When I was a kid, I was always afraid when I was home alone. I wasn’t home alone very often because my mom stayed home with us during most of our growing up years, but occasionally she would run an errand, or I would come home from school to an empty house. Whenever that happened, I would walk through the entire house turning lights on. I would turn on the TV, and I would put a movie on, and I would turn the volume up loud enough that the house no longer felt empty. Quite often, I chose the movie Sister Act, and it is still one of my favorites to this day because the movie and its music make me feel safe.

One evening, when I was maybe 12 years old, my parents went out for the evening and I was home alone. My brother must have been at a friend’s house. A massive thunderstorm started rumbling outside, and flashes of lightning lit up the sky. I tried my usual trick of turning all the lights on in the house. I was still scared. I decided to put on a movie and turn up the volume, but I still felt afraid. With every strike of lightning, I felt more and more scared. I felt trapped in the house, and I started to convince myself that being in the house was dangerous. Once I had myself completely wound up with anxiety, guess what I did? I went and sat outside on the front step so I could watch for my parents to get home.

When they pulled into the driveway, my dad got out of the car and asked why on earth I was sitting outside on the front step in the middle of a thunderstorm. I told him I had been afraid inside the house. “Do you really think it’s safer outside in the dark with all this lightning?” he asked.

Immediately, I felt foolish. In my panic to get outside of what I was certain was a dangerous situation, I had walked myself right into one that was more dangerous. In my worry about what might possibly happen while my parents were out, I put myself in harm’s way. Isn’t it funny the way our minds work sometimes? We convince ourselves that we are justified in doing what we’re doing because we know what’s best, all while choosing what’s destructive, dangerous, counter productive, or at least a little ridiculous.

This morning, we are looking at two familiar passages from Scripture – the conflict between Joseph and his brothers that leads them to sell him into slavery in Egypt, and Peter walking on the water to Jesus and then sinking when he realizes the sea is choppy. In both of these stories, one of the characters finds themselves going from the frying pan into the fire. In both of these stories, impulsiveness and overconfidence get people into a lot of trouble. And in both of these stories, the safe place is not the place you might expect. Let’s take a closer look.

In these often-read passages of Scripture, both Joseph and Peter find themselves going from the frying pan into the fire. Joseph is at odds with his brothers, and it is not the first time. Our passage from Genesis 37 says that Joseph has brought his father Jacob bad reports about his brother’s work with the flocks before. They are angry with him and resent him for this. He is the most loved child–I think because he was the first child born to the wife Jacob loved the most. As though it wasn’t bad enough that it was obvious Jacob favored his son Joseph, Jacob also gave his son an ornamented and highly impractical cloak. Imagine trying to do the dishes or mow the lawn in a cloak with long, decorative sleeves. This is not the gift you would give to a son who was expected to carry his share of the workload at home. On top of all of this, Joseph has had dreams that his brothers will bow down to him. And then, he tells these dreams to his brothers, who–understandably–are not impressed. 

When his brothers see him in the distance coming to check on the work they are doing, all those ill feelings come to the surface again. They first plot to kill him…and then dial it back and plan to sell him as a slave instead. But first, they push him into a pit that has no water in it, and while he’s down there at their mercy, they callously sit down and eat their lunch. Talk about no remorse at all. As Joseph walked out to his brothers on an errand his father had him do more than once, he had no idea he was going from a touchy relationship with his brothers into a plot to remove him from the family once and for all.

Peter, as he sat in the boat with the other disciples, had no idea that the wind and the waves were just the beginning of the danger he was in. Jesus had sent the disciples on ahead of him in the boat, while he went up on the mountain to pray. While they were on the sea, the wind picked up and the boat was “battered” by the waves, as it says in verse 24. It was only a few chapters earlier that the disciples had panicked during a storm at sea and Jesus calmed the storm. This time, we aren’t told that the disciples are afraid of the storm, but when they see Jesus walking on the water, they are overwhelmed with fear and think he must be a ghost. 

Peter, impulsive as ever, says to Jesus, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus invites Peter to step out of the boat, Peter does, and then Peter starts to sink like a rock when he remembers the stormy waters he is walking on. From the rocky journey in the boat to sinking like a weight in the sea. 

