Fr Matthew Reese

“If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”
—Romans 10:9-13)

Dear Friends in Christ,

All of our lessons today are concerned with the relationship between doubt and faith. In today’s epistle, Saint Paul is reminding the Christian community in Rome that the New Covenant is not a hereditary one. Of course, through the First Covenant, God has given unique promises to his Chosen People. “They are Israelites,” we read last week, “and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever.” (Romans 9:1-5). And yet, God’s promise extends also to the Gentiles, for through Christ, “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.”

Paul reminds us that it is our faith––and the confession of that faith––which justifies us. “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

In our Gospel lesson, we get a particularly vivid description of this confession of faith. Peter, battered by a storm in a little boat sees Jesus walking on water towards him. Peter asks Jesus to command him out onto the water, which Our Lord does. At first, Peter is assured and walks on the waves, but then he hesitates and begins to sink.

“Lord, save me!,” he says. And “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’ When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God’.”

Peter wishes to believe. He takes a literal leap of faith, but he falters, he begins to sink. Just then, he is saved by Jesus’ sudden intervention, such that he breaks down, worships, and confesses him to be the Son of God. How many of us have known such an encounter?

Doubt is a part of faith. We will all experience it. We will all wrestle with it. We will all, at times, feel that we are sinking. But in our greatest moments of need, all we must do is call upon the name of the Lord, and He will give us His hand.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Matthew