Stormy Weather

 I love a good storm.

 

There is something quite magical about being safe and warm while watching a storm. Looking out of the windows and seeing the snow swirling and the brilliance of the lightning. I love the sound of a storm too, especially when we are camping and hear the patter of the rain on the camper-van roof. 

 

Last year when we were camping at the beach a sudden summer storm blew up. Of course, the forecast had predicted the event, so I had decided to take a quick walk around the campsite before it arrived. As I was walking back to the van the storm arrived, the power of the wind was amazing. It was a struggle to keep upright I momentarily wondered if I would actually be able to get back to the van. The wind felt as if it might be too strong for me to walk against. Of course, I did manage it and watched the rest of the storm through the window watching the wind and rain lash the campground. The wonderful thing about summer storms on a campground is that the sun soon comes out and people immerge from their campers and tents like ants scurrying about.

 

One thing I have learnt about storms is that I have no control over them. Nothing I can do can change the course of the wind or delay the onset of a storm. I may know it is expected, I may be able to make limited preparation — have I got enough firewood inside? is everything outside secure? or are the snow shovels by each door? — but I can’t stop the storm from happening. I can’t change the course of nature.

 

In the lectionary today, the story is about a sudden storm that blew up (Luke 8:22-25). I can quite imagine the scenario. Jesus and the disciples decided to sail to the opposite shore and “a gale swept down the lake” (23). I can picture this quite well. I have often stood in the park at the end of Cayuga Lake (44 miles long) and watched the storm blowing down the lake. The first noticeable sign is the distant darkening of the sky. It is actually quite an amazing thing to watch it encroaching.

 

Therefore, I’m sure, that as those whose career had been fishing the disciples had experienced sudden storms on the lake many times. But this time there was something different, something more violent, the boat started to take on water and they felt they were in danger.

 

A couple of extraordinary things about this story. The first is that Jesus was asleep. I must confess I almost allow myself a chuckle at this image. I can picture Jesus lying with a few inches of water lapping around his prone body, the force of the waves covering him with spray and the noise of the wind was howling around the boat which was being violently tossed about. I have, on many occasions, been awoken by a storm and never in the circumstances described in this text. So, there was something quite extraordinary, maybe miraculous, about Jesus being able to sleep through it all.

 

The second extraordinary happening was that Jesus could control the storm. This is not humanly possible, storms cannot be controlled. They blow and calm at their own will. I know that people pray when they are in the midst of severe weather — usually for their own protection— but even if the storm misses them, it does not really prevent what is happening. Nature cannot be controlled by humanity. 

 

So, as always, with the stories in the gospels I ask myself why this one was included. I do believe that the writers of the gospels wrote with purpose; that the stories chosen to include were there for a reason.

 

Last week during our study of the historical Jesus, our task was to read the lost Gospel of Q as if we had never read or known anything about Jesus. It was quite a hard thing to do. I had not looked at Q for many years and certainly never tried to read it putting aside all the other sources of information about Jesus.  One thing that really struck me was if the only writing available was Q, it would be hard to see Jesus’ divinity. Q contains a really great collection of the teachings of Jesus, all about how to live but there is nothing of incarnation, death and resurrection.

 

 So, as I read this account in the Gospel of Luke, I noticed how this story was emphasising the divinity of Jesus. Jesus was doing something beyond human capability, Jesus was controlling nature. 

 

When reading scripture, I am always aware there is a balance between the various authors and writings. Each highlighting a different dimension or bringing a new insight. Last time I blogged I talked about the balance between the epistles and the gospels. Today, as I read this little story, I saw a balance between the teaching in Q, the oral tradition which would have been circulating amongst the early followers of Jesus, and the gospel. In both the actions and the ensuing conversation between Jesus and the disciples, the author pf the gospel was highlighting a different aspect of Jesus — the divinity of Jesus.

 

I just want to add briefly that often this story is spiritualised. People talk about life’s storms especially if facing something a little unusual or hard. It is a comforting image to think of Jesus being unperturbed by the storm, even to the point of sleeping through it. Or to imagine Jesus calming or stopping the storm. I think this is another balance. This balance is between looking at the scriptures to seek to understand and study the theology contained therein and to read scripture to allow the verses to speak to current circumstances to bring hope and comfort.  

