All at Sea

I‘ve no real experience of sailing. The only boats I have been in are ferries, the only water crossed has been the Irish Sea and the English Channel and thankfully the crossings were calm enough to allow a period on deck, viewing the waves as the ship made its passage. Of course, that’s not to say there wasn’t any swell, there was, and it was enough to make you realise the might and the power of the sea and of what enormous forces lie within. Today’s gospel certainly brings out that sense of strength when we are told that the disciples, hardened fishermen as they were, struggled to manage their boat as the sea was whipped up by a strong headwind. What though is going on here, since what follows is a very strange twist. In the midst of their trying to maintain a true course they see a vision of someone coming towards them walking on the sea.

Time, context, place and space suddenly seem to be fluid, like the sea itself,
chaotic and intangible. The natural order of things no longer applies, and fear grips them. The vision becomes ghostly and incomprehensible. Is their world about to engulf them and swallow them up? Suddenly familiar words are heard “It is I! Do not be afraid”. They reassure Peter and he responds to them and boldly steps out into the chaos, but his instincts are fragile, and he recoils, feeling himself submerging into a nightmare, shouting at the top of his voice “Lord, save me”. A hand grasps him, and suddenly he is face to face with Jesus and all is calm and serene.
What can we say about this moment. For Peter the words evoke an experience of deep spiritual significance with echoes and resonances of events to come and of events past. At his call in Luke’s gospel, Jesus is in Peter’s boat and Peter says to him “Leave me, Lord I am a sinful man”. Later Matthew will tell of Peter’s dramatic proclamation of faith in Jesus as the “Christ, the Son of the living God” juxtaposed today with Jesus’ describing him as a “man of little faith”. I think what we are being offered in this drama at sea is the very human drama of Peter’s discipleship. How is he to understand his calling to leadership in the light of the frailties that inhabit his character and bubble up to the surface when a storm breaks? We find the answer at the end of John’s gospel, when Jesus and Peter are together on the beach. At this moment all those strands of context, time, space and place come together not adhering in a ghostly vision, but in the reality of the trust the Risen Jesus places in Peter to lead the flock. A trust that will give him the strength and courage to live out his apostleship which Jesus first saw in him. “Do you love me more than these others?” “You know everything Lord. You know I love you... Feed my sheep.”