RonBlog

SPECIAL NOTE – today’s readings are NOT the ones selected for Holy Innocents’ Day
Sunday 7th August, 2011 Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Sentence
The disciples cried out in fear, but Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart; it is I; do not be afraid.’
Matthew 14:26-5
Collect
God and Ruler of all creation, give new strength to our faith that we may recognize Your presence even when all hope seems lost. Help us to face all trials with serenity as we walk with Christ through the storms of life, and come at last to Your eternal peace. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Old Testament Lesson Genesis 37: 1 – 4 & 12 – 28

Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. This is the story of the family of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." He answered, "Here I am." So he said to him, "Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me." So he sent him from the valley of Hebron. He came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, "What are you seeking?" "I am seeking my brothers," he said; "tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock." The man said, "They have gone away, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan.
They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams." But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life." Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him"--that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father.
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers agreed.
When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

Psalm 105: 1 – 6 & 16 – 22

O give thanks to the Lord and call upon His Name: tell among the peoples what things He has done
Sing to Him, O sing praises: and be telling of all His marvellous works
Exult in His holy Name: and let those who seek the Lord be joyful in heart
Seek the Lord and His strength: O seek His face continually
Call to mind what wonders He has done: His marvellous acts and the judgements of His mouth
O Seed of Abraham His servant: O children of Jacob, His chosen one

Then He called down a famine on the land: and destroyed the bread that was their stay
But He also sent a man ahead of them: Joseph who was sold into slavery
Whose feet they fastened with fetters: and thrust his neck into a hoop of iron
Till the time that his words proved true: he was tested by the Lord’s command
Then the king sent and loosed him: the ruler of nations set him free
He made him master of his household and ruler over all his possessions
To rebuke his officers at will: and to teach his counsellors wisdom

Epistle Romans 10: 4 – 15

Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that "the person who does these things will live by them." But the righteousness that comes from faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. " But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

GOSPEL Matthew 14: 22 – 36

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is 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." 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. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. After the people of that place recognized him, they sent word throughout the region and brought all who were sick to him, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved
NOTES ON THE READINGS

Old Testament
Recent re-translations have slightly mucked up Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s lyrics when the change from ‘coat of many colours’ changed to ‘long robe with sleeves.’ How the understanding of Hebrew could have altered so much escapes me I must confess. However, whatever the nature of the garment it really riled the elder brothers to have this somewhat excessive young bloke fawned upon by an ageing father. Mind you, Joseph had shown himself to be somewhat of a twit well before all this.

It may sound somewhat obsessive to have the outcome of the story really happen, but on the other hand, some Mediterranean cultures can be excessive on occasion. So Joseph was sold as a slave to passing Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt and doubtless made a quid out of the exchange. (Ishmaelites were not-too-distant relatives if the truth is known.)

The point of the story takes a long time to relate, as you will doubtless know. And it was Joseph who – after a series of rather dramatic and really quite savage episodes, matured into a very capable young man. It was he who recognized the hand of God through all the turmoil and the eventual outcome, realizing that had all that not happened, then the saga of the Abrahamic clan may not have survived even those first few generations. Our God has a habit of knowing what He is doing, and rescuing His people from all manner of dire situations. It is well worth remembering that!

Psalm
And many years later, this Psalmist did remember what had happened, and rejoiced at the outcome.

Epistle
In his usual way the Apostle goes off into a wide-ranging discussion of the Gospel, and its ramifications. I have to say that, in terms of modern theology, Paul does not make a strong case for what he is trying to establish. But the real point is that people need to hear the Gospel, either by word or by action, and that there are no barriers, racial, religious or otherwise, to the capacity to hear and respond to the truth.
(When Paul wrote of Jesus being ‘the end of the Law’ he was not indicating ‘finish’ – the Greek word is telos - and that means goal. Where the Law was heading.

GOSPEL
This story of Jesus walking on water is often referred to by those who wish to discredit the Faith. Apart from anything else, Jews, like a lot of us, saw no difficulty in telling a good yarn even if the reality was somewhat bent in the process. In other words, discrediting argument is hardly useful to advance silly claims, for the actual historical reality may well have been rather different. The closer Jesus came to the climax of His ministry, the more obvious it was that the denouement would be climactic. It is one thing to be ‘religious.’ It is another to be really very radical. Storms in real life lay ahead, and Jesus was painfully aware of the lack of capacity of the Twelve to cope with it.
So this is more a learning curve thing than a miracle. (Jesus never used miracle for any other reason than to get a strong message across, a lesson that stuck in the minds of the disciples.
First of all, water to Hebrews, produced somewhat mixed emotions. In a dry land, water was precious for life to be maintained. But, when it came to crossing the sea – or for seas in general – that sort of water was regarded as a huge threat. In spite of that Jonah tried to escape, remember. After Exodus, the sea was always seen as symbolic of evil. And that ‘sea of glass’ before the throne of God in Revelation represents the sum total of human evil. And that might be something of a shock. Always be aware of when symbol is used to express something of real significance.

