# In the Storm_ Look to Christ - Bishop Barron's Daily Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 10 Jul 2026, 15 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72733572/in_the_storm_look_to_christ_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you friends. Our gospel for today is
[0:02] Speaker 1: from the wonderful fourteenth chapter of Matthew, and it's his
[0:05] Speaker 1: account of the calming of the storm and the walking
[0:08] Speaker 1: on the water. This is an event that reached very
[0:12] Speaker 1: deeply into the hearts and minds of the first Christians.
[0:14] Speaker 1: We can find an account of this in all four gospels.
[0:17] Speaker 1: And you know, obviously this sort of thing would have
[0:21] Speaker 1: just turned them upside down, and they began to reflect
[0:26] Speaker 1: on this extraordinary event in very deep ways. By the
[0:29] Speaker 1: time the gospels are written down, what you have is
[0:32] Speaker 1: it's a combination now, and there are two schools. You know,
[0:35] Speaker 1: one wants to go one way, one the other, and
[0:37] Speaker 1: they're both true. What I mean is this is an
[0:40] Speaker 1: historical account. It's an account of something that happened. So
[0:44] Speaker 1: don't think that this is just a made up story
[0:46] Speaker 1: with a moral meaning. No, no, this happened. But once
[0:51] Speaker 1: it happened, the Christian community began to reflect very deeply
[0:55] Speaker 1: on the event and pull out the different levels of
[0:58] Speaker 1: meaning associated with it, so that when it's finally written down,
[1:02] Speaker 1: let's say, Matthew's Gospel is around that you're eighty or so,
[1:06] Speaker 1: what it's finally written down. What you have is not
[1:09] Speaker 1: a newspaper account. You know, if you're a good journalist,
[1:13] Speaker 1: just give me you know who, what, when, and all that.
[1:15] Speaker 1: Just tell me exactly what happened. Or it's simply a
[1:17] Speaker 1: photograph of an event or a film. That's one thing.
[1:21] Speaker 1: But what you have in the Gospels IS's not so
[1:23] Speaker 1: much that I would call it an iconic representation. It's
[1:28] Speaker 1: a real event, but it's now being presented to us
[1:31] Speaker 1: in an iconic way so that we can see all
[1:35] Speaker 1: of its theological and spiritual implications. So that's my principle. Now,
[1:40] Speaker 1: where did I learn this from some new fangled scripture scholar. No, no,
[1:44] Speaker 1: I learned this from Origin and Critisdom and Jerome and Augustine,
[1:48] Speaker 1: the great church fathers. That's how they read these texts.
[1:52] Speaker 2: Okay, So let's look at this text iconically, and what
[1:56] Speaker 2: do we see. After you'd fed the people, Gee has
[2:00] Speaker 2: made the disciples get into a boat and precede him
[2:02] Speaker 2: to the other.
[2:03] Speaker 1: Side while he dismissed the crowds. Now, the disciples in
[2:07] Speaker 1: a boat. That's code. The disciples in a boat is
[2:12] Speaker 1: a symbol always of the Church. That's why we speak
[2:15] Speaker 1: of the bark of Peter. Right, the ship, the boat
[2:19] Speaker 1: of Peter. The apostles, the immediate followers of Jesus in
[2:23] Speaker 1: the boat symbolize the Church. And once you see that,
[2:27] Speaker 1: the gospels begin to open up in fresh ways and listen.
[2:31] Speaker 1: After doing so, he went up on the mountain by
[2:33] Speaker 1: himself to pray. Okay, what are the early Christians into it? Now?
[2:38] Speaker 1: About the Lord? The risen Lord has sent the Church
[2:42] Speaker 1: out into the world. So think now of the ship,
[2:46] Speaker 1: the bark of Peter, and it's setting out onto the
[2:49] Speaker 1: waters of space and time. The Church is now sailing
[2:53] Speaker 1: out into the world. Where's Jesus. Well, he's not, in
[2:58] Speaker 1: the physical sense, in the boat with them. Where's the
[3:03] Speaker 1: physical Jesus now, well, he's not here physically among us.
