Tightrope

 

 “Some people long for a life that is simple and planned

Tied with a ribbon

Some people won’t sail the sea ‘cause they’re safer on land

To follow what’s written

But I’d follow you to the great unknown

Off to a world we call our own”

 

These are the opening lyrics of Charity Barnum’s solo, ‘Tightrope’, in The Greatest Showman.  She has signed up for a life of adventure with her entrepreneur husband, P T Barnum.  Charity doesn’t know where this life will take her, but she is open to the mystery, the journey, to see what might happen and who she might become.  And perhaps the flipside of that is, she doesn’t want to miss out  on this voyage of discovery.

  It’s not unlike the invitation of Jesus to his disciples.  He said, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people…” (Matthew 4:19).  A couple of years later, one of those men – Peter – said to Jesus, “Look, we have left everything and followed you…” (Matthew 19:27).  It’s true, discipleship – following Jesus – had cost Peter and the others virtually everything.  But as Dallas Willard put it, the cost of “non-discipleship” is far greater:

 

“Non-discipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil.  In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring” (Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines)

 

  There are other moments from the Jesus story involving the disciples, and especially Peter, that speak to this.  The first is a really powerful story, where the disciples had got into the boat to cross Lake Galilee one evening, while Jesus dismissed crowds who had come out to meet him and to hear him.  After sending everyone away, Jesus went to pray on a hill, while the wind got up against the disciples’ boat.  Jesus then started to walk – on the water – toward the boat, in the middle of the lake.  The disciples assumed Jesus was a ghost, but he reassured them that it was actually him.  As if to test this, Peter says, “Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water” (Matthew 14:28).  Jesus invites him, “Come”.  So Peter climbs out of the boat and starts walking on the water toward Jesus.  But then Peter notices or remembers the wind and waves around him, and he starts to sink.  He shouts, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus reaches out his hand and catches Peter.

  As Charity sings in her chorus, “Hand in my hand and you promised to never let go, We’re walking a tightrope…”  In another song, the Hebrew Psalm 37, the writer says, “though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the LORD holds us by the hand” (v.24).  So the people, on whose behalf the writer was speaking, expected to stumble.  They knew there’d be bumps in the road, but they also trusted that God was not going to let failure or disaster define them and have the final say, because God was there to catch them.

  A similar image was employed in Isaiah 42:6, in a message to the Hebrews in exile in Babylon – the result of their history of slips.  They were being told about God’s servant (which was them, in the first instance) who had a calling to bring justice and healing and liberation to those around.  So we read there: “I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you…”

  Called – like Peter was called by Jesus.  Taken by the hand and kept…

  Peter’s life was characterized by the call of Jesus.  To follow, on the shore of Galilee.  And now, to walk on water like his master.

  The story on the lake didn’t end there.  Jesus has a word with Peter when he catches him.  He (famously) says, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31).

  This seems like a harsh rebuke, but more literally Jesus might have said, “Mini-faith, why did you doubt?”  It’s not necessarily a put-down.  It could be a pet name.  Because Jesus called Peter and the rest to be his disciples, meaning he expected them to become like him.  But they weren’t there yet – even if Peter had just taken a big step.

  Another time Jesus used this term (a Greek term he seems to have invented) was when he came down a mountain after being ‘transfigured’ (shining with the glory of God) in front of three of his disciples (including Peter, of course).  They joined the rest of the disciples among a commotion, as a father had brought his epileptic son to be healed.  The others had tired and failed, so Jesus stepped in and healed the boy instantly.  Puzzled, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why could we not cast it [the epilepsy] out?”  And Jesus answered, “Because of your little faith…” (Matthew 17:20).  Again, I don’t think Jesus is criticizing them.  I think he’s saying, ‘you’re on the right track, but you’re not there yet.  You couldn’t do this today, but one day you will’.  After all, he then tells them that if they have faith “as the mustard seed” (I don’t think he’s necessarily talking about size here, but character of faith – referencing his parable in Matthew 13:31-32), they “will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for [them]” (Matthew 17:20).  A bit of grammar here: when Jesus says, “you will say to this mountain…”, the Greek verb is in the indicative.  It’s not the imperative (like an order).  It’s more like a statement.  This is going to happen.  They will do the things Jesus does.  Maybe not yet, but one day.

  That is what being a disciple of Jesus means.  Becoming like Jesus.  Living like him.  It’s actually the same as being a Christian.  That name really means little Christ, or one who is like Christ – where Christ became an alternative name for Jesus.  A Christian is a mini-faith.  A little Jesus, growing into someone like him.  Imagine passing that up.  It’s costly to follow Jesus and to commit to that life of growth, and all that comes with it.  “But it’s all an adventure that comes with a breathtaking view, Walking a tightrope…”