Rising Above The Sea Of Life
Sermon
One of the most memorable lines in "Jesus Christ Superstar" is by King Herod, who cuts a comic figure in this rock opera version of the Jesus story. He sings, "Jesus Christ, you're no fool, walk across my swimming pool" - and the audience roars with laughter.
Why is that so funny? Perhaps partly because Herod is interpreted as a kind of overblown clown in his many indulgences and in his over-the-top lifestyle. Perhaps partly because it reduces something awesome (the sea) into something manageable (the swimming pool). But perhaps also because it gently mocks a feat which is impossible and which can be a source of difficulty for many Christians, to say nothing of the rest of the world.
What really happened on that occasion on the Sea of Galilee? Did Jesus really walk on the water, or is that an embellishment to his story to make him seem to the early readers of the gospels more God-like and therefore divine?
In fact, only two gospel writers even mention this incident, Matthew and Mark. John and Luke know nothing about it. And Matthew's version is really quite different from Mark's version.
Matthew adds the whole section about Peter. Mark doesn't mention Peter, but merely has Jesus walking on the sea. Presumably Matthew wants to make a point about the need for absolute faith, and uses Peter, whose faith was so much in question at the time of the crucifixion, to make his point.
And both Matthew and Mark end their accounts quite differently. Matthew's account ends with Jesus climbing into the boat, the wind dying down, and those in the boat worshipping him saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
Mark also ends with Jesus climbing into the boat and the wind dying down, but then he adds a strange cryptic comment, "And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened."
Mark is linking this story to the previous story of the Feeding of the 5000. He dismisses all objections to the story by saying that just as the disciples didn't understand about the loaves, so they couldn't possibly understand about Jesus walking on the water.
But that's not a particularly satisfactory comment. Presumably, by saying that their hearts were hardened, Mark means that even though they were "utterly astounded", they weren't sufficiently open to unlikely ideas, and therefore unlikely ever to understand anything of the mystery of Jesus.
Mark often talks rather despairingly about people whose eyes were closed or whose ears were stopped, and many of the healing miracles reported by him are those of giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf.
Matthew's account also follows the feeding of the 5000, but as far as he's concerned, the walking on the water is a completely different incident with no link whatsoever.
Most of the miracles of Jesus are healing miracles. And of those that are left, almost all of them help other people in some way. So this incident of walking on the water is distinctly odd. It doesn't seem to help anybody, and indeed there's no obvious purpose to it at all. It's not even a display of power by Jesus, for only a few disciples were there to witness it.
Of course, if this was a post resurrection appearance we might regard it quite differently. After the resurrection Jesus appeared in all sorts of unlikely places and at all sorts of unlikely times. He walked seven miles to Emmaus only two days after he'd died from appalling injuries, and at the same time (Easter evening) was seen in Jerusalem.
He appeared in rooms through locked doors, and appeared on tops of mountains and appeared on the seashore at dawn cooking breakfast for his friends. So in the post-resurrection period, to appear in the middle of the night walking on water, perhaps wouldn't be so strange.
Furthermore, the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost, which was one of the common explanations for the post-resurrection appearances, an explanation which the gospel writers were at pains to deny. And the words Jesus used in this incident, "Take heart, it is I, have no fear," are reminiscent of the words he used to exhort courage in his terrified disciples after his own crucifixion.
The pre-resurrection Jesus was bound by natural laws of space and time. But the post-resurrection Jesus could appear and disappear at will, was never immediately recognised by his friends, and could be in more than one place at the same time - so was clearly living in some different dimension. Walking on water sounds very much like "another dimension" type of experience.
At a distance of 2000 or so years, we shall never know what actually happened that night or when that incident occurred. So can this miracle of walking on water still speak to us today, and if so what does it say?
Matthew, who was writing some forty or fifty years after the death of Jesus at a time when the early Church was beginning to face persecution, is particularly concerned to encourage the faith of his readers. In verse 31 when Jesus says to Peter, "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?" Matthew uses a verb which is only found in his gospel and which is only used by him to describe disciples whose faith is not as deep as it ought to be.
The sea is often used as a metaphor for life. Perhaps the story is saying that no matter how dark life might be, and no matter how high the waves might be or how rough the sea, Jesus is still able to reach us and is still able to lift us out of life's trauma, if only we trust him totally and keep our eyes fixed on him.
Jesus is never swamped by waves, and never in danger of drowning. Even the winds and the waves obey him, so he can bring calmness to any situation. And those who trust in him will never drown either, for if we keep our eyes and our hearts and our minds fixed on him, he enables us to rise above all that life can throw at us.
