Jesus Turns Fear Into Faith - Matthew 14:22-33

Fear is normal. Or at least that is what Mayo Clinic claimed in an article they published a couple years back. Fear, they said, is a normal psychological and physical reaction that can even help you stay focused and make better decisions. But what about the kind of fear that overwhelms? The kind that doesn’t sharpen your focus but makes your heart pound, your stomach churn, and your thoughts race in a hundred different directions? That fear doesn’t guide; it paralyzes. It clouds judgment, it panics, it robs every last shred of peace until fear overtakes.

That’s the sort of situation that the disciples found themselves in on the Sea of Galilee in our text for this morning. Beaten by the waves, exhausted in the middle of the night, and terrified by what they saw, the disciples panicked. But in the midst of their panic, Jesus brought them peace, because Jesus turns fear into faith by drowning out fear and by being the anchor of our faith.

Just prior to our text, Jesus had fed more than 5,000 people from just one boy’s small boxed lunch. Yet instead of putting their faith in Jesus as their promised Messiah, the crowds wanted to make him their bread king. Instead of seeing him as the one who came to be the source of every spiritual blessing, they just wanted Jesus to give them stuff. They still didn’t get who he was.

Jesus, disappointed no doubt, sends his disciples in a boat across the sea of Galilee to Capernaum, while he dismisses the crowd. Afterwards, he goes off by himself to pray, where we are told he stays until very late in the night. Meanwhile, we are told the disciples were “a considerable distance from land,” struggling because the boat “was buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.” Now, in the wee hours of the morning, in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, the disciples find themselves fighting the wind and the waves. It’s then that something unusual happens; from amid the choppy water’s, in the dead of the night, what seems like a person is spotted off in the distance. But as they watch, this person seems to be coming closer to their boat. But that’s impossible between here and there is only water. But as they watch, sure enough, this figure is seemingly gliding right over the waters towards them.

Can you just picture the disciples wearily rubbing their eyes, doing double-takes? Surely this isn’t right; our minds must be playing tricks on us. But step by step, they realized just how real this figure was, as it walked on the water closer to the boat. Step by step, it became more and more real, and now it was terrifying too! And I think we can almost feel their hearts pounding in our own chest as we imagine it for ourselves. Until then, nothing like this had ever happened before. Walking or hovering over the water was nothing more than the stuff of old myths told around a campfire meant to terrify.

The disciples responded exactly as we might expect. Matthew records a threefold fearful reaction. First, we read “they were terrified.” They had no idea what was happening; after struggling alone on the lake for hours, now someone or something was walking out to them on the water as if it were solid ground? That just doesn’t happen, and so secondly, like scared kids, they scream out, “It’s a ghost!” Finally, we are told they “cried out in fear.” Grown men who had seen their fair share of life, literally crying out in terror at this figure approaching them. What is happening??

But Jesus, knowing his disciples’ distress at his miraculous presence, immediately speaks to each of the disciples’ fears with a perfect peace-giving answer. To the disciples’ terror, Jesus responds, “Take courage!” Literally take heart, and he goes on to explain why. In response to the disciples saying “it’s a ghost,” Jesus says, ‘NO, I am not some ghost,’ “It is I.” ‘I am not going to harm you.’ Finally, the disciples had been calling out in fear, uncertain of what this apparition’s presence might mean for them; Jesus soothes this fear too, saying, “Don’t be afraid.” There was now no need to be afraid; their Jesus, their Savior, was there.

That night, Jesus calmed his disciples fears by overcoming each of them with his perfect peace-giving promises. Jesus extends the same perfect peace-giving promises to us, too. Maybe you aren’t up in the wee hours of the morning battling the wind and waves for your very life when you see a ‘ghost’ on the horizon. But you and I do often find ourselves in situations where fear overtakes us. Maybe it’s the 3 AM thoughts that cause us to toss and turn, not in a boat, but in our bed. Am I on the right path? What if this doesn’t work out? What do I do now? Maybe it’s the ongoing battle with sickness that has left you drained and lonely, wondering if you’ve made any progress at all. Maybe it’s the terror of worldly events that shake our sense of peace as we call out to God ‘Why Lord, why would this happen?’ Fear challenges us. Fear robs us of peace. Fear leaves us in the depths of despair.

