August 2023 – The Rest for The Weary

Readings for the day (Lectionary 19A, Sunday, August 13, 2023):

Dear friends in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Now I’m sure that none of you ever get distracted, right? Except for during the pastor’s sermon perhaps? Although probably not today. And on the topic of being distracted, isn’t it true that we don’t realize that we actually are distracted until there is some outside source that alerts us to our distractedness.

For example, if you’re looking at your phone while stopped at a red light. First of all, don’t that. It’s not wise. But I know it happens. I see it all the time. But if you are looking at your phone or even looking at someone who is riding with you, say a child in the backseat. At that moment, you are distracted. Your attention has deviated from the road, and you are no longer paying attention to what’s going on in front of you. Instead, you are focused on something else – like the phone or a child. But at this point, you don’t even realize that your phone is distracting you, or that person in the back seat is distracting you. It isn’t until the vehicle behind you starts honking their horn, that you realize that you have become distracted. When you hear the horn, you look up and see that the light isn’t red anymore, but it’s green and it’s time to go.

There are many things that can and do distract us. If you’re reading a good book, or doing a task that takes a lot of brain power, or just caught up in a daydream. Whatever the distraction is, we typically don’t even realize that we are distracted until someone or something gives us a realty check. The driver behind us laying on their horn. That child getting into something that they aren’t supposed to be getting into. The clock that reminds us that we’re running late. It takes an outside source to make us aware of our distraction.

Now, the dictionary says that a distracted person is unable to concentrate because one’s mind is preoccupied. Except, I would argue that you can still concentrate on something even when you are distracted. The difference thought, is that what you are focused on, may not be what you are supposed to be focused on right at that moment. So, at that red light, you are focused on something, you’re just not focused on the right thing at this time.

In this story of Jesus, and Peter, walking on water, it’s so easy for us to become rather critical of Peter. Peter, just keep your focus on Jesus. Don’t look at the waves. Don’t get distracted by the wind. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. We kind of sound like the vehicle behind us whose laying on the horn, alerting us that the light has turned to green. Peter don’t get distracted.

But truthfully, we have no place to say anything because we get distracted, too. Some of you have probably already deviated to thinking about what you are going to do this afternoon. There are so many things that seek our time and try to pull us away and distract us from what God desires of us. And if we become too critical of Peter for getting distracted, especially when we too get distracted by some of the littlest of things, then we’re missing point of why Jesus is walking on the water.

Immediately before today’s story, is the feeding of the 5,000. Where Jesus miraculously feeds over 10,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. And before the meal, the disciples were rather skeptical. They didn’t see how all of these people would be fed with such limited resources. The disciples did not see Jesus as the Son of God.

Now, the disciples are in a boat on the sea, they get caught in a storm during the night. But then as the new day is dawning, they see a figure coming towards them. They mistaken this figure as a ghost, but Jesus corrects them by saying, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”[1] And that is when the disciples get it. That’s when Peter gets out of the boat and starts walking, on the water, to Jesus. Peter has faith and trust to do this. To actually walk on the water straight to Jesus, but it’s not because Jesus told them not to be afraid. It’s because of how Jesus identifies Himself. To reassure the disciples that He is not a ghost, Jesus says, “It is I.” Although, a better translation would be Jesus saying, “I AM.” As in God’s name. As in the name that God gives to Moses at the burning bush. When Peter hears Jesus say, “I AM,” Peter knows without a doubt that he’s in the presence of God. And upon hearing the name of God, Peter knows that he’s in good hands because he’s with the Lord.

So, Peter does it. He actually walks on the water. But that doesn’t last long. Shortly after getting out of the boat, Peter begins to sink. And he sinks because, as Matthew describes, “he noticed the strong wind, [and] became frightened.”[2] But Peter doesn’t realize that the winds have distracted him until he begins to sink. The sinking into the sea alerts Peter that he took his focus off of Jesus.

When we get distracted and take our focus off of what is most important, it takes an outside source to alert us. A driver honking horn, or a sinking in the sea type of experience to alert us that we need to refocus.

So, if you have been distracted for these last seven minutes or so, let me help you refocus with two things to remember today. One, when Peter got distracted and took his focus off of Jesus, what happened? Peter began to sink. But that’s not the whole story. As Peter is sinking, Jesus reaches out and saves Peter from the raging waters of the sea. When. Not if, but when we get distracted. When we lose focus. When we take our eyes off of Jesus, that’s when Jesus reaches out and pulls us back in.

The second thing to remember. Later on in His ministry, Jesus says to one of the twelve disciples, “[You are the rock] I will build my church.”[3] The disciple that Jesus says this to, is Peter. Peter, the one who doubts and begins sinking because he got distracted. Because he took his focus off of Jesus.

So, what if you’ve gotten distracted. So, what if you’ve got a good excuse for getting distracted and taking your focus off of Jesus. So, what if your summer has been crazy with one distraction after another. Jesus still reaches into the sea to pull Peter out and then Jesus pledges to build His church with Peter as the foundation. Jesus promises to always welcome us back. Even when we have doubts. Even when we have things that distract us. Even when we turn our focus away from Jesus. Because of the cross of Jesus, our Savior meets you not with judgement, but rather fills you with forgiveness and grace. Amen.

