Keep Your Eyes Fixed on Christ

Jesus Christ, Love, Sacred Heart

The story of Christ walking on water and Peter almost having the faith to reach him ( Mt 14:22-33)  was recently heard at mass, yet with no pun intended, one may rightly ask if we can go a bit deeper in the message of this account.  Surely, most will agree that trusting the Lord to guide us through trouble is one of the lessons to be learned. Certainly, many will add that true faith defeats fear and supports us to take chances. Lastly, many will argue that Peter again reminds us of how easily we can embody polar opposites of faith from saying “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” ( Mt 16:16) to denying Our Lord altogether (Mk 14:66-72) or representing the distortions of Satan ( Mt 16:23).

Peter is clearly as flawed as we all are, yet he has a knack for being right in the middle of the most powerful lessons taught by Christ. Maybe, Peter’s great flaws provides just the environment for those powerful lessons.

Keep Your Eyes on Christ

We should note that Peter did not sink as long as he kept his eyes on his Master. As soon as he allowed himself to be distracted by all of the less important noise around him, he sank. How often do we seek Christ only to take our eyes off His message and guidance? Are we really selflessly and obediently seeking Our Lord or are we merely expecting him to be around while we do our own thing so we can blame him when things go wrong?

When You Fall ( and you will) Reach Out to Christ

 This is not a question of if, but rather of when. We all fall from time to time because we are all defective humans. Sin is the vivid reminder of what happens whenever we forget that we do not have all the answers but think we do. The important thing is to try our best to avoid falls but, just as important if not more so, to be ready and able to reach out to Christ when we do fall. We reach out to Our Lord in confession most importantly, but we also reach out to Christ when we admit that we need him and want him to help us.

Christ Walked on Water so You Do Not Have To

Notice that, in the story above, both Christ and Peter walked on water. However, Peter walked because Christ did so and challenged him to do the same. If Peter had seen Christ sitting on a boat asking him to walk over, Peter would have never tried in the first place. Seeing Christ do precisely what he was asking Peter to do gave Peter courage and greater faith. The bottom line is that we should let Our Lord do the heavy lifting and merely follow as best we can out of a sincere and deep desire to love and obey him. Whenever we pretend to be doing the heavy lifting, we tend to forget how much we need Christ and owe to God Almighty. Humility is the cornerstone of sanctity and, as candidates for sainthood, we each need to cultivate humility regularly.

Anything worth doing is only so if it brings us closer to God. Anything that distances us from God is worthless or even harmful. Thus, since God is all that ultimately matters, we would be wise to leave all to God. Knowing that God loves us and is all good, we can never go wrong leaving all to God.

Conclusion

The story of Peter walking, then falling, and finally reaching out to Christ out in that lake is a microcosm of our journey to salvation. Faced with the storms of this world, we must heed Our Lord’s offer to help. As imperfect beings, we will falter. As faithful servants, we must reach out to Christ because he alone is the path to our inheritance. The keys are keeping our eyes on the Lord, and reaching out to him when (not if) we fall.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.