[3:07] Speaker 1: Where is he? He's on the mountain praying a symbol here,
[3:12] Speaker 1: it seems to me, seems to the church fathers too,
[3:15] Speaker 1: of the ascended and risen Christ now in the heavenly place,
[3:22] Speaker 1: interceding for the Church with the Father. What's Jesus doing
[3:26] Speaker 1: all day? He's guiding his church. He's interceding for his
[3:33] Speaker 1: church with the Father. So think of this now as
[3:36] Speaker 1: an image for all of us. It's two thousand years later.
[3:39] Speaker 1: But we're all in the bark of Peter. We're in
[3:42] Speaker 1: the ship of the Church. We're making our way through
[3:46] Speaker 1: the waters of space and time, and Jesus ascended and
[3:50] Speaker 1: Risen is interceding for us. Okay, when it was evening,
[3:57] Speaker 1: he was there alone, he Jesus, while the boat already
[4:01] Speaker 1: a few miles off shore. Listen now was being tossed
[4:05] Speaker 1: about by the waves, for the wind was against it. Again,
[4:09] Speaker 1: did this really happen? Yes, they're describing a real event,
[4:13] Speaker 1: the storm at sea, but now we're reading it with
[4:15] Speaker 1: these theological and spiritual lenses in place. The Barkitpeter making
[4:19] Speaker 1: its way through space and time sometimes is on smooth water,
[4:26] Speaker 1: smooth seas. But very often, and even the most casual
[4:31] Speaker 1: student of church history knows it, very often, the Church
[4:35] Speaker 1: goes through storms. The wind is against it. And we've heard,
[4:41] Speaker 1: just in recent weeks reading the Parables of Jesus. There's
[4:44] Speaker 1: an enemy at work. Yes, there is. We have enemies,
[4:47] Speaker 1: both visible and invisible, and they stand athwart the purpose
[4:51] Speaker 1: of the Church. There's our own corruption, our own stupidity.
[4:56] Speaker 1: There are the enemies that we can see who oppose
[4:58] Speaker 1: themselves to us et c all of these forces kick
[5:03] Speaker 1: up the waves and make the sailing of the ship dangerous,
[5:09] Speaker 1: indeed perilous. Indeed. Again, go from the time of the
[5:14] Speaker 1: Apostles all the way up through the Patristic period into
[5:17] Speaker 1: the Middle Ages, into the modern period, into our contemporary world.
[5:21] Speaker 1: What do you find the church being tossed about by waves?
[5:24] Speaker 1: I referenced I think last week or a couple of
[5:26] Speaker 1: weeks ago. You know, we've all just in this country
[5:29] Speaker 1: been going through a very stormy time with the scandals
[5:33] Speaker 1: that have rocked the church. The bark of Peter, yes,
[5:38] Speaker 1: was taking on water. The bark of Peter was up
[5:41] Speaker 1: against very strong waves during the fourth watch of the night.
[5:48] Speaker 1: Now this is code for the darkest time of the night.
[5:52] Speaker 1: It's always darkest before the dawn, right, so the darkest
[5:56] Speaker 1: time of night, it's night and it's stormy. If you
[6:01] Speaker 1: feel the Church is going through a rough time, it's
[6:03] Speaker 1: right at this moment. The disciples saw him walking on
[6:12] Speaker 1: the sea, and they were terrified. I mean, they remember
[6:18] Speaker 1: this so vividly, this fact of Jesus walking on the sea.
[6:23] Speaker 1: But let's read it theologically and spiritually. The Church is
[6:28] Speaker 1: being buffeted by waves. They're afraid of course they are.
[6:33] Speaker 1: At the darkest time. Jesus comes walking on the stormy waters.
[6:40] Speaker 1: See Notice, not only managing to swim in them. Let's
[6:44] Speaker 1: say that you got the strongest swimmer around, the strongest
[6:47] Speaker 1: you know human figure is able maybe to swim in
[6:49] Speaker 1: stormy seas. He's not just doing that, he's walking on
[6:55] Speaker 1: the water. Go right back, everybody to the opening verse
[6:58] Speaker 1: of the entire Bible, when there's the Tohuvabohu. We hear
[7:03] Speaker 1: the stormy, the watery chaos, and the spirit of the
[7:07] Speaker 1: Lord hovers on the surface of the water. This is
[7:12] Speaker 1: the creative power of God. Listen, bringing order out of chaos.
