Morning Walk

Morning Walk from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.

Genesis 32:6-12, 22-31

6The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” 7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and also the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies, 8thinking, “If Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the company that is left will escape.”

9And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff have I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. 11Deliver me, please, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. 12Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’”

22The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children,  and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23Jd took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” 29Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” 31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God

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. 23And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25And early in the morning he came walking on toward them on the sea. 26But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.”

28Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29He said, “Come,” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God.

Jacob, the classic trickster of the Old Testament, is out of ideas. He may have fooled his father Isaac and stolen his brother Esau’s birthright, but now his brother is back with an army of 400 men. Jacob is a wealthy man, but all his gains are ill-gotten, results of his trickster ways and his ability to use his cleverness to gain at the expense of others.

The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

Jacob, whose pranks are the stuff of legend, who has always managed to gain and keep the upper hand, is out of ideas. He writes off have of his household as lost, knowing that he cannot withstand an attack by such a large force, but maybe he can escape with the survivors. His mother’s favorite, but second-born, child, Jacob learned to always look for the advantage.

Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and also the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies, thinking, “If Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the company that is left will escape.”

Jacob, the heel-grabbing younger twin, faced with the potential wrath of a cheated older brother, is out of ideas. 

Unless,

Unless the promises of God, unlike those of Jacob, are reliable and sure. The only trick Jacob has left is that God is not a trickster like he is.

“And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’  I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff have I crossed  this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, please, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’”

This prayer, I think, marks a turning point for Jacob. His whole life he has been able to take the blessing of a sharp mind, which God had given him, and used it for his own benefit. This time, with the weight of past debts riding towards him, that's not at option. He recognizes that his ability to outmaneuver his opponents has failed him, so he must turn from cleverness to faith, reminding God of the blessings of God's promise, and crediting God with what the Trickster had "earned" in his journeys.

He has no other option, and turns to God, knowing full well that if God chooses not to intervene, it will mean his destruction. "The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok."

Peter has been in and around boats his whole life. He was a fisherman, after all, before a traveling preacher named Jesus told him to "Come, follow me." Now he's learning to fish for people, but he's the one who feels caught.

He's caught up in the moments when Jesus heals the sick, he's caught up in the inspiration of the crowds when Jesus talks about the kingdom of God, even when he doesn't understand Jesus's full meaning. Peter is caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee while his miracle-working master is praying on his own.

But the ranks of the disciples are filled with experienced fishermen, who know how to handle the wind and the waves. They're in the deep water, where their boat was designed to be. A strong headwind and some battering waves far away from land is a good workout, but no reason to panic, at least not yet.

But then something strange appears out of the fog, a human figure, at first mistaken for 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.'" The disciples do not fear the storm, they have experience with the natural. The idea, however, that something supernatural is at work gives them reason to cry out in fear.

Something supernatural is at work at the Jabbok.

Jacob is striving against a mysterious figure, a man who is not clearly identified in the text. They grapple with one another through the night, and Jacob cannot quite get the upper hand. On the other hand, the unnamed man does not prevail against the heel-grabber either. "When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, 'Let me go, for the day is breaking.' But Jacob said, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.'"

The Trickster, the Heel-Grabber, refuses to loose his hold on the man, even though his hip is dislocated. “Jacob had asked for a blessing. Perhaps he dreamed of security, land, more sons. But what he got was a new identity through an assault from God.” He demands a blessing, and receives a new identity. "So he said to him, 'What is your name?' And he said, 'Jacob.' Then the man said, 'You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.'" The Heel-Grabber is liberated from the hold the past held on him. Esau is still waiting for him, but a newly-named Israel is able to face his past without being bound by it. Instead of hanging on for every possible advantage, Israel can see the value in the struggle, knowing that the process is perhaps even more important than the results.

The blessing of Israel is a new liveliness that means he can move forward to reconciliation with Esau, he is no longer the weary trickster out of ideas, he is Israel, who has struggle with God and with people and prevailed. But he is neither in a position to strut, nor swagger. Neither can he run away from trouble or dodge the storms that lie ahead in his path. The blessing of newness of life is so great that it leaves him limping.

