“Did I Stutter?”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
August 12 – 13, 2023
Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33
When you read about the apostles in Scripture, you see the great transformation that happened to them after Pentecost. Before Pentecost, they always questioned our Lord. Jesus wanted to see Lazarus who had died. But the apostles said, “Hey Lord, he has been in the tomb for three days. He’s way past the sell-by date. I wouldn’t do that if I were You.” The apostles were always questioning Him. Questions are good, but not when you doubt the authority of the one making the request. Jesus told them to feed the loaves and fishes to the crowd. “Okay, but it’s not going to be enough.” Jesus told them to go into town and preach the Gospel, heal the sick, and expel demons.” They came back to Him surprised that it had actually worked. They always doubted His Word. In the Gospel, Jesus instructed Peter to walk toward Him on the water. Peter did as he was told, but he became afraid and began to sink. Our Lord asked Peter, “Why did you doubt?” Basically, our Lord was saying, “Did I stutter?” Our Lord said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” “Whoa! What do you mean?” It’s a declarative sentence, and He did not stutter. Deal with it.
We think that we are smarter than the average bear and that we know more than our Lord. We think that what He asks of us is impossible. Even though the apostles saw all these miracles, the raising of at least three from the dead – one who was a very dead Lazarus – they still doubted the Resurrection. Only until they were filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit did they believe that the Resurrection really happened. Why did Peter allow fear to paralyze him? The devil uses fear to take us away from our good Lord by saying, “Oh, His commands are impossible” which makes us think, “Oh, I cannot do that.” Our Lord does not require us to do the impossible. He only asks for good things which draw us closer to Him. In the law, if something is impossible, the law does not apply, and you are not culpable. If you can’t do it, you can’t do it. Peter was sinking and cried out, “Lord save me.” They weren’t miles from shore. This wasn’t Lake Michigan. Look at the map of Israel . . . there are no Great Lakes in Israel. There is no Lake Erie. So, they were not far from shore. What happened in the Gospel? Peter jumped into the water, and because he was only a few yards from land, he swam to shore. Peter was a fisherman, and he could swim.
Fear will paralyze us, and the devil uses it. “I can’t do that.” “The Commandments of God are too hard.” “The Church must change them.” “God obviously didn’t know what He was doing, else He wouldn’t ask us to follow His Commandments now in the 21st Century.” And that’s not true. His Commandments are not burdensome. “If you love Me, keep My Commandments.” That’s all the Commandments are . . . a test of His love and belief in His Word. They may be inconvenient because we have our own agenda. But God will never tell us to do something that is impossible or something that will hurt us. Quite the opposite. When we don’t fulfill His Commandments, we do self-harm because we cut ourselves off from His love slowly by venial sin or abruptly by mortal sin.
So, keep your eyes on the Lord and what He said. Don’t try to overthink it as some do. “I’m going to fall. I have sinned!” You’ll be fine. Do not be afraid, which is the most common phrase in scripture. Do not be afraid. Our Lord asks us to keep His Commandments if we love Him. They are not burdensome. “Oh! I have to go to Mass on Sundays and on Holy Days! Oh, it’s so hard!” Oh, please. If you had a free ticket to the Panthers game, you’d be right there in Charlotte with 70,000 other crazy people fighting traffic. Yeah, that really sounds like fun. I haven’t had so much fun since I was in the gas chamber. Are you kidding me?
Just think about what we trade for the love of our good Lord. And what we trade for the very presence of God, Himself, in the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Second Person in the Holy Trinity Who talked to Moses as one man talks to another. I use “man” in the Latin sense of the word meaning “mankind” – not male – the way Scripture was originally written. What is better than that? No admission fee . . .even better. No trouble parking . . . even better than that. We have to listen to our Lord, and that can be tough. Do you know what class of people find it really hard to listen to the voice of our Lord? Priests. There was evidence of that 20 years ago when I arrived here and was looking around. There was orange shag carpet in the church bathrooms. Yeah. I don’t think the good fathers ever listened to the women in the parish. In their defense, they probably got a deal on it. Fathers, you gotta listen. You may be an expert on the Gospel, but you have to listen else you become deaf. You always must listen for Him amidst the loud noises of our busy lives. Do what our Lord commands. And if we think His Commandments are burdensome, perhaps we need to love Him more and ourselves less.
How will you apply this message to your life? _____________________________________
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