Take Heart; it is I. Do Not be Afraid
Matthew 14: 22-33
Pentecost 11 (Proper 14)
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for the eleventh Sunday after Pentecost is the Gospel reading Matthew 14. Fear is something that we all have experienced. We all know what it is like to be afraid. We might try to deny it. We might tell people that we are not afraid of the things in this world. We might try to tell ourselves that we are not afraid of anything. But the truth of the matter is that we have all experienced fear. There are many things that alarm us and cause us to be afraid. Every person must fight their own fears.
We are afraid of many things. We are afraid of the state that our world is in. We are afraid that the leaders of our country will do something foolish. We are afraid of the future. We are afraid of the world that our children and grandchildren will be living in. We are afraid of getting into a conflict with someone we know. We might even be afraid of ourselves and what we will do if we lose our temper. We are afraid of failure. We fear the unknown. We are afraid that our health will decline. We fear for the welfare of other people who we care about. We fear being alone. We are afraid of being stuck in a dead end job. We are afraid that our financial situation is not as good as we want it to be. Some of us might have anxiety and fear over something that is deeply troubling us right now. There are many things that can make us afraid. One of the more fearful things to think about is death.
Even Paul, one of the great apostles of the Lord experienced fear. Scripture reveals to us that Paul was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and thrown in prison. When Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, he said these words. “I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling”.
We fear many things in this fallen world but one of our greatest fears is that God will not help us. It is a fear that comes from doubt. When we doubt God, we will start to wonder if He cares for us. When troubles seem to be piling up in our lives and we pray to God for help there are times when we are afraid that God will not answer our prayers. When things go wrong, we start to question God’s love for us and that will always cause fear. We fear that God will put us in a bad spot and then leave us there. Sometimes we are afraid that God is not concerned over the plight that we are in. We are afraid that God is not paying attention to us. When bad things happen, we might fear that God is punishing us. Our community has been hit with several storms this summer. A few days ago I was looking out the window, watching a thunderstorm. Michael was nervous and so he came up to me and asked me this question. He said, “Dad, why does God keep sending storms?” There are many things that we are afraid of including a fear that God is not gracious to us.
In our Gospel reading we see that the disciples also experienced fear. Matthew tells us that Jesus went up to a mountain to pray. After He finished praying the Lord walked on water in order to catch up with His disciples who were already in a boat. It was a fantastic miracle. It was a miracle that demonstrated that He is the Son of God. When the disciples saw Him walking on the water, they were terrified. They thought He was a ghost. The disciples cried out in fear.
Notice how Jesus responded to their fear. “Immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Jesus immediately responded to the needs of His disciples. They were troubled and so He said, “Take heart.” When they saw the Lord walking on the water, they thought He was a ghost and so He identified Himself by saying, “It is I.” When they cried out in fear our Lord said this to them, “Do not be afraid.” Jesus Christ our Lord immediately responded to the disciples’ fears by saying to them, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
Over and over again the message that we see in God’s Word is fear not. When Abraham took his family away from his home to go to the land that God promised him, he feared that he was turning his back on everything he knew, his security for the unknow. God spoke to him. “Fear not Abraham, I am your shield.” When the Israelites stood at the Red Sea and could see Pharaoh’s army coming on the horizon, they cried out because they thought they would be slaughtered. But Moses said to them. “Stand firm, fear not, and see the salvation of the Lord.” When the angel came to Mary and said that she would bear a child, she trembled with fear. What would become of her? The angel said this. “Fear not Mary, you have found favor with God.”
Over and over again we see the same message in God’s Word. “Fear not.” When Jesus walked on the water, He revealed His true identity as the Son of God. He revealed the truth that the almighty God had come down into the world in human flesh. He demonstrated that He is the King of all creation by calming the storm and walking on water. There is no one greater than Him. But the Lord also showed that He came to save. When Peter saw the Lord, He got out into the water and was able to walk on the water by the power of Jesus. But he soon started to sink because fear and doubt came into his mind. When Jesus saw that Peter was sinking, He reached out to him and pulled him out of the water and saved him.
There are many things in this world that we fear. Sometimes we might even be afraid that God will let us sink. That is why Jesus Christ our Lord comes to you this day and says to you, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Christ is the Lord of all creation, and He is your Savior. The Lord is gracious to you. He cares for you. He came into the world to free you from sin and defeat death for you. He came to rescue you from hell and make you right with God. The Lord Jesus accomplished this for you through His death and resurrection. The Lord took your sins and your fears upon Himself when He died on the cross. Jesus is the Lord of life and the one who has defeated death. We know that this is true because of His glorious resurrection. Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. There is no other like Him.
In Christ Jesus we see the goodness of God. We see that He loves us and that He dwells with us. Jesus has already conquered sin, death, and Satan for us. He now gives us the assurance that He will be with us always. He comes to us and says, “fear not”, I am with you. But what about doubt? Sometimes we are afraid that the Lord will let us sink. Our text for today answers that fear as well. Peter doubted the Lord and yet Jesus still pulled Him out of the water and saved him. The Lord does that for us. It happens all the time. As we live our life the Lord is there pulling us out of danger and delivering us from evil. The Lord holds on to us, and He will not let us go. And so we turn to Him, and we trust in Him. Recall what Paul said in our epistle reading. “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
We now wait for the Lord to visibly return. We now wait for the final resurrection on the last day. It will be glorious. In the meantime we still live in this fallen world and because of that we will still face fear in our life. That is why Christ comes to us this day and says these words to us. “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Amen.