Be Amazed by Jesus All Over Again!

11th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/13/23 Matthew 14:22-33 Be Amazed by Jesus All Over Again! I. He is constantly compassionate. II. He is perfectly powerful. Why does UDF only offer its popular peach ice cream at this time of year? For the same reason that McDonald’s only offers its Shamrock shakes around St. Patrick’s Day. They want it to be something special that their customers look forward to each year. It’s all about marketing. Offer such things year around, and they wouldn’t be so popular any longer. Why do people enjoy “old” songs and “old” movies? Because they enjoyed them so much when they first heard or watched them, that they want to re-live those pleasant music and movie memories all over again. They take them back to a time and place that were special. You come to worship regularly. Why? I suppose there are many reasons. You love to hear about the love of your Lord Jesus while living in a world that is so often cold and loveless. You love to hear and apply his truth to your life in a world full of lies and manipulations. You love the fellowship of God’s people who share your Christian faith in a world that is opposed to Christ and everything that is Christian. Those are just a few of the blessings of weekly worship, and I hope and pray that none of you enter those doors thinking, “I’m going to hear the same things this Sunay as I’ve heard countless Sundays before.” Because the truth is, our sins and living in a sinful world every day wear us down. We become weary fighting the good fight of faith. We too easily adopt the attitudes and thought patterns of the evil world in which we live. Problems in our relationships at home, at work, and at school weigh us down, and we fight depression and despair. The bottom line is that we struggle with sin and its effects constantly. And the answer to sin is found always and only in Jesus, your Savior. By God’s grace you know and believe that. The solution to sin and the problems in your life are found only in Jesus. And that makes your Savior amazing. This morning we see your amazing Savior doing what he always does—displaying his compassion for sinners and his almighty power over all things. But rather than think, “I’ve heard this all before,” I urge you to be amazed. Be amazed by your Savior all over again. May the Holy Spirit fill us with that amazement again this morning! Part I. Which are the human qualities you admire? I’m sure being loving and peaceful make your list. So does being trustworthy and accountable. Being kind is currently popular. If you work in the fields of medicine, therapy, or education, compassion is an admirable trait. If you think about it, we all try to display those qualities as often as we can. All the time, if possible. But the reality is, our noble qualities have limitations. And when we begin to feel unloving, judgmental, impatient, and unkind, we try to justify it. We’re just reacting to our negative environment as any other human would do. Every other human, that is, than Jesus Christ, who was and is and always will be also true God. And we see that clearly in the text before us this morning, the familiar account of Peter walking on the water. Permit me to highlight the compassion of Jesus in this account. It’s shown in the opening words of our text. “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.” Why the hurried exit? You need to know what had just happened. Jesus had just fed 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish. The people recognized the miracle and wanted to make him their earthly king by force. From to time to time the disciples revealed that they had that same wicked desire which was diametrically opposed to God’s plan of salvation. So, Jesus removed them from this spiritual death trap. He made the disciples leave and then he dismissed the crowd and went off by himself to pray. He sends them away from danger. What compassion! Meanwhile, a monster storm blows into the basin of the Sea of Galilee. We don’t know exactly when that storm hit, but we can estimate how long the disciples were rowing on the Sea of Galilee and, during the storm, just trying to keep their boat afloat. No doubt they started their journey with enough sunlight left to reach their destination. Our text says that Jesus prayed and then came to the disciples around dawn. It’s possible they had been on the lake for 9 hours and had not only gotten nowhere but were in danger of drowning. And some of the disciples were experienced fishermen on this very body of water. And Jesus comes to them, walking on the water. What compassion! But the disciples don’t think it’s Jesus. They think they’re seeing a ghost. So, Peter asks for Jesus to allow him to come to him on the water. Peter is asking for a miracle in the midst of witnessing a miracle. And Jesus permits it. He enables Peter to participate in this miracle! But Peter’s faith falters when he takes his eyes off Jesus and focuses instead on the dangerous wind and waves. He begins to go under. And what does Jesus do? Not for a moment does he let Peter learn his lesson about failing to trust him. “Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.” Again, Matthew