“(Moan) Gloom, despair and agony on me… Deep dark depression, excessive misery… If it weren’t for bad luck then I’d have no luck at all… Gloom, despair and agony on me.” Unless we’re blind and deaf, or a hermit, it’s pretty hard not to be dejected by the world around us. Scripture readings for this weekend help answer our frustrated question of “God, where ARE you?”, and remind us to give our attention to the daily Presence which “over and around us lies”.
It helps us a bit to know that even Elijah, that holiest of prophets, had his own times of world-weariness (I Kings19:9-18). Fearing for his life and disgusted with his soul, Elijah runs blindly to Mt. Horeb/Sinai, in an echo of Moses’ great experience with God. In contrast to wind, earthquake & fire, God drew near him in the sound of deep silence. Despite these awe-inspiring events, Elijah clings to his self-denigration: “I alone am left…” The God Who Draws Near reassures him & us that there’s still a remnant of the faithful left, and that holy-history still goes on.
Paul, writing to a Gentile audience in the Letter to the Romans (10:5-15), does a lot of quoting from Hebrew scripture, namely Deuteronomy 30. “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.” We don’t need to search heaven or harrow hell to reach the Christ, for holiness is in our own hearts and mouths! This is good news because it frees us from heroic “mission”and spiritual acrobatics to just be receptors of the God who continues to break into our souls and claim divinity there.
There are probably a thousand sermons to be preached on Matthew’s famous story about Jesus walking on the water. What springs out at me today is the idea that Jesus comes to the disciples even as their boat was battered. Just when they needed him most, when matters had become more than they could handle, Jesus came to them! And focusing on holiness, Peter could also walk on the water–until he noticed the wind, which reminded him that he was human, after all… “What causes us to sink?” was the question from the lectionary group. My response looked a lot like the Seven Deadly Sins; I’m painfully aware of my lead shoes. Even in our diminished faith, Jesus is still nearby.
These two stories and Paul’s commentary give us some comfort in knowing that even the most saintly among us have their moments of terror and blindness to God’s Presence at hand. Yet they move from despair to new strengths: it seemed to the disciples as though the wind ceased! And Elijah continued to trouble the adherents of Baal. Happy ending? Not entirely, for crosses & a chariot of fire await. BUT faith is renewed, weak hands are strengthened and God comes to all of us in critical times. Thanks be to God!
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
{PS: too good to omit. A guy approaches a marina on the Sea of Galilee and asks to rent a boat for an hour or two. “I have a boat,” the owner says, “but it’ll cost you $100.” “A hundred bucks!! Most places charge only $20 per hour!” “Yes,” agrees the boatman, “but this is a very special sea, where Jesus walked on water!” “I can see why,” remarked our hero. “At those rates, he probably couldn’t afford a boat!”}
My thoughts about scripture readings for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
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