Homily 698– 9APE
Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church, Ames, Iowa
August 2, 2026
Epistle:  (128) 1 Corinthians 3:9-17
Gospel:  (59) Matthew 14:22-34

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God.

We see St. Peter this morning walking on water, to prove the person on the storm waves was indeed Christ.  It is a demonstration of faith.  So this morning, let’s explore what faith is, and what it isn’t, and why it is or isn’t important for us.

When attempting to understand how a word or concept is used, it is very helpful to see how the concept appears in other places.  There are some word threads that can be tied together here, which may lead us to a deeper understanding of the concept at hand.

When recounting Peter going to Jesus on the water, a few things jump out.  First and foremost, Peter wasn’t trying to be a miracle, or participate in one.  He was going to Jesus.  That is our starting point for everything in life.  Everything we do, everything we think, everything we are is with the intent of going to Jesus.  Whatever it takes.

Jesus commands Peter to come, and Peter obeys.  Eyes firmly fixed on Christ, he doesn’t even notice what he is doing – he just does what Christ tells him, and comes to Him.  Except then, at that exact moment, Peter took his eyes off of Christ, took is focus away from Christ, and he noticed.

He noticed the seas around him.  He noticed the waves.  He noticed the wind.  We all know what happens next.

He feared.  He was afraid.

That fear – in Greek, he-fo-bee-thee – (ἐφοβήθη) – becomes a key part of the threads.  That fear is found elsewhere in our Scripture, namely, the account of the People of God, Israel, watching as Moses divided the Red Sea in Exodus 14.

After the incident, the crossing of the sea as if on dry land, and the destruction of the army of Pharoah, the scriptures tell us:  Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

It is further interesting that this incident was the one that established fear of the Lord and belief in the Lord and Moses.  After all, the people had witnessed the events that led up to the Exodus from Egypt – plagues, storms, trials, even death of the first born males.  But it was here that they established the fear of God, and their belief in God.

The Greek here is also interesting.  Fear, as used here, like in Matthew’s account of Peter’s fear, uses that same Greek word, he-fo-bee-thee – (ἐφοβήθη).  And that fear led to something different – Trust.  In Hebrew, emunah.  Sometimes translated “faith”, this word is another thread to contemplate.

We see this Hebrew word a couple of different places in addition to the Red Sea.  In Exodus 17, the Hebrews encounter Amalek.  The battle rages, and while Moses lifts up his arms, the Hebrews strengthen and overcome Amalek, but when Moses gets tired, and lowers his arms, Amalek begins to prevail.

So Aaron and Hur, who were with Moses, seat Moses upon a rock, and support the arms of Moses.  And the Hebrews prevail.  The scriptures say that Aaron and Hur – quote – “steadied” the arms of Moses.  That word steady is the Hebrew word again, emunah.  Steadfastly.  Solidly.

Another time, the Hebrews sent 12 men to do a little reconnaissance on the land of Canaan. And they came back saying the land was glorious, the fruit of the land was excellent.  But the people had gotten word that the people of the land were giants.  They were huge.  They balked at entering the land that God had given to them, even though God explicitly promised that He Himself would lead and fight for them, if they would follow and join in the fight.  But in Duteuronomy 1:32, when Moses was giving his final speeches, Moses reminded them that they had NO emunah.  They were unwilling to act.  And they “entrusted not” God’s promise for them.

What  these two threads – the Hebrew “emunah” and the Greek “he-fo-bee-thee” – tell us is something like this:  Faith is the behavior that stems from trust that reveals itself as action.

Faith is the behavior that stems from trust that reveals itself as action.

That is what Peter experienced.  In stepping out of the boat to go to Christ, he was expressing faith.  He was “faithing” we might say, making the noun into a verb.  He was “faithing” hard!

As long as we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, our heart yearning for Christ, every part of us longing for Christ, our own faith will save us, by God’s grace.  The Apostle James in his epistle tells us that faith without action is dead – and that is what we see played out here, both in the Old Testament and in the Gospel.

When we find ourselves in fear, when we find our faith dwindling and our belief turning to doubt, that is our fallen ego trying to do it’s job – to protect us.  The warping of the ego is that it now attempts to protect us from everything that isn’t us.  Even from God Himself.

So we have to fight that ego within us – that desire for protection.  We have to fight ourselves, because that is where our enemy is.  The Hebrews were trying to protect themselves, even with God in their midst doing mighty acts.  Peter’s ego was trying to protect Peter, even though Christ was there.

Our only enemy is ourselves, particularly that part of us that is our ego.

And so that is what we offer to God.  When the deacon elevates the bread and wine and we offer that bread and wine to God, we need to understand at the core of our existence that what we are offering is ourselves, for God to do with as He pleases.  He gives life – He takes life away.

But the promise we have, and every experience of God we have experienced as humanity, is that our God loves us, so what God pleases to do with us, if we are steadfast and trust in Him, is to have us in His presence, forever.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God. Glory to Jesus Christ!