1 Jacob settled in the land where his father had
lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. 2 This is the story of the family of
Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his
brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives;
and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved
Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old
age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. 4 But when his brothers saw
that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and
could not speak peaceably to him.
12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem. 13 And
Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at
Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." He answered, "Here I
am." 14 So he said to him, "Go now, see if it is well with your
brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me." So he sent him
from the valley of Hebron. He came to Shechem, 15 and a man found him wandering
in the fields; the man asked him, "What are you seeking?" 16 "I
am seeking my brothers," he said; "tell me, please, where they are
pasturing the flock." 17 The man said, "They have gone away, for I
heard them say, "Let us go to Dothan.' " So Joseph went after his
brothers, and found them at Dothan. 18 They saw him from a distance, and before
he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. 19 They said to one another,
"Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into
one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we
shall see what will become of his dreams." 21 But when Reuben heard it, he
delivered him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life."
22 Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in
the wilderness, but lay no hand on him"—that he might rescue him out of
their hand and restore him to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his
brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he
wore; 24 and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there
was no water in it. 25 Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a
caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum,
balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to
his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his
blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on
him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers agreed. 28
When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of
the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they
took Joseph to Egypt.
Romans
10:5-15
5 Moses writes concerning the righteousness that
comes from the law, that "the person who does these things will live by
them." 6 But the righteousness that comes from faith says, "Do not
say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?' " (that is, to bring
Christ down) 7 "or "Who will descend into the abyss?' " (that
is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word
is near you, on your lips and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith
that we proclaim); 9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with
the mouth and so is saved. 11 The scripture says, "No one who believes in
him will be put to shame." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and
Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13
For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." 14
But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are
they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear
without someone to proclaim him? 15 And how are they to proclaim him unless
they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who
bring good news!"
Matthew
14:22-33
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into
the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to
pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but by this time the boat,
battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25
And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26 But when
the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It
is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to
them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." 28 Peter
answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the
water." 29 He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat,
started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the
strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out,
"Lord, save me!" 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught
him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" 32 When
they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped
him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
And early in the morning
he came walking toward them on the sea.
·
So Jesus can walk on
water. Did we expect any less? We’d say “no” but only because we know the story
ahead of time. If we didn’t know the story backwards and forwards, we might be
surprised by this.
·
The disciples in the
boat certainly were. They followed Jesus’ order or request and left him on the
shore of the Sea of Galilee and ran smack into a storm. I’ve been told that
such storms can arise quickly on the Sea of Galilee and can be quite messy to
the boat traffic there. So imagine the disciples working the sail with the wind
against them and possibly straining at the oars in the dark of night. The
veteran fishermen among them probably knew what their chances might be.
·
As morning breaks (the
Greek puts this in the fourth watch of the night), they see Jesus coming toward
them, walking ON the water. This, on top of everything else – wind and waves
and darkness, leads them to the terrified conclusion that this is a ghost, a
phantom. Jesus responds to their shouts with a favorite Gospel statement: “Do
not be afraid!”
·
You know the rest of the
story – Peter ends up swimming, Jesus pulls him up, and when Jesus enters the
boat with Peter, the storm subsides. The disciples recognize Jesus as “the Son
of God.”
·
Here’s a few points to
ponder. Peter wants to walk to Jesus over the waves and succeeds… for a short
time. His faith was strong enough to start the walk and he faltered in the face
of the storm. Matthew has Jesus taking Peter to task for lacking faith. Some of
the other disciples might have gone straight to the bottom, so I think we can
cut Peter some slack. However, note that when Jesus approaches the boat he says
Take
heart, it is I; do not be afraid. The call - Do not be afraid –
comes up when important and powerful things happen in the Gospel. The angels
say it to the shepherds at Jesus’ birth and Jesus says it to the women at the
tomb and to the disciples on the day of Resurrection. Something important and
powerful is happening here as well. Jesus also says it is I. The
original language says “I Am”, which is the name of God if we were to use the
Hebrew. Jesus is identifying himself with the Almighty One of Israel.
·
Jesus walks over the
lake after spending the night in solitary prayer and rest. This is why he went
to where he was in the first place! The crowd found him out and he was
compassionate in his healing and feeding the crowd. Still he needed what is
called the self-care of physical rest and personal prayer. It is something we
often forget to do or something we consider a weakness in people who are
actually doing this. Mark 6:31 has Jesus inviting his disciples to Come
away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while. Maybe
we should take Jesus’ advice. One commentator even went so far as to say the
disciples didn’t recognize Jesus because his rest and prayer changed his
appearance to the point that he looked like a ghost.
·
Lastly, let’s remember
that Jesus walked on the water after his time of prayer and rest, but he wasn’t
just wandering around the lake. He was purposefully coming to be with the
disciples in whatever situation they were in. It appears that he wasn’t going to
let a storm stop him from rejoining his disciples. It might make us think: What
won’t Jesus walk through to be with us? I’m reminded of Paul’s remarks from the
letter to the Romans which we read a few Sundays ago: Who will separate us from the
love of Christ? (Romans 8:35) The walk on the water is a
visible statement of God desire in Christ to be united with us all.
·
This passage shows us
who Jesus is, his wish to be with us in all situations, and to Take
heart at all times, realizing his presence with us. There is both comfort and courage here… just
what is need in this very strange time in our history.
And early in the morning
he came walking toward them on the sea.
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