Both Joseph and Peter go from the frying pan into the fire, and both Joseph and Peter are impacted by overconfidence and impulsiveness. Joseph was so secure in his place as his father’s favorite, that he relished reminding his brothers of this fact. He went out to check on them one more time, and I imagine he walked pretty tall as the favored son in his elaborate coat. His brothers acted impulsively, changing their plan more than once. First, they were going to kill him. Then, just throw him into the pit. Then, maybe kill him but stage it to look like an animal attacked him. And then, when opportunity arose, they decided to get rid of him while also making a profit for themselves. They sold him into slavery, while only thinking about how it would benefit themselves. They didn’t imagine their father’s devastation. They had no idea what Joseph would end up going through, nor did they particularly care. God was with Joseph and God made a terrible situation into something positive for Joseph and his family, but there wasn’t a whole lot of humility or thoughtful action up to this point.

Peter acts impulsively when he sees Jesus, but that’s no surprise for Peter. Impulsive might have been Peter’s middle name, for how often he behaved that way. But, Peter does something in this story that is impulsive and a little shocking. When he sees Jesus he says, “Lord, if it is you…” Mark G. Vitalis Hoffman, Professor of Biblical Studies at United Lutheran Seminary writes this about Peter’s statement: “Jesus has clearly identified himself by telling the disciples to ‘Take heart,’ something he also says in 9:2 and 22, and the people do so. He declares, ‘I am,’ with its divine overtones. He says, ‘Don’t be afraid,’ which he regularly declares in Matthew. (10:26, 28, 31; 17:7; 28:10) So when Peter says, ‘If it is you…’ (ei su ei in the Greek), then he is joining the company of Satan (4:3, 6), the high priest (26:63), and the mockers at the cross (27:40) who all put the same challenge to Jesus. In each case, just like Peter, they want Jesus to do something in order to verify his identity. This is not a good thing…” Remember Jesus in the wilderness with the devil? “If you really are who you say you are, turn these stones into bread.” Peter doesn’t really react with faith by asking to walk on the water. He asks Jesus to prove himself, and Peter is not congratulated for it.

We’ve got two stories where things go from bad to worse, where overconfidence and impulsiveness take center stage rather than humility and self-control, and where the safe place is not where you’d expect. For Joseph, the safe place was not with his brothers; it was in the pit. In the pit, God watched over him. In the pit, Joseph was spared from the murderousness of his brothers. And in the pit, God began to work together a plan that would ultimately save Joseph’s whole family. For Peter, he was safe in the boat. He was safe as Jesus walked towards him. He was safe when Jesus said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” But, he wanted to be outside the boat. He wanted confirmation from Jesus that he was safe, and he wanted to walk toward him. I also think he wanted to experience that walking-on-water feeling without really realizing what he was after. 

OK, I have a question… Where are you sitting right now? Church, right? What do we call this space? The sanctuary. And it is! It is a sanctuary from whatever it is we are facing outside of these walls. Maybe you are having a stressful situation at work, or financial struggles, or problems in your family. Maybe you are feeling anxious about school starting back up, or wondering what steps you will need to take as you move into the future. Maybe you’re at a crossroads where you have to make a decision about something, and you are so overwhelmed by it you can’t stop thinking about it. When we gather in this place, in this sanctuary, we gather to meet the risen Christ. We gather to meet God and to be transformed. We gather to be supported by each other and to experience the movement of the Holy Spirit. And when we do that, the troubles melt away–even if only for the hour that we are here.

This is a safe place, a place where we can step back from our overconfidence or our under confidence, our worries and our cares, our uncertainties and our struggles, and experience the goodness of God. Life will be waiting for us when we leave this place, but in this space we have the opportunity to release all of those things and allow God to heal and transform us. Our lives will be waiting for us when we walk out the sanctuary door, but we will be entering our life as changed people. We will re-emerge with new perspective, new energy, new hope and with the assurance that God goes with us no matter what we face.

A few years ago, I was visiting an extended family member at their house. They had invited lots of people over, and the house was bustling with the activity of people of all ages. All of a sudden, a storm picked up seemingly out of nowhere. The wind picked up the dirt in the empty lot near their house and threw the dirt against the window. A few kids rushed towards me, and I stood there like a momma hen assuring the kids that they would be OK. In that moment, I remembered how scared I had been to be inside my house alone during a storm. Now that I had grown, I had become a safe place for others who were afraid. If only I had found the courage to reach out to Jesus when I had been afraid. But after years of growth and trust, I had learned to become a place of security for others.

May we enter this new school year, this new week, this new moment, not with overconfidence, but with assurance. Not with impulsiveness, but with faith. Not with carelessness, but with compassion and grace. May God give us sanctuary in this place, and in all our moments and we walk with Him. Amen.