(Photo — Derwent Water, Lake District, Cumbria)

 

Unusually, for me, I am going to reflect on two of the lectionary readings this week. My normal discipline, when it is my turn to write the blog, is to focus on the gospel and to quote theologian Phyllis Trible, to “shake the text until it yields a blessing”.

 

For me, it has been an interesting and enlightening way to read the scriptures, not focusing on the popular interpretation but really looking at the words, the contemporary period and the various roles of all the characters in the story. Of course, not everyone will see what I see in a text and that is okay. It is not about being right or wrong but about a text inspiring and speaking to the reader. In the past, with our community, much time has been spent teaching about how to disagree in a way that invites dialogue rather than causes conflict. Quite simple really, rather than say “I think you are wrong” or “I don’t agree with you”, perhaps comment “That’s an interesting way of interpreting the passage, I’ve always read it this way. What do you think?” That is just one quick example but there are many other ways to invite dialogue, to validate and enrich each other.

 

So back to the texts for today, as I read the gospel and the epistle passages, both talked about Jesus. I was immediately engaged by how very different the two passages were — what contrasting pictures of Jesus they paint!

 

The earliest of the two readings is 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11, which was penned about 53-54 CE. This passage contains a high and concise Christology. The way the text reads it feels credal, as if the author of Corinthians was reciting a developed statement with a focus on death of Jesus and resurrection of Christ. The purpose of the text is to encourage the recipients of the letter to continue in the beliefs they had previously embraced. As I read, I was intrigued by the credal statement and the complexity of that doctrine which had developed over a relatively short time — just about fifty years. For me, today, that would be like looking back to the seventies. On one hand so many developments have happened in that half-century. I met Andy, got married, gave birth to three wonderful children, fostered more than a hundred others, moved to a foreign country, gained three lovely daughters-in-law and three grandchildren — and that is just with family! What about developments in technology, transportation, human rights, etc.? It has been a momentous, action packed fifty years. Yet on the other hand, the time has gone so fast, the seventies seem like yesterday. A poignant reminder of how short life really is.

 

 Of course, I realize that some reading this would not even have been born in the seventies, nevertheless have probably listen to seventies music and heard older relatives reminiscing about those days. When I think over this similar time period, it really grounds for me the reality of a fifty-year time span. It does make me aware of how quickly this complex Christology developed.

 

I have long embraced the thought that the gospels were written to balance the teaching found in the epistles. Not to correct or to change but to balance — to add another side of the story of the Christ.  Although fanciful, I can almost imagine the authors of the gospels reading the Christology contained within some of the letters and wanting to balance it with the story of Jesus’ time on earth. Gospel of Luke was penned maybe thirty-years after Corinthians. It is not really a stretch to think that there was concern that the story of Jesus, birth, miracles, healings would be lost to the new generation. What a different view of Christ we would have if the gospels had never been written.  

 

Actually, there are a number of theories about the dating of Luke, but all put it significantly later than Corinthians. Most commonly ascribed to is that it was written somewhere between. 80-90 CE.  However, some scholars argue for a date as late as 110 CE while, less popularly, prefer a pre-70 date. Most think the text was revised well into the 2^nd Century. 

 

It would bring contemporary readers (or hearers) back to the simplicity of the stories of the gospel. It would ensure the miracles, feedings, healings, teaching, non-violence, etc were not forgotten.

 

As I read the gospel text in Luke (5:1-11) it is such a simple tale. Jesus was standing on the shore and got into the boat belonging to Simon. He then told him to row out further and cast his nets in the deeper water. Simon answered that they had worked all night and caught nothing but nevertheless followed the instruction. He caught so many fish the nets began to break, and he had to get help to land the catch. Then Jesus told him he would be catching people from now onwards.  

 

Of course, the story in itself is quite complex when one spends time with it. It should be noted that even within the story there is a nod to the divinity  of the Christ, the Messiah— a miracle happened such that it caused Simon, James and John to forsake their careers, families and friends to follow. The Christ was being revealed.

 

Another complexity that always intrigues me is why the synoptics placed this story as part of the calling of the disciples and Gospel of John placed it as a post-resurrection story — but I’ve blogged about that before so not for today.

 

Today, as I ponder the text  I focus on the reminder of the humanness and simplicity of the story — Jesus interacting with ordinary people, Jesus fulfilling their physical needs and Jesus calling them to be more than they ever thougt they could be. 

 

So, the complexity of the Pauline Christology or the simplicity of a story about the humanness of Jesus? I think both are needed. They balance each other and balance is good.