"...the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary...Jesus went to them, walking on the sea...the disciples cried out for fear...immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, 'Be of good cheer! I'm here! Don't be afraid!'...and Peter said, 'Lord! If it's really you, command me to come to you on the water!'"
-Matthew 14:24-28
***
When we're in the middle of a storm, our instinctive response is, "I want out!"
When Peter was in the boat, terrified by the turbulence, his cry to Jesus was, "I want out!", even if it meant plunging into the very sea that was at the heart of the stormy seige.
Talk about "out of the frying pan, into the fire".
At that point, panic had prevailed over practicality....all he knew is, he wanted "out".
Aren't we sometimes like that? When we're really in the thick of it,
anything can seem preferable to the predicament we're in....all we know is, "we want
out!"
It didn't occur to Peter in the middle of his panic, that maybe Jesus was there because He wanted
in.
Peter's water-walking heroics was not what Jesus intended when He came to His loved ones' rescue -- though it makes for an interesting story on Sunday mornings -- Jesus allowed Peter to get his escapist escapade out of his system, sustained him through it, and then, between the lines, we can almost hear Jesus asking, "ok,
now are you ready to invite me into the boat?"...
The wind did not cease when Peter got out of the boat....the wind ceased when Jesus got
into the boat.
Instead of heeding the voice of primal fear which is screaming "I want out!" and plunging ourselves into futher peril, may we have the grace to stop, to wait, to breathe, to heed instead the voice of Jesus saying "
I want in"......
He is waiting to take us safely into shore.
***
"When they got into the boat, the wind ceased."
-Matthew 14:32
