 5:1), and sometimes, very early in the morning (Mark 1:35). At times, he praised the Father, Lord of heaven and earth, (Matthew 11:25-26), blessed his holy name (Matthew 6:9) and at other times, he petitioned him, as when he raised Lazarus from the dead: “Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me’” (John 11:41-42). There were times when he prayed to his Father on his knees or flat on his face (Luke 22:41; Matthew 26:39), and even while hanging from the cross (Matthew 27:46). Hebrews reminds us that during the days of Jesus' life on earth, “he offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” (Hebrews 5:7).

The Evangelists recorded Jesus praying with others during the Transfiguration (Luke 9:28 par) and Last Supper when he gave us the Words of Institution (Mark 14:22 par). He prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail, and that he would be able to turn back and strengthen his brothers (Luke 22:32). He prayed for his disciples (John 17:9), those who did not believe (John 17:20f.) and those who crucified him (Luke 23:34).

The disciples prayed together as Church. We read in Acts, “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (1:14). Jesus’ night prayer is a model for all Christians who besides common prayer need periods of silent personal prayer. [12] Hence, it is important to pray in solitude and in community. That said, let me close with a story about our experience of prayer.

When Cindy and I lived in Tinley Park, IL, a southwest suburb of Chicago, we often walked our dogs, Travis and Pepper, past Faith Christian Reformed Church, where the pastor often changed the phrase on the marquee. Once it read: Prayer is a conversation with your best friend. Quite true. Prayer is an intimate conversation with a best friend. Prayer can be likened to me looking at God and God looking at me. Only those who are intimate with one another will feel comfortable with such mutual gazing. I would feel uncomfortable if a stranger, coworker or acquaintance looked at me this way. It would be a stare or a gawk accompanied by an uncomfortable feeling. Not so with God. With Him, I am most intimate.

Cindy and I share this intimacy with God as we begin each morning with a few pages from our common prayer books, now available as apps. Because we usually recited our morning prayer in the family room, Travis and Pepper often chose their playtime to coincide with our prayer time. There have been moments when Cindy and I interrupted our prayer and ended the dogs’ wrestling and barking, but then we learned to continue praying amidst their canine activity.

What I mean is that we must pray amidst activity. Experience teaches us that we cannot control all the activity around us, and must trust that in God’s time, the commotion of this world will stop.

Decades ago, I learned that an infant crying during my sermon would soon stop or that one of the parents would take the child out of earshot. If not, I tuned out the distraction and refocused on my message. Whenever we take time for private or communal prayer, there will always be distractions around us that we cannot stop. People will engage in vice and violence – gossip, infidelity, abortion and an array of abusive behavior towards others and themselves. Parents and caregivers will neglect their children and the elderly. Nations will war on other nations and oppress their own people. Nature will produce hailstorms and heatwaves, blizzards and earthquakes. We must continue to pray through distractions – dog-fights and cosmic disasters.

Friends, because we are like those disciples together in one boat, let me assure you that as you pray in solitude or in common, you will experience an array of feelings and a barrage of activities. I remind you that Jesus gave his peace to his disciples and encouraged them with these words: “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”[13] In God’s time, all distractions will end. At the appropriate time, God will direct us to deal with people’s vices and violence, abuse and oppression. Until then, we must pray amidst activity, and as we do, I pray that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1]http://sites.utoronto.ca/religion/synopsis/

[2] Job 9:8.

[3] Isaiah 43:16.

[4] Exodus 3:14.

[5] Isaiah 41:4

[6] Meier, 98.

[7] Matthew 8:25.

[8] Psalm 144:7.

[9] Matthew 14:31.

[10] Meier, 97ff.

[11] Matthew 14:23.

[12] JBC, 658.

[13] John 14:27.