Matthew 14:22-33
How quickly can things go pear-shaped.
On 26 February 1852, S.S. Birkenhead struck an uncharted rock off the coast of South Africa.
After a voyage more than halfway across the world, she sank in less than fifteen minutes, with the loss of over 450 lives.
She lent her name to the so-called Birkenhead drill - "women and children first!" - employed by the crew of the Titanic 60 years later.
Jesus’ disciples weren’t strangers to things going south like this.
Early in Matthew 14, all was going well for them -t hey had witnessed the feeding of the 5000 for a start - but that night, in the course of an hour or two, everything went wrong as they were caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee.
And to top it off, Jesus wasn’t with them - He had gone on foot around the lake. So not only had things gone pear-shaped, but the one they trusted the most to help them, wasn’t there to help!
Have you ever felt that way?
There are times in life when things turn bad in a few minutes.
And don’t we often feel alone and abandoned when they do.
But Jesus did not leave His disciples alone in their moment of greatest need. Nor does He leave us alone.
When Peter cried out in fear, "Lord, save me!", Jesus "immediately reached out His hand ... and caught him. 'You of little faith,’ He said, ‘Why did you doubt?'" (Matt 22:31).
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Even today, when we hit the submerged rocks of life and are in danger of sinking in doubt or despair, we too can cry out to the Lord for help, just like St Peter did.
And like He did for St Peter, Jesus reaches out to catch us before we fall away from Him.
The thing to remember, though, is that Jesus doesn’t just lift us up out of trouble only for us to fall back into it, or to leave us alone again.
He picks us up out of trouble to gather us into His church, where He offers His own us healing, hope and saving grace to sustain us through everything life throws at us.
And in response, when Jesus comes to us, like He did to St Peter, to lift us up out of the swirling waters of life, we can cry out in praise, "Truly, You are the Son of God!"