Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost

August 10, 2008

Homily for the Anglican Usage Mass

of the

St. Thomas More Society

celebrated at

St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church , 1013 Wood Street

Scranton, PA

Matthew 14:22-33

            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen

            In November of 1992 at a subway station in Brooklyn, three uniformed New York City police officers came upon two plainclothes officers who were making an arrest.  The officers knew each other, but in the heat of the moment, they did not recognize each other.  The uniformed officers thought they were witnessing a mugging.  When one of the plainclothes officers turned to identify himself, two of the uniformed officers became afraid for their lives and shot at him twenty-one times.  Fortunately, though he was badly wounded, the officer survived.  My point in telling this story is this: People who are afraid often do stupid things that put peoples’ lives at risk.

            St. Peter and his fellow disciples fall under this generalization in today’s Gospel.  When Jesus comes to them, walking on the sea, they do not expect to see Him and, thus, are convinced He is a ghost.  St. Matthew tells us they were terrified and began to wail and scream because they were so afraid!  Just as the police officers’ fear prevented them from recognizing their fellow policemen, the disciples’ fear prevented them from recognizing their Lord and friend.

            Peter, of course, took this fear of the disciples to a new level.  Even after Jesus identified Himself, Peter demanded proof.  He asked that Jesus give him the power to walk on water, too.  Jesus assented to this incredible request, but for St. Peter, fear took over again.  Even as he walked upon the water, he got distracted by the wind, and in his fear began to sink into the water.  Just as the policemen’s fear put their comrades’ lives at risk; so St. Peter’s fear put his own life at risk.

            Blessedly, this is not the end of the story.  We know that St. Peter recovered and in faith called out to Jesus, “Lord, save me!”  In his compassion Jesus did just what Peter in his desperation had asked.  They got into the boat, and the wind ceased.

            There are a couple of lessons we can take away from St. Peter’s wavering on the waves.  The first is that this sort of wavering between faith and doubt and confidence and fear is part of the human condition.  If we find ourselves wavering, it is helpful to remember that the first Vicar of Christ, the rock upon whom Christ built His Church, wavered long before we were born.

            On the one hand, this is comforting, for we understand when we look to St. Peter as an example that even when we falter, the Lord remains merciful and stands ready to lift us out of the mire, if we only we will call out to Him to save us.  If in our fear we backslide for a moment, fear does not have to have the last word.  Our renewed faith in the Lord’s power to save us always is possible.

            Yet Peter’s experience also is a reminder of a reality that is not comforting at all.  That is, our wavering has the potential to cost us our lives.  Fear might cause us to fail to recognize Jesus, even as He comes to aid us.  Fear might cause us to backslide, by which we could lose more than our lives.  We well could lose our very souls.  While we might like to think that our salvation can never be lost, St. Peter’s example is ample proof that even after witnessing at least three incredible miracles in only two days, it is still possible to doubt the saving power of the Son of God.  God forbid we experience such doubts at the hour of our death.

            Therefore, the second thing we can learn from St. Peter’s example is how to be prepared for these doubts when we are afflicted by them.  When fear comes knocking, threatening to reduce us to one willing to forfeit his life and lose his soul, or reduce grown men to crying babies, we must have an answer for it.  St. Peter had an answer, and his can be ours.

            Remember the prayer Peter offered when he began to sink—“Lord, save me!”  Peter knew that Jesus had the power to save because he had just seen Him do it.  Not only had Peter witnessed the feeding of the 5,000, he also had seen Jesus heal innumerable sick people.  That was the other part of last week’s Gospel, that Jesus had had compassion on the multitude and had healed their sick.  Peter was able to summon from his memory these occasions on which Jesus had demonstrated His power to him.

            If we want to be prepared to face down fear with faith, we too must have a catalogue of memories that we can summon, instances when Jesus has come through for us, instances when Jesus has come through for those we love, instances when Jesus has come through for the saints we only have read about.  St. John wrote at the end of his Gospel that the world could not contain the books that would be written if the works of Jesus were recorded.  Each of us in our moments of trust knows this to be true.  Each of us has our own list of instances when Jesus has saved us from ourselves or from some other peril.  Memorize your list!  Keep it before your gaze; so when the tempter beckons you to be afraid instead of trust, you will remember Jesus’ power to save.

            Peter’s prayer itself also is helpful—It is short and to the point, and he used it in his moment of greatest trial up to that point in his life.  He also meant it!  Jesus came to his rescue and provided the graces required to take away his fear and restore his trust.

            We each should have such a prayer, ready to use it when we are beset by the temptation to doubt.  “Lord, save me,” is a good one, but there are others.  The Kyrie, “Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy,” is simple enough.  We might also consider a prayer that comes from our brothers in the East, “Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  This last prayer has the added benefit, in addition to pleading for Jesus’ aid, of reminding us of our weakness, of our utter dependence upon Jesus.

            Fear and doubt are such powerfully destructive forces because they lead us to rely upon our own limited strength and wisdom, lead us to turn away from the infinite strength and wisdom of God in Jesus Christ.  If we are going to be prepared to face down the devil, we must first know we cannot do it on our own.  Nothing will give our memories and our prayer more meaning than knowing that without Jesus by our side, we would know so much less, we would have so much less, and we would be so much less.

            Choose Jesus instead.  Along with St. Peter, be ready to remember your weakness and God’s strength, and be able to articulate this truth in a short and powerful prayer.  I promise you will do a lot fewer stupid things that put lives at risk.  And you will be ready to give your life, if you must, as St. Peter finally did, not in doubt, but in the assurance that Jesus has the last word, even over sin and death.