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Advent Around the World
We invite you to worship with us each Wednesday, beginning November 30 at 11:00 a.m. (CST) Read More
DAN WUNDERLICH | Read Matthew 14:26-33
Discomfort in life can come from many sources—natural consequences, other people, broken systems, and even God. However, sometimes we bring the discomfort on ourselves.
“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Peter shouts this request to what appears to be Jesus walking upon the stormy Sea of Galilee. We have to wonderwhat is Peter thinking?
Though he is a fisherman by trade, Peter likely still had a healthy fear of deep water. The Old Testament—the scriptures he knew—painted deep water as home to sea monsters. And when Jesus encountered a man possessed by many demons, Jesus returned the demons to the abyss via pigs drowning in this very body of water. (Read Luke 8:26-39.)
Yet, far from land during a predawn storm, Peter asks Jesus to command him to get out of the boat and walk over the top of deep water. Peter does not simply ask for a miracle—he puts his life at stake in an act of faith.
Peter does not have to do this. Jesus does not ask him to. And he certainly doesn’t make this request because it looks like fun. This mysterious figure is almost to the boat, and Peter’s companions are terrified. So he shouts this request to verify Jesus’ identity. Peter essentially asks Jesus to use him to prove that Jesus is who he claims to be. Is there a better request from a disciple?
Peter would willingly risk everything to protect his friends and help them all know Jesus better. By the end of this passage, they declare Jesus as Son of God for the first time. What are we willing to risk for the world to know Jesus?
God, fill us with a desire to see others come to know you. May that desire lead us to take risks in trusting you. Amen.
The Genesis text begins the story of Joseph. Things would have turned out very different for Joseph (and for Israel) had it not been for the watchful care of the One who called Israel into being. Psalm 105 brie y recites the saving events in Israel’s life, and this week’s portion remembers the story of Joseph, stressing both the hiddenness and the crucial significance of God’s mercy. In Romans 10 note the manner in which Paul brings the past to bear on the present in terms of God’s saving activity. Notice also Paul’s insistence on the universal availability of salvation. The Gospel lesson of Jesus stilling the storm points to the inexplicable wonder of God’s redeeming love, which can be appropriated and answered only in doxology.
• Read Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28. The writer says, “Not all the challenges we face are a divine plan.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?
• Read Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b. How well does your memory serve you in times of distress to recall God’s presence and past action?• Read Romans 10:5-15. In what situations have you chosen to rely on God?
• Read Matthew 14:22-33. The writer says that comfort and safety should not be our “primary criteria when discerning and acting on God’s will.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
Respond by posting a prayer.
This season, Whitney R. Simpson has given us the gift we must open: a clear, accessible invitation to connect with the divine spark that is within us. This is the best present: being present for Jesus’ birth, God made human.”
Learn more about our newest Advent resource, Fully Human, Fully Divine here.
