We Need a Savior

There’s an apocryphal story that claims that when Peter started sinking into the water, Jesus turned to John and muttered, “Should I tell him where the stepping stones are?”

It does seem obvious from the story that Peter is in big trouble. He took his eyes off Jesus, and started sinking fast. He couldn’t save himself. He needed a Savior. And a Savior is just what God provided him, in the person of Jesus Christ.

This is probably the biggest difference between a Christian and much of the rest of the world. We know we need a Savior. We know that we cannot always pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.

Many people think they can make it on their own. They carefully structure their lives so they feel safe and in control. But then some catastrophe strikes, and they realize that they were never really in control at all. They are drowning, and they need a Savior, but don’t know where to find one.

Although, some of us Christians do the same sort of thing, don’t we? We act as if they are in control, until they get in a jam and start sinking beneath the waves, and then they remember to turn their eyes back on Jesus. “We live in sheer dread of giving up control and abandoning ourselves to God,” writes Larry Crabb in Shattered Dreams. “Only when we discover a desire for him that is stronger than our desire for relief from pain will we pay the price necessary to find him.”

That’s a powerful statement, isn’t it? It’s one that I think we need to hear, however. I don’t think we can ignore the fact any longer that this world is in desperate need of a Savior. I think it is time that we humans gave up control. We haven’t exactly done a very good job on our own. I think it’s time that we be willing to pay the price; to be humbled, to confess our sin, to amend our lives, so that we might find our savior.

Yesterday, August 6, was the Feast of the Transfiguration. To remind you of that story, here’s the Gospel lesson appointed for yesterday;

About eight days after Jesus had foretold his death and resurrection, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"--not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. - Luke 9:28-38

Here is the lead story from the BBC on August 6, 1945:

The first atomic bomb has been dropped by a United States aircraft on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

President Harry S. Truman, announcing the news from the cruiser, Augusta, in the mid-Atlantic, said the device contained 20,000 tons of TNT and was more than 2,000 times more powerful than the largest bomb used to date.

Yesterday we commemorate Jesus Christ being revealed in glory as the Incarnation of God. Yesterday we also remembered the unleashing of the most destructive force humanity has ever created.

We desperately need a Savior. We need to be saved from ourselves.

We are the ones who, like Peter, know where to turn when we are drowning. But there are many in this world who believe they have nowhere to turn when natural or manmade disaster strikes.

This is our mission; to point beyond ourselves to the Savior, not only with our words, but with our actions.

Sometimes it seems to me that the Church often functions as a group of people standing on the beach shouting to another group who are out in the deep water, “Hey, you’re drowning!” They know that! What they need is for us to go out to them, and offer them our hand, and lead them back to the shore. They need a Savior.

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's hunger meet. --Frederick Buechner

We are the hands of Christ in the world today. We are the ones who are called to witness to God’s saving power through our actions; by being Christ for the world.

In closing, allow me to offer the collect for the feast of the Transfiguration:

O God, who on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

August 7, 2005