But the limp blessed him with the ability to step out on faith.

Peter stands on a boat in the middle of a storm, but the storm he can handle. It’s this supernatural walking on water that gives him pause. He cries out in fear at the sight. 

“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.”

Peter hears his master’s voice telling him “Come,” and in it he hears a command powerful enough to convince him to get out of the boat. he hears the same voice that commanded him to put down his nets and become a fisher of people. He hears the same voice that told him that Blessed are the peacemakers. I wonder if he heard the Word that was with God and was God at the beginning. I wonder if he heard the Word that rang out saying “Hear O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD alone.” He heard his teacher and his friend say “Come,” so whatever was packed in that simple command, he got out of the boat and walked on water.

Peter can only hold on to his faith in Jesus’s command for a moment. “But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” 

Peter’s absolute faith in God’s ability to call him out onto the stormy water falters, but his hope that his Lord can still save him does not. When you’re out on the water, in the midst of a storm, and you go from walking on water to sinking, there are no more tricks. There are no sails for this fisherman to trim, no clever ideas for keeping the collection of beams and sealant afloat, because Peter, nicknamed “Rock” has walked out onto the water to have an encounter with God. Not even his faith, a blessing time and again in the past, is sufficient to save him. The only solid thing he has left is the hope that his Lord is trustworthy and sure, that God’s blessings can outmatch the storm.

“Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’”

I imagine “You of little faith,” which is only directed at Jesus’s followers, never unbelievers, as though it is always said with a smile. Drawing Peter up out of the water, Jesus knows full well with which kind of limited people he is working. Jesus knows that the faith of all of his followers is finite.

But the God in whom we have faith is infinite, and perfects out faith in us even before we know how to act on it or carry it forward into the world. God’s blessings are not a promise that everything will suddenly be easy. In fact, God’s blessings challenge us to do what is difficult. Peter did not walk on calm waters, after all. He stepped out of the boat in the middle of a storm. While his fear sank him, for a moment there, God blessed him by letting him walk on water.

Peter’s cry as he is sinking echoes Jacob’s prayer when he knows he will encounter Esau. Both rely solely on God’s grace when their own abilities, Jacob’s cleverness and Peter’s faith, fail. “Lord, Save me!” and “Deliver me, please,” are variations on the same hope. Our hope is in the one who blesses us in ways beyond our imagination.

But those blessings are not always the grace that is usually imagined. One could say that Israel limped on water for the rest of his life. He was free from his old patterns of behavior, but his damaged hip was among the blessings he was given that night at the ford of the river Jabbok. Jesus caught Peter and pulled him up, a reminder that even as a fisher of people, he had been caught already, and that one day others would take him to a place he did not with to go.

God’s blessings can leave us limping or empower us to walk on water. Perhaps though, those are not so far apart as we may suppose. Israel’s morning walk took him from the place where he had spent the night struggling with God, called Penuel, and led him to reconciliation with his brother, Esau, rather than the battle he had perhaps expected. Peter’s morning walk took him from the familiarity and safety of a boat into the middle of a raging storm just because his Lord called to him.

God has blessed us with each other, with a unique community and a particular place to go out and do the ministry to which God has called us. We will find our own version of walking on water as we seek to worship God, grow in faith, and show God’s love to everyone. We will find our own painful reconciliation as we limp across the ford of the river Jabbok. But we know that the blessings of the LORD are all around us, and that whether we are limping or walking on water, God is still active among us, and for that, we will live in gratitude, service, and love, singing praises to the one who intervenes in this world and empowers our ministry.

Together in the Storm

Together in the Storm from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.

Mark 4:35-41

³⁵Later that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” ³⁶They left the crowd and took him in the boat just as he was. Other boats followed along.

³⁷Gale-force winds arose, and waves crashed against the boat so that the boat was swamped. ³⁸But Jesus was in the rear of the boat, sleeping on a pillow. They woke him up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re drowning?”

