3-12-2025 Midweek Lenten

“THE HAND OF THE LORD WHO CREATES AND SAVES”

Text: Matthew 14:22-33

Wednesday March 12, 2025 – Lent Midweek 1

Trinity – Creston

       Grace, mercy, and peace is yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Our text for this evening’s message is the Gospel Lesson from Matthew chapter 14 that was just proclaimed.

Let Us Pray: Dearest Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to remind that with repentant hearts we humbly serve others as we know that that it is your hand who created and reached out to save us.  Amen.

Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ:

In our Lenten and Easter series, we will be focusing on the hand of the Lord. Specifically, we will be focusing on the hand of our Lord Jesus, God in the flesh, the Creator. In our Gospel for this evening, Jesus’ hand reaches down save Peter. The Hand of the Lord saves.

Up to this point in Matthew’s Gospel account, Jesus’ hand has been at work. Immediately before our Reading, Jesus took five loaves and two fish into His hands and fed five thousand men, besides women and children.

 Jesus was in control of that situation, and He had a handle on this situation with Peter even before Peter needed Jesus to grab him out the water. It was Jesus who immediately made the disciples get into the boat. When they were struggling against the wind and the waves, it was Jesus who came to His disciples, walking on the waves.

All of this thus far has been pointing to who Jesus is. He is God, the Creator in the flesh. Job said that it is God “who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea” (9:8).

Jesus is the Great I am. He is the Word through whom “all things were made” (John 1:3). He is God walking on the sea. When His hand stretches out, it is truly the hand of the Lord.

That also means that what Jesus does with those hands also is the work of God. His hand is in control. But sometimes, our limited understanding has difficulty grasping when God seems distant, mysterious, and even terrifying.

While the disciples were out in the boat, they had one of those moments. They were frightened early in the morning. But our text does not say that the wind and waves were scaring them. They had, no doubt, handled their fair share of wind and waves out on the Sea of Galilee. What terrified them? It was this figure walking on the water! They cried out, “It is a ghost!” Now that would strike fear into the heart of a fisherman.

But the Lord addressed each of their concerns. To their being troubled, He said, “Take heart.” To their cry that it was a ghost, He said, “It is I.” To their being afraid, He said, “Do not be afraid.” The Lord immediately addressed all of their concerns right there! They had everything that they needed in His words. Everything was in His hands.

But Peter, instead of clinging to Jesus’ words alone, ended up taking matters into his own hands. He wanted Jesus to prove it to him on his terms. “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” (Matthew 14:28). Perhaps surprisingly, the Lord obliged. Peter was walking on the water on his way to Jesus! But it was not long until Peter took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink.

Before we are too hard on Peter, we should see that Peter’s actions also shine a reflection on our own misguided attempts to take things into our own hands. So often it happens in a moment of uncertainty, and we may wonder at why the Lord is allowing this or that to happen.

How often have we been like Peter, not content to trust in the Lord’s words of promise? Rather, we have attempted to seize with our hands something out of our control when we ought to have started by folding our hands in prayer.

How often have we discounted patience in the Lord in favor of brash action? How often have we attempted to be so bold as to live as though His words of promise were not enough for us?

How often do we end up crying out, just like Peter, at the mess that we made when everything slips through our fingers? It illustrates our sinful condition all too well. Our hands alone cannot keep us from sinking to the depths of Sheol and eternal judgment. All that we can say with Peter is this: “Lord, save me.”

But immediately the hand of the Lord reached down and saved Peter. Jesus acted immediately at just the right time. Jesus immediately made them get in the boat at the beginning of this scene. He immediately calmed their fears.

   Now our Lord immediately reaches out His hand in compassion and mercy at the right time. While Peter was attempting to take things into his own hands, soon it was the Lord’s hand reaching out and grabbing ahold of him. Everything is in the Lord’s hands. Peter is too.

The Lord has answered our cries of “Lord, save me.” He has taken care of our sinful condition. He has reached down into the depths. Our Lord has taken upon Himself our own human flesh. He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross, for us.

This is the Hand of the Lord at work to save us today. Only God in the flesh can do that. Only the Word, through whom all things were created, can pull us from the depths of judgment and despair.

It is true even in our moments of uncertainty. It is not a promise that every challenge, hardship, or trial will go away immediately. Nor is it a promise that working through it will be easy or that there will be easy fixes to everything that ails us. Nor will we always understand the workings of God in our lives.

But when it comes to salvation, the Lord’s merciful hand is right there. His presence and forgiveness in His Word are immediately there when we need Him. His Word and Sacraments are true, no matter how great or little our faith is. They derive their power not from our faith but from Jesus Himself.

He has reached down with His Word and His Sacraments to save you. So you can trust in His promises, which are true. For your old self has been drowned in Holy Baptism so that the new will arise.

He has reached down to proclaim to you in Confession and Absolution that your sins are indeed forgiven. He has reached down to feed you with His very body and blood, given and shed for you! You have everything that you need today!

You have everything that you need in the gracious hand of the Lord that created you, saves you, and sanctifies you. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.  Amen.