In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Since today we commemorate
the Holy Apostle, protomartyr, and Archdeacon
Stephen, actually the translation of his relics,
I wanted to mention him because he was martyred
for preaching the gospel and fearlessly standing
up to the Sanhedrin when they brought him before
them to judge him. He boldly proclaimed the gospel
with his life unto death and life eternal. But
unlike Peter, who was yet young in the truth,
Stephen had received the grace of Pentecost.
And by the indwelling spirit, he literally ignores
the nature of this world to proclaim the truth.
And he walks into a storm, much like the apostles
found themselves in a storm on that lake in the
gospel. He walked into the same storm that we
face. We face it one way or another, and that
is that it's a world in denial. And he was boldly
able to stand before them with no fear, no doubt,
full of the Holy Spirit and testify to the reality
of the kingdom of God and to the literal desecration
of the temple and the people of God that they
were living as the rulers and judges and priests
of the time. While the Lord bid Peter come to
let him grow in the faith, when he stepped out
on the water, he asked, can I do this? The Lord
said, come. It let him grow in faith. But Stephen,
fearlessly and faithfully, had one foot in the
kingdom of heaven. The other one was on a stormy
sea or dirty tile. It didn't make any difference
because he had a foot firmly in the kingdom of
heaven that was open to him. As we hear in Acts
7, verse 55, who being full of the Holy Spirit
gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and
Jesus standing at the right hand of God and said,
look. I see the heavens opened and the Son of
Man standing at the right hand of God. Peter
was bid come, the Lord reaching to him. For Stephen,
the kingdom of God was opened and he saw his
Lord. Stephen's called the converser with angels.
He was at home with the heavenly realm. and becomes
the protomartyr of the church. What a wonderful
way to go from this life to the next. But we
have a gospel that helps us along the way. Before
I read it, I was inspired by the words of St.
Nikolai Vilomirovich. In the introduction to
his interpretation of this passage of scripture
this Sunday, St. Nicholas says, what do you think,
you who are followers of Christ and are baptized
in his name, what do you think? Do you not feel
every day that you are following the greatest
victor since the beginning of the world and of
time? that you are all baptized in the name of
him who knows and can do all things, who adorns
all creatures with his beauty, caresses them
with his mercy, and vivifies them with his life.
If you don't feel this, it will be of little
help to follow him. I'll say that again. If you
don't feel this, it will be of little help to
follow him and call yourself by his name, Christian.
Only through the Lord Jesus can you, without
doubt and the least hesitation, believe in the
utterly victorious power of the living God over
every creature, every element, and of all evil
in the world. Only the Lord can give you the
courage to live and to pass through death. And
only he can arouse in you a love for all that
is good. For he is God's incarnate victory over
the world. Saint Nikolai goes on to say, Be,
he quotes Christ, be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world. From John 6, 33. Said Christ to his
disciples, and he says it through them to each
of us. Everyone here. Be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world. And he ends the selection.
Let us therefore approach the interpreting of
today's gospel with no shadow of doubt. For it
describes the tremendous victory of Christ. And
with those words of encouragement, I want to
take us into today's lesson. But remember this
admonition of St. Nikolai every time you hear
scripture or read it at home. Today is a continuation
of last Sunday. We find ourselves in Matthew
14, beginning at verse 23, right after he had
fed the 5 ,000. It's just a continuation. There's
really no break. And what happens next in this
continuation will catch the apostles astonished,
amazed. Their eyes were on him. As an instrument
of the almighty. They were transfixed on his
teaching. Everything he taught in his new gospel.
And the way that he was amongst the people. Especially
the healing. And the care and compassion. Even
the words. Your sins are forgiven me. They had
never heard a gospel like this. Never seen these
kind of miracles. But they were not prepared.
for the miracle they had just come from, the
feeding of the 5 ,000 when they had made no provision
for this crowd. And he took the most common thing
that they would see and touch every day and from
it feed the 5 ,000. I speculate it might have
been 10 or 20 ,000 because there were 5 ,000
men plus women and children. And in those days,
that didn't mean one kid followed their parents.
It could have been a whole passel of them, a
whole gaggle of little kids there too. So whether
5 ,000 or 10 or 20, this miraculous feeding from
these few loaves was mind -blowing, astonishing.
They weren't prepared for that. And especially
they weren't prepared for what was happening
next. So let me read this part again. A couple
pieces of it anyway. And when he had sent the
multitudes away, he went up into the mountain
apart to pray. And when the evening was come,
he was there all alone. The last one ended with
this, but it's repeated. Even though it sounds
pretty straightforward, what is he doing? He's
sending the apostles away. He's sending the people
away. He's climbing a mountain. He's up there
alone, and he's praying in the darkness of night.