³⁹He got up and gave orders to the wind, and he said to the lake, “Silence! Be still!” The wind settled down and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰Jesus asked them, “Why are you frightened? Don’t you have faith yet?”

⁴¹Overcome with awe, they said to each other, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God.

It’s strange to talk about storms when it’s sunny outside. I can reach back to when I was in youth group and picture a day on the boat out on Lake James, near where I grew up. Picturing myself on a boat is no problem. Dave and Morgan can show you pictures of what the sea of Galilee looks like, so I can imagine being there, but it’s strange to think about a sky darkening, violent winds, torrents of rain and flashes of lightning when we look outside our windows at see birds singing, a lazy haze over the parking lot, and great helping of sunshine.

It’s strange to talk about storms when it’s sunny outside.

We’ve all certainly sat through the kind of great thunderstorm of which Mark speaks in this text, they’re a humbling display of the powers of nature, a place where one sees the hand of God in the majesty of creation.

But outside, it’s a bright sunny day with a high of 93 degrees, and man is it humid. But it doesn’t even really look like rain...

On a day like today it’s easy to keep this story of boats and storms out at arms length, to put it in a particular place in history and let it stay there, I have no doubt that Jesus and his followers sailed into some severe weather that evening on the sea of Galilee. But it’s strange to talk about storms when it’s sunny outside.

We can join Jesus in his Sunday afternoon nap, this story takes place after he’s preached a series of parables, and many preachers will tell you that the Sunday afternoon nap is one of the greatest gifts God has given us in this world, and on this lazy sunny day, we can curl up on a pillow for a great nap, but this storm business just doesn’t fit when it’s sunny outside.

Unless you’re dealing with another kind of storm in your own life. Not the kind of storm they tell you about on the news, where a nice suit and a smiling face report facts and describe computer models, but rather the kind of storm we put on our motivational posters, where it’s just a symbol for all the problems we’ve internalized. The storm has become a cliche, unless you’re in the middle of it.

I wonder if the disciples would have told this story to the people they met after Jesus’s earthly ministry ended. I wonder if they would tell it to the head of household who’s finances have dried up and he isn’t sure how he can provide for his family anymore. I wonder if they would tell this story to the mother holding her sick child. I wonder if they would tell it to the student who felt overwhelmed by all his responsibilities. I wonder if they would tell this story to the teenager who was sure she had disappointed her parents, and wasn’t sure if they would still accept her. I wonder if they told this story to the community in crisis, trying to decide how it would maintain its identity in the face of a world that is changing so quickly, or not quickly enough. I wonder what problems we would lift up that would inspire them to tell this story once again...I wonder...

Because when that’s the kind of storm you’re dealing with, then it’s the sunny day that doesn’t fit anymore, and it’s strange to be out in the sun when your storms are so great that your boat is swamped. When you’re in the storm, it doesn’t matter what the weather is like, you don’t want to have that Sunday afternoon nap on the pillow next to Jesus, you want this man to get up and help keep the boat from sinking.

We can echo the disciples voices: “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re drowning?” Teacher, we know that you’re still present, we know you’re right here in the boat with us. The wisdom of your parables is still ringing in our ears, even though we don’t yet fully understand. You speak and we struggle to hear it over the sounds of the thunder. We want to stand beside you, but the waves are crashing over the sides of the boat and our feet will not stay under us. Why do you choose now to be silent, sleeping in the midst of a storm that is more than we can bear. We need your instruction now, tell us what to do! You’ve told us how to handle our faith, now how do we handle this boat in the midst of a storm?

There’s a saying, “We’re all in the same boat.” It’s meant to convey that we all struggle through things together, but it also removes the particularity of the things with which we are struggling. I don’t know that I buy that the single mother working two jobs has the same struggle as the young man who is targeted by online bullying. The grandfather who struggles to find a place in a world where he and his closest friends are seeing the decline of their minds and bodies is going through something different than the young woman wondering if perhaps she does not love in the same way her friends do.

Perhaps we are not in the same boat. A congregation as diverse as this one and a church as diverse as the PC(USA) is full of people who see the world differently and interpret what they see based on different values. It’s tempting to think that we’re the only ones who are having to deal with all this mess, that somehow no one else can feel the same as we are feeling. No one else will have to face the problems we have. Especially in a world where the expectation is that one must have all the answers, one must have a handle on all of one’s problems, one must not show any kind of weakness or dependence on others. It’s as though it’s alright to ask for help if and only if you don’t need it.

It’s tempting to feel like we are alone out there in our own little boat, facing an impossible storm, especially when it’s sunny outside, and we feel like nothing can bring us back from our self-imposed separation from those we want to love, whom we want to love us. Perhaps we are not in the same boat. But we’re not brought together by some wooden fishing vessel. Our diverse particular little boats are united by Christ, whom we have followed out onto this sea, and into this storm.

And when our particular boats get swamped, Like the disciples in our scripture lesson, we only know that our master seems to be asleep in the back, either unaware or uncaring that this storm into which we’ve sailed is about to end us, and it’s tempting to think that our boats are either in the worst shape or are in the worst part of the storm, and we’ve got to somehow get by on our own.

But when we left the crowd and took God in the boat just as he was, other boats followed along. They heard the same teaching, they’ve seen the same wonders, and though their boats are different, we know that they’re out there, struggling across the stormy sea of Galilee as well, even though they cannot see our boat or be a part of our crew, we can know that no matter what the storm looks like to them, they are crying out to God just as we are: “Lord, don’t you care that we’re drowning?”

I’ve always pictured Jesus, hearing this question in his own boat, groggily getting up, calming the storm, somewhat grumpily saying to his disciples, “Why are you frightened? Don’t you have faith yet?” And immediately going back to his pillow and resuming his great nap.

But Jesus was only riding in one of the boats, the other boats wouldn’t have seen everything that happened. As the wind settled down and a great calm came over the lake, they would have looked at one another, then to the other boats, perhaps just in time to catch a glimpse of Jesus turning toward his disciples, maybe they were close enough to hear what he said to them, maybe they were far enough away to recognize who it had to be, that even the wind and the sea obey him. We don’t get that part of the story.

But we can infer that once they crossed the lake they all reached the same shore, and they mingled with the other crews, and each told their own part of the story, each shared their particular experience, and each saw Jesus through the eyes of those around them.

Although we’re in different boats, we’re all in the same storm. It looks different to each of us, and we experience and understand it differently, but more important than that diverse commonality is that we all see Christ’s hands calming that storm, and bringing us safely to the other side, irrespective of our own fears and faiths, our Lord goes through the great storm with us, and through the great calm after it. We see this Jesus differently, just as we saw the storm differently.

This week begins our three week series of exploring what the Bible says about Love, Marriage, and Sex. We will undoubtably find ourselves in different places on a number of issues these weeks, but we will come together all the same, listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit to surprise us in the midst of our disagreement. We cannot stop listening just because we disagree with one another, because that would refute the power of Christ to bring our little boats together, and to hold them safely as we find different ways of navigating across this sea.

We may not be in the same boat, but we are united in Christ, and our comfort in the storm is that we are not alone even while we are drowning. It’s strange talk about storms when it’s sunny outside, but it’s not the weather than unites us. It’s strange to talk about how sunny it is outside in the midst our internalized turmoil, but the storm cannot pull us apart. We know that our timid faith, such as it is, is in the Christ who holds us all together, no matter what boat we’ve put ourselves in, and no storm can shake our inmost calm while to that great rock we are clinging.

Prayer: Great God, we are in a time when it is easy to put ourselves into categories of for and against, of right and wrong. We live in a world that teaches us to order ourselves according to those with whom we agree, but you taught us that in Christ there is no Jew nor Greek, male or female, slave or free. Our boats are different, but your unifying love for us remains constant. Give us the strength to remember that we are your people, and though we’d rather all of this would settle down, living in the storms is where we can see that even the wind and the sea obey you. Help us to remember that your voice speaks amid the chaos, and that we will reach the shore together, not as identical people, but as a people united in your relentlessly transformative love. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.