Have you ever noticed how some images seem to capture certain moments in human history? Last week, I mentioned how Freedom Day always brings to mind those aerial photographs of long, winding queues of South Africans voting together for the first time. Or what about those infamous ‘Whites Only’ signs that dotted our beaches during Apartheid? Or what about the picture of a Chinese student courageously standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square? Or even the first images taken of the earth from space? Images like these stand out and define significant events, and whenever we see them we experience the same feelings we originally did when they first occurred.
The author of Matthew’s Gospel puts forward an image that has captured the imagination of Christians for centuries. This is of the disciples trapped in a little boat which was at the mercy of a raging storm (see Matthew 14). Early church leaders and then later medieval art often pictured the church as this wind and wave battered boat. We have even borrowed a nautical term to describe the space in which a congregation gathers to worship – a ‘nave’ which is Latin for ship.
The image probably stuck because Christians often feel like those disciples must have; vulnerable and powerless while being tossed to and fro by the wind and waves of sweeping historical events. Scholars believe that the author of Matthew’s Gospel certainly intended this image to be read in this particular way. For you see the community that he was writing for had been brutally persecuted for their faith. Many of them had lost a parent, child, sibling or friend to religious violence. This persecution must have been incredibly tough to deal with, it would have greatly demoralised whole communities leaving only disillusionment and fear behind.
While Christians do not fear religious persecution in South Africa, there are certainly many other ‘fear factors’ present in daily life. While attending a meeting last week, someone made the point that the general morale of South Africans seemed to be at an extremely low ebb, despite the excitement and promise of an upcoming Soccer World Cup. In so many different ways South Africans feel at the mercy of poor political leadership and horrendously battered by crime, poverty and disease.
Matthew’s story of the disciples being caught in a storm is in its largest context the story of every human being, feeling fearful, demoralised and confused by contemporary issues; feeling their faith deeply threatened by the sheer immensity of the challenges that surround. Do you remember what happened in this story? Well, Peter decided to step out in faith into the very midst of the storm. However, in the midst of his journey he became gripped by fear because he took his eyes off Jesus and started noticing once more the threat of the waves.
This story challenges every God-follower to remember how important it is to step out in faith into the very midst of life’s worst storms. We face the massive challenges of life by trusting in God; our role is not to hide away from them, or to huddle down somewhere safe wishing they would go away.
This story challenges us to carry a vision of God-possibilities with us wherever we go, and to allow this vision to give us enough courage to try and change the world around us for the better. And yes, we do all get moments like Peter, where the sheer size of our obstacles, the sheer Tsunami scale of evil gets the better of us and our spiritual imaginations. And so we begin to sink under the weight of our disillusionment and fear. Yet, notice an integral promise contained within this story. When Peter started to sink, Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed hold of Peter’s hand. This is the promise of divine presence and strength whenever we step out in faith into new ways of being.
Of course it would be foolish to not be aware of the waves surrounding us – waves of crime, fear, poverty, disease or even our own personal hurts and failings, but to walk on water means that we become EVEN MORE AWARE of the God who is near and the amazing possibilities that lie within that.
To walk on water is hope not as resignation to an unjust world, but as a refusal to accept this is what God wants for humanity. In this period of South Africa’s history, we desperately need more people who are prepared to walk on water. More people who are prepared to face our challenges head on and stop wishing our nation’s problems away. We need to live in God-hope – the belief that if we keep our eyes fixed on God we can be a part of “God’s ongoing creation of goodness in this world.”
(Quote from Brian MacLaren; read the full Gospel story in Matthew 14. 22-33).