5 Pentecost Cycle B Proper 7 June 24, 2018
Job 38:1-11 Psalm 9:9-20
Job 38:1-11 Psalm 9:9-20
2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Mark 4:35-41
There is a false sense of triumphalism in some religious people who can be tempted to think that being religious means that one's life will always express the signs of God's blessing, like wealth, health and all signs of success and fortune. People who have more than their "share" of luck can build their formulaic systems for others about "attaining the signs of God's blessing."
In the biblical witness there were phases when it seemed as though people had become very formulaic about blessing and success. "If you obey God and the keep the commandments, then God will bless you with health, wealth, success and good luck." Implied in this formula, is that if one has any signs of illness, poverty, failure and misfortune, then it is a sign that perhaps one has some known or unknown sin that has drawn the karmic disfavor of God.
To counter this simply formula of blessing, the Bible has the witness of Job, Jesus and Paul and many other people who were called to "fill up" what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. And bearing afflictions with Christ is surely not inferior faith even if the state of affliction does not look like blessing or success.
I believe that the "Jesus, sleeping in the boat," story in the Gospel is an instructive parable about misconceptions about what following Jesus means?
Apparently some disciples believed that following Jesus meant being the chief leaders in the administration of Jesus that would take over this world by force. Apparently, the disciple fishermen, who had surely been on many a stormy Sea of Galilee in their fishing careers, suddenly decided that "hanging" with Jesus meant that they would be exempt from the conditions of freedom of events that can happen to anyone in life.
How many times do people who are committed to lives of faith, seem to ask, "Jesus, why are you sleeping through all of this? Don't you see what is happening to me? Look what is happening to my health and the health of family members and friends? Look what is happening to our country? Look what is happening in relationships that have soured? Look what is happening in my job?
"Jesus, why are you sleeping in my storm?" Implied in the question is that I should be exempt from the conditions of freedom of what might happen to any person in life. One also might challenge, "What's the use of following the commandments if they don't guarantee the obvious visual conditions of favor and blessing in my life?"
In the witness of Job, Jesus and Paul who are people on the favor of God, we find that each of these was not spared from the conditions of freedom of some very bad things happening to them. Job lost everything but his life. His best friends had really easy answers about his sinful cause of his obvious punishments of misfortune. They were sure about the laws of karma: "Job, because these terrible things happened to you, you must have offended God to cause them." Jesus was not spared derision; He was called mad, demonic and a drunkard. He was mocked, he was flogged and he was wrongly charged and he was killed in a criminal's death on the cross. St. Paul often felt the poignant pain of his own sin, but he also felt called as an apostles. But did his high calling as an apostle exempt him from the worst conditions of freedom? He wrote: "we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ...We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see-- we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything." Was God sleeping in the storms of Job? Was God the Father sleeping in the storms in the life of Jesus? Was Jesus sleeping in the storms that came to St. Paul."
When Jesus woke up and calmed the storm, it was like: "Okay, kids, I'm glad that you regard me to be a hero interventionist whenever you get in a fix, but come on, you've got to grow up and have adult faith." True faith means living with the conditions of freedom without having any special exemptions. One can be persuaded about the blessing of knowing God and Christ in the midst of everything that can happen and that is honest to God and honest to life.
So one might ask? What's the use of the law or the program of discipleship faith in Christ if one is not guaranteed success? Following laws and embracing a discipleship program is what I would call good actuarial wisdom. Wisdom involves the discipline of following good probability thinking: it doesn't mean that you don't take creative risks of faith, but that you know when you are doing it. Good actuarial wisdom is not rocket science. If you don't smoke you decrease your chance of getting lung cancer and so you will have the blessing and favor of having healthy lungs. But even following good actuarial wisdom does not exempt one from anything that might happen. Freedom, law and actuarial wisdom can and do co-exist.
So how are we to live with both freedom and with actuarial wisdom? We live with faith because we act now inspired by the hope of what Christ offers us in this life and in the life to come. We have the resurrection card in our pocket and we know it's there and we don't want to play it until our time comes. But knowing that we've got this final winning card, we can live with faith within the storms of life whether we experience great deliverance or whether we survive with wounds or unscathed.
