This sermon was originally preached at Church of the Redeemer in Greensboro, GA on August 9, 2026. The lectionary texts for Proper 14A (Track 2) were 1 Kings 19:9-18; Psalm 85:8-13; Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33.
Thy Strong Word
1968 was one of the darkest years in American history.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
Bobby Kennedy, too.
Vietnam. Civil Rights. Riots. The Cold War.
Our own annus horribilis.
Smithsonian Magazine named it, “The year that shattered America.”
But on Christmas Eve, the darkness brightened.
Apollo 8 was in space. Astronauts Jim Lovell, Bill Anders, and Frank Borman became the first humans to orbit the moon. Anders had taken his famous Earthrise photograph, prompting Lovell to say, “The Earth from here is a grand oasis in the big vastness of space.”
The three moon-orbiting-astronauts then read portions of Genesis 1 over a radio broadcast. 1 billion people were listening.
In the midst of that horrid year, in the vast darkness of outer space, God’s word was read and heard.
In the beginning, God…
God’s strong word did indeed cleave the darkness.
Before there was light…
Before Moses, Elijah, and Peter…
Before Sinai, Horeb, and the waves…
There was the Word.
Strong. Enduring. Cleaving.
And everywhere the Word goes…Darkness turns to light.
Our readings from One Kings 19 and Matthew 14 are both preceded by deeds of power and a miraculous meal. For Elijah, the deed of power is found in chapter 18 when he battles the prophets of Baal atop Mt. Carmel. YHWH rained down fire upon Elijah’s altar, powerfully proving himself to be the living God.
Queen Jezebel becomes incensed.
Her entire life is founded upon her worship of Baal.
She lured Ahab, the king of Israel, her husband, away from YHWH and directly into the arms of false gods.
For her to lose both a public deity duel and 850 prophets was as cataclysmic as you can imagine. She vowed blood and revenge. She tells Elijah that his hours are numbered, and so he flees.
His triumphant mountain-top moment quickly descends into the depression and devastation of the valley. As he falls asleep, an angel of the LORD appears to him and provides a cake baked on a hot stone and a jar of water.
A meal created out of nowhere.
This incident is not an accident.
One of the challenging questions from grumbling Israel in the Old Testament was, can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
The answer is a resounding: yes!
David even said that the LORD would prepare a table for him in the presence of his enemies.
Nothing is too big for our great God.
The circumstances for on-the-run-Elijah, and the out-of-funds-disciples, are no match for the LORD’s plentiful provision.
Fresh off his hot meal in the wilderness, Elijah travels 40 days and 40 nights to a cave at Mt. Horeb.
We need to pause here.
Both the number and the location are significant. Noah endured forty days and nights of flooding rain in the ark; Moses spent forty days and nights on top of Mt. Sinai receiving the law.
You know Mt. Horeb by another name: Sinai. This was the site of several significant displays of God’s power and might.
It was at Horeb-Sinai that YHWH appeared in the burning bush.
It was at Horeb-Sinai that YHWH consecrated Israel as his people.
It was at[op] Horeb-Sinai that YHWH convened with Moses.
Our minds should be filled with visions of God’s mighty hand and outstretched arm. Our exegetical imaginations should be prepared for God to show up here again.
And here, upon this holy mountain, on the very rocks and soil where God previously spoke to his people, the word of the LORD came to Elijah.
It was not a word our prophet would have expected:
What are you doing here Elijah?
He’s there because God told him to be.
He’s there because he’s afraid for his life.
He’s there because an irate and idolatrous queen wants his head.
And he’s there after forty days and nights of taxing travel.
You can sense the desperation in his response:
I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.
We learn a lot from Elijah’s exhausted cry.
YHWH does not besmirch or begrudge Elijah for lamenting. Scripture distinguishes between grumbling about God and crying out to God in lament. Elijah isn’t gossiping behind God’s back. He’s bringing his exhaustion-and-frustration straight to the Lord. Lament is an act of faith because you only lament to someone you trust, believe in, and love.
