A Cycle – 19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 23

Mt. 14:22-33

What compelled Peter to ask, “if it is really you, command me to come to you and walk on water?”  His words indicate he was not sure it was Christ. Was his question one of “he needed assurance what he was witnessing was real.  Or was it because he wanted to do something he knew was physically impossible?  We know by this time in Peter’s life he has witnessed many miracles by Jesus. He had seen Him transfigured.  More than that he, himself had performed miracles in the name of Jesus. He somehow because he was sent out with another disciple to “proclaim the Kingdom is at hand” he could tap into the power of God.  

Another question can be asked about this story and that is why the other disciples remained in the boat.  Was it because they too were uncertain about who was walking on the water toward them?  Perhaps they were so astonished they were beyond words.  Who was Jesus that He could walk on water, commands the winds, and invite Peter to step out of the boat and join Him.  How do they respond to what is happening?  We know after it was all over, they acknowledged Jesus as the Son of Man and did Him homage.  But why were they silent as this miracle unfolded?

Is it perhaps because Jesus is unpredictable. He does things and says things that challenge the very concept of how we are to relate to God.

 Each week we have Jesus coming to us, present with us and speaking to us. What is our response? It does not seem to be one of wonder and awe.  It does not seem to be one of questioning how we are to respond to what is before us.  It does not seem to challenge us nor compel us to challenge Jesus by our demanding Him to call us to Himself.  Yet, it should be significant enough an event creating within us something that invites us to respond.

We have a problem because our expectations of Jesus are lower than He wants to give us.  We only allow Jesus to be present to us in certain ways and certain settings.  We faithfully follow the dictates of our faith and without realizing it, we have put restraints on how Jesus can interact with us.  We, like the disciples, remain in the boat while waiting and watching for someone to challenge us to wonder if we too should be asking questions of Jesus. 

We see and hear about how God is at work among us and yet we continue to sit in the boat without experiencing the miracle of Jesus’ touch.  Recently, in our parish, we had a young teen give witness to her leg being healed by God. Yes, a miracle healing all because one person believed God wanted to do something unusual at that gathering of teens.  God prompted the leader that evening to walk in faith and step out of the safety of the boat. To let everyone there that night “God wanted to heal a leg of someone in the second row.” 

God came in power and that person stepped out in faith. The girl in the second row indeed had a leg that was fractured and was very painful.  She heard those words of what God wanted to do and she believed and embraced what God was doing.  Wow, you would think that would cause a great revival of faith in our community of faith.  Yet, other than wonder and awe, like the disciples, the people remained in the boat. 

My brothers and sisters we it took more than courage for Peter to ask Jesus to command him to walk on water.   It takes a desire to discover the extent of what Jesus can do for us and within us.  We need to do more than acknowledge and believe He came to die for our sins. 

We need to risk the uncertainty of taking a step onto and into a place where we are dependent on Jesus Christ.  We need to respond to the promptings of the Spirit and allow God to do marvelous things among us each time we gather.  We need to do more than what we are currently experiencing.  God is walking to us on water. We can close our eyes and allow the Word of God to penetrate our hearts. To hear, not the lector but God speaking to our hearts nudging us to respond. 

We can open ourselves to hear the Spirit use the homily to clarify for us how we are to respond when we know Jesus is inviting us to get out of our place of comfort and walk with Him.    

 Jesus is present to us listening to the prayers we offer for the church, our community and ourselves. We are to own them, make those prayers our prayers for ourselves and those we love, knowing God always hears our prayers.   We are not begging when we finish the prayer by saying Lord hear our prayer.  We are aware God always hears our prayers.

Jesus is us in the prayers of the church and as the Holy Spirit comes down and transforms bread into the Body of Christ into His very self. Body, soul, and divinity come not on water but in the form of bread and wind.  We walk toward Him and put out our hands just as Peter did and plead for Christ to save us.  He reaches out to us, and we can hear Him say to us as He did the woman at the well, all you need is found in me.

How can we fail to respond with anything less than saying from deep within us, “you truly are the Son of God.”