Getting Out of the Boat

In yesterday's Gospel (Matthew 14:22-33) Jesus went walking on the water. This is pretty amazing, but the point of the story is that Jesus is the Son of God (see verse 33). We should expect that Jesus should be able to do things that we cannot do, like heal the sick, raise the dead and walk on water. But in the story Peter asked Jesus to "command him" to come to him--and walk on the water also. Jesus did, and for a brief moment Peter participated in divine possibilities.

At the end of Matthew's Gospel Jesus gives the disciples the "Great Commission" that they should go all over the world, teaching others what he taught them, baptizing them, and thus spreading the kingdom of heaven. I think this is another command to "get out of the boat."

In today's world we Christians have a unique message. It goes like this, "God loves us all so much he sent his son to live and suffer and die as one of us, so that through Him we all can live in the kind of relationship with God and others that was intended for us in creation." In the teachings of the Son, we can see how God would have us live with each other; and in the actions of the Son, we see the love of God for all of us; and through faith in the Son we all can find our way back to God.

There are a number of fine world religions, and today we Episcopalians are much more respectful of them than previous generations of Christians--so much so that we leave the fulfilling of the Great Commission (inviting others to meet our Lord) to members of more radical expressions of Christianity. If we leave all Christian proselytizing to them, aren't we ensuring the slow demise of our own tradition? Don't we have a message of God's love that the world needs? I think we do.

Jesus called Peter out of the boat, and Peter did something he never would have believed was possible. Jesus calls us all out of the boat, and into even greater divine possibilities--maybe even spreading the kingdom in ways that are respectful of others.

What do you think?

Mike+