At the end of the this particular day Jesus is no doubt tired and emotionally drained – he has fed over 5,000 people but has had the shock of hearing that John the Baptist has been cynically killed by Herod. He send the disciples on ahead and dismisses the crowds. While Jesus was in the quiet of the hills on his own, the disciples were battling the vagaries of the Galilee weather. Their journey across the four and a half mile wide lake had turned into a nightmare – they had been on the lake for hours, in the dark, but with the wind against them, they were getting nowhere. They had been part of the drama of the day and had had little sleep before being on the boat all night. Is it any wonder v26 that their exhaustion gives way to terror as they see a ghost approaching on the waves?

Through the noise of the wind the ghost ie. Jesus - speaks to them…. and their frayed nerves relax for a moment; until, that is, Peter tries one of his stunts. Astonishingly it is this frightened group of men that had earlier (chapter 10) been given power to teach and heal on behalf of Jesus. Peter, as part of that group, no doubt already had some stories to tell but this time v28, he was surely pushing his luck! “OK Jesus, (I can hear him shouting) I’ve already cast out some evil spirits, I’ve already healed people, but this is something else – how about letting me walk on water?”

Jesus said OK and off Peter went, over the side of the boat and across the waves. Mark’s account of this story narrative suggests Jesus had planned to continue walking on, presumably to the other side of the lake, so perhaps Peter wanted to do the same. But it all started going wrong – the adrenalin pumping through Peter suddenly stopped and he gets very scared – he’s not walking on water any more – he’s sinking. Jesus reached out, got hold of Peter and they both get safely into the boat.
Matthew’s gospel has the closest links with the Old Testament and speaks to a predominantly Jewish audience. And perhaps the biggest hurdle the Jewish mind had to grapple with was whether this extraordinary man (Jesus) was Messiah. At Jesus’ baptism and temptation as well as in his teaching, Matthew uses the term Son of God. One climax to this narrative is the disciples worshipping Jesus as the Son of God.

An obvious emphasis in the narrative was Jesus power over nature – the resulting abundance of food and his ability on the water. But that power is shown as deriving from who Jesus is. The answer to the disciples terror were the words, v27, “It is I”. It was enough for them to know who it was that was walking on water, to calm their own fears of drowning. They recognize in v33 that this extraordinary man is the Son of God.

And what of Peter after almost drowning - does he think twice about doing something crazy again or did the thrill of walking on water and being rescued actually build up his faith? This is the same Peter who later cut off the ear of one of the soldiers who arrested Jesus; this is the same Peter who loudly proclaimed his loyalty to Jesus only to deny their friendship when it mattered most. No, Peter didn’t stop doing crazy, hurtful things. But this is also the same Peter who Jesus described as the Rock, who became one of the key leaders of the early church. Through the times he screwed up, Peter’s faith grew. Peter was a consistent failure yet he got closer to God.
Such a message would have been very relevant to the mainly Jewish audience to which it was written. The immediate significance of this narrative is the disciples emerging recognition that Jesus really is the Son of God, his desire that his disciples understand more about inner faith than external power and the reality that following Jesus is a risky business.

Today, as in Bible times, what we think of Jesus will be a key factor in how we follow him. And its Peter who here explores more of who Jesus is than the other disciples. Peter asks in v28 – “Lord, if it’s you ..” There’s something in that request that says, if you are the Lord I’ve come to know then you’ll want me to walk on the water to you. Such an action made no sense to the disciples in the boat or probably to many readers of the narrative since, but it made perfect sense to Peter and to Jesus. The risk, which seemed so huge to others, seemed no risk to Peter because the Lord he trusted said it was OK. When that trust was diverted, Peter saw the risk as big as every one else had and began to sink - but the fact remained - Peter had walked on water! Peter had proved to himself that he had got it right when he got out of the boat – the thrill of walking on water was the thrill of doing what Jesus wanted him to do, and because of that, Peter’s trust in Jesus grew.

Does that mean we should also go in for extreme sports, so to speak – looking for those stunts that might prove the strength of our faith? Hang on though, from Peter’s perspective, it wasn’t a stunt. The boat was the normal, familiar place to be for a fisherman like Peter – getting out of the boat was not normal, it was risky - yet it was right!

We can learn from that event today about how to follow the same Jesus. And the first thing to say is that our normal, familiar places are rarely the place of growth and development. We all have lots of normal, familiar places in our lives – the lounge, the garden, the car, the train, the office – our bed! And there are non physical places where we may feel comfortable, aren’t there? – our daily routines, our job (paid or unpaid), leisure activities, what we do at church. Perhaps we’ve also grown accustomed to who we are: what we can and can’t do, our likes and dislikes, our current level of determination and ambition.

