Finding Jesus – Part 3 – 3rd Sunday of Advent
By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist
December 15, 2024 – Matthew 14:22-33
We are continuing our Advent series on Finding Jesus. First, we looked at finding Jesus in unexpected people. Last we looked at finding Jesus in unexpected times. Today, I want to talk about finding Jesus in unexpected circumstances.
I love the announcement of the birth of Jesus by angels to the shepherds.
Luke 2:10–12 (NLT)
… “Don’t be afraid!” (the angel) said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
Jesus has been born. He is the Saviour, the Messiah, the Lord. Oh, and by the way, you will find this saviour in a feed trough. Talk about finding Jesus in unexpected circumstances. But isn’t that just God’s way?
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We have a family cottage on the Ottawa River upriver from Arnprior. One of the things that I like to do at the cottage is go canoeing. The river is about two kilometres wide at that point. Sometimes, the water is mirror-smooth. But storms can come up within minutes.
I am a relatively good canoer. However, there was a time when I was out quite a distance from shore when a strong east wind came up, and I needed to get back to shore. I was paddling straight into the wind. If you let the canoe get sideways to the wind, it would just blow the canoe around. I was straining, and I was paddling. It felt like I was getting nowhere fast. Not only that but days like that remind me that I need to go to the gym more often. I was pulling, and my arms and shoulders were aching. I was digging into the water, but there was no momentum. I was only covering a few feet with every stroke.
I eventually was able to make it closer to shore, where the wind was not so bad, and then able to get back to where I started. But that canoe excursion is a metaphor for how I sometimes feel about life. I paddle hard but don’t seem to get far. The circumstances around me hold me back. The wind and the waves of life are there, and my endurance is not endless.
Have you ever been there? Maybe it is a job that is taxing. Maybe it is a disability that is wearing. Maybe it is a relationship that is difficult. Maybe it is the constant war against stress. Maybe it’s your calendar that is unrelenting. Maybe it is fighting with the dragons from the past that is wearing you down. Maybe it is the strain against addiction. Maybe it is the constant worry you feel. But you strain against the wind and pull against the waves, and you feel the battle wearing on you.
If you can relate to that battle, I believe that God has something that he wants to say to you today. Come with me to Matthew 14.
Jesus had just fed 5000 people with just a few loaves and fish. He sent the people away, and this is where we pick up the story.
Matthew 14:22–24 (NLT)
22 Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. 23 After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.
24 Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves.
Been there done that, literally and figuratively. Why is it that when the storms come up – that Jesus seems absent. Philip Yancey wrote a book, Disappointed with God. In it, he relayed a number of stories about people who were in very difficult circumstances and God did not come through in the way they thought he should have come through.
There have been times in my life when I have experienced the absence of God. I know theologically that this is not true. God is everywhere present. But it is a common experience for most Christians. Sometimes, we bring it upon ourselves. We take no thought of God and do not take time to connect with him, and then when we need him, we find it difficult to connect with him. Sometimes, like in the disciples’ case, it was through no fault of their own.
Jesus sent them on this boat trip. While on this boat trip that Jesus sent them on, they ran into trouble, and Jesus was not in the boat. He was on land, and the disciples were far away from it. Sometimes, you will be doing all that God said to do, and yet you find yourself in difficulty, and still you have a hard time connecting with Jesus. That is an experiential reality of the spiritual journey.
What do you do when that happens? You keep paddling and hoping and praying?
Matthew 14:25–26 (NLT)
25 About three o’clock in the morning* Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!”
I don’t know what time they left, but they had been out there a long time. The NLT tells us that it was 3 in the morning. It is not like they were wearing wristwatches – the literal translation is the fourth part of the night – Sometime between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. Jesus came walking towards them.
If you are in the middle of a storm of worry, when does it normally hit you? I talk to a lot of people who do their best worrying in the fourth part of the night. When the worry is intense, often our sleep gets interrupted. We are like the disciples. We see ghosts. The ghost of what might happen, what could happen, what may happen, and these ghosts terrify us.
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The disciples couldn’t recognize Jesus because he showed up in an unexpected circumstance. You don’t expect your flesh and blood rabbi, the one who you have been following for the last number of years, to walk on water – that is just not the way that help shows up. They have never seen Jesus do this before. They didn’t know he could walk on water, so when they saw Jesus, they didn’t recognize him. They were terrified and called him a ghost.
I have had a spiritual director for a number of years. A spiritual director is not a counsellor, or a mentor or a coach. A spiritual director is one who helps you see what God may be up to in your life. You talk to them about your life, and they are looking for the fingerprints of God. They will often prescribe spiritual practices that will help enhance what God is doing at a particular part of the journey.
I have had spiritual directors because I have found that I can’t always recognize Jesus, especially when things are hard. I can see the wind and the waves, but I can be very prone to missing the ways that Jesus shows up in my life.
We all have spiritual blind spots. Sometimes, it takes spiritual friends to point out Jesus in our own life. It is helpful to have someone who can help you see Jesus. Sometimes we cannot see Jesus because he comes to us in unexpected ways, in unexpected places – in unexpected circumstances.
Just as an aside, I also note that when I cultivate an attitude of thanksgiving – I tend to see Jesus faster.
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The disciples are out in a storm and think they see a ghost, so they cry out in fear.
Matthew 14:27 (NLT)
27 But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”
The first thing that Jesus wants the disciples to know is that he is there, he is with them, and he urges them to have courage. Or, as other translations put it, “take heart.”
