1 Kings 19:9,11-13; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33

How do we image God and where do we believe we can find God?
Elijah faced many challenges in his life as a prophet. He stood up against injustice, confronted rulers and performed miracles, and God was so close to him that even his prayer to resurrect the only son of a faithful woman was answered. He had so many reasons why to believe that God was close to him and yet, as so many other prophets, he tried to escape his calling several times.
On Mount Horeb, the mountain at which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses, Elijah was waiting for God. Elijah was expecting God to come in a strong wind, an earthquake or a fire. He thought that the all-powerful God must come in what humans consider a natural “disaster” – an “Act of God”. God as the ruler over the natural elements earth, wind and fire would be the only one who could calm these natural powers. Elijah was waiting for God, and so, when the earth trembled, heavy winds blew and a fire started, Elijah was expecting to meet God.
However, God appeared in a gentle breeze, a small voice. Elijah felt God’s presence and hid his face. God showed us through this experience that even the great prophet Elijah didn’t know where he would find God. It is easy to overhear a small voice, to take for granted the circumstances we live in – and yet we are called to be attentive and to be aware that we can find God in places where we don’t expect to do so.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul expresses his concern for his people who are the heirs of Moses who received the Ten Commandments. The Israelites have a covenant with God through their ancestors. However, Paul wants his people to know that Jesus is the law of the Spirit – Jesus is the one who cleansed them from their sins through offering himself. God sent Jesus not as a powerful ruler to this world, but as a human being. He took flesh, and he lived and died as a human – and seemed to be as powerless as a “small voice”. God revealed Jesus to the world when Jesus was raised from the dead.
The first covenant was between God and the people Moses was leading, but the Holy Spirit can dwell in anybody who believes in Jesus. Paul doesn’t want his people to be complacent because of their inheritance, and to help them realise that the answer for salvation is through Jesus, he would do anything. He would even die to save them.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, we learn that Jesus had tried to escape the crowds by taking a boat onto the water. However, he had pity with the crowds and returned to shore where he attended to the crowds and had asked his disciples to feed them. Once they were fed and the food scraps gathered, Jesus asked his disciples to go back to the boat.
We don’t know what the disciples replied to Jesus. Did they expect Jesus to stay with the crowds or to spend the night on the shore and catch up with the disciples the next morning?
Jesus who had longed to spend time by himself and earlier had tried to escape the crowds by taking a boat on the water, now walks up a mountain. In the Hebrew tradition, mountains are places where one can be closer to God. Elijah waited for a sign of God on the Mount Horeb, Moses met with God on a mountain, and Jesus withdraws from the crowds and from the disciples by walking into the hills to pray – to be with God.
While Jesus is there, the boat with his disciples has been caught in a storm. The disciples are already scared of the heavy winds, when Jesus comes walking towards them on the water in the early hours of the morning. What would have gone through their heads? Maybe they had been complaining that Jesus had left them on their own in the stormy waters? Maybe they had been talking about the feeding of the crowds and how Jesus had ordered them to look after the crowds and to feed them?
Now, they are on the boat in the dark. They don’t seem to be fishing. They are there because Jesus asked them to go ahead of him. If it had been for them, they would have left the shores much earlier, they wouldn’t have fed the crowds, and they would now be safely on the other side of the water.

In this moment they see someone walking on the water. Full of fear and panic, they believe there is a ghost approaching them. Jesus is aware of their fear and addresses the disciples, calming them down. After the recent miracle, where Jesus told the disciples what to do and a miracle happened, Peter seems to try this out again by asking Jesus to call him onto the water. Peter doesn’t ask Jesus to calm the waters to save himself and the other disciples but rather thinks of himself and of the miracle of walking on the water. He gets the chance, but once he is challenged by the wind, he doubts.
Jesus is disappointed. When Peter was walking on the water, he clearly trusted Jesus and wanted to follow in his footsteps, but with the first challenge, the first strong wind, he started to doubt. Jesus is preparing Peter to be a leader, but Peter is still lacking the strong faith that is needed to survive the challenges. How easy it is to admire a great leader and think you could be at their side and shine in front of others? However, if you only like the limelight but don’t think of what it really takes to be there, you will fail. Almost drowning in front of the other disciples, having to ask for help despite first asking to be at Jesus’ side, is embarrassing for Peter. Jesus saves him but comments on his ‘little faith’. Jesus is in control. He doesn’t rebuke Peter, but he gives him the reason for his failure. Following Jesus takes courage and faith.
The disciples are watching what is happening, they feel the winds dropping once Jesus and Peter are in the boat, and they recognise Jesus as the Son of God.

The disciples might have seen the storms as the wrath of God against them, but the true presence of God is revealed to them in Jesus, their friend, teacher and leader. The gentle person, the voice that calls them to have courage and faith, the one who has been with them is the true Son of God.

How often do we experience the presence of God at places and moments where we don’t expect it? When we are challenged – do we hear the small and comforting voice calling us to have courage and faith?

BM