Matthew 14:22-33 Peter's Progress On Land & Water

Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the greatest architects of the twentieth century. When he was a little boy he used to spend a lot of time on his uncle’s farm. It was there that he had one of the most formative experiences of his life. On a winter’s day, when he was 9 years old, he and his uncle had just walked across a snow-covered field. His uncle stopped him and pointed to the tracks they had left in the snow. Frank’s trail of footsteps where all over the place, while his uncle’s went in a straight line from start to finish. 

“Notice," said his uncle, "how your tracks wander aimlessly from the fence to the cattle to the woods and back again, and see how my tracks aim directly to my goal. There is an important lesson in that.”

Years later Frank pointed to the important lesson he learned that day, but it was not the lesson his uncle had intended him to learn. “I determined right then,” said he, “not to miss most things in life, as my uncle had.”

One of the biggest temptations when reading, teaching, or preaching a popular passage in the bible, is to "aim directly to [the] goal." It is to go straight to the main event, as it were, but in doing so we often miss important lessons that are ripe for the plucking. 

The passage under consideration is probably one of the most famous biblical passages. It is the story of when Peter walked on the water with Jesus. Christians and non-Christian are familiar with it. All can give a relatively decent summary of what happened there, but before we get there, it will be good to meander a bit, and see what is to be learned in the preceding moments.

This story takes place immediately after another famous account – the feeding of the 5000. Verse 22 says that Jesus begins sending people away. He sends his disciples ahead of him into a boat, and he sends the crowd home... By himself. That is a miracle in its own right!

I think there is something to be learned in this sending. There is a lesson about discipleship here. It may seem like a small thing that Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him and they do it, but within that exchange lies the essence and majority of discipleship. For in this seemingly mundane and unnoticeable exchange, the disciples are learning to do the things they do, "in the name of Jesus." That is, they are learning to do the things they previously did for themselves, but now they are doing it as those who have been sent by Jesus.

This is discipleship. It does not begin glamorously. It is not the stuff makes great epic's, but it is very much the mundane and ordinary stuff of life. But it is important to learn at this level, because it is this level that we are called to live. After all, we live on the land, so it is on the land that we must learn to be his disciples. This means that we begin to do all that we do, "in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the father through him" (Col. 3:17). That means we go into work in the morning as if we were sent by Jesus. We cook meals for our family, prepare sermons, take out the trash, bag groceries, manage employees, all things, as if we were sent by Jesus.

Remember that scene from the Karate Kid where Daniel-san begins training? He asks Mr. Miagi to teach him karate, and what does Mr. Miagi start telling him to do? Paint the fence, wax the car, paint the house. 

Eventually Daniel-san gets so frustrated because he wanted to learn karate, he wanted to be able to beat up 10 guys at once, but all he’s been doing for a few days is painting the fence, waxing the car, and all these other mundane, and inglorious tasks. These, mind you, are things he already knew how to do.

So eventually he get’s so frustrated, and he’s ready to quit. Then Mr. Miagi shows him how learning to paint the fence, and wax the car, and paint the house, all those things that he thought were unimportant, was actually helping him become what he wanted to become. By obeying in the mundane and inglorious areas, in the things he already knew how to do, the student prepares to excel in the tasks that are exciting and glorious.

And in much the same way, discipleship to Jesus doesn't begin with you jumping out of a boat and walking on water. It begins with you obeying Jesus, and walking on land. It doesn't begin with you laying your hands on a sick person that they may be healed, but it starts with you going to work, but doing so as one sent by Jesus. Cooking for your family, but doing so as one sent by Jesus, being a supervisor at work as if you were sent by Jesus. 

In other words, if we learn to successfully walk with Jesus on the land, he will prepare us to walk with him on the sea.

But! there will be occasions in each of our lives when things will be out of our control. See, the land represents solid areas, it represents things that are, for the most part, firm and reliable. But the sea is the complete opposite. In Jewish literature, the sea represents chaos and disorder. It represents lack of control. And from time to time, disciples of Jesus Christ will find themselves on the seas of life, if you will.

This is the predicament that the disciples find themselves in. They have obeyed Jesus on the land, and their reward is that they find themselves in the midst of a terrible storm. The ship is being battered on every side, and these guys are doing there best to simply stay afloat. It is then that Peter cries out to Jesus, who is walking toward them on the water, and asks him to call him.

Now, how many of you believe that you can do whatever Jesus, your rabbi, your teacher, does? Probably few. This is a death blow to discipleship. It is a waste of time to apprentice yourself to someone whom you believe is capable of doing things that you can never do. The lesson we learn from Peter, in his strange response, is that we must desire to be exactly like Jesus. We must see Jesus as being capable of helping us become like him, in our manner of living. That is the second important lesson in this passage.

1. Discipleship begins with learning to obey Jesus in the mundane and ordinary areas of life.

2. Discipleship means desiring to be like Jesus in all areas of life. It means trusting that he will help you become like him.

The third and final lesson is about learning how to fail as disciples. For it is a certainty that anyone who takes the risk of a disciple will fail. Peter jumped out of the boat, and as soon as he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink. 

He failed.

But in his failure he cried out to the Lord for help. That is important. He didn't have an "I can help myself attitude," but he cried out to Jesus. Then Jesus, being a good teacher, says something to Peter that, I believe, remained with him forever. Rather than simply pulling him onto the boat and saying, "Nice try, Peter." Jesus pulls him up and asks him, "Why did you doubt?" Note: this is not a rebuke. Jesus is not chastising him for his lack of faith, but he is teaching him how to grow his faith.

In his book Profit from Experience, Dr. Michael O'Brien writes, "When you see a certain kind of problem, a certain mistake repeating itself, say 'Thank you' to the mistake, and then wake up the learner inside you… Let the learner tell the truth about what is happening. Be honest with yourself. Don't let your past success or habits mislead you with their arrogance, [Instead] adopt a “beginner’s” mindset.”

It is this learner, this beginner's mindset, that Jesus is inviting Peter to awaken. He is inviting to him to analyze his failures, in order that he might find out what went wrong, and apply the corrective measures. This is how small faith becomes larger faith. Not "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again." But "if at first you don't succeed, stop, analyze what went wrong, apply corrective measures, then try again." 

What an important lesson for Peter to learn. What an important lesson for all of us to learn. For as we endeavor to grow as disciples of Jesus, we will, if we are taking faithful risks, experience failure. We must learn to profit from those experiences. Peter learned how to do it. I believe this is what helped him bounce back from his many failures that followed this one. I believe he always heard the voice of Jesus saying, "Why did you doubt?" And in hearing that voice, his failures become stepping stones.

1. Obey Jesus in the mundane, on the land, as it were.

2. Believe that you can, and cultivate the desire to become like Jesus in every way.

3. Don't let your failures define you. Analyze them, apply corrective measures, and grow in Christ.

Here is a link to the audio sermon.