[1] Matthew 14:27, NRSV

[2] Matthew 14:30, NRSV

[3] Matthew 16:18, NRSV

Readings for the day (Lectionary 18 – Sunday, August 6, 2023):

Dear friends in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen.

“I’m bored. I’ve got nothing to do.” I’m sure none of you have ever heard or said those words before. Recently, I heard these words from a child. Now that’s not all that shocking. In my experience, children say these words quite often – at least mine do. However, context matters. And the location of where this particular child happened to be when these words were spoken, was indeed, shocking. Because this child was up north, in northern Minnesota. At a cabin. On a lake. But nope, you’ve got nothing to do. You. Are. Bored. Apparently, we have forgotten that there’s kayaks. There’s paddleboats. There’s a sand beach. There’s yard games. There’s a firepit. There’s a 1,300 acre lake in the backyard. And if that’s still not enough, there’s also beds to nap on. There’s books to read. But no, we are bored. We have absolutely nothing to do.

When I hear this phrase, “There’s nothing for me to do,” it drives me nuts. It frustrates me, because we actually do have lots of things to do to entertain ourselves. The opportunities that we have are nearly endless. And yet, we say that we have nothing to do. And why is that? Why do we say we have nothing to do when it is clear that we have tons of stuff to do? It’s because when we think that we have nothing to do, we are living with a mindset of scarcity. We have determined that we are lacking something. We have this perception that what we have just isn’t enough. That we don’t have enough stuff. We don’t have enough experience to apply for that job. We don’t have enough money to do the things that we want to do. We don’t have enough skill or wisdom to do a particular task or activity. We don’t have enough time for our family or even ourselves.

This belief that we don’t have enough, is establishing not only a mindset of scarcity, but actually a lifestyle of scarcity. Where we live believing that not only, do we not have enough, but even what we do have isn’t good enough. And when we establish this lifestyle of scarcity, not only does this occupy our own thinking, but it changes how we talk. It changes how we act. It even changes how we interact with each other. What we say to those around us gets influenced by this mindset of scarcity. Children tell us that they have nothing to do because they’ve seen and heard their trusted adults create a lifestyle of scarcity.

Even the disciples in the story this morning say so. Jesus was trying to take a vacation, but the people found Him. He tried to hide in order to get some rest, but that didn’t last long. And since Jesus has a big heart (bigger than ours), He has compassion for these people. And He ends His vacation early, in order to care for and heal those in need. Now the crowd has gotten so large and so far away from any food stand or village, that the disciples get concerned. They are worried that these people are soon going to need something to eat. So, they tell Jesus to send the people away so that they can go buy some food. Seems like a rather reasonable request. There are thousands of people in attendance and none of the disciples remembered to bring a food truck. But instead of doing that. Instead of sending the people away, Jesus instructs the disciples, “They need not go away; YOU [my disciples, YOU] give them something to eat.”[1] Right away, the disciples respond by saying, “We have nothing.”[2] We have nothing. Umm. Where have we heard those words before? The disciples are saying this too. But that’s not all that they say. After saying that they have nothing, the disciples say, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” Well now, this is different. It’s not that they don’t have anything. They do have something. It’s just that they perceive that what they have isn’t enough. And dare we say, it’s not good enough.

We say that we don’t have enough time, or enough money, or enough resources to do something. But when we focus so much on all of the things that we don’t have, that’s when we miss the significance of what we do have.

Who is the one who feeds the crowd? It’s Jesus. Jesus is the one who feeds the crowd. Who multiples the little resources that the disciples had? Those five loaves of bread and two fish. Again, it’s Jesus. Who creates abundance out of nearly nothing? You got it, it’s Jesus. We are not called to perform the miracles. We are not expected to have five loaves of bread and two fish, turn into feeding over 10,000 people. That’s not our job. That’s the job for Jesus. That’s the job of the Messiah. That’s God’s job. It is our job to be ready to distribute to the crowd. Because after blessing and breaking the loaves of bread, Jesus gives the food to the disciples, and it is the disciples who give this food to the crowd. And here’s the best part. The disciples are so focused on the work that they are doing, they are so focused on their service to God’s people, that they don’t even realize that there’s leftovers, until everyone has eaten and are full.

When we focus on what we do have, and trust the miracle making to Jesus, we realize that we truly do have enough. We truly do have all that we need. Because all that we have and all that we need, has been given to us from God. From the breath of life to forgiveness through the cross, and the promise of eternal life. In Jesus, we find that we have everything that we need. So, then we are not influenced by our scarcity but rather our abundance. The abundance received through the gifts of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

[1] Matthew 14:16, NRSV

[2] Matthew 14:17, NRSV

The Rest for The Weary

Sermons & Thoughts from Pastor Anthony Christoffels

Month: August 2023

Getting Undistracted

Got Nothing to Do

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