August 10, 2014
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33
One, Two, Three Strikes
The only sport I support in any way, shape or fashion is minor league baseball. Those athletes are the ones whom are in it for the fun and love of the game. Monetary compensation or outlandish charge to fans is not a foremost issue. You do have to admit, it is an unforgiving game. Three strikes and you are out. Miss a base or get tagged by the ball and you’re out of there. Yet the pitcher gets 4 balls before the runner advances. I did not like Little League very much growing up. It reminded me too much of home. Dad would say “Boy, I’m going to count to three and if you don’t,… I will tan your hide”. Then the counting start; One; ah he doesn’t mean it, Two, maybe he does, Three; oh no he did mean it. I learned very quickly there was no: two and a half, two and three quarters, or don’t let me get to three. Not to mention there was less time between two and three then there was between one and two. Dad always told us what we needed to do, and then he warned us of the pending count, and the countdown began. I knew what was expected and what would happen if I failed to follow through because dad never failed to follow through. That is one thing I have noticed with some parents today, there is hesitation, longer counts and worst of all no follow through. The children do not learn respect under those conditions. I’ve noticed that our justice system used to use the three strikes process, but no longer. I will not and cannot say dad abused us because he did not; however we knew where we stood and where we should stand when it came to obedience. We knew our actions resulted with consequences. I learned it did hurt him more than me. But yet on this earth and cyberspace we are ready to crucify someone for one mistake, one wrong statement, or one wrong opinion.
Think about it; when bad things happen, don’t they happen in threes? During my times in EMS/Fire things do come in a series threes. If you have a serious fire, hang on there’s going to be two more. Unfortunately if there was a fatality or a death in the service; there’s going to be two more somewhere. We notice that a lot working the streets.
In the passage for today, these exhausted Disciples; it’s been one of those; one, two three days. This weary band of men, have been tested three times in just 24 hours. We have read over the past two weeks how they had been put to the test by Jesus. Yet during these three tests, three times these Disciples have turned around and put limits on God; they, in their humanness, had placed upon God human limits. Don’t we also place finite limitations on God? We look at him in a human sense and in our minds place a limit on what God is capable of doing. We say that God has all the power in the Universe because God created the Universe. Yet we do not trust that the power He has is unlimited. The Disciples knew who Jesus was and what he was going to be. Yet they still did not get it in entirety from these events and the three tests from Jesus. Let me guide you a little bit because you may not see it with your human eyes either. Let me put this into other words that might help you understand with some human emotions mixed in.
First of all, early in the day Jesus and the Disciples got word that John the Baptist had been executed in a horrible fashion. He was beheaded on a child’s request. All they could think about was the end of the life of John the Baptist. John was a man who was proclaiming their leaders rise to power here on earth to all the earth. This man was important to the mission of Jesus; their leader. Now John is dead. The thoughts going through the Disciples minds could have consisted of the following. Don’t the children have any respect for elders or even the sanctity of life these days? So if this could happen to a man as important as John, will that happen to us? Why didn’t Jesus prevent this from happening? We have seen him do wonderful miracles; can’t he do another to turn this around? Alright; if he can’t do that miracle let’s take revenge and make King Herod pay for John’s death. Wait a minute Jesus wants to be alone in a boat. The Disciples did not see that coming nor did they get it, how confusing. They did not connect on that one. Strike!
When they reached the other side of the lake there was a crowd gathered on the beach waiting on them. They could see more people coming around from the other side of the lake. Jesus and the Disciples were tired and grief stricken. Yet, Jesus healed the sick because He had compassion for them. The Disciples wanted Jesus to send them away. These people were hungry for the words of Jesus but also physically hungry. The Disciples saw the crowd and longed to be alone with Jesus. They saw it was late, these people needed to leave them alone for a while. It’s late they need to go and fend for themselves before it gets too dark. Besides we’ve been busy, we’re tired from rowing all day, we need time to grieve.
