PARAKLETOS

The question that is before us is, are we fearful or faithful?  Are we doing to live lives that are fearful towards the “other” or are we going to live lives that are faithful towards the “other”

John 6:16-24

Is this just another cute story of showing us that Jesus has some super human ability to walk on water?  Are we just watching a first century magic show?  Or is John telling us this story to fill us in on the details about how and where Jesus and the disciples traveled.  Or is there more happening in this story?  Often we read over these narratives in such a way that we just want to get to the “important stuff”.  And in our haste we have missed large and important parts of the scriptures.

I believe that there is a lot more happening with this story.

In the story that we read John refers to them crossing the “sea” but it is technically a freshwater lake.  He does this because he is tapping into the OT tradition of Noah’s ark, the red sea crossing, and the psalms references to the sea.  The Sea represented great turmoil, chaos, and the sea was the home of the great Laviathan, which is the embodiment of chaos.  It is the great Laviathan that rules the great expanse of the sea, and only God controls it. Those are the images that John is provoking at the very beginning of this narrative, “When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea…”

But most of all John talks about a sea because he is referencing the story of
Jonah. 

When we compare the Narrative of John and the Jonah story, we find:

         two stories about boat crossings

         two stories about going to the “other” Nineveh/ “other” side- Between the cities around the sea of Galilee there was great tension.

         two stories about the sea being calmed

         Jonah was sleeping while the storm was raging and Jesus was sleeping while the storm was waging- in Mark

         And most importantly two stories about the journeys not being stopped by the great storms or sea, but they where completed bringing to Jonah and the Ninevites and the disciples’ and the “other” side

Just as Jonah realized that God was serious about him going to Nineveh, after God went to the effort of having him eaten by a whale, the disciples have there fears calmed as Jesus walks on water, speaks to them and then enters the boat. And they arrive on the “other” side.  Even the crowds travel to the “other” side and find Jesus there.  This is not just a story of a select few making the dangerous journey this is about the crowds making the dangerous journey.

Now that reflection brings me to these sets of questions:

         What are the dangerous journeys that need to be undertaken in our world?

         What names should we give to the Leviathan and the sea of our time?

         What are the fears in my heart, in our hearts that keep us on the “other” side, that keep us separated from others?

         What is it going to take for us to hear the voice of Jesus say it is “I”, and give us courage to live faithful lives towards each other

It does not take a rocket scientist to look at the world and to realize that the Leviathan is causing great chaos, great chaos of division, but most of us in this country and in this social economic class are doing all that we can to avoid the chaos.  We are not much different then the ostrich that barriers her head in the sand.  Pause for a minute with me and ask, do you really think that we are being real with ourselves and others?  Or are we hiding?  Think deeply about that are you facing who you really are, are you facing what this world has really become?  Do you have the Courage to do that?

We as a nation have this collective fear of the “other”.  Why are we today building a wall between us and Mexico?  We are doing that to keep “them” out, because if they come then… And we start to list all of are fears.

This morning John is coming to us pulling our heads out of the sand and giving witness to us that with Jesus the chaos is calmed.  Our fears can be overcome and we can make it to the other side.

Now don’t get John wrong.  The chaos is not calmed with out us.  The disciples where in the boat rowing, Noah built the ark, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, and Jonah preached in Nineveh.

So we can face all the many fears that we have of each other, from

         The jobs that they will take

         Of sharing resources

         Facing the greed in our hearts

         How do I ask forgiveness

         Fear of extending forgiveness

         What does it look like to pay reparations to someone that I have stolen from

Those journey’s will be traveled, those seas will be calmed do we have the faith to get into the boat?