Water Walkers
Matthew 14:22-36
Illustration
by Leonard Sweet

I'll bet every one of us this morning can think of some remarkable water-walkers we have known. We all have watched simple, straight-forward, hard-working men and women, little toddlers and tormented teens, the shut-in elders and the shut-out homeless, perform acts in their lives that defy the limitations of the world in which they live.

The chemotherapy patient who gets out of bed, puts on clean clothes, picks up the house, before going for treatment . . . What are they doing but walking on water?

The homeless woman who sleeps in a box, gleans food from dumpsters, but still smiles a greeting and laughs at a joke . . . What is she doing but walking on water?

The single parent, overworked, overwhelmed, over-extended in time, money, and energy, but makes it to soccer games and school plays and checks to see that homework is done . . . What is that harried parent doing but walking on water?

The octogenarian who lives alone, whose family has forgotten him, who counts the postal carrier and the water-meter reader as "company," but still is up and dressed by 8am and sits at the table for all his meals . . . What is he doing but walking on water?

ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., Collected Sermons, by Leonard Sweet