He Immediately Reached Out. . . 

August 9, 2026  Proper 14  First Congregational Church of Brimfield UCC

Matthew 14:22-33:  Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” 

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Now, once again, Jesus tries for some alone time, after the crowds are dismissed…he’d sent the disciples on ahead, crossing the Sea of Galilee by boat.  Just for comparison, at just under 65 square miles, the Sea of Galilee is just a little larger than Sebago Lake in Maine which is about 50 square miles.  

That’s a whole different kind of lake than the ones around here.  Webster Lake for instance, is only about 2 ½ square miles, and you’re pretty much never out of sight of the shore on both sides of the lake. I used to live on the shore of Sebago, and I can tell you that it’s common to not be able to see the far side of the lake, even in good weather. 

All of this is to say that the Sea of Galilee was indeed an inland sea, as is Sebago, as are the Great Lakes.  So, don’t imagine something small and reasonably tame like Webster Lake.  (by the way, in Luke, this body of water is called the Lake of Gennesaret – that’s its Greek name.  But it’s still the same lake, still the same size, still a pretty good sized body of water.)

Of course, the purpose of the story is not to get us all up to speed on the names of “greatest lakes of Palestine”.  That’s background info and it’s here just to help us picture what’s going on.  

Jesus was undoubtedly tired, and needed some time to himself, so he’d sent the disciples ahead on what turned out to be a turbulent boat ride, like going to the Vineyard when the sea is up, and the waves crash over the bow of the ferryboat.  Matthew tells us that after a whole night of turmoil, the disciples looked out and saw what they thought was a ghost, an apparition – because it couldn’t be anything else – they saw Jesus walking over the water to their boat.  As the story goes, once he called out to them, and they realized he was really real, they calmed down.

This is one of the sure signs that the disciples lived in a different world than we do… because I suspect that most folks these days would be less disturbed by a vision of their brother walking on the water, that the actual reality.  There is something really unreal about the whole idea of walking on the water for us… but in their time, it made sense.  It even made sense to them when Peter, trusting in Jesus’ call, stepped out of the boat and was able to walk on the water himself…. Until he began to doubt the reality of his experience, and then he began to sink beneath the waves.

Again, we’re not intended to get lost in the bizarreness of the story, because the walking is not the point; it’s the illustration.  Christians aren’t known for their ability to walk on water and this story isn’t a lesson in how to literally do that.  It’s a lesson, though, about trust.  That’s where it’s importance lays.

Trust is what this is about.  The disciples trust that their teacher was really walking towards them.  Peter’s trust in Jesus’ call.  And most especially, Jesus’ response when Peter began to sink.  Because then, Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.  

Trust is thin on the ground these days.  People don’t trust their physicians, or better, the staff at the doctor’s office, to be on their side.  We assume that people with whom we disagree are out to get us.  I’ve spoken before about the profound distrust I see in online comments about the government of my home city, East Providence… when it appears that the only thing our mayor has done wrong is to be a member of the wrong party.  It’s not just East Providence, Rhode Island.  

We’ve lost our trust in others, worse than that, we’ve lost our ability to believe in trust.  Ross Douthat (DEW-thut) of the New York Times, wrote this weekend:  

“I find that I’ve lost my sense of which contemporary worldview is most in need of criticism or opposition, where the good guys and bad guys are. Each major faction seems potentially dangerous, tempted toward the dark side in some unique way, contested or cross-pressured to a degree that makes me uncertain where the side of the angels really lies.”

Here’s the comforting news:  in a world where even the experts struggle to know who and how to trust, we have one abiding truth in which we can trust:

When we are floundering, when we are about to be overwhelmed by the stormy seas of life, Jesus will immediately reach out to us.  The storm may continue, the winds may howl, but we will not be alone; we can trust in Jesus to be our companion.

And it doesn’t stop there.  We can not only count on Jesus to stand by our side when we know we are in need, we can count on Jesus to help us discern who and what to trust in our world.  We can count on Jesus to not leave us alone in the mess of misunderstandings, misreadings, deceptions and outright lies that constitute our larger world.  

Now, don’t think I’m just talking about one side or another of any of the fights before us.  Everyone exaggerates, people on every side misrepresent themselves.  Saturday’s NY Times ran an article fact-checking senatorial campaigns in Maine, Michigan and Ohio – and proved that candidates on every side can misrepresent truth.

But listening to Jesus, we are pointed back to the eternal truths that build strong community, build a healthy world:  be just, practice kindness, live mercy.

Tim Cotton, a retired Bangor, Maine, policeman puts it this way:  Keep your hands to yourself, leave other people’s things alone, and be kind to one another.

In other words, be the kind of trustworthy person we know Jesus to be; reflect to the world, the goodness we have experienced in his life.  

We live in a world where trust is hard to find; our call is to be those trustworthy people who bring trust back to our communities.  Just as Jesus has been trust for you, be trust for your world.

Amen.

© 2026, Virginia H. Child