Trust but Verify

 In the Gospel for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Mat 14:22-34), we find the twelve being obedient to their Master.  They’ve just witnessed the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, an event which our Lord made certain that they (the Apostles) were active participants in its completion.  It was the Apostles who carried the multiplied food from the hand of Jesus to the hands of the throngs.

But Jesus sends them away.  “Get into the boat and go to the other side,” He instructs them.

We can only imagine the discussions amongst the twelve as they travel across the sea, given the magnitude of the miracle witnessed by them.

But the world (as it is wont to do) interrupts the spiritual high.  First it’s darkness.  Then it’s waves.  Finally, it’s winds carrying them off course (for the wind was contrary).  I suppose we should add to this the factor of fatigue, for the Apostles had labored all day (getting TO the place where the 5000 were fed), and now they’re laboring into the wee hours of the morning, for it was the fourth watch of the night, which in English means somewhere between 3 and 6AM!!!

It is in this physically spent state fed by the spiritual high that they find a figure moving near the storm-tossed boat.

And we must ask ourselves, “How would I react?”

These men know the Lord, but the world has dulled their physical senses.  They should recognize Him spiritually, but they’re not looking with spiritual eyes.  They’re depending on the physical.  The result is Peter’s “test.”  Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water. 

Trust – but verify.

The Lord’s response is one word.  Come.  Again, in obedience, Peter climbs over the boat’s rail, places one foot on the water, and then the other.  All accomplished as if it were the most natural thing in the world.  St. Matthew records, And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

But now, the world interferes – again!

But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’

We must ask ourselves, “What changed?  Did the water become ‘less firm’?  Did the wind increase in ferocity?  Were the waves higher?”  We can believe that none of these were the case. 

What changed is Peter’s belief.  The Lord’s command made him bold with respect to the world. But the world shortly made his humanity come to the fore, and he became timid with respect to the Lord, a condition which causes Jesus to chide him, saying, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

Peter thought he was testing Jesus by asking Him to call him onto the water.  In the end, it is Jesus Who is testing Peter – and the other eleven – to give them an opportunity to display faith in all they had been party to in the past day.

We too are tested.  Let us ever trust in the Lord to be near to us, as He promised.

Let us never feel the need to verify His faithfulness to us.

It is never a bad prayer to call on the Lord to say, “Save me!”