That is not a bad thing to know in your storms, either. Jesus is with you in the storms; have courage. Take heart. If Jesus is with you in the storm, then you know it will somehow work out.
But you will notice that the wind did not die down right away, nor did Jesus come to the boat right away. Knowing that Jesus is with you in the storm is the start of the story, not the end of the story.
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Matthew 14:28–29 (NLT)
28 Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”
29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said.
So, Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.
I have no idea what inspired Peter to say that. Most of our inclinations are to say, Jesus, you can pray for the sick to be healed, but I can’t. Jesus, you can speak with wisdom, but I can’t. But for whatever reason, Peter said to Jesus, “If you are walking on water, I want to do it too. “
Actually, I think that Peter got it right. In the middle of the storm, in the middle of the wind, the Lord is passing by, and Peter has the opportunity to go on the adventure of a lifetime.
I think there are moments when the Lord comes to all of us, and we have the opportunity to do the same thing. But at the same time, you are scared to death. What do you choose, the water or the boat? The boat is safe, secure and comfortable. The water is rough, the storm is real, and if you get out of the boat, there is a good chance that you might sink.
In his book entitled, “If You Want to Walk on water, You’ve got to get out of the Boat,” John Ortberg says that you need to ask, “What is your boat?”
“Your boat is whatever represents safety and security to you, apart from God. Your boat is whatever you are tempted to put your trust in, especially when life gets a little stormy.”… Your fear will tell you (what your boat is)
For some, their boat is their job or vocation. They want to stay in their boat even when they know they are called to a different vocation. For others, it is past success. For others, it is a relationship that is not God honouring. For others, it is a regular paycheck.
Is there an area in your life that you are shrinking back from trusting God?
Because of the storm and the wind, some people decide never to leave the boat. But you need to know something. There is no guarantee that life in the boat is going to be any safer.
Eileen Gruder wrote,
You can live on bland food so as to avoid an ulcer, drink no tea, coffee or other stimulants in the name of health, go to bed early, stay away from nightlife, avoid all controversial subjects so as never to give offence, mind your own business, avoid involvement in other people’s problems, spend money only on necessities and save all you can.
You can do all that and still break your neck in the bathtub, and it will serve you right.
Someone once said – “The first principle of risk management is that everything is risky. If you are looking for absolute safety, you have chosen the wrong species. “(Larry Laudan)
The boat or the water. Peter decided to go to Jesus. That is a good decision. A decision, however, that is not without risk.
Matthew 14:28–31 (NLT)
28 Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”
29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said.
So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong* wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
31 Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”
Peter gets out of the boat and walks on water. Only person other than Jesus that I know of to actually do that. Then he took his eyes off Jesus and started to see the power of the wind and the waves and started to sink.
He calls out to Jesus, and the bible says that Jesus immediately reaches out and takes hold of him. When you are close to Jesus, rescue is never that far away.
Some people look at Peter and say, what a failure. I don’t know. It seems to me that Peter had a better story to tell than the other 11 sitting in the boat.
Jesus says to Peter, “You have so little faith.” What I love is that Jesus says this while they are still out of the boat. Some people hear this as condemnation, but I hear it as a teachable moment that Jesus takes advantage of. The lesson was clear. Whether he walked on water or sank depended on whether he focused on Jesus or the storm. It depended on which he believed had the most power, Jesus or the storm.
Jesus let him know this because He wanted Peter to grow. It was Peter’s willingness to risk failure that helped him to grow. And growth matters.
“Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to succeed at climbing Mount Everest, made several unsuccessful attempts before he finally succeeded. After one attempt, he stood at the base of the giant mountain and shook his fist at it. He said, “I’ll defeat you yet. Because you’re as big as you’re going to get – but I am still growing.”” Every time he climbed, he failed. But every time he failed, he learned something. And every time he learned something he grew and tried again and one day he didn’t fail.” (Ortberg)
Jesus is still looking for people to get out of the boat.
- It is the only way to real growth.
- It is the way true faith develops
- It is the alternative to stagnation
- It is part of discovering your calling
But the big reason to get out of the boat is because that is where Jesus is.
I often find that this is my problem. I want to encounter Jesus, but I don’t want to exercise faith. Maybe you have that problem too.
Mary was told that she would become pregnant even though she was a virgin. She had to exercise faith to encounter Jesus. Joseph was going to break up with Mary and go his own way. But he had a dream saying that what was happening was of God. He had to exercise faith to encounter Jesus. The shepherds in the field and the Wise men from the east would have to get out of the boat to encounter Jesus. We will have to exercise faith as well.
Because Jesus seems to show up in unexpected circumstances. He shows up in the middle of a boat trip gone bad, walking on water – in a way that was hardly believable. He showed up in a stable in a manger. That isn’t the first place you would go looking for God’s son, the Messiah.
Could it be that he will show up in circumstances that you don’t expect him to? Could he show up in that difficult situation that you have just continued to live with? Could he show up in that workplace that is far less than optimal? Could he show up in that marriage that is cold? Could he show up in the kid who is rebellious? Could he show up?
I expect that if you start looking in faith that you may see him. So here is the challenge. Look for Jesus in your storm. Sure, it feels like you have been rowing forever – but look for Jesus in your storm. And when you think you see him – exercise some faith. Step out of the boat and go towards him.
If you do this, you are going to grow. You are going to exercise faith. Faith has an amazing track record of producing results in those who exercise it.
I keep on praying for Asbury that we will encounter Jesus. I am trusting and praying that he will show up in ways that you never expected in this coming year. I pray that when he does, you will have the faith and courage to step out of the boat.