My family has a cottage on a small lake in Upstate NY, in the Adirondacks. There are a lot of watercrafts at the camp: ski jets, kayaks, sailboats, and motorboats. It would be very rare for one of us to take a boat out onto the lake during the night. It is just too dangerous to go out onto the lake at night, even during good, calm weather.
In today’s Gospel, right after the Multiplication of the Loaves, Jesus sends his disciples out to cross the Sea of Galilee at night. In the Bible, water is a sign of a time of pre-creation chaos, of sin, of disorder. Here we must add on the image of night, another sign of sin and disorder. Then on top of all that, the storm. What a mess! During the fourth watch of the night, which is the last watch (3-6am), Jesus comes to the disciples who are in the middle of the night surrounded by this mess – water, storm, wind, waves, and all the forces that they cannot control or understand. To the normal state of fear and uncertainty during the night storm, this new element of a ghost is added. This pushes them into terror.
Jesus calls them to courage and faith. He calls them to renounce their fear. Peter recognizes Jesus and asks to walk out on the water to be with Jesus. What a great profession of faith! Focused on the person of Jesus, Peter can walk on the water. But as his fears and terror overtake him, he sinks into the water – chaos, disorder and sin – his life before encountering Jesus. Peter loses his focus and begins to sink back into a pre-Christian life. He begins to drown in fear, despair, terror, chaos, and disorder. Jesus pulls him up again into true life.
This is the story of conversion that all of us live daily. Life comes from a focused relationship on Jesus. We need to live in courage and to renounce our fears and terrors in life.
Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.
Image: https://www.christianstudylibrary.org/article/miracle-jesus-walking-water