[7:19] Speaker 1: When the israel lights come up against the Red Sea,
[7:23] Speaker 1: through the power of the Lord, that sea is split
[7:25] Speaker 1: and they're able to walk through it. So here the
[7:32] Speaker 1: divine Christ is able to walk even on the stormiest waters.
[7:39] Speaker 1: There are praying for his church. Yes, indeed, all the time,
[7:46] Speaker 1: also intervening when the church is most threatened. With his
[7:54] Speaker 1: divine power to master even the worst crises, We're meant
[7:59] Speaker 1: to take an enormous comfort inness. Notice, so what precedes
[8:05] Speaker 1: the comfort if you want? They saw him walking on
[8:08] Speaker 1: the sea, and they were terrified. See This is the
[8:11] Speaker 1: proper response to the power of God. As I say,
[8:14] Speaker 1: if you saw a powerful, you know, human being a
[8:18] Speaker 1: swimming in the stormy waters, you say, Wow, that guy
[8:20] Speaker 1: is impressive, or wow, maybe he can make his make
[8:23] Speaker 1: he can survive this. But you need somebody walking on
[8:27] Speaker 1: the stormy waters. You know, you're not dealing with an
[8:31] Speaker 1: ordinary human agent. You're dealing with the power of God.
[8:36] Speaker 1: What's the proper response to the power of God. It's terror.
[8:40] Speaker 1: It's not not a terror that's debilitating, but it's a
[8:43] Speaker 1: it's a keen awareness of the transcendent power that we're
[8:48] Speaker 1: dealing with. It's wonderful. It's the fear of the Lord.
[8:51] Speaker 1: If you want that gift of the Holy Spirit. At
[8:55] Speaker 1: once Jesus spoke to them, take courage. It is I
[8:59] Speaker 1: do not be afraid. Again. This is biblical code, isn't it.
[9:02] Speaker 1: This is Matthew's Gospel, but you find it especially in
[9:04] Speaker 1: John the Greek. There is Ago ame, which is I am,
[9:09] Speaker 1: I am see it is I. But what he's saying
[9:13] Speaker 1: is an echo of Exodus three fourteen, when Moses asked God,
[9:18] Speaker 1: what's your name? And in the Greek of the Old Testament,
[9:21] Speaker 1: he says Ago ami own, I am? Who am? I am?
[9:29] Speaker 1: The one who is? My name is? I am? So
[9:32] Speaker 1: the power here everybody is. Jesus announces to them his
[9:38] Speaker 1: own divinity. And it's only in that divinity that we
[9:44] Speaker 1: are going to find salvation in the stormy times of life.
[9:48] Speaker 1: If we start turning toward human figures, I don't care
[9:52] Speaker 1: who they are. They're philosophers, they're theologians, their pop stars,
[9:56] Speaker 1: their political figures. Forget it. For get it. That's not
[10:01] Speaker 1: going to save us. The only power capable of saving
[10:05] Speaker 1: and sustaining the church is a go a me, I
[10:09] Speaker 1: am who am? It's the divinity of Jesus, and in
[10:14] Speaker 1: it lovely, He says to them, take courage. Don't be afraid.
[10:20] Speaker 1: Where's courage come from? I mean, real courage, not from
[10:24] Speaker 1: worldly figures. It just doesn't I start relying on these
[10:28] Speaker 1: worldly figures, I will necessarily be disappointed. Where does the
[10:35] Speaker 1: courage to be come from? It comes when we borrow
[10:40] Speaker 1: from the divine Christ something of his divinity. When we participate, yes,
[10:47] Speaker 1: even in the stormy times, in his divinity, we find
[10:52] Speaker 1: courage and we find peace now wonderfully. Of course, Peter,
[10:58] Speaker 1: as he often does, speaks for all the other apostles,
[11:03] Speaker 1: the successor Peter is still the leader of the church.