Elijah is weary, worried, and worn out.
He believes himself to be alone.
He has served the LORD in all things, amongst godless people and monarchs, and he is ready to see God’s seeds sprout into shoots, shrubs, and strong trees.
Perhaps you’ve been there…or you are there.
Perhaps you know what it’s like to wait upon the Lord for the very things you want or need and yet his timing doesn’t match your own.
God is not silent as Elijah empties his heart at his feet.
He speaks to his prophet with instructions: go to the mountain and wait, I AM about to pass by.
This language of God passing by goes back to Moses in Exodus 34. Moses told YHWH to show him his glory. YHWH brought Moses up to the top of Sinai, hid him in the cleft of a rock, and allowed Moses to see his back as he passed by.
If the 40 days-and-nights and the mention of Horeb-Sinai didn’t prepare us to expect a shower of power from God, this last clue should push us over the prophetic edge.
Elijah trusts God. We cannot gloss over this.
When the LORD issues a word or gives a command, the only response of faith is trust. Had Elijah rejected or neglected to trust, this scene never would have happened.
Elijah is waiting for YHWH to show up, filled with expectation, anticipation, and probably some awe-full dread. Elijah has every reason to expect another overwhelming display of power. After all, this mountain is famous for divine fireworks.
There is a violent wind. But God is not in it.
There is an earthquake. But God is not in it.
There is a fire. But God is not in it.
The fact that God is not in these dreadful displays does not mean that he has gone silent or grown soft. It means that God doesn’t always show up in the same way. What Israel needed at Sinai all those years ago was prolific power from their redeeming God. What Elijah needs now is the peaceful presence of that same powerful King.
It was not until the sound of sheer silence that Elijah encountered the presence of YHWH.
For those paying attention in the pews, we have just seen how Earth(quake), wind, and fire falter at the sound of silence, ultimately proving God is Simon and Garfunkel fan…
Elijah steps into this gauzy quiet knowing that he is in the presence of the LORD.
YHWH then asks the same question to Elijah;
The prophet gives the same response to God.
But now YHWH replies.
All is not lost for Elijah. He is given another mountain-top encounter with the Living God and this time he is sent forth to continue his prophetic commission. He will be the anointer of kings; the mentor of one to whom he will give his mantle; and there will be 7,000 in Israel who have not bent their knees to Baal.
While Elijah has been looking to the horizon for fruitfulness from his ministry, God has been working behind the scenes and under the surface. Even when we feel like God is passive or absent, he is always working.
Eventually, he will end up on another mountain-top, standing with Moses and Jesus, as he beholds the Son of Man robbed and arrayed in glorious splendor.
And that brings us to the boys in the boat.
Jesus is still compassionately attending to the crowd he has just fed when he sends the disciples away, in the boat, to the other side of the lake. The word used to describe how he made them leave is not soft, it was neither invitation nor recommendation. It was an imperative with no alternative.
Which means something is about to happen.
The crowds dispersed and the disciples compelled-and-crossing, Jesus seeks the Father in prayer on the hilltop. Alone on the mount, the Son convenes with the Father as Moses and Elijah did. Matthew is laying out breadcrumbs for us to anticipate the fireworks.
But we know better than to simply expect the SAME showing.
Maybe we should suspect something similar to sheer silence…
Jesus needs no boat to reach his friends. The one who is Lord is the Lord of all creation. His power extends beyond physical healings and the multiplication of food. His power is over all things, seen and unseen, visible and invisible, by him all things were made, and in him all things hold together.
He comes to them in the early morning, sometime between 3am and 6am, when it is darkest. The disciples have spent the night fighting against battering-and-beating winds. This is no mere tempest in the teacup of Galilee, the verb for the winds is violent, it means to be tormented. The disciples are up against a force they have no power to quell and they spend their energy trying to ride it out.
The last time they were in a boat with Jesus, the winds-and-waves raged against them and Jesus calmed the storm after waking from his nap. This time he doesn’t calm the storm, he comes to them through the storm, on the waves.
