1
Corinthians 3:9-17
St.
Matthew 14:22-34
If you are like me, you are often easily
distracted from what is really most important in life. It is so easy to worry obsessively about
matters beyond our control and to waste our attention on fantasies of what the
future may hold. With all of the bad news
in the world today and our own personal struggles, we may face powerful temptations
to fill our minds with fear. When we do
that, however, we sink into a deep abyss, just like St. Peter in today’s gospel
reading.
As he walked on the water with Jesus
Christ, St. Peter let himself be distracted by the dangerous wind and the waves
of a stormy sea. Instead of focusing his
attention and trust in the Lord Who miraculously enabled him to walk on the
water in the first place, St. Peter let doubt and fear fill his mind. So he began to sink, to be consumed by the
turbulent sea that scared him so much; but when he called out in terror for
help, the Lord reached out to St. Peter and saved him from drowning.
The story is even more profound when
we remember that St. Peter had just asked Christ to let him walk on the
water. St. Peter actually tested Him,
“Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” As was often the case, this disciple spoke
before he thought. Indeed, he was the
one who would actually be put to the test to see if he really had faith; and he
fell short.
We can all understand St. Peter’s
situation, for we have all been like him at one time or another; indeed, we may
be like him this very minute. With
pride, we like to think that we have a lot of faith and even put ourselves in
situations where we know we will be tested, but then our fears, passions, and
weaknesses take over. When that happens,
we pay more attention to the dangers that threaten us than to the Lord Who gave
us life in the first place and continues to enable us to walk by faith even
through the most difficult challenges that the world presents. And
when we do so, we sink like a stone thrown into the sea or someone who has jumped
off a tall building.
For as St. Paul wrote to the
Corinthians, our one true foundation in life is the Son of God. Our entire life is built on Him, the One by
Whom all things were made, the One Who became the second Adam to heal our
corrupt humanity, the One Who conquered
death in His third-day resurrection, the One Who has brought us into the
eternal life of the Holy Trinity.
When we turn away from Him, we turn
away from being truly human in His image and likeness. That is why St. Peter started to descend to
the deep when he gave more attention to his fears than to trust in the
Lord. And it is why we all experience
the weakness of slavery to our habitual sins, to our passions that we know all
too well. We may believe with our hearts
that Christ is the Savior, but our faith shows its weakness when we are
confronted with a difficult challenge, when the waves seem so big and the winds
seem so strong: and then we feel like
someone who all of a sudden realizes that he is trying to walk on the water in
the middle of a storm.
Fear, panic, and anxiety will then
seem more real to us in than will faith, hope, and love. The key question, however, is what do we do
then? For we have freedom, we are God’s
fellow workers and He never forces us to love and serve Him. We may give in to our temptations and allow
our lives to be controlled by our self-centered desires and fears. Out of pride, we may live as though it were simply
up to us to figure out how to cope as best we can with whatever may happen.
That may sound noble, but it is a path that leads only to continued slavery to
sin as surely as trying to walk on water by our own power leads only to
drowning. Despite our best efforts, we
cannot conquer sin and death by ourselves.
Thankfully, St. Peter came to his
senses about his situation and called out, probably at the top of his lungs,
“Lord, save me!” In crying out for
Christ’s help, St. Peter showed that he did
have some level of faith, but it
was not the quality of his faith that saved him. It was the mercy of the Lord. Like him, we all stand in constant need of the
mercy of Jesus Christ. That is why we
sing “Lord, have mercy” so many times in our services. It is why the Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus
Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” is at the heart of spiritual
vision. We focus on the Lord’s mercy so
much because, like St. Peter, we know that we are sick and weak, constantly
tempted to turn our attention and trust elsewhere, especially to ourselves.
No matter what our personal
challenges are and no matter what problems the world faces, no one has to be distracted
from humble trust in the Lord’s mercy. Remember
that He endured and conquered even death and Hades for our salvation. He came to the same corrupt and scary world
in which we live with wicked people trying to kill Him even as an infant. He is no stranger to even our worst problems.
So instead of being paralyzed by
fear and worry, we must call to Christ with confident hope no matter what,
keeping our attention focused on Him. We
must do our part each day in order to grow in humble faith. As we stand before
our icons at home in daily prayers, we should ask for God’s mercy upon our
loved ones, those who suffer around the world, and on ourselves as we meet
whatever challenges the day holds. Whenever
we are tempted to sinful words, deeds, or thoughts of any kind, we should call
upon the Lord’s aid, whether silently or aloud.
And we can all do many things in our daily routines while offering short
prayers, such as the Jesus Prayer, from our hearts.
Of course, it takes effort to guard
our thoughts and to pray with humility when we are tempted. How much easier it is in the moment simply to
welcome anger, pride, lust, fear, despair, and hatred than to reject them. That is surely why our epistle passage today
refers to us as fellow workers with God, for we have to exert effort to do
God’s will. And, no, we will not do this
work perfectly. But the more we struggle
and perhaps fail, the greater awareness we will have that our situation is like
that of St. Peter. Apart from the mercy
of Christ, we will sink and drown. Apart
from Him, we are like a building without a foundation which will collapse under
its own weight.
As St. Paul
wrote, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of
God dwells in you?” A temple must be
holy and dedicated to God. For us to be a
temple requires vigilance and perseverance to ground our lives in the mercy of
Christ, for we are so often tempted to worship the false gods of our own
devising. All the more is the reason is
to maintain a daily rule of prayer and to pray the Jesus Prayer as much as we
can. For if we are not intentionally
welcoming, inviting, and cooperating with the Holy Spirit each day of our
lives, how on earth are we going to be able to live as holy temples in the
midst of a corrupt and dark world?
The basic point
is very simple: The more we turn our
attention to Christ and His salvation, the better we will be able to walk with
Him on the water through the storms of our own lives and of our fallen world. The more mindful we are, the closer watch we will
keep on our thoughts, the more strength we will have to reject the lies that we
so often tell ourselves—and instead to open our hearts to the mercy of the One
who is our foundation, our Savior, and the victor over sin and death. Apart from Christ, we will sink like stones. But in Him, we become fellow workers with God
for our salvation.
We cannot stop
the world’s storms from raging or even calm the seas of our own lives very
well. But we can keep our eyes and our
hearts centered on Christ and call out to Him with humble trust that He will
hear our cry, “Lord, save me!” just as He did St. Peter’s. Let us focus our
lives and attention on Him, and not on our fears, worries, or other temptations.
No comments:
Post a Comment