Colour Supplement

Articles by Christians around the world

Sunday 10 August 2008

 

Bumble bees can't fly

A sermon preached by Katharine Smith - Reader at St. Andrew's - on

Sunday 10 August 2008

 

 

Matthew 14.22-33

 

Bumble bees can’t fly! 

 

Because of the size and shape of their wings in relation to the size and shape of their bodies it’s aerodynamically impossible for them to fly. Fortunately, no-one has told them that and they carry on flying around in a bumbling sort of way!

 

At least that’s what I believed until I did a bit of research on the internet and found what is probably the truth.

 

The myth that bumble bees can’t fly grew from a misunderstanding about the way a bumble bee’s wings work: they don’t just move up and down in a rigid way, they also move from side to side in a very elaborate pattern.  This creates a very unstable aerodynamic so that bumble bees do fly but by means of a sort of controlled crash.

 

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like I’m living life by means of a sort of controlled crash! 

 

So what’s this got to do with Jesus walking on water and Peter leaping out of the boat to join him?

 

Well, human beings don’t walk on water – we know that and the disciples know that. Yet here’s Jesus doing just that. Are they seeing a ghost? No, it really is Jesus who speaks to them across the water:  “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” And Peter, of course it’s Peter, wants to do the same:  “let me have a go” and Jesus invites Peter to join him. 

 

Peter steps forward but suddenly remembers there’s a storm around him,

waves and wind and, of course, human beings can’t walk on water – he starts sinking and would have drowned had Jesus not reached out and caught him.

 

In this story the disciples have seen Jesus do the impossible and they all agree that since human beings can’t walk on waterJesus must be someone very special,he is the Son of God as it’s their belief that only God has mastery over the sea and the wind.

 

Walking on water, changing water into wine – amazing feats and signs indicating that Jesus is someone special – the Son of God. 

 

But actually, throughout his everyday life, in the way he speaks, the way he treats people, especially vulnerable and hurting people, Jesus is always doing something special,things that we seem constantly to find impossible to do as human beings. 

 

In our magazine a while back there was a prayer which I’ve kept to hand:

  

Dear Lord,

So far today, I'm doing all right. 

I have not gossiped, lost my temper,

been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish

or self-indulgent. 

I have not whined, complained, cursed,

or eaten any chocolate. 

I have charged nothing on my credit card. 

But I will be getting out of bed in a minute,

and I think that I will really need your help then.

  

Following Jesus is about following his example of a way of living that is love personified.

 

It means being unselfish, thinking positively, not letting our feelings get the better of us, not joining in gossip or passing on rumours, not judging others but treating them as we wish to be treated ourselves.

 

We might set out each day fully intending to be loving, selfless and dedicated to our discipleship but, inevitably it seems, our environment gets the better of us. 

 

We’re under pressure to get something done, we’re reminded of an old resentment that should have been forgiven and left behind long ago, someone says something that needles us into irritation and there it goes:  a crash that’s not so controlled!

 

Like Peter we realise afresh that human beings just can’t be perfect any more than they can walk on water.

 

But that moment of re-discovery of our powerlessness, the flaws in our personalities, our failure to love. That very moment of our sense of failure,

our disappointment with or condemnation of our selves, the moment when we most feel we’ve blown it with God.

 

That awful moment is also the moment of humility, the moment of calling out to Jesus (“Lord, save me”), it becomes the moment of sheer grace when God reaches out to hold on to us, to reassure and encourage.

 

It can be the moment of redemption, the moment when we are closer to God

than we were when we were trying in our own strength to be like Jesus.

 

Because Jesus came to save not those who believe they can already walk on water but those afraid of the waves, the ones who feel they’re drowning, the ones who feel beyond the reach of grace and mercy. The ones who call out “Lord, save me”

 

And save us he does, from within the storm itself. We don’t have to get to a place of clearer skies before God can reach us. He is reaching out to hold us wherever we are, whatever we’ve done, however we feel.

 

Bumble bees can fly because their wings work in a way we didn’t understand.

We can live loving lives because our God works in ways that perhaps we will never understand. We only have to remember our lifelong need of grace and say, “Lord, save me.”

 

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