It is more beneficial to help people see that God is with them in the everyday than it is to talk about God calling us to some exceptional feat of strength or power or spirit.
I have always been more moved, at hearing people speak of God’s presence in the mundane and the difficult than I have been at listening to the recounting of mountaintop spiritual experiences. God’s presence in the ordinary is what allows us to see the light and colour and beauty of life.
One of the things that I saw fairly consistently in my 25 years as pastor was a confusing of celebration of supernatural manifestation with maturity of faith. Some people seemed to see a miracle around every corner and a devil under every rock. These same people could be somewhat perturbed that others did not seek the miraculous as much as they did. I came to see that the insistence upon the supernatural could be evidence, at times, of lack of faith, rather than evidence of faith. Jesus talks about this in saying that some people “demand a sign”.
Four years ago I was at the Alpha Leadership conference in London. There were some fantastic speakers. There was also more than a tinge of the prosperity gospel in some of the talks. It was quite the contrast.
The Archbishop of Manila at the time was interviewed by Nicky Gumbel. I remember him speaking of times of miracle and supernatural manifestation in his life. Gumbel asked how his faith had changed and grown over the years. Archbishop Tagle responded by saying that as his faith had grown, there had been less of this supernatural miracle. He had not needed it. He became content with an awareness of the presence of God in the everyday.
Years ago in the evangelical world there was a book that was quite popular called, “If You Wanna Walk on Water You Gotta Get Out of the Boat”.
I can’t recall what was good about the book. There had to be some things, but I did feel then and still feel now, that the title and the premise is deeply flawed. I don’t think that it is true to the actual text or that it is loving spiritual leadership to tell people that you “gotta get out of the boat”.
You might know the story. In Matthew chapter 14 Jesus has just heard of the killing of John the Baptist. He tries to get some time alone, but is followed by crowds of people. He winds up helping the people, healing the sick among them. This is also the occasion when he feeds thousands of people miraculously with a small amount of food.
He then tells his disciples to get into the boat and head to the other side of the lake. At this Jesus again withdraws from the people to have some time to himself, to pray. As darkness falls he is by himself and his disciples are a long way from the shore in the boat. Jesus heads towards them, “walking on the sea”.
Here is where Peter walking on water comes into play. We are told that the waves were beating against the boat, but there is no mention of a major storm as in a different account where Jesus rebukes the winds and waves. What ignites the fear of the disciples on this occasion is the appearance of Jesus. Peter and the disciples were understandably terrified at seeing someone walking on the water. Jesus told them not to be afraid, that it was him. This is where Peter issues a kind of test to Jesus. “If it is you, then tell me to walk to you on the water”. Jesus obliges. Peter miraculously walks on the water, but only for a few steps. When he remembers again the waves and wind, when his focus turns from Jesus, he begins to sink. Jesus reaches out, lifts him up, they get into the boat and Jesus says, “You of little faith.” Jesus never congratulates Peter for walking on the water.
Virtually every sermon I have heard on this text applauds Peter for getting out of the boat and says that the problem is that he turned his focus from Jesus to the waves. John Ortberg (author of the “gotta get out of the boat” book) and a huge line up of prosperity gospel preachers use the text to remind us that we can do the impossible if only we have faith and keep our eyes on Jesus. We can walk on water, too. (I wouldn’t recommend trying). These preachers equate spiritual maturity with Peter demanding a sign. In doing this they sell a cheap version of faith and spirituality.
My friend Ken and I have talked about this text quite a few times. Ken is now a chaplain at a care home, but for many years we were both pastors in churches. He was a minister at an Anglican church and I was a pastor at a church that had a Plymouth Brethren background. I remember seeing the Ortberg book at a conference with Ken and being upset by the premise of it even then.
Faith is not a magic trick.
Did Peter need to get out of the boat? Of course, he did not. Did Jesus initiate Peter walking on the water? No. Peter asking to be called out of the boat was due to a LACK of faith. Peter was unable to recognize Jesus and issued a kind of test. Should this be applauded as spiritual accomplishment? Peter’s real failure was not looking at the wind and the waves, it was failing to understand the identity of Jesus in the first place. Peter was famously impetuous. He got upset with Jesus when Jesus said that he would be killed. Peter said that he would never let such a thing happen. Jesus identified this as from satan, not from God. When Jesus lovingly revealed to Peter at the last supper that Peter would deny knowing Jesus, Peter abruptly protested, saying that this would never happen and declaring that not only would he never deny Jesus, but he would die for Jesus (this hours before Jesus’ crucifixion). Just hours later Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times.
It is spiritual immaturity, not maturity, that equates faith with magic and even at times, miracle. If Peter had had the faith to truly know and see Jesus he would not have needed to get out of the boat. He would simply have trusted as Jesus walked towards the boat through the waves. Peter’s “if it is you” is something akin to Thomas after the crucifixion demanding to see the wounds on Jesus hands before believing. Jesus is so loving that he obliges both Peter and Thomas, but neither case is a demonstration of mature faith.
It is marketing and motivational speaker talk that turns the story of Peter walking on the water into a “why don’t you try to do something amazing like Peter did?”. This tends to line the pockets of the writers and motivational speakers more than it winds up truly helping the listeners.
You don’t need firstly to hear how Jesus is with you in the fantastical and exceptional and unexplainable. You need to hear how Jesus is with you in the boat as it is tossed by the waves. I think that Ken and I sensed this because we were both pastors and saw that our parishioners needed to know that Jesus was with them as they faced loss and suffering and even aging and dying. If you need some supernatural, water-walking miracle to believe that God is with you this does not demonstrate an abiding spirituality and an abiding faith.
The real miracle is to be aware of how God is present with us even in the midst of the waves. Peter is not, in this story, a model of mature faith. The people who insist on constant supernatural manifestation and have a super religious vocabulary are not necessarily spiritual giants. God is with you just as much as God is with them. You don’t have to long for the supernaturally exceptional to be spiritually mature.
When Ken, as chaplain at the care home, seeks to be present in faith with those who are facing the challenges of aging, he rightfully helps people to see God’s presence and goodness, especially in the midst of the sorrows of life.
Water-walking is okay, I suppose, but I would rather applaud a faith that is much deeper than that. Jesus never started a water-walking school. He didn’t write a book seeking to capitalize on the Peter experience (Peter didn’t, either). This has not stopped his followers from monetizing this story. Telling someone that they “gotta get out of the boat” turns out to be a way of saying that their everyday life, caring for others, seeking to know God’s goodness, is somehow worth less than water-walking magic. It is a way of devaluing people more than of valuing them. It is a way of saying “What is wrong with you? Why aren’t you walking on the water?” It’s cheap and degrading to our true humanity. Ken is probably not going to cash in on helping people in care homes see God’s love for them. I am familiar with what it means, though, to walk away after being with someone in pain or loss, or with someone as they died, knowing that in that pain you together encountered the presence of God in such a way that you were reminded that “all manner of things shall be made well”. Helping someone see that it is Jesus there with them now, the same Jesus who was walking through the waves, is much richer spiritual leadership than telling them they gotta get out of the boat.
I need Him more in the day by day as I have been fortunate not to have had many crisis in my life but He was there too. Dear Lord. Give me the strength to stay in the boat. Amen
Great thoughts here! I've never thought to see the story of Peter walking on water that way, but there's a lot of truth in what you say here. Thanks for the insight.