Walking On Chaos Water

Walking on Chaos Water Jody Winston August 7, 2005

Sermon Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1 On Saturday, a realtor called me and told me that my house needed to be ready to be shown in one hour. The first thought that ran through my mind was, “What needs to be done to make the house presentable in such a short time?” When the realtor arrived in thirty minutes instead of the promised hour, I quickly explained to her that I was expecting them at noon and not at 11:30. I also told them to ignore the stack of stuff on the floor since I was preparing to leave for a picnic. I think that this concern about making the house ready before guests arrive is universal. Who has not been anxious about the unforeseen knock on the door or the surprise phone call, which announces that unplanned guests have arrived? We think to ourselves, “Have the dishes been put up and the dirty clothes picked up?” Who does not make excuses about how clean the house is when these sort of visitors arrive? We tell them, “I would have had the house ready, if I had only known that you were coming over.” This need to clean up, this desire to make some semblance of order from a mess, can be found in other parts of our lives also. Just watch TV, if you do not believe me. We have over twenty-eight shows on home remodeling ranging from the classic PBS show “This Old House” to the Learning Channel’s “Trading Spaces.” We even have two new shows this season on how to make a profit by purchasing a house, quickly fixing it up, and then selling the house: A&E’s “Flip This House” and the Discovery Channel’s “Flip That House.” If you are not interested in fixing up houses, other programs show how us how to make something 1

Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3.

1

new out of what is lying around. MTV has a program on making custom cars from common, everyday vehicles. For you motorcycle fans, the Discovery Channel’s program “American Choppers” will show you how to change an ordinary bike into a chopper. My favorite TV show is “Junk Yard Wars,” a program where contestants make something out of junk. The ancient Israelites noticed this need to create order out of chaos. They too saw how people put things together in new and different ways. But unlike us who just make TV programs when we see a common theme, the ancient Israelites assigned this want for order as one of the God’s images that all humans possess. They did this because this is what God does in the first creation story found in Genesis. It is practically impossible for us to see why the Israelites would think that God creates order out of chaos when we read today’s English Bible. In our current translations, we do not know what kind of water that God’s Spirit moved over nor do we know what kind of water found above and below the earth. In Hebrew, we are told that this water is dangerous water and in the translation that the author of Matthew would be most familiar with we are told in the Greek that this is chaos water. Throughout the Old Testament, it is God who keeps this dangerous water at bay.2 This is why the ancients were so terrified about the great flood described in Genesis. God let out the chaos water from the sky and let this dangerous water come up from the ground. Even though we no longer believe that the blue of the sky is water, we know from first hand experience what danger is to be found in water when too much of it comes down from the sky and causes a flood. When today’s story was first told in its native language, no one in the audience would have been concerned about Jesus forcing the disciples to take the boat to the other side of the lake since a teacher had a right to tell his students what they needed to do. Nor would the listeners have been troubled at all when they heard that Jesus was walking on the sea since the God that takes something useful out of chaos has no problems in controlling the chaos as He sees fit.3 The audience would have sat up and paid close attention to this story when Peter asked for permission to walk on chaos water because this indicates that we are in a life-changing situation. When this type of water gets loose, it can destroy the world or something new might be created. Unexpectedly, Jesus granted Peter the ability to walk on this dangerous water and while Peter’s vision was focused 2 3

Genesis 1:1-10; 7:11; Psalms 18:15-18; 69:1-13, 107:23-32; 144:5-8. Job 9:8; 38:16; Psalms 77:19; Isaiah 43:16; 51:9-10; Habakkuk 3:5; Sirach 24:5-6.

2

on the Christ, Peter was able to tread on chaos. When we are surrounded by chaos, our first instinct is to “fight or flight.” If we try to attack the chaos, we will get nowhere. The disciples tried to overcome the waves with their own power from evening until morning. No matter how hard they tried, they could not fight the tempest on their own. When we try to flee from a confusing situation, it is difficult for us to find a safe harbor. Look at how much energy the disciples expended trying to leave the storm. The wind never gave them a chance. Another instinctive behavior is being “paralyzed by fear.” We hope that by standing still, life’s storms will soon blow past. It is as if we think, “Just a little while longer and we will be into the eye of the hurricane.” We forget that the hurricane’s winds will soon be back and they once again will be attacking us from the opposite direction. Chaos will kill us while we wait for the storm to subside. Jesus gives us a better alternative than relying on our instincts. Call upon Him. No matter what kind of storm we are facing, no matter how high the waves are, and no matter the time of day, He has promised to be here with us. He will come to us if we stop keeping Him on the horizon. Even if we call out to Jesus in fear, the Holy Spirit will take these prayers to God. As with the disciples in the boat, Jesus will offer us a word of encouragement. We do not have to fear since He is in control of the situation. When we take our eyes off Jesus and begin to sink beneath the waves, God does not let us drown because of our doubt. Instead, He quickly comes to us with His hand outstretched. He grabs hold of us. Only when we are safely in His arms does He ask us why we let our thoughts of the winds, the waves, and the water rule our hearts. Hand in hand, we walk on chaos back to the boat. When in the boat and out of harm’s way He calms the storms that surround us on all sides. Jesus does not even ask us to worship Him. Our praise and thanksgiving is given to God, not because we have to but instead we fall down at the Lord’s feet in response to God’s actions in our lives. At the beginning of time, God controlled chaos and moved a portion of the water above us and some of it below us. In this act of creation, God gave us the archetype for bringing order out of disorder. Every one of us has also been given this ability by God since we are created in God’s image. Because of God’s gift to us, we all have the capability to rearrange what we find around us into something new. Our creation will not be faultless since we are not perfect and our handiwork will not last forever because we are not God. In today’s Gospel, we have heard how the Son of God handles chaos. He walks on it. How do we handle the confusion that is all around us? How do we deal with 3

all big problems that face every one of us at some time in our lives? Do we try to fight them all by ourselves? Do we try to run away from them? Do we freeze up and do nothing at all? Or do we follow the model set by Peter who called out to Jesus and dared to walk in the middle of the storm on the water? “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

References

4