Jesus knew the disciples’ fears long before he reached their boat. He also knows the 3 AM thoughts that torment us. He sees the struggles with sickness. He mourns as this world spins further and further away from him. But more than that, Jesus does something about it. Jesus, who came to the disciples on water with his perfect peace-giving words of promise in their time of terror, comes to us in his Word with promises that bring us peace. He has promised “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you,” and again “I am with you always to the very end of the age,” and again “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” 

How near is your God? So much so that he stepped into the storms of this life as the Good Shepherd, putting himself in harm’s way to save his flock. How much does your God love you? So much so that he bore the full weight of our sin on the cross to rescue our souls. You and I certainly have a God who cares, and who cares deeply for us. Jesus hasn’t abandoned you. Jesus gives us comfort to know that through the uncertainties and terrors of this life, which threaten our peace, we have a Savior who knows our aptitude to terror but who rescues us by drowning out our fear.

Jesus’ voice gave Peter courage like none other. And so bold, brash Peter blurts out a question that seems ridiculous: “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” Can we just take a moment to appreciate Peter’s moment of great faith? Peter asked to do a God-thing right alongside Jesus. Peter, do you realize what you are asking?

But Jesus doesn’t call him out or call him foolish. Jesus sees his big faith and tells him to “come,” and we’re told “Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus.” Here, Peter shows great faith; he asks the King of the Universe to let him do the impossible. Yes, as impulsive and ridiculous as it seems, Peter had faith big enough to willingly leave the safety of the boat to go walk to Jesus on the choppy waves in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. Peter believed that if Jesus said it, he would do the impossible and walk on water. His faith was anchored in Jesus’ promises, and he actually did it. Can you even imagine?

But this was also where it started to go wrong for Peter; for in his mind, he was doing the impossible. ‘People shouldn’t be able to do something like this,’ and looking around, he now felt the strong winds whipping against his face, and he saw the churning waves beneath his feet as he walked in the middle of the lake. ‘What was he thinking? Why would he get out of the boat?’ It was as these thoughts came flooding into his mind, drowning out his once confident faith, that suddenly, he was the one drowning as he plunged into the water below.

I bet that water froze Peter’s swirling thoughts, and he realized real quick just what had gone wrong. It wasn’t Jesus or his promise that had failed Peter; it was Peter who had failed Peter. Jesus clarifies when he rebukes Peter saying, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Just moments after showing great faith, Peter faltered. Every step he took was proof that he could trust Jesus, but when his focus shifted to the impossibility of his actions and the wind and the waves around him, his faith slipped in its mooring. ‘You had an amazing opportunity Peter and you blew it. How could you doubt’ we want to ask him. 

But we know the answer to that question because we too, like Peter, know God’s promises. We’ve been learning about them since we were young. We put them up in plaques in our homes, we teach them to our children, and we wear them with pride – when things are going well. But then all it takes is one gust of worry or one particularly large wave of trouble, and suddenly we’re looking over our shoulder at the boat behind us, second-guessing why we ever got out in the first place. Or maybe we realize we’re still in the boat, gripping the sides with white knuckles, too scared to even take that first step of faith. It can be so hard in moments like that, when things are going all wrong, to anchor our faith in God’s good promises.

But it isn’t a God problem; God didn’t stop being good. It’s an us problem. Stop doubting, fellow Peters, and believe – God’s still got you! Peter realized what had gone wrong, and in desperation, he called out to the only one who could help him: “Lord, save me! And immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.” Jesus didn’t let Peter struggle as justice for his failure or to teach him a lesson; no, immediately, Jesus saved Peter. That is the heart of our Savior, who hears our desperate cries and who rescues us even when we knew better.

When they were back in the boat, Matthew tells us, “the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying truly you are the Son of God.” When they were delivered from their distress, the disciples’ terror turned to trust. Panic gave way to peace, and fear to faith. Faith that confidently confessed Christ as the sure anchor of their salvation then and always.

So too for us, when we find ourselves in the same boat with the disciples, tossed about by the winds and waves of trouble and terror, that same Jesus calls us to come and to walk with him in confident faith. Just like the disciples we can worship our God knowing that our Savior will get us through the storms of this life. And even on that day when the storms of this sinful world do overwhelm our earthly bodies, he will still be calling us to walk with him in the paradise he prepared for us. 

Praise be to God that through the storms of this life, we have a Savior who turns fear into faith by drowning out our fear and being the anchor of our faith. Amen.