Reflection on Romans 10:5-15 and Matthew 14:22-33

Romans 10:5-15 (NRSVue)

⁵ Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” ⁶ But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say?

 “The word is near you,

  in your mouth and in your heart”

(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim), ⁹ because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For one believes with the heart, leading to righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, leading to salvation. ¹¹ The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. ¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

  ¹⁴ But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? ¹⁵ And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Reflection

The painting is a dramatic one, capturing a scene from under the water from the perspective of a drowning Peter who tried to walk on the water to Jesus, but became afraid and sank.  In the painting, you see Peter reaching his hand up toward the air above and you see Jesus looking down at Peter from beyond the ripely water.  Peter has grasped onto Jesus’ hand, who is pulling him up to safety.

That is how a fellow student described the painting anyway as she talked to one of our theology professors.  But the theology professor corrected my fellow student.

“Peter did not grasp onto Jesus’ hand,” the Professor corrected.  “Jesus reached down and grasped onto Peter’s hand.”

“OK.  What difference does it make?” the student asked.

“What difference does it make?  If you are drowning in a lake and someone throws you a life preserver from the shore, do you say, ‘Hey, it’s a really good thing that I know how to hold onto a life preserver!’  No!  Of course not!  Instead, you allow yourself to get pulled to shore and then you thank the one who saved you.  You thank them over and over again.  ‘You saved my life!  Thank you!’  Peter did not save himself by holding tight onto Jesus’ hand.  Jesus saved Peter by reaching down, grasping his hand, and raising him up to life.  We don’t save ourselves; Jesus saves us.  Never forget that.”

A few years later I was again taught this fundamental understanding of our faith using even simpler words.  “God always comes down.  We do not go up.”

This is very important to understand because so many Christians say the words, “You just have to believe.”  When struggling with depression, some poor person is told, “You just have to believe.”  As if they can just climb their way out of the dark pit of their mind and enter into Jesus’ presence. 

When doubting God, another struggling person is told, “You just have to believe.”  As if someone who is struggling to believe in God can just flip a switch and say, “Oh, I guess I’m just going to start believing.”  I ask you, how do you just start believing when you do not believe?  It makes no sense. 

No, we do not reach up to find God, or grasp onto God.  God always comes down and grasps onto us.  “God always comes down.  We do not go up.”  That is the gift of God.

This is some solid biblical truth here.  The Apostle Paul teaches, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it [the Bible] say?

 ’The word is near you,

  in your mouth and in your heart’” (Romans 10:6-8).

Did you hear Paul?  You don’t go up to find Christ like he is the prize in some spiritual treasure hunt.  Nor do you pull him up from the dead.  Jesus’ continued life in this world does not depend on you to bring him up from forgotten places to keep his memory alive. 

Rather, Paul says: “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Romans 10:8).  Jesus Christ, the word of God, has already come to you.

God always comes down.  We do not go up.

Jesus reaches down to grasp us.  We do not grasp onto God.  These are important words.  These are vital words, even to me.

I am drawn to think about my very first day at Bible camp.  Other than staying with aunts and uncles, this was the first time that I ever spent an extended amount of time away from home.  I was not impressed by the first few hours.  We played a game where we had to go around the circle and memorize and repeat each other’s names.  My memory was not any better as a kid than it is now.  I can’t remember names!  This game was torture, and I did not know anyone any better after the game than I did before.  Soon after the game we went to supper and I spent it eating alone, still not knowing anyone.

So far, this is a pretty sad story.  But the moment of faith is coming.  During the evening worship, there was a moment where all of our foreheads were marked with a cross with water, in recognition that in Baptism Jesus never forgets us.  Needless to say, my camp counselor forgot me.  He never came and marked my forehead.  Maybe he was terrible at the name game also!  Well, so much for the “Jesus never forgets us” lesson.

And as we left the worship space and as I walked alone toward my cabin after worship, feeling sorry for my forgotten self, in stereotypical movie fashion, it started to rain.  Of course it did.

But when I looked up to the sky to curse the sky, also in stereotypical movie fashion, two huge drops of rain fell onto my forehead, tracing the shape of a cross.  And I might have marked that up to coincidence, except for that fact that at that very moment a boy from my cabin ran up to me and said, “There you are Jira.  I was looking for you.  I didn’t see you at worship and I wanted to hang out.”

God had found me.  God always comes down.  We do not go up.

I was so thankful that God sent that kid my way.  He fast became my best friend for the week.  We did everything together, laughing the whole time.  And when I think about how God sent that kid my way, to find me and befriend me, I repeat in my heart the gratitude found in the Apostle Paul’s words, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15).  How great are those who God sends to seek and find.

God works that way you know.  Wherever there is someone in the middle of a fearful storm in life, “frightened, and, beginning to sink,” you will also find Jesus reaching out his hand to catch us (Matthew 14:30-31).  And it is when we are grasped by the divine hand and saved that Jesus grows our “little faith” into something more.  It grows into a faith in which you trust the one who saves because you have been saved.  Then you can “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,” and you will know for certain that “you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).  But only because you have been found and grasped by the one who loved you first.

God always comes down.  We do not go up.

God desires salvation for us all.  God is not picky about who will be found.  God once found a murderer and made him into one of the greatest of all the prophets, so great that if you simply say, “the prophet” around a Jewish person they will immediately know that you are talking about Moses.

God is not picky about who will be found.  God once found a foreigner and sent her to suffer the same fate as her destitute mother-in-law.  Ruth did not have to go with her mother-in-law, to watch after her and care for her and make sure that her depressed soul found something to eat.  Ruth was not Jewish.  Ruth had a good family to go back to.  But she stuck with her mother-in-law, through the worst and the best.  And she is remembered as a great woman of faith even to this day! 

Paul says, “’No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:11-13).  Faith is trusting the one who finds you and is generous to you.  Faith is trusting the one who walks with you in rough seas and lifts you up when you sink.  Faith is a gift that is given to anyone.

God always comes down.  We do not go up.

I know of a cheerleader who has a tattoo that runs down her leg.  She is a fearless flier.  She is one of those girls who is launched into the air, doing handstands and flips high above everyone’s heads.  That means that she is one of those cheerleaders who has to trust the guy throwing her and catching her far below.  She trusts that he will not let her fall as she does her stunts, even when she does them wrong.  But this type of trust does not come out of nowhere.  It comes from being caught again and again and again without being hurt.  It is the type of trust in someone else that really gets ingrained in your soul.

And that brings me to the tattoo that runs down her leg.  The tattoo is a sentence actually.  It reads: “God is catching her, she will not fall.”  Just as the guy that throws her and catches her each time is trusted, so she trusts God in the same way.  That is faith.  That is a heart that leads to salvation.  And that message in intended to be read by those who watch, that they too might know that God catches them as well.  “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

So, let people know the truth.  God always comes down.  We do not need to go up to God.  Jesus is walking with us now and he is the one who grasps us when we sink.