Doing the Impossible
One
Peter walking on the water
A familiar story from the scriptures: a small boat threatened with wreckage by the unrelenting storm. But this time a very strange variation, the men in the boat look across the water and see a man, but how can it be a man? He’s walking to them through the storm, and he’s walking on the water!
Everyone in the boat is understandably astonished. Who wouldn’t be? But one of them has a completely unexpected reaction. He squints through the pounding rain at this miracle, this wild, fantastical sight, and he thinks, “I want to do that.”
And He calls to the Lord, “If that’s really you, tell me to come out to you. Let me try.”
And Jesus says, “Come,” and Peter steps out, and he walks on the water.
At least, he does – until he starts to sink.
Two
Peter and his ambitious goals
Peter is a guy with big ideas. He begins, or at least, attempts an awful lot of ambitious projects.
He starts to walk on water. He offers to build a series of tents on top of Mount Tabor for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. He promises to die with Jesus rather than betray him. He cuts off the ear of one of Jesus’ captors in the Garden of Gethsemane. He begins the evangelization of the Gentiles by baptizing Cornelius and his family. But he always seems to run into some obstacle or other.
He sinks on the way to Jesus. He never builds those three tents. He cuts off one ear, then flees in terror. He follows Jesus for a while on the night of his passion, then pretends not to know Him.
All the same, in the end, Peter actually does finish his impossible projects. Jesus pulls him out of the water, and they walk back to the boat together! He does reside permanently with Jesus and Moses and Elijah in heavenly glory. And he did stay true to Jesus, even to the point of martyrdom.
He did what he resolved to do, despite the failures along the way
Three
Wanting to be like Jesus, wanting to do what He does
Peter looked out from the boat and he saw Jesus doing something impossible.
He could have responded with doubt, “I don’t believe it. Nobody could do that.” Plenty of people respond to the Christian life that way, with pure skepticism.
Or he could have responded with detached approval, “Yes, He’s a very impressive figure. But that’s not me. Walking on water isn’t really my thing. But if it works for Him, good for Him.” Plenty of people respond to the Christian life that way too, with a kind of patronizing acceptance, a response they use to try to shake the embarrassing fact that they don’t want to live up to Jesus’ standards.
But Peter saw Christ walking on the water and had both the humility and courage to say, “I want to be like Him.”
This has been the response of all the saints. And that’s why not only Jesus’ life, but the life of each of His most devoted followers has filled the world with wonder. The saints, like Peter, walk on the water to Jesus and with Jesus. The life of every saint is a miraculous witness to all mankind that God continues to act in astonishing ways through His chosen ones.
Four
The Goals Christ sets for us
Of course, walking on water is a natural impossibility. It’s just not within the scope of ordinary human capabilities. But Jesus told Peter to do it. Jesus said, “Come.” And He has commanded us to do things that also aren’t within the scope of ordinary human capabilities.
To be perfect, as the Heavenly Father is perfect, to love God with all our heart and soul and mind, to love one another as He has loved us, to forgive seventy times seven times, to do to others what you want them to do to you, to take up your responsibility to build the kingdom through family and friendship.
These commands are simply too much for human nature. But human nature joined to Christ is capable of it. Christ fulfilled these demands, and He commanded we fulfill them.
So it must be that, in obedience to Him and in union with Him, we can do this stuff. We can be perfect. We can be saints.
Five
The Process of Becoming a Saint
Peter provides the model for doing the impossible as we walk toward Jesus and with Jesus.
First, we make the resolution. “I want to be like Jesus. I want to live like Jesus. I want to be a saint. Lord, make me a saint.” Then, we begin the process. We step onto the water, proclaim our fidelity to Jesus, and express the will to be with Him in glory forever. Then, we suffer setbacks. We sink, we flee, we betray, we regress down the mountain. We screw up. We sin. Finally, we grab onto Jesus’ hand, He pulls us up, and we start walking on the water again. We tell Jesus we love Him again. We make another resolution, and we keep going.
Nobody becomes a saint overnight, no saint avoids sin and failure. Every saint sometimes sinks into the water of fear and doubt and temptation. But nobody becomes a saint without trying either. Nobody becomes a saint without resolving to be a saint, and nobody becomes a saint by giving up on holiness.
So resolve, or re-resolve, right now, to be like Christ, to follow Christ’s instruction. Resolve to do the impossible, and to eventually become a saint.
And since it is Mary’s job to help us receive Jesus, let us make a commitment right now to belong to her and sit at her school every day in the Rosary.
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