19th Sunday Ordinary Time – A – August 13 2023
It’s natural to jump to the conclusion that Peter’s mistake was losing his focus on Jesus. However, Peter was sunk even before his feet got wet.
To test the apparition walking on the water, Peter doesn’t say, “If it’s you, Lord, come save us,” but demands that he himself be enabled to conquer the storm alone. Perhaps, then, Jesus’s question is not “Peter, why did you doubt you could do the impossible?” but rather, “Why did you leave your companions behind if you trusted that I would save you all?”
When we’re tempted to abandon ship to save ourselves, we need the flood of baptismal grace that bonds our common fates together in Christ so that together we might cry out in faith, “And grant us your salvation.” Click To TweetOver the last several years, it has become clear that not everyone is, in fact, “in the same boat” when it comes to weathering life’s storms. Each of us carries a unique set of advantages, disadvantages, skills, and luck that cause some to drown, others to float merrily along, and still a small few to walk on water. Our folly, however, is not whether we trust Jesus enough to survive these storms but in believing that, whatever boat we’re in, we’re meant to survive them alone.
It takes just a drop of faith to say, “Lord, save me!” But when we’re tempted to abandon ship to save ourselves, we need the flood of baptismal grace that bonds our common fates together in Christ so that together we might cry out in faith, “And grant us your salvation.”
Leave a Reply