And at the end of the day, maybe we too will be astounded by his power and maybe our experience too will lead us to say, "Truly you are the son of God."
Why is that so funny? Perhaps partly because Herod is interpreted as a kind of overblown clown in his many indulgences and in his over-the-top lifestyle. Perhaps partly because it reduces something awesome (the sea) into something manageable (the swimming pool). But perhaps also because it gently mocks a feat which is impossible and which can be a source of difficulty for many Christians, to say nothing of the rest of the world.
What really happened on that occasion on the Sea of Galilee? Did Jesus really walk on the water, or is that an embellishment to his story to make him seem to the early readers of the gospels more God-like and therefore divine?
In fact, only two gospel writers even mention this incident, Matthew and Mark. John and Luke know nothing about it. And Matthew's version is really quite different from Mark's version.
Matthew adds the whole section about Peter. Mark doesn't mention Peter, but merely has Jesus walking on the sea. Presumably Matthew wants to make a point about the need for absolute faith, and uses Peter, whose faith was so much in question at the time of the crucifixion, to make his point.
And both Matthew and Mark end their accounts quite differently. Matthew's account ends with Jesus climbing into the boat, the wind dying down, and those in the boat worshipping him saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
Mark also ends with Jesus climbing into the boat and the wind dying down, but then he adds a strange cryptic comment, "And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened."
Mark is linking this story to the previous story of the Feeding of the 5000. He dismisses all objections to the story by saying that just as the disciples didn't understand about the loaves, so they couldn't possibly understand about Jesus walking on the water.
But that's not a particularly satisfactory comment. Presumably, by saying that their hearts were hardened, Mark means that even though they were "utterly astounded", they weren't sufficiently open to unlikely ideas, and therefore unlikely ever to understand anything of the mystery of Jesus.
Mark often talks rather despairingly about people whose eyes were closed or whose ears were stopped, and many of the healing miracles reported by him are those of giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf.
Matthew's account also follows the feeding of the 5000, but as far as he's concerned, the walking on the water is a completely different incident with no link whatsoever.
Most of the miracles of Jesus are healing miracles. And of those that are left, almost all of them help other people in some way. So this incident of walking on the water is distinctly odd. It doesn't seem to help anybody, and indeed there's no obvious purpose to it at all. It's not even a display of power by Jesus, for only a few disciples were there to witness it.
Of course, if this was a post resurrection appearance we might regard it quite differently. After the resurrection Jesus appeared in all sorts of unlikely places and at all sorts of unlikely times. He walked seven miles to Emmaus only two days after he'd died from appalling injuries, and at the same time (Easter evening) was seen in Jerusalem.
He appeared in rooms through locked doors, and appeared on tops of mountains and appeared on the seashore at dawn cooking breakfast for his friends. So in the post-resurrection period, to appear in the middle of the night walking on water, perhaps wouldn't be so strange.
Furthermore, the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost, which was one of the common explanations for the post-resurrection appearances, an explanation which the gospel writers were at pains to deny. And the words Jesus used in this incident, "Take heart, it is I, have no fear," are reminiscent of the words he used to exhort courage in his terrified disciples after his own crucifixion.
The pre-resurrection Jesus was bound by natural laws of space and time. But the post-resurrection Jesus could appear and disappear at will, was never immediately recognised by his friends, and could be in more than one place at the same time - so was clearly living in some different dimension. Walking on water sounds very much like "another dimension" type of experience.
At a distance of 2000 or so years, we shall never know what actually happened that night or when that incident occurred. So can this miracle of walking on water still speak to us today, and if so what does it say?
Matthew, who was writing some forty or fifty years after the death of Jesus at a time when the early Church was beginning to face persecution, is particularly concerned to encourage the faith of his readers. In verse 31 when Jesus says to Peter, "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?" Matthew uses a verb which is only found in his gospel and which is only used by him to describe disciples whose faith is not as deep as it ought to be.
The sea is often used as a metaphor for life. Perhaps the story is saying that no matter how dark life might be, and no matter how high the waves might be or how rough the sea, Jesus is still able to reach us and is still able to lift us out of life's trauma, if only we trust him totally and keep our eyes fixed on him.
Jesus is never swamped by waves, and never in danger of drowning. Even the winds and the waves obey him, so he can bring calmness to any situation. And those who trust in him will never drown either, for if we keep our eyes and our hearts and our minds fixed on him, he enables us to rise above all that life can throw at us.
And at the end of the day, maybe we too will be astounded by his power and maybe our experience too will lead us to say, "Truly you are the son of God."