Before they can be amazed they are afraid. Water in the ancient world was understood as chaos and darkness – of course they think he’s a ghost.
He calms the storm in their hearts-and-minds with his strong, darkness cleaving, enduring Word:
Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid.
Actually, he says not, “It is I” but “I AM.” Jesus invokes the divine name which YHWH shared with Moses. Jesus is the I AM. There is no reason to fear because the great I AM, the Lord of all creation, is here. Jesus tells them (and he tells us) precisely who he is. He made the wind and waters, he commands creation, he is the one who walked on the waves in Job 9.
So when he says, “Take heart and do not be afraid.” These are not empty words. They are words pouring forth from the power of his presence and personhood. Just as the wind, earthquake, and fire were not how God appeared to Elijah, the swelling sea is not how Jesus appears to his disciples. Instead, Jesus meets the disciples in the chaos, amidst the tumult, on the raging waves.
But impetuous-and-precocious Peter replies.
Jesus has just told them who he is and still Peter wants to push the envelope, still wants proof of identity.
Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water…
And so Jesus says, “Come.”
Jesus doesn’t calm the wind or still the sea.
The waves still churn and course around the boat.
Peter steps out because Jesus called, because he trusts.
There is a difference between obedience and trust, and it’s one which bears teasing out. Obedience is performative. It can be given regardless of your feelings, emotions, or state of mind. You can obey without wanting to or believing in what you are doing.
Trust does not operate that way.
Trust is a horse of a different color.
Trust is based on the character of the person or thing in whom you place it. What Peter learns in this moment, what the disciples encounter through his boldness, is that Jesus is trustworthy and true. We can trust Jesus because he is who he says he is and he will do all he has promised to do. We live by faith, placing one trusting-faithful foot in front of the other.
Even, or especially, when the ground is shaky, the path is hidden, or the waters are moving.
Peter only begins to sink when his eyes are off of Jesus. Let me say that again so it sinks in (pun intended), Peter only begins to sink when his eyes are off of Jesus.
How often do we take our eyes off of Jesus?
How quickly are we distracted from who he is by the things around us?
We have finally reached the story’s core: as Peter sinks he cries out, “Save me, Lord!”
Because we cannot do it on our own.
Because we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves.
Because we need the power of Christ to save us.
The disciples worship Jesus as the Son of God after they saw him save Peter, bring him into the boat, and the waves ceased.
They worshipped him.
They didn’t admire him as a wise man;
Or acknowledge his spiritual prowess;
They didn’t admit that he was a moral guide;
Or acclaim him as a wonder-worker.
They worshipped him.
As the Son of God.;
The Great I AM;
The King of Creation.
Our two stories share four common pieces:
- Both stories show our characters on the move.
Elijah flees the murderous wrath of Jezebel
The disciples escape the growing crowd
- Both are preceded by deeds of power, a miraculous meal, and divine instruction.
For Elijah it’s fire on his altar, a hot cake, and the instruction to go to Horeb
For the disciples it’s Jesus curing the sick, feeding the crowd, and the instruction to go to the other side
- God shows up in both circumstances.
To Elijah in the sound of sheer silence
To the disciples by walking on water
- Both stories include the faithful response of trust.
Elijah goes
Peter comes
It is the Word which sustains Elijah and Peter; the word of God spoken and incarnate. These aren’t just miracle stories, they are manifestations of Christ’s majestic might and powerful presence as the eternal Word of God.
The Word who told Elijah to go.
Is the same Word who told Peter to come.
Is the same Word who speaks to you.
The I AM knows you by name;
He calls you by name;
He redeems you by name.
His Word endures.
Strong through the storms of this life,
Coming in the calm and quiet.
Cleaving the darkness and bringing light.
The response for Elijah was to go and worship.
For Peter, come and worship.
For you, trust and worship.
The point was never about walking on water or standing in a cave. The point was to trust in the word of the One who is Lord over all. To trust that he is who he says he is and he will do all he has promised to do. Amen.