Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 19th August 2007 by Rev. Kwok Nai Wang. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 49:1-6 and Matthew 14:22-33.


Jesus walked on water. This was recorded by both Matthew and Mark. Mark’s was a shorter account; while Matthew included Peter’s encounter with Jesus. Water represents Nature. On the one hand, water is vital to all kinds of life and vegetations. More than 70% of the surface of this planet earth is made up of water. Likewise our human body.

Everywhere is water in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is surrounded by water. It has 235 islands. Many types of water sports are popular in Hong Kong. In the history of Hong Kong, there has been only one gold medalist, Li Lai Shan. She is a wind-surfer. Hong Kong is not very good in canoeing, sailing and boating. But it is famous world-wide in its international dragon boat competition every year in and around Tuen Ng or May 5th Festival. Swimming is probably the most common and healthiest exercise for grown-ups in Hong Kong. I took up swimming more than 20 years ago. When in town I go swimming 5 to 6 times a week. It keeps me fit and healthy. I would like to recommend it to each and everyone of you. While swimming for that half-an-hour each day, I do meditation, contemplation and prayer as well.

KUC has a tradition for several years of spending a whole day on a boat at sea. It is a big event for the church. I notice “Go to sea with KUC” in 2007 has been advertized on our Sunday bulletin every week since April 22!

In the summer months water is especially precious to us. We may suffer from dehydration if we do not drink enough water while we are in the outdoors. As a matter of fact, people can live for days and perhaps weeks without food. But without water people can last for only a couple of days. Water is extremely important to us. But oftentimes we take it for granted. For those of us who are old enough, we went through tough days in the mid-1960s in the territory when we had only four hours of water supply every fourth day. Even to-day, a tenth of the world’s population do not have clean water!

Water also has the cleansing effect. As a homemaker, I use quite a lot of water to wash vegetables, in cooking and after a meal, the dishes… Hong Kong people like to take a bath or a shower daily. Water has the cleansing effect and was treasured in practically all the living faiths.

Jesus was baptised in River Jordan by John the Baptist. Massive mass of water can be very powerful. It can generate electricity. But it can be very dangerous and destructive too! We still remember very vividly the tsunami which hit Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka on boxing day of 2004. More than 230,000 people lost their lives. It was equally horrid when typhoon Katrina hit the coastline of Louisiana and Mississippi two years ago. Almost the whole city of New Orleans was wiped out.

Coming back to the miracle story we read from Matthew this morning, the setting was in the Sea of Galilee. Earlier on, Jesus was on land to serve the people in all kinds of need. Then he alone went on a hill nearby to pray while his disciples went to a boat to rest.

First of all, there is theological meaning to all this. Land is where people are. People with different kinds of needs came to Jesus to be satisfied. Land is the mission field for Jesus. Hill is where God meets people. God commissioned Moses at Mount Horeb in Sinai (Ex 3); gave Moses and Aaron the Ten Commandments in Mount Sinai (Ex 19-20). Jesus often spent time on mountains or hills to pray and to be with God. Boat is a place for rest; and sea is where the struggle with the devil takes place (hence the story of the demoniacs in Gardora as recorded in Mt. 8:28-34// Mk 5:1-20// Lk 8:26-29). Also sea is where people struggle with their faith and unfaith.

Jesus walked to the boat on water. The gospel writers took pain to illustrate that Jesus had the power over nature. That explains why all the Synoptic Gospels also included the calming of a storm by Jesus in their respective gospel (Mk 4:35-41// Mt 8:23-27// Lk 8:22-25). Jesus was able to have this power because he was constantly in full communion with God (c.f. Jn 5).

When Jesus’ disciples saw Jesus walking on the water they were terrified. “It is a ghost, they said and screamed with fear.”

Jesus’ spoke to them at once, “courage, it is me; do not be afraid”.

Peter, the spokesman for Jesus’ disciples then said, “Lord if it really is you, order me to come to you on the water.”

Jesus said, “Come”.

So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and tried to come to Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind, Peter was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried out “Lord, Save me!”.

Here is Peter, Jesus’ closest disciple. In a way, he had faith in Jesus. He believed if Jesus could walk on the water, so could he. Yet Peter’s faith was not sufficient. Peter was afraid when he decided to follow Jesus for real, and not just believing in Jesus in his mind.

