God’s Power Is Not Coercive, but Persuasive

by The Rev. Dr. Amy Lindeman Allen

In Matthew’s gospel text, an interesting interaction occurs between Jesus and Peter. At the same time, Jesus is totally in control of (including the presumed ability to anticipate Peter’s reaction to) the entire situation as it unfolds on the Sea of Galilee; on the other hand, Peter’s reaction is entirely external and thus outside of the control of Jesus.

Early on in the episode Jesus sets the scene, first by sending the disciples ahead of him in the boat (Matthew 14:22) and then by walking out towards them on the lake, both against the wind and atop the tumultuous water (Matthew 14:25).

Even before this particular episode, however, Jesus sets up the relationships involved by inviting the disciples to come and follow him. In the top-down worlds of both the Roman Empire and Rabbinic Judaism, acceptance of this invitation meant the disciples’ submission to Jesus’ authority. This was the sort of authority that demanded unquestioned obedience: when your teacher said, “Go out and heal,” you went out and healed and when your teacher said, “Come,” you came.

Within these parameters, then, Peter exercises his freedom in beckoning his teacher to “command me to come to you on the water” (Matthew 14:28). It’s important to remember this relationship and dialogue, so as to understand that Peter does not rush carelessly into the water—though, perhaps, from what we know of Peter in other episodes, he may have liked to have done just that. Instead, Peter observes the parameters Jesus has laid out. He seems consciously concerned about what, in this impressive moment, Jesus is seeking to express.

Within this dual context of desire and restraint,

[Jesus] said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’

Even in Peter’s fear, the relationship is maintained—Jesus is Lord and Peter is student. Jesus’ authority, along with the initial parameters of Jesus’ action, are intact. However, the strength of Peter’s emotion remains outside of Jesus’ control. He cannot command Peter to “fear not!” In fact, he already did (Matt. 14:27) and that has not prevented Peter’s predicament.

Power, then, whether it is the power of a teacher over a student or an artist over an installation, ends at the emotional response of the “other.” Imagine the parent of a hysterical toddler telling the child, “Don’t be upset.” The child may have every reason to believe that their parent is trustworthy in saying there is nothing to be upset about; however, this knowledge or intuition cannot change the way they feel.

This is the power of art installations—they draw their life and thus their beauty from the uncontrolled emotional response of those who encounter them. The same can be said about faith.

An all-powerful God could simply have made people to have faith. Jesus certainly could have steadied Peter on the water. But to do so means to cross the boundary of the self—it means to extend the control beyond the conditions of the experience into the experience of a person themselves. It means to diminish or take away our sense of self—our self-awareness and autonomy, the very things that make us human.

And so Jesus does not calm Peter’s fears. He does not steady Peter’s feet beneath the unsteady waters. He does not cross that line of self. But neither does Jesus abandon Peter. Jesus extends his hand towards Peter. Jesus preserves Peter in all of his fear and all of his doubt.

This is the gospel, indeed the beauty, of Matthew’s text for me. In the midst of whatever tumultuous seas that we are bound to encounter, our Lord gives us the space to walk, to experience the sensation, and then the grace to catch us and pull us back ashore when we flounder.

It is not as perfect as an already “finished” piece of art. Perhaps we are not as “obedient” as a perfectly executed computer code. But in our free-will, in our emotions, in our response to the scenes which God has set before us, the power and the majesty of our Lord and creator are perhaps most beautifully revealed.

The Rev. Dr. Amy Lindeman Allen is Co-Lead Pastor at The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Reno, NV and Assistant Professor of New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary and an ordained Lutheran minister (ELCA). She holds her PhD from Vanderbilt University and is interested in the intersections of God’s Word in scripture and the world.