uses the word “immediately” to describe Jesus’ reaction to a potentially dangerous situation. First Jesus grants Peter’s request and then he rescues him when Peter’s faith falters. What compassion! As I stated a few minutes ago, compassion is one of the noble qualities we strive to display, but often fail. But not Jesus. Be amazed by Jesus all over again. He is constantly compassionate. I’m guessing you had no problem seeing the compassion of Jesus on display in this event. More than once he acts immediately to help his disciples. He absolutely does care. But have you had difficulty seeing his compassion in your life at times? Have you ever asked yourself, “Why doesn’t Jesus care?” or, “Why doesn’t Jesus care more?” In fact, there are times in your life and mine when we get the impression that Jesus is oblivious to the trouble we’re facing because he doesn’t appear to be hearing our pleas for his help. Notice that several times Jesus acted immediately, but he didn’t do two things. He didn’t prevent the storm from coming in the first place, and, when it did, he didn’t immediately calm it. He lingered perhaps for hours. Why? To cause his disciples to exercise their faith. He had already calmed a storm on this very sea for them when they were certain they were going to drown. And he had already made clear that he was training them to one day send them out as his apostles. They knew his plans for them. They also had already witnessed him perform countless miracles. They knew he had knowledge of all things. But they just couldn’t resist the temptation to doubt him. And we have trouble with that, too. Daily. My doubts and fears and anxious moments are a reflection of my inability to trust Jesus completely. And without reason. He’s the one who already has taken care of my biggest problem—my sins which condemn me to life without him forever. And by his death he made me his own to live with him forever. Nothing can prevent that from happening as we stay grounded in our faith through his word and sacrament. Nothing! So, be amazed by Jesus all over again. He is constantly compassionate. Part II. You’ve heard it said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We see it happening daily. People with power use it to oppress others to their own advantage. And that’s nothing new. It’s as old as sin. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s the way it is with humans. Every other human, that is, than Jesus Christ, who was and is and always will be also true God. And we see that clearly in this text. Be amazed by Jesus all over again! Look at how he used his almighty power! He walked on water to his disciples. He could have suddenly appeared in the boat with them. He could have unfolded his prayer hands for a moment, snapped his fingers, stilled the storm, and then resumed his prayer to his heavenly Father. All those miraculous options were before Jesus, but he chose to walk on water. And Christians have been amazed by it ever since. We even use it in familiar phrase, “He walks on water.” Amazing! And, as I mentioned before, he decided to allow Peter to participate in this miracle with him. The disciples had done so the day before when the food they were distributing to the 5,000 miraculously multiplied. Look at the ways in which Jesus chooses to use his almighty power. Not for his own advantage, but for theirs. Amazing! And don’t miss the final miracle in this account. It barely gets mentioned. “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’” The other accounts of this miracle add the information that the boat immediately reached its destination on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus used his almighty power to take care of everything necessary in the moment for his disciples. Amazing! Be amazed by Jesus all over again. He is perfectly powerful! And we are. At least, I pray we all are at this moment having had the blessed opportunity to review the amazing power of Jesus. But I’m sad to say, our amazement often fades. It does so when the storms of life begin to batter us. We can’t seem to fix a broken relationship. We’re afraid of what our last medical test will reveal. We don’t know what tomorrow will look like, let alone a year from now. We fear for our children and grandchildren, physically and spiritually. We’re suffering from inflation, and we expect to get battered by political candidates sooner than later. And our inner desire is, “If only Jesus would use his power to…” You finish the sentence. But he doesn’t. Just as he didn’t prevent the storm from occurring in the first place. He let it happen. And then he led his disciples through it. Can’t we all state that he has done the same for us time and time again? Thousands of the followers of Jesus wanted to tell Jesus how they wanted him to use his power, but he didn’t because he knows best. And, thanks, be to Jesus, he didn’t use that power over his enemies when they nailed him to the cross. There’s your prime example of his love for you. And then three days later he used his almighty power to raise himself from the dead. He did that for YOU. Be amazed by Jesus all over again! He and he alone is the perfect combination of compassion and power for you. Amen.