Meditation for 4 November 2009

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

Matthew 14:22-36

22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. ²⁵And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake. ²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’

28 Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ ²⁹He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. ³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ ³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’ ³²When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’

34 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. ³⁵After the people of that place recognized him, they sent word throughout the region and brought all who were sick to him, ³⁶and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

A Man of Prayer

Matthew tells the story of Jesus feeding the “5000 men, besides women and children” with five loaves of bread and two fish (Matthew 14:13-21). He then tells us of Jesus - and Peter, for a moment or two – walking on the water. Sandwiched in between the two stories, we are told that Jesus dismissed the crowd that had been fed and “went up the mountain by himself to pray.” (verse 23)

 

These are two of the amazing miracle stories in the Bible. You don’t normally feed 15,000 (counting the women and children) people with the contents of a boy’s lunch. It’s not everyday you see someone (or two people) walking on the surface of an unfrozen lake. For that matter, it’s not everyday that you see someone walk on water, and then, on another occasion, observe the same person as he tells the wind to “be still”, and it obeys. There were good reasons that the disciples concluded that Jesus was the Son of God (verse 33) and the long-awaited Messiah.

 

But I think that it’s important that we not get so swept up in Jesus-the-miracle-worker that we forget to take note of Jesus, the man of prayer.

 

We can try to distance ourselves from Jesus by saying, “I’ll never be able to walk on water. I’ll never be able to do the kinds of miracles that he did.” And that’s true. There is only one who is the Son of God, with a capital “S”.

 

On the other hand, we are all children of God. We are people who have been given the Holy Spirit, which is the power of God working in us and through us. And we are all people who can come to God anytime in prayer, and connect to the powerful, living, grounding Creator – the Source of all that is. We can pray, just as Jesus prayed.

 

I believe that Jesus stayed grounded by coming to God - repeatedly - in prayer. I believe that Jesus got every ounce of his power to heal, every ounce of his power to command even the wind and the sea, every ounce of his power to stand up to those who were always out to get him, every ounce of his power to preach and teach with authority, every ounce of his power that flowed out of him when people touched the fringe of his cloak (verse 36)… because he stayed closely connected to his heavenly Father, through prayer. That prayer included all the times that he went away to a “lonely place”, or up on a mountain, to be alone with God and pray. It also included all the times when he was in the midst of a great crowd, and he was mindful of his Father’s presence with him. His prayer life included all the times that he paused for a second or two before determining how he would respond to those who were accusing him of something. His prayer life included all the times that he stepped back from engaging with the people, and then asked, “What now, Father? Where do I go now? What would You have me do now?” These times of listening ultimately led him to the cross, and even from there, he cried out to his heavenly Father in prayer.

 

What does all this mean for me?

 

Well, it makes me think about my prayer life, for one thing. Am I staying connected to the Source of all love, power, grace, and healing – my heavenly Father? And if not, why not? Am I getting so caught up in the stuff and responsibilities of my life that I am forgetting to reconnect with the One who sustains my very life, with the One who wants to do good and loving and powerful things through me? Am I not feeling grounded because I am not taking time to connect with the only One who can really ground my life?

 

There is only one Messiah. But any of us can be a man of prayer, a woman of prayer, a child of prayer. We can make that commitment, and follow through. And, as my spiritual director in seminary used to say, if we find that we haven’t been praying, we can always start again. Today is a new day. God is ever-present, only a breath away. We don’t need to beat ourselves up. All we need to do is notice what is happening, and say, “Hey, Lord. It’s me. I’m back. I’m glad to be back in your loving presence. I’m ready to hear a new word from You today. I want to be grounded in You, and guided by You. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”