9th Sunday of Matthew
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled… Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:6-8). The Lord said this in the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes. This is His way of saying that effort is needed to ascend beyond the ordinary. In Orthodox thinking, we begin the personal struggle to bring heaven into this world by focusing on our own sins and by cleansing our minds or our souls from these burdens that hold us down. We need to be as hungry for God’s blessings as we are for food. We need to see our shortcomings for what they are, extra baggage that holds us down in our ascent to heaven. In the words of St. Paul to the Hebrews (12:1-2), “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,.” To the Christians of Philippi he wrote, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).
One challenge that we face is that everyone wants to start at the top; everyone wants to see miracles, to have God’s ear and His approval for each and every prayer offered, but rarely do we acknowledge that before we can walk on water, we need to work on ourselves.
The gospel story that we read today illustrates clearly that we need to be patient and to not expect everything to come at once. Peter witnessed a miracle, the Lord walking on water, and he wanted to do the same thing right away. For a moment he had no problem, but then as he began to think about it, doubts entered his mind and he began to sink. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, we would say that Peter made a “rookie error.” He needed to crawl before he could walk.
It is much the same today; perhaps worse. People want heaven, but they do not want to do what it takes to get there. Recent polls taken among Orthodox Christians reveal that 67% believe that they can be good Orthodox Christians without going to church every Sunday, 56% believe that they can be good Orthodox Christians without observing Lent and fasting days, and 31% believe that they can be good Orthodox Christians without giving time and money to the poor (reported in http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/orthodoxindex.html). My conversations with people lead me to the conclusion that most people do not pray even once a day, excluding perhaps a prayer before eating.
Like St. Peter, we want to walk on water, and we want to do so without any effort on our part. But it does not work this way. “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” explicitly says “work.” St. Paul describes his own spiritual journey by saying, “I have fought the good fight.” The Lord said, “In your endurance you will win your souls.”
Christianity has been summarized in many ways. Some of the Biblical summaries include these: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). One of my favorites: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Many Orthodox theologians have stressed another expression, which comes to us from St. Peter (2 Peter 1:3-4), “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature.”
However you express Christianity’s goal, you cannot escape the fact that it requires effort. “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Walking on water might also be a metaphor for Christian living, but before we can walk on water, we need to work on ourselves.
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Matthew 14:22-34
At that time, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking 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 for fear. But immediately he spoke to them, saying "Take heart, it is I; have no fear."
And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they entered the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.