Jesus wanted to feed them physically. The Disciples only saw two fish and five loaves of bread. To feed this many people would take eight months of wages. The Disciples failed to see that Jesus who had been doing miracles with the sick could do one with the two fish and five loaves of bread. They put human limits on Jesus in feeding the masses. All they were able to see was the scarcity of food. Jesus can’t feed this multitude of human masses. Strike TWO!
Now as we read in the Gospel of John, after the feeding of the masses the crowd were so amazed at Jesus, they were going to make him into a Human King by force if they had to. Knowing this Jesus decided to withdraw and he sent the Disciples away to go ahead of him to the other side of the lake. The Disciples traveled their boat and that is where we see the third and last test of the day.
We read a strong storm blew in while on their way to the other side and the waters were rough. Jesus was not physically. I’m sure their nerves were on edge and were quite weary about their safety in the boat because Jesus was not there to protect them. I can imagine they were overly tired, overwhelmed by the day’s events and maybe even feeling over committed to the cause. Here are some thoughts they might be having. Did Jesus abandon us? How will we survive without him in this boat? Since we can’t see Jesus, he can’t save them.
Then one sees something in the distant, wait, he’s walking on the water. Na!, that must be a ghost. Now they are really scared, scripture uses the term terrified. Jesus tells them that it’s him, don’t be afraid. Fear not! Peter comes up with the bright idea that if it is really Jesus, to talk to him. Tell me, to walk out to you. Jesus says ok fine, Peter come to me. So, Peter has heard Jesus he does just that and he too is walking on water. Can’t you just see Peter; he is out on top of the water, at first his eyes are focused on Jesus. Then maybe pride starts to creep in. Wow look at me I am walking on water! Wait a minute; I’m, walking, on water. Oh my god I’m, walking, on, water? Then Peter starts to sink because he doubts what he is doing. Then panic sinks in and Peter cries to Jesus, “save me!” Jesus reaches out his hand to Peter, probably shaking his head and says the words we all know too well, “Oh Ye with little faith”. Strike three, you’re out! Right? Wrong. Jesus gets in the boat and the wind and waters calm down. Yes the test over! But Jesus does give a re-test later. The test question was maybe something like this; will you allow God to move you beyond what you perceive to be a limitation? Jesus gives a re-test to His Disciples when He sends them out in pairs to perform miracles of their own.
We are a lot like the first Disciples. We too put various limitations on Jesus and God. We lower the Holy Trinity to the limitations as we perceive with human kind. Nor do we understand that with Jesus, he can empower us to do more than we could ever believe. We look at death as the end, the finish, the game is over. We also feel that no one knows exactly how we feel, so no one can help us. We forget that Jesus came to conquer death and set us free of the stigma that once the 9th inning is over there is more to follow. We also forget Jesus experienced death from the point of loss of loved ones to going through death himself. Yet, he came through both. He understood the human emotion of wanting revenge and He conquered that too. We focus on the life expectancy of our own being. We compare the life expectancy of a bug or even the sparrow. When we remove the limitations we place on life, just think of all the things that could be accomplish in that time span. Look at the people who are staring face to face with death and form a bucket list. They see the abundance of things to be accomplished before they are called home. The game’s not over until it’s over.
Very few of us see abundance in anything in our lives. We live in scarcity and let scarcity thrive and control us. Scarcity makes us to see limitations. But with Jesus scarcity is the starting place for a miracle to happen. In a miracle the unexpected has no limits; it’s wide open to our imagination. Only through Jesus can a miracle happen. Yes we can also perform miracles, but it has to be done with Jesus through us and only when we remove the limitations we have on our own abilities.
Lastly, once we are in the act of a miracle, keep focused on Jesus. It does not hurt to look around and see what is happening. Just stay focused on Jesus, or you’ll begin sinking. We sink when re-open that can of worms called limitations. In Jesus anything is possible.
Jesus does not give us only three chances and then we are out, no he forgives us repeatedly with unconditional love. We can use that forgiveness wisely or unwisely, it is our choice. We can use the forgiveness as a way to keep on sinning and living the life we choose or we can use it to better ourselves from the person we used to be. Each experience we go through is not just a test; it is also a lesson for us, it helps us remove the human limitations we place on ourselves and on the Holy Trinity.
