Rev. George Miller
August 9, 2026
Isaiah 12:2
One of the most assuring scriptures for
the early church is Matthew 14:22-33.
After feeding the 5,000 with five loaves
and two fish, the disciples get into a boat and sail across the waters. A storm descends at night, ravaging the vessel
with battering waves and tormenting winds.
By morning’s light, the disciples see
Jesus coming towards them, the chaotic waves under his feet. He says “Take heart, it is I; do not be
afraid.”
Eventually the storm subsides, the
disciples get to the other side, ready to face whatever awaits.
Jesus brings calm to rough storms. Jesus is like that Mother Hen who gathers her
brood and watches over them; Jesus is a mighty eagle who ensures the fledglings
can lift up on their wings and fly.
Matthew is a beloved Gospel of the
universal church, speaking to each spiritual sanctuary in a way that empowers
them to see Christ as their focus and salvation, and a way to operate in a
chaotic world.
Matthew was written sometime around the 80’s
when the church was still trying to figure out who they were, what they were
about.
Being a Christian wasn’t easy or acceptable. They were the new kids on the
block, dealing with outside threats of persecution.
So the story of the disciples facing rough
waters became a way for the church to power ahead. The boat represented the church. Disciples represent the members. Waves and wind are the challenges a church in
motion faces.
When those difficulties take place, it is
Jesus who is there. It is Jesus who
becomes their focus, walking towards them with the “water” of turmoil under his
feet, reaching out, saying “Take heart; be brave.”
It is Jesus who calms the storms and gets them
to the other side.
This is one way of reading Matthew 14-
placing focus on the church as one body.
There are other ways, like hearing this as a personal testimony to our
own relationship with Jesus and the salvation we find in Christ.
This can become a testimony for anyone who
has fought depth and height, scarcity and roadblocks, suffering and pain.
Matthew 14 is a story for every person who
knows what it is like to struggle, what it is like to be afraid, what it’s like
to feel hopeless, battered by waves that will not stop and winds that threaten
to blow everything away.
Matthew 14 is for anyone who has endured
long dark nights in which they see no way out; a story for anyone who has felt
like God is far away, Jesus is asleep and your life will never get better.
Matthew doesn’t dismiss the storms of life,
turmoil we face, or ignore the dark of night.
Matthew 14 says that in the storms and darkness Jesus is indeed
there.
Jesus is there and he is not pulled down
by the chaos or blocked by the burdens. Jesus
walks above the chaos, stands firmly above all things, and Jesus is unbothered.
Not just unbothered, Jesus is reaching
out, and saying above the waves “Take heart. Don’t be afraid. I will get you to the other side.”
It may not be simple. Life’s storms have a way of leaving permanent
damage. We may not leave the winds unscathed. It may take longer to get to the other side
than we want.
But when the storms do decrease, when the chaotic
becomes more like a breeze, when we make it to the other side, we can look back
and see how Jesus was there.
Jesus was always there, and we
survived to see another day.
That’s where the words of Isaiah 12:2 come
in. “Surely God is my salvation; I will
trust and not be afraid for the Lord is my strength and my might; he has become
my salvation.”
Salvation- the act of being saved. Saved from the storms, saved from the waves, saved
from the winds.
These are words that the prophet wrote nearly
700 years before Jesus’s ministry. But
oh how they can apply to all the disciples after that mighty storm.
Isaiah 12 is written nearly 2,750 years
before right now, but oh how these words can be shared today.
Words reminding us not only how God is our
salvation and might, but how we receive streams of abundance, blessings poured
out.
Isaiah 12 reminds us that we may travel
seas of pain and darkness, but in God we experience fonts of blessing and seas
of mercy.
Isaiah 12 lets us know that no matter the
depth or height, we belong to God alone, who is our strength and might and
salvation.
Salvation can mean the knowledge that
whatever is happening in the world around us does not have the final say about
who we are and who we belong to.
Salvation can mean that our souls find
rest in the Lord who is our nest and foundational rock.
Isaiah was not writing during a peaceful
time in which trust and hope are easy to come by. He wrote during an era in which the whole nation feels
unsettled.
There’s financial, social instability,
people losing their land, taxes are expanding, and war with Assyria seems right
around the corner.
God’s people are living during a storm
full of every kind of wave. Without
ignoring those waves, Isaiah takes a break from their woes and points to a future
day when things will be calmer.
He doesn’t give them a concrete date or set
time, but Isaiah gives them the gift of assurance and a peak into a better
future.
He says to them “Don’t stop, don’t quit, don’t
give in to the storms. Trust that one
day you will reach the other side, and when you do, we can say ‘Thank you Lord. You are my salvation, my strength, my steady
shore. I trust you.’”
It takes a lot to trust in God during
difficult times. It take a lot to look
beyond the wind and waves and see yourself on the other side.
It takes a whole lot of faith to even
imagine what you would say, and to think that you could say “Thank you. You are my saving grace.”
This is what Isaiah dared his neighbors to
do nearly 2,800 years ago. This is also
what Isaiah dares us to do today.
This is one reason Matthew wrote chapter
14- to remind the church universal, to remind St. Lucas UCC, to remind you
that when we are scared, when things feel uncertain and the other side feels so
far away,
Jesus is with us, Jesus is reaching out to
us, calling us to take heart, be brave, and let Christ be the calm upon which
we can stand.
For that let us say “Amen.”
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