Memorial Moment
"When the wind and the waves are against us, who shall pass by us in order to come among us? Who shall walk upon the waters commanding them to bring us rescue? Who shall ordain the waters to be tamed and turned to use, so that we might die with Him to be raised in newness of life with Him in baptism? We are baptized into Christ, because Christ is in Baptism, just as He was in the boat of the disciples."
"Jesus is not playing “hide-and-seek” with his disciples when He comes to them in the fourth watch of the night in Mk 6:48–52. He is revealing Himself as the Lord God of the Old Testament who rescued His people through His creative power in parting the waters of the Red Sea. Jesus treads upon the sea attempting to pass by His disciples. What’s this all about?
Of course, we think we have the raw power of God displayed when Jesus walks on the water. However, He’s not a mere trickster. He’s not a magician amazing His devotees like Houdini. In fact, He who is God of God could surely have done better miraculous wonders than this! Why merely walk on the water? Why does He not dry up the Sea of Galilee like He did the Red Sea that His people might pass over on dry ground? Why not empty the Sea of Galilee and then put it back? And why attempt to pass by the disciples? Jesus was revealing himself to his disciples as Yahweh, the God who saves his people. He isn’t trying to “wow” us, He is telling us that He is Yahweh, God our Savior.
His messianic mission is to save His people from all that oppresses them. We can’t help but think of the words of Job in the Old Testament, Jesus is the God “who trampled the waves of the sea… Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him” (Job 9:8, 11). In the Old Testament, God hides Himself from His people, dwelling in the temple, appearing as a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud in the Exodus. He hides Himself in, with, and under theophanies. He shares fellowship meals with His priests and with His people. He invites them on His mountain to dine with them. And in that dining He hides Himself from them to be with them.
St. John the evangelist has said of Him in the sublime prologue to his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (Jn 1:1–3). Jesus is none other than the God who made all things; He is the living Word, whose speech gave rise to all of creation and everything in it. He is the one of whom the Psalmist speaks when he says, “When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled…. Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen” (Ps 77:16, 19). Jesus treads the very face of the deep and yet leaves not even a footprint. He does not dry up the Sea of Galilee that the people might pass over. He passes over the sea that He might come to the people and dwell with them. He commands the wind and the waves and they stand silent before Him. He is their maker. Here He governs them. These fishermen knew the power of this water, perhaps far better than we do. It provided their livelihood. But they also knew its deadly threat. And they were experiencing that threat even now.
When the wind and the waves are against us, who shall pass by us in order to come among us? Who shall walk upon the waters commanding them to bring us rescue? Who shall ordain the waters to be tamed and turned to use, so that we might die with Him to be raised in newness of life with Him in baptism? We are baptized into Christ, because Christ is in Baptism, just as He was in the boat of the disciples.
Who comes into the boat of our church carried on the waters of life? Jesus does. Who comes into the church to turn it upside down and make it the nave in which we are saved, carried along on baptismal, death-dealing waters? Jesus does. How closely together God places this death and life together; like the ark of the Old Testament the waters bringing death carried it along to rescue the faithful few. The church lives her life on the roiling waters of baptism, threatened by death at every moment and yet assured of life in this very thing. God is trying to pass by and yet not bypassing us."
Psalm 77:11-20 (ESV)
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2077%3A11-20&version=ESV
Rev. Dr. Scott R. Murray
Memorial Lutheran Church
Wednesday of Pentecost 19
6 October 2021
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