“No Jet Ski for Jesus” – John 6:16-21 – July 30, 2006

My son owns a jet ski and I find it truly amazing that it can reach 60mph on the water. He once said to me, “Dad, you know how you say it takes 45 minutes to cross St. Mary’s Lake in your sailboat? Well, I can get across the lake in 5 minutes on my jet ski.” The power and turning ability of a jet ski is unbelievable. They can jump over waves, sometimes leaping 3 feet in the air. They are incredibly fast and they even have reverse. To drive them you have to wear a special life jacket that won’t be ripped off your body if you get thrown off. Once I borrowed my son’s jet ski to pick up a pizza at the other end of the lake. Within minutes I returned and the pizza was still hot.

When Jesus appeared to the disciples on the water, he wasn’t riding on a jet ski. I wonder how he managed to get to their boat so quickly? And, he didn’t have a life jacket to keep him afloat. Somehow Jesus managed to come to their rescue without the use of a boat or floatation device. He literally walked on water and to this day no one has managed to repeat the experience.

When Jesus appeared to the disciples on the sea they were afraid. But, what were they afraid of? The story tells us that it was dark, the seas were rough and it was also very windy. But, I find it improbable that these experienced sailors were afraid of a storm. I believe they were afraid of Jesus.

Jesus appeared out of nowhere, walking on the water. That totally defied reason and Jesus appeared when he was not expected. It should not surprise us that Jesus appeared because he is compassionate and he came to the need of his disciples. The disciples had just witnessed the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, where Jesus had compassion upon the people. Now it’s the disciples who are anxious and out of compassion Jesus came to them. God is compassionate. God is aware of the life storms we face. The story illustrates that God is always there for us.

One time I was on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin. It was during the Vietnam war and our ship was refueling during rough seas. It was dark and the wind was very strong. Our ship was connected to the supply ship with span-wire rigs. These enable supplies to be transferred from one ship to the other. I was standing in the hangar bay watching my men remove the oncoming supplies from the elevator. They were storekeepers and their job was to gather the supplies and distribute them throughout the ship. During the underway replenishment I heard a loud noise and the span-wire rigs were flying all over the ship. They had parted. Then I heard a loud zinging noise. I looked over my shoulder and some 18 inches away from me was a phantom jet with a hole in it. A brass fitting had come loose from a span wire and like a missile it shot through the hangar bay and put a hole in the jet, not far from my head.

I chose to believe that God was with me during that dark, stormy night. It reminds me that God is everywhere we are, especially in the midst of life’s storms. God always comes to us in the midst of a storm but we do not always acknowledge that God is present. It depends on our focus.

For some folks, God is perceived as a fireman on duty who responds to the call when we need help. God, however is not limited to some town, house or station. God is everywhere, always present, especially in the midst of a crisis.

The disciples were headed to Capernaum. Capernaum was a city on the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. It was a gateway from the East to the West. There were a variety of people there and this is where Jesus made his home after leaving Nazareth. The disciples were headed to the place where they expected Jesus to be. They did not expect him to come to them on the sea.

Once the disciples focused on Jesus instead of the wind and the darkness, they found themselves on shore. God provided them with safe passage. They chose to accept that indeed it was Jesus who had walked to them on the sea. Had they continued to focus on Capernaum, they would have missed the presence of Jesus altogether. It’s a scary thing to shift from the familiar to the totally bizarre. For the disciples, however that shift resulted in their immediate safety.

This past week was the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Andrea Doria. Over 2,000 passengers and crew would parish unless help came. Many ships responded but the burden of responsibility borne by the master of a freighter, a tanker or a transport does not weigh as heavily as it does upon the captain of a passenger liner. The captain of the French liner, Ile de France, Carrying 940 passengers and a crew of 826 to Le Havre, France, had to make a decision. Knowing he was not too far from the scene, he sent the radio officer back for more information and went into the chartroom to fix the position of his ship. Returning with more intercepted messages, the radioman told him that the Andrea Doria had collided with the Stockholm, that several ships were rushing to the scene, including the Cape Ann and the Thomas.

Captain de Beaudéan pondered the worst dilemma of his thirty-five-year career: to go on to France or to turn back to the rescue. He could hardly believe that a modem liner like the Andrea Doria actually was sinking. Nothing in any of the radio messages mentioned sinking. Yet, there was the S.O.S. and the call for immediate assistance. He was under no rigid obligation to go to the rescue. But, Captain de Beaudéan was fully aware of the moral demands of the tradition of the sea. Although he also realized the tremendous expense of turning back his fuel-hungry ship. He would have a good deal of explaining to do to the French Line if he steamed back to the Andrea Doria and then found the Ile de France was not needed. Yet, if the Ile de France were needed, the French Line would never question his action. It was a complex decision but his alone to make. Captain de Beaudéan, who had taken command of the Ile de France only a month before, acted swiftly and surely. He swung the 793-foot ship around in a wide circle and set a direct course to the scene of the disaster forty-four miles away. Because of his decision, The Ile de France played a major role in the rescue of hundreds of people.

I believe the disciples were also afraid of Jesus because Jesus calls us to go where it isn’t always convenient or comfortable. We have a tendency to stay in familiar waters where we are safe and secure. Sometimes, we have to get wet.

Recently I was with my wife and some of our family eating at a restaurant which had an outside seating area. During our meal, a severe storm appeared out of nowhere. The wind was causing things to fly through the air. I immediately grabbed my young grandson and we went inside the building. We watched the storm through a glass window and as a result we stayed safe and dry. Meanwhile, some young man, apparently an employee of the restaurant, pulled the vinyl curtains around the perimeter of the seating area to keep out the wind and the rain. Everyone was now safe from the storm but he was soaking wet. His willingness to act in the midst of the storm kept the customers safe and secure.

Just as Jesus was there for the disciples he expects them to be there for others. When it comes to spreading God’s love there are times when we find ourselves in strange places. We may find the way uncomfortable and there will be times when we have to get wet to be faithful.

God wants us to be assured that God is always with us on our life’s journeys. There is no storm that can keep God from us. We would rather cruise toward those places that bring comfort and security rather than sail in stormy seas. But, to be people of faith there may be times when we have to get wet. By shifting our focus to Jesus we will experience safe passage.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio