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.