Matthew 14:22-33 (NIV)

22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
27But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
28"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29"Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

Norman Vincent Peale once told the story of a struggling businessman who reached a turning point in life after seeing a picture of boat stuck in the sand. The caption said, "The Tide Always Comes Back."

His point was that there are two mistakes we make in life. When things are good we tend to think they will always be good. When things are bad, we tend to think they will always be bad. But, both ideas are wrong. Life, and all it consists of—our marriage, our ministry, our relationships, our finances, our "approval rating", etc.—tend to go up and down in cycles.

Our Scripture lesson tells of a startlingly quick cycle that took place in the life of the disciple Peter.

It had been a long day for Jesus and the disciples. Many, many people had come to the Lord for healing and blessing. At day’s end, Jesus sent the disciples on ahead and used the opportunity of peace and quiet to spend time in prayer.

When He was refreshed Jesus went to catch up with the disciples. The only problem was that they had journeyed away by boat. They were in the middle of a lake with the wind and waves beginning to get nasty.

This wasn’t a concern for the Son of God. Jesus simply walked on the water until he came upon them being jostled in their boat. While walking on water wasn’t a big deal for Jesus, it proved to be shocking to the disciples.

Can we blame them?
This was a miracle they hadn’t expected.

When they saw a figure walking towards them they became frightened. It must be a ghost! Not only was the weather becoming a concern, now they had to deal with evil spirits!

But their fear was short lived. Jesus called out to them. There was nothing to fear.

It was Peter who responded. Peter was never shy. He was often the first to express himself.

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

It’s hard to know what Peter was thinking here. The word “if” can also be translated as “since”.

So Peter might have been questioning whether it was truly Jesus: “Lord, if it’s you…”

Or he might have been so excited seeing what Jesus was doing that he wanted to join in: “Lord, since it’s you…”

Either way Peter took on the challenge. Jesus said, “Come” and that’s exactly what Peter did.

He got out of the boat.
He ignored the wind and the waves and placed his foot on the water.
It stayed on top of the water.

He placed his other foot on the water and found himself standing, literally, on top of the lake.

What a rush that must have been!
What an amazing sense of accomplishment—of confidence—of power.

Look, everybody—I’m walking on water!
I’m doing the impossible!
I’m doing what Jesus is doing!

But the cycle continued.
From fear up to exhilaration and down to desperation!

Peter walked only so far and then something happened.

Scriptures states that the wind and waves distracted him after his initial exhilaration.

But I wonder if it might have been even more than that.
Perhaps what he was actually doing really sunk into his mind and the rest of him sunk with it.
Perhaps he took his eyes off Jesus and began to think he was doing this on his own—in his own power.

No matter what the cause Peter found himself sinking—literally and figuratively. He had moved ever so quickly in the ups and downs of life from one extreme to the other.

Imagine his fear.

Not only wasn’t he walking on water any longer—not only had he failed in what he thought was going along very well—now he was threatened with drowning.

Peter had made some mistakes as he tried to imitate Jesus but should such mistakes cost him his life?

Going down he cried out for help.
He cried out to Jesus, “Lord, save me!”

And Jesus, who had been there all along, reached out, grasped Peter’s hand and rescued him at his lowest point—again literally and figuratively.

Peter’s attempt to do the impossible is a famous story. I suppose it’s famous because people can relate so easily to Peter and the ups and downs he experienced.

Most of us know what it’s like to ride a good streak. Everything in life works out so well. Home, work, friends, wishes and dreams come together in a glorious time of confidence and energy. We feel on top of the world. We feel we could accomplish anything we wanted to do. We feel courageous and confident to take risks. We assume that what we want to do will come to fruition. We smile a lot and joy fills our being.

These times are the positive extreme of life. The high points we long to hang on to. But, sadly, such streaks don’t last.

Something happens—slowly, gradually or perhaps lightning quick.
Something happens to slow down and eventually halt our momentum.
Something happens to begin to reverse that momentum.

And we realize we are still subject to the doubts, concerns and anxieties that are a part of life—only for that positive little while we were able to ignore them.

Sometimes we simply come back down to earth.

Sometimes we lose our footing and tumble from crest to trough.

Now things aren’t going well. Relationships become strained. Our “midas touch” with people and situations and risks becomes leaden.

One mistake turns into a failure.
Failure becomes fear.
Fear keeps us from seeing a way back to the top or even normal.

Back when Joe Garagiola was a catcher in the major leagues, he had a young pitcher out on the mound who had just come up from the team's farm club. It was his first time ever to pitch in the majors. The first two batters he faced had both gotten hits, and now were on second and third base. The next batter up was none other than Cardinal slugger Stan Musial.
Garagiola, the veteran, knew it was a critical situation, but he was ready to go to work. He flashed the signal for a fastball. The young pitcher shook his head to indicate that was not the pitch he wanted to throw. So Garagiola signaled for a curve ball. Again the youngster shook his head, indicating that wasn't what he wanted to throw, either. He tried for a slider and then a change-up, both with the same results. Nothing seemed to suit the young rookie.
So Garagiola called time out and ran out to the mound. "I've called for every pitch in the book," he said, "and you've shaken them all off. What is it you want to throw?"
The young pitcher turned to Garagiola with a look of fright in his eyes and said, "Nothin', Joe. Nothin' at all. I just want to hold onto the ball as long as I can!"

From tossing strikes we can go to not wanting to let go of the ball at all.

Such is life.
Such are the ups and downs of life.

They are inevitable.

We do well to remember that truth so that our ups don’t become too ego enhancing and our downs too ego deflating.

We also do well to remember the most important lesson Peter learned. The most crucial lesson didn’t have anything to do with how to walk on water. It didn’t have anything to do with Peter being the only disciple brave or foolhardy enough to step out of the boat.

The most important lesson Peter learned was the Jesus was there for him when he was doing well and Jesus was there for him when he was sinking under the water.

Can there be a more important lesson—a more powerful truth for us all?

When we face the inevitable cycles of life—cycles of faith—cycles of success and failure we have the guarantee that we don’t ride the roller coaster by ourselves.

In the cafeteria of a Catholic school, the children were lined up for lunch. At the head of the line was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note and placed it in front of the apples. The note read: "Take only one, God is watching."
Further down the cafeteria line was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.
One of the boys had written a note of his own. The note he placed in front of the cookies read: "Take all you want, God is watching the apples."

God is watching the apples and the cookies.
God is watching the ups and downs.

Wherever we are, God is there.
Whatever we are doing, God is there.

Challenging, strengthening, and affirming us to throw strike after strike after strike.
Encouraging, nurturing, and empowering us to look past the fear and failure and let go of the ball—again.

Jesus beckoned Peter to come to Him on the water.
The same hand that beckoned Peter reached down below the water and pulled Peter to safety.

Same Jesus.
Same hand.
Same for us all!
(1540)

© The Rev. Dennis Cook, St. Timothy’s Presbyterian Church, Ajax, ON, Canada