When Peter was about to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me”. Fortunately in the moment of utter danger, Peter believed that only Jesus could save him.

“Lord, save me” – this was one of the earliest confessions or faith statements of the Christian Church. Jesus is our Lord and Saviour.

When Jesus saw Peter sinking, he immediately reached out his hand and caught Peter. Then Jesus said, “O man of little faith, why did you doubt?” Jesus’ action was always prior to his teaching. Despite Peter’s relatively insufficient faith in Jesus, Jesus was always willing to help.

We claim that we are Jesus’ faithful disciples. Yet we have to humbly confess that like Peter our faith is insufficient. Therefore, “Lord, save me” should not only be our faith statement; but also it should be our daily prayer as well. Despite our little faith Jesus is always here to sustain us.

Finally, Jesus and Peter got onto the boat. When the other disciples saw this, their faith was increased, they worshipped Jesus, by saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.” Jesus’ disciples originally were resting comfortably on a boat. In the ecumenical movement, the boat is the symbol of the Church.

First of all, a boat is built to sail in the open sea rather than to remain in the harbour. A good and sturdy boat should be able to take on any weather conditions, stormy weather included. Likewise, it is with the Christian Church. The Church must dare to go into the world despite this world is full of wars and violence, human miseries and suffering. So Kowloon Union Church must get itself involved in the whole social process in Hong Kong and beyond. We must do our part to improve the welfare of the common lot.

Secondly, in the event of strong wind and stormy weather, people would rather stay inside a boat. It is more safe. Similarly, many of us would choose to remain in the quiet and comfortable church, enjoy the cosy and friendly atmosphere rather than to step outside and face the harsh world – the world full of animosity and deceit; cut-throat competition and all kinds of evil.

In the summer of 1970, I passed through Calcutta reroute Europe. I decided to stay in Calcutta for two days. I wanted especially to visit the world-famous homes for the dying and the destitute operated by the Little Sisters started by Mother Teresa. Calcutta was hot and everywhere was full of villagers who flooded to this big city to find a living. One early morning, I took a walk nearby my hotel. It was rather quiet with few passers-by. But here and there I found people lying on the side walks and the ditches. Soon I realized that many of them had already died. I felt so nauseating that I decided to go back to the hotel and hide in my air conditioned room. I did not want to face these horrid scenes, much less to think of a way how I might be of some help.

We all have our own shelters which we feel secure and safe. Perhaps the Church is one of the best shelters in the world. But just to stay inside the church is far from adequate. God calls us to be members of his Church; only for the purpose of sending us out to the real world to serve and to care.

This is the core of the Biblical message. God called Abraham so that he would leave his comfortable home and be a blessing to the whole world. God called the people of Israel to be His servants to bring justice and be a light to all the nations. This is what the Old Testament lesson for this morning all about.

Peter, perhaps out of curiosity, wanted to step outside the boat and like Jesus to do the impossible, that is, to walk on the water.

Kelly Lim lost both of her legs and right arm when she was a little girl. Most of the people in her condition would feel sorry and be cared for by professionals, volunteers and relatives the rest of their life. But not for Kelly. Just five months after the amputation, she returned to school. Now she is a pediatrician at the Medical Centre of University of California in Los Angeles.

The reason for Kelly’s success is that she dared to step outside her little world and meet all sorts of challengers and overcome all kinds of difficulties. Because of her decision to step outside her small world, Kelly is not only able to see but also do the extra-ordinary.

Our Lord Jesus Christ beckons us to come: Come out from our small boat we are so accustomed to and be liberated from our besieged mindset filled with preconceived ideas, greed, hatred, insecurity and unfaith. I call all this the boat of impossibility.

Let us dare to answer Jesus’ call to come out and really live in God’s world – to enjoy God’s creation of our fellow human beings and the beautiful environment which surrounds us. Only then, can we begin to experience the abundant life which Jesus has promised to all of us.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, open our minds so that we can see the beauty of your creation; open our hearts so that we can accept the people we encounter as our brothers and sisters. In Christ’s name, Amen.