Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC, 13 Aug. 2017, Proper 14
Year A RCL: Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28; Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b; Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33
When
we hear today's Gospel, we tend to
focus on Peter's sinking in fear &
Jesus asking, “...why did you doubt?”
Notice
what else Peter does.
Peter
is the only one among his fellow terrified disciples
to take the big
step out of the boat
in that storm to be with Jesus.
He
does
walk on water,
however briefly.
however briefly.
In
his book, If
You Want to Walk on Water You've Got to Get Out of the Boat,
John Ortberg sees Peter's “Getting out of the boat [& walking
as] Peter's great gift to Jesus...[and] the experience of walking on
water [as] Jesus' great gift to Peter.”1
While
Peter keeps his eyes on Jesus, he walks on water. When he notices the
strong wind, fear takes over. He starts sinking.
We have to keep our focus on Jesus.
We have to keep our focus on Jesus.
When
life's storms arise, we, like the disciples, may forget: Genesis 1 says: God moves
in the beginning of creation, sending a wind over the waters of
chaos; Exodus 15 says God sends
wind to part the Red Sea & turn it into dry land.
We
have to rely on the great gift God gives us:
the gift of the Holy
Spirit to guide us
through life's storms.
We may have to get our feet
wet to do the work
God calls us/calls you to do.
Sometimes
it takes time to find our new calling in life's changes. A long ago
friend's new life after retirement comes to mind. After his success as
owner of a restaurant & bar, he worked with Habitat for Humanity
in Valdosta, GA. My husband & I were reminded of this in a newspaper tribute after his death in June.
[Tribute
by The Valdosta Daily Times Executive Editor Dean Polling at
Stuart
Mullis was a big man in his positive impact on people & literally
broad & over 6 feet tall. After selling his business, he
volunteers at Habitat & is not initially impressed working in
100-degree summer heat pushing a wheelbarrow full of sod. Then he
encounters a boy from the Habitat house next door & becomes a
believer in Habitat's effectiveness.
The
children & their mother come outside to play. Stuart cuts his
hand. The little boy with 2 front teeth missing comes over, looks at
his hand & asks what's happened. Stuart says he cut it &
playfully asks the boy what happened to his teeth. He says, “My
daddy knocked them out" & he wraps his arms around Stuart's
legs & says, "Thanks to you for our house, he'll never do
that again."3
Stuart
hadn't worked on their house. This was his 1st
Habitat experience. But the child knew Habitat helped him & his
family have a home.4
That
little boy walked on water to Stuart.
On
that 1st
project, Stuart learned Habitat needed a local executive director. He
applied, was hired, & served well, being generous & firm with
Habitat's required sweat equity as the way people pay for their
homes.5
Stuart
did a lot of walking on water.
A
blind man wanted a house for his disabled wife. Stuart offered a
creative opportunity for sweat equity: Habitat had received about "a
million nuts & bolts”, which a store couldn't sell because they
were mixed in damaged boxes.
Day
by day in the cold winter, the blind man came to Habitat's storage
facility & stood sorting nuts & bolts by hand to fulfill his
sweat equity for the house he wanted because he loved his wife.6
That's
walking on water.
Building houses is work.
Building relationships is
work.
Building up the Body of
Chris is work.
Work
requires rest.
In our Gospel today notice:
Jesus is alone with God, taking a rest
after feeding the 5,000 & sending the disciples off in that boat.
Early in the morning he comes to the disciples walking on the water.
Life's
storms distract us.
May
we have the grace to take time
to rest
&
take
time
to walk on water.
Bibliography
The Four Translation New
Testament. Minneapolis: World Wide Publications. New York: The
Iversen Assocs. 1966.
Harper’s Bible
Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper &
Row Publishers. 1988.
Holy Bible. New
Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Jewish Study Bible:
Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford
University Press. 2004.
The
New American Bible for Catholics. South
Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
New
Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha.
Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University
Press, Incorporated, 1977.
Ortberg,
John. If You Want to Walk on Water,
You've Got to Get Out of the Boat.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 2001.
Polling,
Dean. Executiv Executive
Editor. The
Valdosta Daily Times.
“Stuart Mullis”
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/remembering-the-man-that-habitat-built/article_6677c42b-d285-5f31-8298-e16d616aa744.html
Accessed: 30 June 2017.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
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