Ninth Sunday After Pentecost

(Matthew 14:22-34)

The scene put before us in today’s Holy Gospel is one of the most indelible images from the life of our Lord and his disciples and it is an icon for us of the spiritual life and our relationship with God.

Our Lord had sent the disciples ahead of Him in a boat while He took time to be alone with God, His Father. While the disciples were in the midst of the sea, a storm began to rage and they were tossed about and began to fear for their lives. In the midst of this, imagine the fear and awe that grips the disciples as they see our Lord walking toward them upon the waters – and the relief and joy they experience as He tells them the reassuring words: ‘Be of good cheer! It is I, do not be afraid’. And then we have the incredible image of Apostle Peter stepping out of the boat onto the waters to walk toward our Lord – initially stepping forth in enthusiasm and great faith, and then beginning to fear and waver as the waters toss all around him. He begins to sink and calls out to the Lord to save him and immediately our Lord is there to stretch forth His hand and lead him back into the boat. Today’s Gospel reading concludes with the disciples all safely in the boat with our Lord - the seas have been calmed and they prostrate themselves before Him proclaiming ‘Truly, Thou art the Son of God!’

When our Lord summoned Apostle Peter to come to Him, Apostle Peter, in his zeal and love for Christ, immediately stepped out of the boat and began walking upon the water toward His Lord and God. Apostle Peter demonstrates in this moment a self-forgetting, Christ-focused faith in God. As long as he kept his eyes on Christ he walked upon the water as if it were dry land. But what happened?... We read that, “when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out ‘Lord save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O ye of little faith, why did you doubt?’” The moment Apostle Peter took his eyes off of Christ and began to concern himself with himself, with his fears and doubts, this is when he began to sink. Thanks be to God, our Lord was close at hand and when Peter cried out, ‘Lord save me!’ Jesus stretched out His hand and brought him safely back into the boat.

Brothers and sisters in Christ… this Gospel image of the Apostle Peter and Christ upon the waters must be a consistent reminder and lesson for each one of us. It is a vivid portrait of the uplifting and sustaining power of God-focused faith and the perilous dangers of our self-centered, anxious preoccupations that eclipse our focus on God.

This distinction of the target of our focus, between having our heart, our mind, and our affections turned toward God vs. having our heart, our mind, and our affections preoccupied with our selfish and worldly concerns is absolutely foundational… it is the key to our spiritual life and our spiritual health.

And so, let each of us ask ourselves: ‘Where is my focus?’

The reality of our lives today is that so much of our focus tends to be on our work, on making a living – especially in this high-cost area, where most of our efforts go simply to paying our mortgage or our rent, groceries, gas, and utilities. When we come home from work, we are exhausted and so we amuse and lose ourselves in TV or video games or other entertainments. Perhaps we make an effort to squeeze in some morning prayers before we rush out of the house. And perhaps we are able to say a few prayers before we lie down to sleep. (God bless you if you’re making such an effort!)

But where in all this is our focus? Life makes demands on us… and our modern life today seems especially orchestrated to demand our attention and to distract us from the spiritual life. However, if we are going to survive spiritually, we have to make a conscious effort to examine and make course corrections to the focus of our life.

So am I suggesting we should all quit our jobs and flee to the mountains to live in a cave? Of course not. We have personal and family responsibilities and obligations, and God expects us to bloom wherever we are planted. Attend to your job with integrity and diligence. Maybe we can cut down or eliminate some of the fruitless distractions that occupy us – like the TV and the video games… making room for spiritual nourishment like reading the Scriptures and the lives and teachings of the saints. The question again in all of this is: where is our focus?

The scene of the Apostle Peter and our Lord Jesus Christ upon the waves is our model.

To live a healthy and fruitful spiritual life does not require us to flee the stormy waves of this life. The waves and concerns of this life will always be with us. But if we focus our gaze and our hope upon Christ, by His grace, He can allow us to walk upon those waves as if they were steady ground.

Make that time in the morning to say your prayers. If you would not walk out of the house without brushing your teeth and hair, take the same uncompromising stance with your prayers! During the day, attend to your work to the best of your ability with the understanding that God is with you, that all you do is done within the presence of God. As challenges and temptations occur, let these be your reminders and calls to prayer… uttering a simple and heartfelt prayer: ‘God be with me!’ or ‘Lord help me!’ or cultivate the soul-profiting habit of saying the Jesus Prayer: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ When you come home, do so with gratitude to God in your heart, that He has been with you and has preserved you through another day. If you wish to ‘turn off’ with some entertainment or distraction, do so with a time limit… telling yourself you will watch your show for an hour, and then be done with it so you retain time for evening prayers. God grant you to go to sleep with a prayer on your lips and with peace in your heart.

In such a way, we can keep the focus of our life on Christ. Resist the force of the waves of the sea of life from pulling you under! Do so by focusing your sights on Christ, Whose grace lifts us up, granting us strength and consolation and, should we turn our sights away from Him and begin to drown in the waters, call out as did Peter, ‘Lord save me!’