I visited the Presbyterian church this a.m.; what a surprise to see the whole thing is still going on. I also felt surprised how deep a place within me responded. It was Youth Sunday, and I might have been one of those young worship leaders. The dressed-up women and men might have been my parents' friends, except for lack of ladies' white gloves!
The sermon text was Matthew 14:22-23: While Jesus was out by himself praying, the disciples started rowing in a boat and got caught in a bad storm. Jesus walked to them on the water calling, "It is I." After Peter gets out and doubts (Mt 14:30), Jesus chides the lack of faith. When he gets into the boat, the storm quiets down.
"There is tumult in this life," was the Reverend's message, "that's what is eternally true," and she centered her word around a lengthy plea for Somalia. "Maybe if we all put our mustard seeds of faith together we can help the tumult in Somalia." Perhaps hearing about this miracle will open faithful hearts to share.
But are miracles alone going to open our hearts? In Mark's version of this story the disciples' hearts were hardened, even after Jesus climbed into the boat! "They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened (Mk 6:51-52)." They didn't know who Jesus was. Elsewhere they had asked, "Who is he, that even the winds and the waves obey him?" (Mk 4:41; Cf, Lk 8:21, Mt 8:27)
"Understanding about the loaves" means realizing Who Jesus is. When Jesus took, blessed, broke, and gave the loaves, he revealed he was the Anointed One, the long-prophesied Messiah. When Jesus called to the disciples from the waves he said, "Ego eimi," "It is I" also meaning "I AM"--the name of God. As John's Gospel says, "I AM the Resurrection and the Life. I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. "I AM HE, the one who is speaking to you now."
We know that now; and the disciples knew it by the time they were preaching the Gospels. After the Resurrection, after the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, they understood. Whether the doubting of Peter (Mt 14:30-31) or the hardening of the disciples' hearts (Mark 6:52), their storm story reflects back on misunderstandings later illuminated by the light of Jesus' rising from the grave!
We have to understand the miracles, indeed all the Gospel stories, in the light of the Resurrection, in the light of knowing Who Jesus is, in order for faith to grow in our hearts, the faith that will open our hearts to those suffering in the tumult of this life.
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1 comment:
Amen!
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