St Michael and All Angels, Wembworthy

Ninth Sunday after Trinity

Romans 10: 5-15 Matthew 14: 22-33

Some time ago I was driving along the A38. My turning off was ahead. I took the turning and arrived at the roundabout at the end. Stopping, I checked either side ready to join the road when suddenly I had a car drive into my rear. A busy junction now partly blocked. The police attended and helped to clear the road. And then, in the distance, I spotted a most friendly sight. A yellow van with flashing amber lights was approaching. The cavalry had arrived. At that moment I knew how the beleaguered troops must have felt when reinforcements turned up. How cowboys outnumbered by Indians felt when the cavalry turned up for them.

Life can be like that at times. Moments when we feel that we are up against it. Times when life is a struggle, when circumstances are against us, when temptations are jumping out in front of us. Times when life is a struggle. It is at moments like these that no one need struggle alone. Jesus comes to them. He crosses the storms of life stretching out his hand to offer help, to save. His calm and clear voice bids us to take heart and have no fear.

Just as with the disciples in the boat with the storm raging about them Jesus came to help and to save. This is the message from this passage in the gospel reading but it is more involved than this would appear.

The disciples were in the boat by themselves and without Jesus because he sent them on ahead. Actually he did not just send them but compelled them to go. A situation was arising and Jesus wanted the disciples out of the way so he could deal with it by himself. In John’s account of this miracle we understand that the crowd, after being fed, wished to take Jesus and make him a king by force if necessary. There was an atmosphere of excitement growing and in Palestine there was a real danger that a revolution may well start off. The presence of the disciples may well have complicated matters further because they themselves were still thinking of Jesus in terms of earthly power. Jesus sent the disciples away because a situation was arising which he could deal with better alone. He did not wish to see the disciples involved.

The disciples set off across the lake escaping the growing tensions surrounding Jesus only to find that they had ‘jumped from the pan into the fire’. The lake developed a sudden storm, for which it was noted, and the disciples were right in the middle of it. Here the timing is difficult. It was night-time and Jesus had finished praying after dispersing the crowd. He was walking around the side of the lake when he could see the boat fighting the waves. There must have been sufficient light from the moon for Jesus to make out the problem.

Jesus went to help. In the hour of their need Jesus came to the disciples and offered his hand to help and to save. Jesus will do the same for us. In life we do come across situations where we get out of our depth, where we struggle not too sure where to go. Allowing Jesus to help will bring us through.

This does not mean that we can go through life and throw caution to the wind in the knowledge that, whatever, Jesus will come and get us out of trouble. We must be careful not to act as Peter did. Peter acted on impulse. He often did and often came to grief. Jesus insists that we should look at what is about us, at the situation, before making a decision and acting. He tried to make his followers understand just how difficult it would be to follow him. We must be careful to identify emotional moments we may be getting involved with and to identify the cost.

But Peter comes bouncing back again, time after time. At the moment of his failure he clutches to Jesus, each time bringing him closer to Jesus. There is one definition of a saint which goes, “a saint is not a person who never fails; a saint is one who gets up and goes on again every time they fall”. Peter's failures only made him love Jesus Christ the more.

Collect for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity

Almighty God,

who sent your Holy Spirit

to be the life and light of your Church:

open our hearts to the riches of your grace,

that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit

in love and joy and peace;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

St Michael and All Angels, Wembworthy

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A homily for the 9th Sunday after Trinity

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