A reunion, so to speak, with the Father because
of the triumph of what had just happened in the
feeding of the 5 ,000 and what was about to happen
in his actions that night. But there's more to
it than just saying he did this, this, this,
and this, and then we go to the lake. You see,
it has a deeper meaning. It is a meaning for
us and for how we must view how we pray. There's
the sending away, the people and the apostles.
We separate ourselves from the cares of this
world. We have to send them away, all the cares
of the world, things that bind us, things that
worry us, things that give us anxiety. We send
it away. And we go up to the mountain too. For
us, it's lifting up our hearts and minds to be
closer to God. And then we remain in solitude
during prayer to eliminate the distraction of
the light of this world so that we can have the
true light given to us. Send away. Go up to God,
remain in solitude, and stand in darkness is
what Jesus did. And in some way, even with a
simple instruction like going into your closet
to pray, all those things happen. All those ingredients
are there. So a reunion after one event and before
what happens next. But the ship was now in the
midst of the sea, tossed with waves. For the
wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of
the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the
sea. They were tossed about by wind and waves.
And it was dark. And then comes Jesus, walking.
How would they see him? Have you ever been out
where it's pitch black, no moon, no stars, no
lights? If you're walking in the woods, you're
going like this so you don't just go head first
into a tree. How do they see him coming walking
on the waves? Interesting question. There's no
reflected moon or stars. There's not harbor lights
to outline his silhouette. Now, it was something
not of this world they were experiencing. He
appears. And they, because this appearance was
so not normal in those conditions, they feared
a spirit or a ghost. But it wasn't. It was Jesus
Christ. What they're seeing may be a little taste
of the light of Tabor. That light that radiated
from the Lord himself. So they could see this
walking silhouette. And then there's a sequence
of events. A sequence that has a lesson for us.
The fear of the storm, the darkness, the unknown,
even the spirits. Christ dispels it all when
he gets close. He says, be of good cheer, it
is I. Do not be afraid. They couldn't even recognize
him until he said this because this illumination
was not only not expected, but it was not what
they normally saw. Think of that. In our storms
of life, we need to turn to him and remember
this consolation. Remember, he's always there
waiting to say to you, be of good cheer, it is
I. no matter what you worry about, no matter
what has you down or hurting. Peter lets his
love and faith lead him, but he carries a combination
of joy and doubt. He says, Lord, excited as can
be when he is told who it is. But his doubt is
there too when he says, if it be thee, he loves
and asks to come to him. To come to thee is how
he says it. So Jesus bids him to come. Peter,
then with love and faith, comes down and walks
on the water. Not because it was cool to walk
around. He didn't go, ooh. holding me up. This
is cool. He tests it a little bit to make sure
it's all okay. Nothing like that. No. All he
cared about was the Lord had said come, and with
all of his heart, all of his soul, there was
nothing that could keep him from the Lord, including
having the audacity to just step out and go.
But Peter in doubt, he lets the winds shake his
faith, kind of like the winds shake our faith.
We can be inspired about something. We can attend
our best friend's baptism and be all excited
for them and everything. And then we go home
and we let the winds of life toss us around a
little bit. Then we find ourselves later kind
of down or distracted. Or worried again about
that thing that we finally put out of our mind
for a whole day. Whatever those things are. But
he does do the one thing important as he sings.
He says, Lord, save me. And that's what the Lord
and the fathers and the whole church teaches
us to do. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.
Lord, save me. God, have mercy on me. So our
Lord stretched out his hand and he catches him
with all the love and compassion that only he
who loves all mankind can give. And he conveys
this, what sounds like an admonition, but it's
done with every bit of kindness and love that
can be mustered. Oh, you of little faith, why
did you doubt? Just as we as parents, Or we as
children of elderly parents or to best friends,
we have a twinge of compassion when we see that
someone is in need. And Jesus pinpointed it.
It was doubt. It was a little faith. And this
passage ends with them. recognizing that everything
that happened means only one thing. This is their
Lord God and Savior. And for the first time,
we hear the apostles gathering together to affirm
the faith and the truth of who Jesus Christ is,
just like us here today. It doesn't matter what
had you sinking yesterday or last night or last
week. It doesn't matter how much you doubted.
Come, always come, to reach out to one another
in love and compassion, holding one another up
in the light of Christ. To pile on a bit about
the words of St. Nikolai, I want to repeat something.
Let us therefore approach the interpreting of
today's gospel with no shadow of doubt that it
is meant for us to apply to ourselves. This isn't
just some phenomenal story of something that
happened that the Lord Almighty could do. It's
meant to apply every bit to our own lives and
to our life together, especially as we are in
this boat in a storm -tossed sea of the world
to comfort one another and to claim Him, recognize
Him. and invite him into our life. We see in
Peter what we need to find in ourselves. A heart
that yearns for him. Because if you allow it,
if you seek it, if you cultivate it, he will
cry to you, come. Glory to Jesus Christ.