The Gospel for you and me today is that faith is the ability to live both with actuarial wisdom and within the conditions of freedom in life. And this faith is real and it is honest to life conditions. If Jesus appears to be sleeping in the storms of our lives, it is because he trusts that we will continue to have faith in his presence which can complement everything that can happen to us. Jesus can say, "I've been there with you. I am there with you now." Amen.
In the biblical witness there were phases when it seemed as though people had become very formulaic about blessing and success. "If you obey God and the keep the commandments, then God will bless you with health, wealth, success and good luck." Implied in this formula, is that if one has any signs of illness, poverty, failure and misfortune, then it is a sign that perhaps one has some known or unknown sin that has drawn the karmic disfavor of God.
To counter this simply formula of blessing, the Bible has the witness of Job, Jesus and Paul and many other people who were called to "fill up" what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. And bearing afflictions with Christ is surely not inferior faith even if the state of affliction does not look like blessing or success.
I believe that the "Jesus, sleeping in the boat," story in the Gospel is an instructive parable about misconceptions about what following Jesus means?
Apparently some disciples believed that following Jesus meant being the chief leaders in the administration of Jesus that would take over this world by force. Apparently, the disciple fishermen, who had surely been on many a stormy Sea of Galilee in their fishing careers, suddenly decided that "hanging" with Jesus meant that they would be exempt from the conditions of freedom of events that can happen to anyone in life.
How many times do people who are committed to lives of faith, seem to ask, "Jesus, why are you sleeping through all of this? Don't you see what is happening to me? Look what is happening to my health and the health of family members and friends? Look what is happening to our country? Look what is happening in relationships that have soured? Look what is happening in my job?
"Jesus, why are you sleeping in my storm?" Implied in the question is that I should be exempt from the conditions of freedom of what might happen to any person in life. One also might challenge, "What's the use of following the commandments if they don't guarantee the obvious visual conditions of favor and blessing in my life?"
In the witness of Job, Jesus and Paul who are people on the favor of God, we find that each of these was not spared from the conditions of freedom of some very bad things happening to them. Job lost everything but his life. His best friends had really easy answers about his sinful cause of his obvious punishments of misfortune. They were sure about the laws of karma: "Job, because these terrible things happened to you, you must have offended God to cause them." Jesus was not spared derision; He was called mad, demonic and a drunkard. He was mocked, he was flogged and he was wrongly charged and he was killed in a criminal's death on the cross. St. Paul often felt the poignant pain of his own sin, but he also felt called as an apostles. But did his high calling as an apostle exempt him from the worst conditions of freedom? He wrote: "we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ...We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see-- we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything." Was God sleeping in the storms of Job? Was God the Father sleeping in the storms in the life of Jesus? Was Jesus sleeping in the storms that came to St. Paul."
When Jesus woke up and calmed the storm, it was like: "Okay, kids, I'm glad that you regard me to be a hero interventionist whenever you get in a fix, but come on, you've got to grow up and have adult faith." True faith means living with the conditions of freedom without having any special exemptions. One can be persuaded about the blessing of knowing God and Christ in the midst of everything that can happen and that is honest to God and honest to life.
So one might ask? What's the use of the law or the program of discipleship faith in Christ if one is not guaranteed success? Following laws and embracing a discipleship program is what I would call good actuarial wisdom. Wisdom involves the discipline of following good probability thinking: it doesn't mean that you don't take creative risks of faith, but that you know when you are doing it. Good actuarial wisdom is not rocket science. If you don't smoke you decrease your chance of getting lung cancer and so you will have the blessing and favor of having healthy lungs. But even following good actuarial wisdom does not exempt one from anything that might happen. Freedom, law and actuarial wisdom can and do co-exist.
So how are we to live with both freedom and with actuarial wisdom? We live with faith because we act now inspired by the hope of what Christ offers us in this life and in the life to come. We have the resurrection card in our pocket and we know it's there and we don't want to play it until our time comes. But knowing that we've got this final winning card, we can live with faith within the storms of life whether we experience great deliverance or whether we survive with wounds or unscathed.
The Gospel for you and me today is that faith is the ability to live both with actuarial wisdom and within the conditions of freedom in life. And this faith is real and it is honest to life conditions. If Jesus appears to be sleeping in the storms of our lives, it is because he trusts that we will continue to have faith in his presence which can complement everything that can happen to us. Jesus can say, "I've been there with you. I am there with you now." Amen.
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