When the water is up to your nose...
Year A, Pentecost 14
I have to
admit that getting ready for this Kick-off Sunday made me a little
anxious. It felt like some sort of
unveiling, but there is nothing new that we were actually unveiling. I’m old news at this point as I have been at
John’s for 11 months. I keep telling
people that I am looking forward to the one year mark, that time when I have
been through everything once. That means
I will have seen Christmas at St. John’s before experiencing it. I will have walked
through the Palm Sunday procession before having to lead it. Leading a service that you have never
experienced when everyone else knows exactly what to expect is well….kind of
terrifying.
In the last year, I have found
myself identifying a little with Moses, except without the superpowers. Moses was a leader, but he was not really
sure where he was going. It was all very
new for him. Of course Moses had some
things on his side: a direct connection
to God and some pretty astounding miracles.
We usually associate miracles with
Jesus, but there were plenty or miracles in the Old Testament as well. There are a lot of different definitions of
miracles. At one point, I looked it up
on the internet and found one from the skeptics dictionary. The skeptics dictionary defined a miracle as
"a transgression of a law of nature by a particular decision of the
Deity..."[1] While that
describes some miracles, it is certainly not all inclusive. Miracles are so much more than transgressions
of the laws of nature. Each one of us would probably define a miracle in a
different way, but most would say it is a time when God intervenes directly in
our lives.
Consider
the parting of the Red Sea. Would that fit into the skeptics definition? We
have all seen the dramatic depictions of this event in the movies. There is usually a man with a long white
beard that is being whipped around by the wind.
Suddenly a tunnel is created in the water and the Hebrew people walk
through without a second thought. This
depiction would definitely fit the skeptic’s definition. But if you look at the text itself (and not
the Hollywood rendition), you might see something slightly different. “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the
sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned
the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry
ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.” What is interesting about this is that
instead of a violation of the laws of nature, it would seem as though nature is
working with God.
In fact, God is using many
resources to accomplish this miracle.
First, he asks Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea. Then he uses the wind to separate the water.
He uses both a human agent and a force of nature. Couldn’t God have parted the sea without
Moses stretching his hand out? Did God really need wind? If we really believe
that God is an all powerful God, then of course he could separate water without
any wind and without any human assistance.
Yet it would seem that God is not working alone in this instance, that
he wants it to be a joint effort.
You will find that is true of many
miracles in the Bible. In the feeding of the 5,000 a boy brings forward five
loaves and two fish, which is what Jesus multiplies. In the healing miracles,
people had to take the initiative to request the healing. Most of the time,
they had to find the courage to approach Jesus. It is easy to think that
miracles are something that just come to us, that all we have to do is sit back
and wait. However, most of the time, we
need to work with God.
The Jewish people have volumes and
volumes of commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures. They refer to this commentary
as the midrash. Sometimes the midrash
will analyze the scripture. Sometimes it fills in perceived gaps to give a more
complete picture. The midrash provides some fascinating insight into the Exodus
story, which is one of the most important stories of the Jewish people. One particularly
insightful comment focused on the line, “The Israelites went into the sea on
dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their
left.” From a careful study of the
Hebrew, which is what the midrash is working with, the writers concluded that
the Hebrew people entered the sea before it was actually parted. The water did not part until they were so far
in, it had reached their noses.[2] In other words, God’s miracle required human initiative. They had to take the first step. They had to
believe that God would not let them drown.
If we consider this depiction of
the story, then I imagine Moses standing on the side with his hand over the sea
while the people walked through. While
he was technically leading them, they were the ones who were walking out in
front. This reminds me a lot of my
experience at St. John’s. I am the
rector, which apparently makes me the leader.
But for much of the time, I have found myself standing to the side to
see how it all works. After Oct. 13th,
I will have been here one year and will have at least some experience on how
things work here, but there will still be times when I have to stand aside
while you all wade into the water. We
are all on this journey together. There will be times when we will feel
incredibly lost and there will be times when God’s guidance is so clear it is
like a pillar of light in the night sky.
But most of the time, it will be
something in between. We will have a
general idea where we are going, but we might lack the energy or the confidence
to keep going. Maybe we will be a little
worried that the water won’t separate and we are not sure that we are in the
mood for a midnight swim. It’s those
times when things don’t feel miraculous, when the rector is not new and
shiny…it is those times when we have to keep moving forward together and have
faith that God will either divide the water or give us the strength to
swim. In the end, it does not really
matter who is in front. What matters is
where the wind is coming from, where the power is really coming from. If we are truly the Church of Christ, then
our guidance and strength is always in God’s hands.
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