Self or Others

Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. – Mark 6: 45-50

Here’s the story of Jesus walking on water again.

What a show off.

But this telling of it is interesting. Or perhaps I just didn’t notice it the other times I read it.

The reading today starts off with Jesus trying to get some quiet time for himself and his disciples. The twelve disciples have come back from the mission Jesus sent them on to preach throughout Israel. As they are trading war stories they are bombarded by all kinds of folks.

So Jesus says ok, let’s bounce to a remote place so we can get some peace and get a bite to eat.

As they are in a boat making their exit five thousand men (as well as untold numbers of women and children) run to their destination and get there first.

Drats. Ok… I guess now Jesus has to preach to them and feed them all with a miracle.

Done.

So then finally when the people are physically and spiritually fed Jesus gets to pray alone. But then when he’s done he sees his disciples on the water trying to row against the wind.

Sigh…

So Jesus catches up to them on foot, (walking on water of course) gets in the boat, and then the wind dies down. Finally they can be on their merry way.

What a day!

I like how Jesus managed to take care of everything. He started the day wanting to find some peace and quiet and he ended up finding it. Along the way thousands were fed.

Most of us have a hard time striking that balance. Either we take care of others to the detriment of self, or we look after self to the detriment of others.

This day in the life of

Jesus shows us that this balance is possible. One should not be done at the expense of the other.

Rather, if we are on the right path, there will be ample room in our lives to take care of others and ourselves.

Today’s Reading: Numbers 17-19; Mark 6: 30-56

Walking on Water

"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

"Come," he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!” - Matthew 14: 28-30

Most people who were born and raised in America have heard some variation of the story of Jesus walking on the water. It’s a pretty amazing story, and one of his most famous miracles.

But the Jesus part of the story isn’t the most interesting to me.

The part that grabs me is Peter.

Peter walked on the water too! He wasn’t the Son of God. He wasn’t the messiah. He was a regular person just like us. The thing that made him uniquely able to do what he did was that he was acting on faith.

Jesus asks him to come down out of the boat and walk to him. And he does it. But after feeling the whipping wind he got scared and began to sink.

I don’t know about you… but the last time I tried to walk on water I didn’t “begin” to sink. I was immediately more wet than I little bit.

But not Peter. He began to sink.

This says some interesting things to me about the nature of faith.

First, there is an inverse relationship between faith and fear. The more afraid we are to do something, the less faith we have. And if we don’t have enough faith to fuel our actions over time then it becomes harder and harder to achieve our goals.

Secondly, faith doesn’t work in absolutes. When we become afraid we don’t immediately fail, we only start to sink. Sometimes if we live in fear for a long time we may even feel like we are drowning. But we don’t have to be perfect here. There are times along the path of purpose where we will become afraid or may hesitate. This may serve to delay our purpose (gotta rise to where you once were before you can move beyond) but they don’t derail them.

The only way that we become derailed is if we let fear win by deciding to give up on ourselves.

The third thing that I get from this is that in those moments of fear, where we feel like all hope is lost and that in any moment we will be drowned by the circumstances of our lives, we can do what Peter did. We can cry out to God, and God will reach down and give us that extra helping hand that we need.

Faith in this sense is staying focused on God and our purpose rather than allowing ourselves to be distracted by the winds of fear and circumstance.

This is one of those concepts that may be tough for someone who is not so sure about this whole God thing. But when you hear people who are very vocal about how God helped them overcome terrible things in life like addiction, illness, and the like or reach a seemingly impossible goal… this is probably where they are coming from.

They are saying that they have lived this first hand. They experienced that special helping hand at the times in their lives where they felt that all was lost.

That’s a pretty amazing concept.

Today’s Reading: Exodus 4-6; Matthew 14-22-36