Rough Seas

Matthew 14:22-33

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 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.”

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Walk on the ocean
Step on the stones
Flesh becomes water
Wood becomes bone

"Walk on the Ocean" by Toad the Wet Sprocket from "Fear" (1991)

Jesus made the disciples, the twelve apostles along with other believers, go to the other side of the sea, shipping them off in a boat while he saw off the rest of the crowds. For the first time in Matthew’s gospel Jesus sent the disciples off on their own.

For the disciples, it must have been like kids being sent off to camp for the first time. For Jesus, it must have been like being the parent of a kid being sent off to camp for the first time. No wonder Jesus went off to pray.

So later in the evening, early in the morning really, the boat was being buffeted by the waves. Headway was difficult and the sea was dangerous. Jesus didn't promise them an easy journey, he just told them to get going.

The sea holds a special meaning for these Jewish disciples. To them, the sea was a place of danger. Not only did they know the dangers of the sea fishermen knew first hand; they also knew from the creation story that the waters were the place of chaos. The waters were a place of danger and death. Their worst known and unknown fears were before their very eyes in the pre-dawn darkness.

Without Jesus their lives were in chaos, and they feared dying without him.

In their rain soaked wind battered vessel, suddenly, they see their Lord, Jesus Christ, walking toward them on the water.

“Is it a ghost?” “Nope” Jesus responds, “it’s just little ole me.” That’s the way it reads in English, but the people heard him say “I AM,” not “It’s me.” They heard him invoke the holiest of holy names for himself. That might have been even scarier than thinking they saw a ghost.

Jesus tells the disciples not to be afraid. Jesus tells them He is who he is, as the Lord God told Moses I AM WHO I AM. So Peter, the rock (and with a nickname like that shouldn't we have seen what’s coming next), he says, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus says, “Come” and Peter does.

It’s all good for a couple of steps; but when pummeled by the wind and the rain and the waves; the chaos of water and life overwhelm Peter and he begins sink. He cries again, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reaches out to Peter saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

The traditional reading of these last words of Jesus on the water is taken to tell the world that with a little more faith, Peter would have made it to Jesus. Imagine my surprise to find this is not what the commentaries say. The commentaries say this passage is about the church, the church represented by the ship.

Jesus sends the church onto the chaotic sea of creation. As then, we are called to do the work the Lord has sent us to do. We are to faithfully live our vocation as the people of Christ. This has been the call of the church since the days of Moses, since the days of Jesus, and this is the call we are still called to fulfill today.

But as usual, Peter has his own ideas. He sees the Lord on the sea and says, “If it is you, then command me to come to you,” and the Lord replies “Come.” People see Peter’s subsequent sinking as a sign that his faith isn't strong enough. With just a little more faith, Peter could have made it to Jesus and they could have walked together in victory to the boat. Well, that’s not it.

First of all, this command to come is not a case of Jesus testing Peter’s faith. This is Peter testing Jesus. “If it is you, then command me to come to you.” Jesus won’t tell a lie. He’s Lord, it is he, and he is who he is. Jesus is answering Peter’s question, “is it you?” the way he asked it be answered, “Command me to come!”

You gotta give it to Jesus; he answers our prayers even when it makes us look foolish.

So Peter leaves the relative safety of the boat and tries to get to Jesus on his own. And when Peter does, the treacherous world drops on his head and he begins to sink. Only to be plucked out of chaos by Jesus, the gracious Lord who takes Peter by the hand and returns him to the boat.

In the allegory, Peter not only leaves the boat, he leaves the church and tries to get to Jesus on his own. When we try to get to God on our own, inevitably chaos overwhelms us and we sink. When we leave the church, the church as the body of Christ, to find God on our own, we ultimately find ourselves sinking in the morass of chaos.

Peter’s little faith is not that he couldn't get to Jesus. His little faith was that he thought leaving the boat, the church, was the way to get to Jesus.

Walk on the ocean
Step on the stones
Flesh becomes water
Wood becomes bone

It's a lovely song, but God became flesh, water became wine, and we are to stay in the boat and wait for Jesus to come. Thanks be to God, this is the promise he gives us, he will come.

The Chaos of Water and Life

Matthew 8:23-27

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

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Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown

"Riders On the Storm" by Jim Morrison on "LA Woman" by The Doors

Sometimes, things are taken out of context, and sometimes we don't know the context because we don't know the history or the culture of the context. In this scripture, there is both missing context and missing history which makes this tougher to interpret.

