Have you ever gone for a boat
ride on a summer day? The sun is shining; there is a soft, warm breeze and you
can hear gentle waves lapping like music on the sides of your boat. It is a
lovely experience.
But sometimes a boat ride can be
scary. At night it is very dark. When a storm arises, the wind wails, the
thunder booms and big waves rock the boat, until you think it is going to upset
and you are going to drown in the cold, black water.
Jesus' Apostles had a very
frightening boat ride one night on the Sea of Galilee.
That day, Jesus had been teaching
and healing people. In the evening, he performed a miracle by feeding five
thousand men plus more women and children with only five loaves of bread and
two fish. In the evening he was tired. Jesus told his friends to take the boat
and go ahead to the other side of the lake.
When the Apostles were far from
shore, a fierce storm arose. Strong winds howled, lighting flashed, and the
boat rocked wildly, like an out-of-control roller coaster. Just when the
Apostles thought things couldn't get any worse, they saw a glowing, white
figure walking toward them on the water. "Oh no!" they thought.
"Now a ghost is chasing us!" But it wasn't a ghost; it was Jesus.
He didn't want them to be
frightened. Right away he spoke: " Take heart, it is I; do not be
afraid." Mt. 14:27
Peter, always the boldest, called
out, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." Mt. 14:28. Jesus told him to come ahead.
Peter stepped out of the boat and
took a few steps towards Jesus. He was doing very well when suddenly he
stopped. He took his eyes off Jesus and looked around. He realized where he was
and what he was doing. He became panicky and right away he began to sink into
the dark, stormy sea. He called out to Jesus, "Lord, save me!" Mt. 14:30
Right away, Jesus caught Peter's
hand, pulled him up, and they both got into the boat. Immediately the storm
went away, and the lake became quiet and peaceful once more.
Then Jesus told Peter that he
needed to have more faith. It he had trusted Jesus and kept his eyes steadily
on the Lord, he would have been just fine.
Often we are like Peter. When
stormy times come in our lives, we forget to trust Jesus. We get panicky about
the bad things that seem to be happening to us, or around us, and we take our
eyes off the Lord. Even then, when we call to Jesus for help, he is ready and
anxious to save us.
We need to always remember that
when we are Jesus' friends, when he is on our side, or as we might say,
"in our boat", there is nothing to be afraid of. Jesus is God, Lord
of heaven and earth, and he loves each one of us very much. He proved this by
dying on the cross to save us.
Like Peter and the Apostles, we
need to have faith and trust in him and not be afraid, no matter how scary
things around us might appear to be. . We need only call on Jesus and he will
always stretch out his hand to save us.
"...I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10
When our first parents were created, they had everything they could possibly want. They lived in a beautiful garden, where they would never have to work. There was no sickness or death. The animals were their friends and companions.
Best of all, God came daily and communicated with them. If they had proven their love and loyalty by obeying his one command, they would, in time, have been lifted to heaven to live forever with him.
Unfortunately, the humans ate the forbidden fruit, sentencing themselves and their descendants to the tragedies we must now all endure: sickness, death, pain, work and other hardships.
However, God still loved them and promised to send a Savior. God addressed Satan, the tempter, who had disguised himself as a snake:
" I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." Genesis 3:15
Indeed, Mary's son, Jesus, would seriously curtail Satan's ability to harm the world and its inhabitants, while Jesus would only be slightly affected by Satan's schemes to destroy him. Jesus' death would shortly be followed by his resurrection.
The sin of our first parents was very serious, because they knew God personally. They had daily witnessed his glory, his goodness, his majesty and his love. Yet, in spite of this, they chose to disobey him. This mammoth rejection of all that was perfect had to be atoned for.
Because an infinitely holy Deity had been offended, a mere human being could never atone for so great an offence.
Only Jesus could do so. He had two complete natures: human and divine. As son of Mary, he was human; as son of God he was divine. Thus, he was able to stand in place of humanity and offer the supreme sacrifice to Almighty God. Because Jesus was divine, his sufferings and death were sufficient to atone for every sin that would ever be committed on the earth.
Jesus came to earth to restore our relationship with God. Because of his sacrifice on the cross, we can now access heaven, even though we may commit sins. We only need to express our sorrow and do our best to repent. All our sins have already been atoned for by Jesus Christ.
There was another reason for the incarnation. On our own, a human could never really know God. He is, after all, Infinite Perfection. However, God loves us and desires to have a relationship with us, as he did with our first parents. When Jesus walked among us, he gave us a human face for God. Now we can more easily relate to the Divine, through the person of Jesus, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
Because of Jesus' life and death, we do possess the possibility of obtaining abundant life, not only during our brief sojourn on earth, but most importantly, for eternity in heaven. Because Jesus came to earth, lived, suffered and died among us, we now have the opportunity to know God and to live forever with him in heaven. It's no wonder Jesus is referred to as "... the Savior of the world". (1John 4:14).