NOTES FOR A SERMON

It is a little late now, but some years ago when last Sunday’s Gospel was the reading for the day, I was in a parish new to me, and – as usual - wanting people to move past their comfort zones, and think. The Feeding Sign was it, and I dared to ask people to move beyond the mere miracle of it all. I was met with shocked silence. “This new priest does not believe in miracles!” Shock, horror!
Taking them further, I asked who else had the People of Israel up mountains, and fed rather unusually, and a blank silence again was followed by a very quiet ‘Moses?’ answer from among the tiny group gathered. Great start. Then I asked did anyone note any difference between the outcome when Moses was in charge as compared to when Jesus was it? And pennies began to drop.
Someone noticed that when Jesus was running the show, there was almost more left over than when it all started. So I asked what did the Gospel writer want to convey to us from his report of the event. At last that began to get some grey matter moving, as people saw that the point was not miracle, but rather to look and see if or not Jesus’ capacity to offer real change was more effective that His ancient predecessor. And that answer was really quite immediate.So if you stuck with ‘wacko, look what Jesus can do’ in terms of filling bellies, then you have missed the point entirely.

Whenever there is a kerfuffle from the more atheist people among us, there is usually fetid remarks about the stilling of the storm or of Jesus walking on water, and the pathetic nature of people who believe in miracles. I suspect it is meant to be a ‘put off’ for anyone stupid enough to consider joining the ranks of Christian believers, warning such that one of the requirements of such a move is to commit intellectual suicide. On the other hand, I find – from my side of the fence – that to ask people to think more usually results in a determination to refuse to move.

The sad thing about all that is that our Lord Himself was quite clear about His use of miracle. In the Temptation narrative, it is quite clear He refused such a path to obtain a following of people. Jumping from pinnacles of Temples was no way to discipleship-raising. In his Gospel, John makes clear that ‘miracle’ is not used either: it is sign, semaion. That means the signs were something to give people room to move to consider, to understand what is being said via such signals. Such thinking meant that one had to dredge one’s memory of Biblical narrative and tale and story, to catch clear sight of what was being offered.

And today’s Gospel is no different at all. And the vast array of Biblical imagery is to be brought to the fore to catch sight of all that was being conveyed.

Mountains and seas do not require a lot of pondering to get all this into gear. Moses’ stories almost rear up in one’s head, do they not? Sinai and Re(e)d Sea, and escape from danger because one is led by God. Even Peter’s fumbling attempt to be in control gets the thumbs down from Jesus, for who did he think he was? It is God Who rescues, not Peter.
So it has a lot less to do with miracle, and a lot more to do with getting things into focus. And trusting Him Whom you should be trusting, and not your own rather limited abilities to succeed.

It is often not al that clearly understood that the Gospels were not written until quite some time after the Resurrection of Jesus. I don’t mean years; I mean decades. Up to that point, all believers had expected, in line with contemporary teaching by the Apostles, that Jesus would be returning to bring it all to an end probably in those people’s own lifetimes. The passage of time (and doesn’t ‘t move quickly when you are having fun?) got people realising that if Jesus did NOT appear soon, then someone needed to commit all they remembered to writing for the sake of however many years, decades or generations that would pass before He did.

By that time, too, of course, the Infant Church had stopped being a tiny little nuisance to authorities, Jewish or Roman, to being quite somewhat of a thorn in the side of both of those parties. With that arising, pressure mounted on the Church either to disappear, or conform or get pressure mounted on to them to be eliminated. Now it is not the nicest of possibilities to become heroes and martyrs, so life was becoming really quite difficult. As with most Empires and Caesars, the threat to their authority was met with pathological – even megalomaniacal! – wrath. It was bad enough for Christians who were not Roman citizens, because their livelihood was taken away anyhow. How was it for Christians in Soviet Russia, or even Hitler’s Germany? Worse still, you all know what it was like for Jews, amongst others.

So this incident in the life of the disciples – as in today’s Gospel – came to offer far more significant encouragement to then modern Christians, for it was a signal reminder that it was not Peter, Bishop of Rome, who had the answers, but Jesus Himself. He was in the storm with them, and He it was Who would lead them through and out of it. And nothing else mattered. There was no easy path of rose-petals offered. It was head down, tail up be involved in normal human events, and have even your own loyalty tested. This Jesus of ours never did muck around; but you know He was right there with you, in the middle of all the drama and angst.

It was around that time that Caesars showed up to be particularly nasty pieces of work. None of them were saints, but some were outright devilish, mad, bonkers. And Nero was not one of the worst.

We Aussies are remarkably fortunate (or is that really a statement that we not quite up to such a struggle?) that we have never been under those sorts of pressures. Sure, we get a lot of stupid remarks or letters to the editor of papers – some of which are not all that far from the truth. But who has ever been threatened with prison or execution for their faith? Certainly we have had those New Guinea martyrs who refused to flee home when the Japanese invaded, stayed at their missionary posts, and some paid for that with their lives. But not too many in our congregations have been threatened. Thank heaven for that, for there is no promise that we shall always have such protection.

So – whether it becomes an issue for us or not, quietly take notice of what this passage puts in front of us. We are God’s people, but we live in a world that, increasingly, turns its back on God, and on truth and justice and compassion.