For example, the middle two verses of Riders on the Storm seems to be the story of a roadside hitchhiker psycho serial killer. But it is wrapped in such a soothing lilting melody that the terror of the lyric is hidden. So when Jim starts singing about a killer on the road whose brain is squirming like a toad, the psychodelic image overrides the dangerous image. Sometimes the scariest things are in our imaginations. Sometimes they are in plain sight and sound.

In Matthew's telling of the calming of the storm, one of the things we don't realize is that first, Matthew wrote for the first Jewish Christians, when we read this Gospel with 21st century eyes, we miss the first century imagry.

For example, the sea holds a special meaning for the Jewish disciples. To them, the sea was a place of danger. Not only did they know the dangers of the sea fishermen knew first hand; they also knew from the creation story that the waters were the place of chaos. The waters were a place of danger and death. Their worst known and unknown fears were before their very eyes in the middle of a small craft advisory.

Through this, Jesus slept, he slept! But when the disciples call upon him, Jesus calms the raging fury. When they ask "what kind of man can calm the storm?" they are also asking "what kind of man can smooth the chaos and defeat the powers of death?"

Indeed, who?

The Doors sing of a people, the house we're born into, the world we're thrown into. It's a dangerous world with the Boogy-Man waiting to get you when you least expect it to happen. Yet in all this danger, there is one who conquers the chaos. There is one who takes our fears and sets them aside. The boat is being swamped, but in Christ we will not perish.

Who Does Stop the Rain

Genesis 8:1-3

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters gradually receded from the earth.

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Long as I remember the rain been coming down,

Clouds of mystery pourin' confusion on the ground,

Good men through the ages tryin' to find the sun,

And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain.

"Who'll Stop the Rain" written by John Fogerty, originally recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

It's easy, way to easy to find someone who is in desperate straights and say that God provides. First of all, it's true. God does provide. God remembers. In this reading from Genesis, God remembered Noah and every living creature in the Ark. And when it was time for the trial to subside, God made a wind blow over the earth, the heavens closed, and the water receded over the face of the earth.

It's like that 60's hippie poem "Footsteps." It's true, when there is only one set of prints in the sand it's not because we're alone it's because the Lord is carrying us across the desert.

Still, it's lousy care. When someone walks up to you and asks "Who'll stop the rain?" we are not supposed to just say "Jesus" and get on with our lives.

Something that gets lost in our translations is that the Hebrew word of wind is the same as the word Spirit. This word is often used in the Old Testament to point to the Spirit of God. God sends the Spirit to do the holiest of work, even if it is just drying the waters from what will again be dry land.

The same Spirit blows on us. We are sent, we are called, we are ordained to do God's work. Sometimes we are called to build the ark, sometimes we are called to dry the tears. Sometimes we are called to try to find the sun, we are also called to try to find the Son.

We can't do God's work ourselves, that is up to God. Still, we have to be attuned to the work God sends us to do. We can't stop the rain, but we can help clean up after the flood.

Thirst

John 19:28-29

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.

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Let me die like a man
No one understands
Let me pray that a poor man`s brave

Smacked that horse in the ass
With my last dying gasp
My brother could hear me say

"Gimme Some Water" by Eddie Money

The story of a dying man who wants nothing more than water; cool, cool water. A man and his brother need money to pay for their dad's medical care. The elder brother gets in a card game to get money; probably a crooked game, maybe he's just got a lousy poker face. He shoots a man on the Mexican border. Years later, little brother catches up and rides with him. They will meet the same fate, a long white rope and a hangman's tree; after all, the sheriff always gets his man.

Trying to get what they need for their father's life, they die together on a tree.

Jesus was looking to save a life too, in exchange he gave his own.

It's not uncommon to feel thirst before death. I don't know why, but I'm told it's true. It's true for hanging men in a desert and it's true for a crucified man on Golgotha. Thirst, it's a fully human response to the final situation. It's a biological response, not a spiritual one.

In Jesus, there is not strictly biological response, their must be a spiritual one that accompanies. Jesus thirsts because his body is responding to his pending death. Jesus is thirsty. Jesus is so fully human that his body is thirsty. There's no "super-human" thing going on here, he's fully human and very thirsty.

The good news is for us in our thirst, Jesus provides the living water that never goes dry. Yes, our bodies will thirst, but our lives don't need to be parched.