We all need familiar, comfortable places in life – but there was something in Peter that made him feel there was more to life than he could experience in those familiar places. He’d tasted a little of the transformation Jesus can bring and he wanted more – then he saw Jesus on the lake and felt a challenge to trust him by doing something out of the ordinary.

Aren’t many of us like that? Jesus has changed our lives - to some degree - but we’ve grown, well, comfortable – and further growth and change has simply gone off the agenda.

Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, has stated this week that flying off on holidays is a sin – it causes so much damage to the environment and Christians should not behave in such an insensitive way.

It maybe something dramatic we need to that will get us out of our comfort zone – but it could be something quite low key.

Someone recently wrote “I remember when Jesus asked me to reach out to a lonely neigbour. I didn’t feel comfortable around her and wasn’t sure how to approach her, therefore I ignored the prompting. There was the time when my heart told me to invite a friend to lunch, but I rationalised she was too busy.”

We may have ignored so many of those inner challenges that we don’t even spot them any more. Some years ago the idea of a prayer group at work came into my mind and was immediately clouded by fear of public embarrassment and a negative impact on my career. One of the best ways to spot that God wants to stretch you is when you get fearful – fearful of inconvenience, fearful of rejection, fearful of failure. But look at Peter – just because he got this crazy, frightening idea in his mind didn’t mean it had to be from God. Peter checked his idea – he didn’t get out of the boat until Jesus said “Come”. So, look at your fears and consider whether they’re linked to something prompted by God. Then, once you’ve done your thinking, you’ve got to take action.

God told Moses to go to Egypt and tell Pharaoh that he wanted to take a substantial proportion of his labour force out of the country for good with no compensation. Great idea said Moses; send Aaron. Jonah had another approach. God told him to go a particularly violent and corrupt place and tell them about God; so Jonah jumped on a boat - going in the opposite direction. Both men’s fears meant they avoided the risky place God wanted them to got to.

In the final analysis though, if you’re going to walk on water then its you and no-one else that has to get out of the boat. It’s you that has to leave one of your comfortable places and go somewhere a bit more risky.

I pursued my idea at work, sent out an email and received some positive responses. A number of us began to meet and encourage each other. But soon work pressures made it difficult to find suitable times to meet and there really wasn’t the will to keep things going – so the group fell apart. In contrast, I can remember someone here telling of a fellowship group at their work that went from strength to strength. I don’t believe my action was a complete failure compared to the others success? Jesus was disappointed that Peter got sidetracked by the weather and began to sink - but he didn’t write him off. Anyone who gets out of the boat, so to speak, experiences fear yes, but also something of the reality of Jesus power to change and equip – even if the end result is disappointment.

Many of us have taken risks in response God’s prompting, we have tried to give up that sin we love so much, we have sought to develop a serious habit of prayer … – but it’s the failure that saps our expectation that any real change will occur and we go back to living the way we’re comfortable with. We need to learn from Peter that it’s the people who are prepared to go on failing that will change the most. It’s the people who keep getting back on the bike after falling off, who learn to ride.

And the reason that’s true is not because failing is good in itself, its because of the nature of God himself. He never loses his enthusiasm for us to know more of his power, more of his joy, more of his holiness, He will go on picking us up when we fail because learning through failure is part of the journey of change his love has mapped out for us.

God is probably prompting us to change in various areas of our life, some quiet and personal, others maybe more public. By ignoring those promptings and choosing to stay comfortable, is to accept likely stagnation and boredom, and the expectation that things will go on just as they are now.

I read recently of Lesley Bilinda whose husband was killed in the Rwandan genocide and how her response has taken her out of her comfort zone.

“I came to wonder what would have happened if God had answered my prayers and brought Charles out safely as I had expected him to do. I used to say to Him: “Just think of all the press coverage you’re going to get, We’ll be able to say, ‘Here’s a God who answers prayer. Isn’t it wonderful?’” But because he didn’t answer my prayers, because I had to struggle with the question of “Where is God when things go wrong, and don’t work out?” that I think I touched more people who are struggling as well. Let’s face it, how many people have dramatic answers to their prayers, and see miracles done? Very few. The vast majority are left with questions – and many give up on God because of that. So it’s important if you can somehow say: “God is still there.” I’ve lost the clear cut, nice and easy faith I had. Now it’s confusing and not clear, yet God is still there. I don’t understand it but he’s more real to me now than he ever was.”

Through the drama of that day all the disciples, but especially Peter, learnt more of what their relationship to Jesus was going to mean. Through the events of our lives day by day Jesus is prompting us to move forward in a risky, painful but transforming journey.