Today’s readings remind us of how God responds to our need for help. God speaks to the prophet Elijah not in earthquake, wind and fire but in a mysterious silence. In the second reading, Paul declares that salvation comes to those who call on Jesus as Lord. In the gospel, Peter’s faith falters as he walks toward Jesus over the waves, but Jesus holds him.
The readings are here.
The Old Testament reading is from I Kings. The prophet Elijah was active in the northern kingdom of Israel in the middle of the ninth century BC. He was an opponent of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who supported the worship of Baal and other Canaanite fertility gods. Today’s passage follows Elijah’s demonstration that Yahweh is in control of the forces of nature (17:1) and is mightier than Baal (18:20-39). Elijah then flees the vengeance of Jezebel (19:1-3). An angel strengthens him on his journey to Horeb (an alternate name for Sinai).
God’s revelation to Elijah echoes God’s revelation to Moses (Exodus 33:17-23). Like Moses, Elijah receives a revelation and a commission from the Lord. Like Moses, Elijah has gone through conflict with royalty and is fleeing for his life. Like Moses he feels inadequate to the task but is sent back into the fray. He is given specific instructions from God.
In the Gospel Matthew 14:22-33, Jesus demonstrates his mastery over wind and sea (which, in the Old Testament, symbolized the powers of chaos and death) and is near to rescue the disciples when they desperately need help. He identifies himself by using the words, “It is I,” which echo God’s own self-description that became the proper name for God in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 43:10-13).
The story takes up just after the Feeding of the 5,000
“Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side”. Things are not going well in the boat battling both the waves and the wind.
This story has many similarities to the narratives of the resurrection appearances; the disciples are afraid, they don’t recognize Jesus, they take him for a ghost, and finally they are reassured by him. Matthew adds the story of Peter’s attempt to imitate Jesus, illustrating the themes of discipleship and faith.
Peter asks for and receives a share of Jesus’ power, but when his attention is distracted he begins to give way. His doubt is neither a denial of faith, nor intellectual questioning, but a lack of sufficient trust, a personal vacillation in the face of confusion and danger. Especially in Matthew’s time, the “boat” of the Church, “beaten by the waves” of hostility and persecution, needed reassurance that the Lord was always nearby.
Matthew emphasizes the emergence of Peter as both a representative of every disciple and as the leader and spokesman of the Twelve. The section falls into three parts, each of which ends with a story, specific to Matthew, about Peter: 13:54–14:33, Peter walking on the water; 14:34–16:20, Peter’s confession; and 16:21–17:27, Peter paying the temple tax.
Peter also full of fear, not because of the struggle the disciples are having in the boat, trying to make progress against the strong wind blowing against them, but because he sees a vision walking toward the disciples on the water But soon a new fear overtakes him. The strong wind threatens to blow him down and make him sink, and his fear does him in. His greatest fears are realized when he starts to sink. And so he cries out to Jesus, “Lord, save me.” Now this prayer is one of total desperation
Peter had doubted Jesus on several levels—one, even after Jesus had identified himself, Peter still doubted and wanted proof. Even after Jesus had offered proof and Peter had acted on the dare, Peter got distracted and his fear of nothing but the wind made him doubt all over again. And yet, in the face of these doubts, Jesus was faithful to Peter. Jesus saved Peter and the two of them got in the boat with the other disciples, and the wind ceased
God is always in the process of saving us, even when we head back to our caves, or when we begin to sink in doubt because we get distracted by something like the wind and look away from God.
St. Augustine provides a meaning for us as we are on another sea:
You are not walking on the lake like Peter
but on another sea, for this world is a sea;
Trials its waves, temptations its storms,
and men devouring each other as fishes do.
Don’t be afraid, step out stoutly lest you sink.
When the gale blows and the waves rise,
and your weakness makes you fear you will be lost,
cry out, ‘Lord, I am sinking,’
and he who bade you walk will not let you perish.
-Augustine of Hippo 354-430
Sermon 141, Psalm 39 passim
Quoted from “The Heart at Rest—daily readings with St. Augustine”