Where I grew up in the UK was about as far as you could get from the sea. Both Skegness and Weston-super-Mare were comparatively close in Canadian terms, just short of 200 kms away! I’m glad to say that my parents were able to take us on many seaside holidays. In the years since, the sea has always retained both fascination and mystery, so any vacation that includes the sea is always a priority for me.
The Sea of Galilee, of course, is actually not the sea as such, but a substantial inland lake; that said, it is very small compared with any of the Great Lakes. Nonetheless, the lake where the disciples fished is prone to storms, as noted in this week’s gospel passage. Their small fishing boats were sometimes no match for the storms, and so it is little wonder that the disciples, on more than one occasion, were literally terrified!
It is in this context that we hear that Jesus appears to come towards their boat, walking on the water. Perhaps not surprisingly, the disciples thought they had seen a ghost! Jesus arrived in the middle of the night in a terrible storm, so their reaction seems entirely appropriate. Jesus now seems to set the disciples’ minds at rest: he tells them it is indeed him, and that they have no need to be afraid.
The irrepressible Peter wants to get in on the action and asks to join Jesus in walking on the water. This doesn’t go to plan as he begins to sink. Jesus reaches out his hand and suggests that Peter is in trouble because of his lack of faith.
As one author (Jacque) suggests, it is often in times of challenge and difficulty that we move forward in our faith. That resonates with me, not least when I was in a job years ago that wasn’t going as expected. It was quite a journey, but the outcome was a new job, where I found my niche.
This, for me, is the central focus as I look at this passage. In our faith journey, there are occasions when our faith is sometimes strained, and even if we don’t second-guess God, we certainly second-guess ourselves. When this happens, we are encouraged to look for the long game. To seek clarity in what we are doing, or thinking of doing, and then wait. Perhaps that’s the hardest part … few of us like to wait; we’d rather have an answer now. In reality, only when we wait, only when we have patience, and yes, sometimes endure hardship, does the way forward emerge.
Fr Stephen Rowe