[11:07] Speaker 1: So Peter speaks to the Lord Lord. If it's you,
[11:10] Speaker 1: command me to come to you on the water, Jesus says,
[11:15] Speaker 1: come now, Remember we're still in the storm here. Think
[11:19] Speaker 1: of the church at its darkest, stormiest times. Jesus has come.
[11:27] Speaker 1: And then Peter got out of the boat and began
[11:31] Speaker 1: to walk on the water towards Jesus. This is exactly
[11:34] Speaker 1: not what I was talking about. That we borrow some
[11:39] Speaker 1: of the power and the courage of the Divine Christ,
[11:44] Speaker 1: and then we are able, yes, even to walk on
[11:48] Speaker 1: the stormiest waters. How do we get through these times?
[11:51] Speaker 1: Don't rely on ourselves. You know, everything in our culture
[11:55] Speaker 1: says me, me, me, my prerogatives, my choice, I'm so great,
[11:59] Speaker 1: I'm perfect in every way. Forget it. That's a spiritual
[12:03] Speaker 1: dead end. Or oh I better rely on these political people.
[12:07] Speaker 1: They're going to save the day. Oh boy, these you know,
[12:09] Speaker 1: just these revolutionaries. Forget it. None of that will allow
[12:14] Speaker 1: you to walk on the water. It's only the power
[12:18] Speaker 1: of Christ, the Divine Christ. And then this beautiful detail.
[12:23] Speaker 1: So Peter's walking on the water towards Jesus looking at
[12:25] Speaker 1: the Lord. But when he saw how strong the wind was,
[12:28] Speaker 1: he became frightened and beginning to sink. He cried out, Lord,
[12:32] Speaker 1: save me. It's a simple point but very important spiritually.
[12:37] Speaker 1: When you're in the midst of the storm. We're in
[12:40] Speaker 1: one right now in the church. God knows you're in
[12:43] Speaker 1: the midst of a storm. Look not to the waves,
[12:46] Speaker 1: but to Christ. It's always a temptation, is is to
[12:50] Speaker 1: look first at what's threatening us. I know it's an instinct,
[12:55] Speaker 1: it's a deep animal instinct in us. Look at what's
[12:57] Speaker 1: frightening us. I better be careful of that. No, no,
[13:01] Speaker 1: keep your eyes fixed on Christ and then you can
[13:05] Speaker 1: continue to walk. The sinking comes when we turn from
[13:09] Speaker 1: His divine power to what's threatening us. And then how
[13:12] Speaker 1: beautifully it ends. Jesus stretched out his hand, caught Peter
[13:16] Speaker 1: and said to him, Oh, you have little faith. Why
[13:19] Speaker 1: did you doubt? And they got into the boat, and
[13:22] Speaker 1: the winds died down. There's Christ too, up and down
[13:27] Speaker 1: the centuries, as the bark of Peter crosses the waters
[13:30] Speaker 1: of this space and time saves his church. And look
[13:33] Speaker 1: how it ends those who are in the boat. Then
[13:36] Speaker 1: did him Ahmed, saying truly you are the Son of God.
[13:41] Speaker 1: They got it. See it's one of the moments when
[13:44] Speaker 1: they realize we are not dealing here with another Jeremiah,
[13:48] Speaker 1: or another Isaiah, or another you know, Abraham or Jacob. No, No,
[13:53] Speaker 1: nothing as trivial as that. What we're dealing with here
[13:57] Speaker 1: is the God of Israel. We're dealing here with the
[14:01] Speaker 1: Lord God. And so the proper response is not just
[14:04] Speaker 1: to admire him or thank him, but to worship him.
[14:09] Speaker 1: Mind you, my fellow of Christians, when we stop doing that,
[14:13] Speaker 1: we've lost our way as a church. When Jesus becomes
[14:16] Speaker 1: just one more little interesting prophetic figure among many, forget it.
[14:20] Speaker 1: We are going to go under the waves. But see,
[14:23] Speaker 1: when we trust in His divinity and his power, we
[14:26] Speaker 1: do him homage. Even we can walk on the water.
[14:31] Speaker 1: And God bless you.

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