Homily offered by Protodeacon Michael Schlaack on OCPM Sunday
We are all familiar with the old saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” The idea behind the statement is to force reflection on the situation at hand and then focus on our own personal strength to pull through. It is the ultimate call for self-dependance, relying on our own abilities to win the day. But today’s Gospel lesson should cause us to think about total self-reliance in a different light, understanding that there is an outside source of strength that we are called to depend on as Christians. In other words, “When the waters get rough, our faithful gets stronger.”
It is easy to be good followers of Jesus when the waters of life are calm. When things are sunny and the breeze is gentle, we tend leave Christ on the shore. He’s never that far away, always within sight, but never right here, next to us. The boat we sail in our daily lives is often crowded with friends who are happy to share the good times with us. We may take a few minutes to offer up a brief prayer of thanks for the beautiful day, but the thought of needing to keep Jesus near will likely not be at the top of our mind. Why spoil a perfectly good day with the reminder of our personal sins and failings? Jesus can stay on the distant shore while we play.
But in every life, there will be storms that threaten our good times. In the previous verses in the 14th chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, the disciples take part in the great miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 (Matt. 14:13-21). With Jesus’ blessing, the five loaves and two fishes were enough to feed everyone, with 12 baskets of leftovers, demonstrating that with God’s blessing and our faithful participation, miracles can happen. With their bellies and spirits filled, the disciples follow Christ’s direction and begin sailing across the Sea of Galilee to the opposite shore. I can only imagine what the conversation must have been like as sailed across the initially calm waters. It would certainly be hard to contain their enthusiasm after witnessing Jesus’ ability to multiply the small fare the disciples had on hand and turn it into a feast for 5,000 people, but there they were, not only witnessing a miracle but being an active part in it.
Then came the storm. St. Matthew tells us that “the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary” (v. 24). The boat was not going in the direction the disciples intended, which was the opposite shore. It was being drifted off course and no matter what they did, they could not get their boat going in the right direction. To top that off, the water was rough, making it even more difficult to steer the craft. Remember, these were experienced fishermen, so this situation must have been dire for them to be concerned for their own safety. But as our Gospel lesson shows us, our comfort and salvation are never too far away.
Jesus understands His disciples fear and proceeds to walk across the water to meet them in their place and time of need. Jesus did not go to them because He needed a ride; He walked across the water as a demonstration of His love and care for His followers. The disciples were initially scared by what they witnessed: Jesus walking across on the water, unaffected by the waves and wind (vv. 25-6).
St. Peter, recovering from the initial shock of seeing this “ghost” walking on the water (v. 26), decided that he, too, was able to defy the laws of nature. And initially, he did. The account tells us that St. Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” (v. 28). St. Peter needed proof that his eyes were not deceiving him, that the miracle unfolding before him was real and not an apparition. By Jesus’ command, St. Peter steps out the boat and onto the water towards Jesus (v. 29). If St. Peter kept his eyes and mind on Jesus, he too was able to defy nature, participating in the same miraculous action as his Lord. This is an important point in this Gospel lesson that we should apply to our own lives. We also can perform miracles, but only through faith and by the grace of God. Jesus told us that total faith, even as small as a mustard seed, can move mountains (Matt. 17:20) and uproot trees (Luke 17:6). But when our attention, and thus our faith, is focused more on the turbulence that surrounds us rather than the peaceful strength of Christ, then we too will sink.
All of us at some time in our lives will come to that crossroad where we need to decide where we need to turn our focus. Will it be on Christ or on the chaos of the world? Is the draw of sinful living more enticing? This is the question that we face every day of our lives. Fortunately, most of us choose the good over the evil. But what about those men and women, all made in the image of God just like each of us, who choose the path of destruction? Are they any less deserving of God’s love? The purpose of the Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM) Sunday is to bring our incarcerated brothers and sisters out of the darkness and into the light. Many of the prisoners I have encountered do have a strong faith in Christ, but at some point in their life they took their eyes off Jesus and began to sink into the sea of despair. Many of them, like St. Peter, cried the words of total abandon of self and pleaded with the One capable of pulling them up out of their desperate situation: “Lord, save me!” (v. 30) By these three simple words we acknowledge the fact that we are incapable of walking on water by our own power. In this sense, we are not much different than those brothers and sisters who are in prison. Those who are part of the OCPM correspondence ministry understand this and can see the humanity in those who have turned their lives over to Christ despite their circumstances. They understand that it is often harder for a person in prison to be true to their Christian faith, living each day surrounded by negative influences. Unlike us, they cannot escape the situation they are in. And regardless of whether we believe that they deserved to be in prison or not, they still are trying their best to live up to the title of “Child of God.” So, for all we know their faith, being purified in the crucible of prison, may even be stronger than our own.
So let us never forget our brothers and sisters behind bars. Continue to pray for everyone who is incarcerated that they may find peace through the grace and love of Christ. Ask God to allow each of us to be the one who delivers the Good News of the Transfigured and Risen Christ to those who may have never heard the Gospel message. And may those who are incarcerated be examples for us of how difficult situations in life can be used to strengthen our faith rather than sink it. We must never forget that we are all capable of walking on water when we have the faith that only comes by keeping our eyes on Jesus.