Coming Through Chaos Out Into New Creation

-
Matthew 8.23-27. Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”

John 6.16-21. That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!

In the Bible, the seas are a symbol (most of the time) of the turmoil and chaos the world has become since the defacing impact of sin and death brought about by the rebellion of people. We see this primarily in Daniel 7 where, out of the seas, monsters come and attack the people of God.

But not only are the seas a symbol of creation, but of people. Inside people is a great turmoil; a great chaos. We know that things like justice, spirituality, relationships, and beauty are things that we should have figured out by now. But for some reason, they slip through our fingers like mercury.

For example, we know that we should be better at doing justice in our world, that is, in our little circle we travel day in and day out, but we seem to fail a lot when it comes to actually doing it. This is why news reports of someone acting kindly toward another person brings so much attention. It's like a wake-up call that, once in a while, someone actually does justice. They actually help one of their fellow humans by giving-up of themselves. And the rest of us step back in wonder. We know that we should be doing that but we often don't. We see a person in need and we just turn a 'blind eye' because we are too busy or late for something or, sadly, we just don't want to.

Another example would be what we consider beautiful today. The simple truth really is that 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. What people thought was beautiful during the height of the Roman Empire would hardly even get noticed by people today. Well, they might get noticed but we probably wouldn't call them beautiful.

And this is precisely my point. The chaos of the world is like the seas. At one moment, everything looks peaceful and then the next, tsunami. The sky grows black, the wind picks up, the lightning flashes, the thunder peals, the waves begin to toss us to and fro and the sea becomes more and more a powerful, deadly thing. The whole creation beings to groan like a woman in travail.

But look at the passages quoted above once more. Jesus 'calms the sea'. He walks on the water. It is when creation's true king appears that the world begins to calm. Creation recognizes her King. At the mere touch of her King, the groaning begins to subside. The pain begins to fade. Peace comes. That is the very thing that happens when we truly look to Jesus. We must first acknowledge him for who he is. Then we must trust him. Then we must follow him. We must keep our eyes on him. If, just for an instant, we look at something else, we begin to sink in the turmoil around us. But, if we call out to him, he is faithful to rescue us.

The stories of Jesus walking on the water, of calming the sea, is a picture of the New Creation coming into being. Not only within the cosmos but witin people themselves.

May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.

+OD

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Linux Mint 5

-
Image
It's been a while since I did a technological (read: geek) blog, so I thought I would update you on what's going on. As you are aware, I am a full-fledged geek by trade and passion and I have gone from Windows to Mac to Linux.  My Linux evolution went from Linspire to Mepis to PCLinuxOS to Ubuntu .  I stayed with PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu for the longest.  However, I have always read good things about another distribution called Linux Mint .  It's based on the latest Ubuntu release but with a lot of add-ons.  The latest version is called Linux Mint 5, Elyssa.  So, at the office, I downloaded the latest iso and tried it out to see how it all worked. First of all, there are always some things I keep in mind when trying any new Linux distro, the primary thing being, 'How would the average user feel about using this OS?'  'Is it (very) simple to install?  Is it easy to use?  Is it easy to get help?  Is it easy to add or remove applications?  Is the terminal (command ...
Read more

The OS Problem

-
I recently purchased a new laptop.  It's a Gateway M-6843 .  It's wonderful!  The very first thing I did, of course, was install Ubuntu 8.04.1 .  I plugged in the laptop and booted from the Ubuntu CD and clicked the install icon.  After about a week, I saw this blog detailing how this person got a refund from HP because he didn't want to use Windows Vista.  So, I started the process with Gateway.  It's been about a week and it's going to be a long process.  Customer Support at Gateway gave me the run-around so I am in the process of writing a letter to the Corporate Office. The reason for all of this is because of the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) from Microsoft.  According to the EULA, if I choose not to use Vista, I should contact the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM, in my case this would be Gateway) for a refund or credit.  But this begs the question: Why don't people get this option before buying the system?  That is, instead of having the cust...
Read more

Series: New Testament Eschatology

-
Image
From time to time, I hear a lot about the early church’s understanding of the “end of the world” or their belief that the “Second Coming of Jesus” would take place within their generation. And it’s usually not in a very good light. “They were obviously mistaken,” is often the remark I hear most. I know it’s hard to imagine but what if we’re mistaken? What if we’ve misunderstood what they meant? I’m hoping that this series on some of the major statements from the New Testament about the “end of the world” will show that they weren’t mistaken in their understanding of the “signs of the times.” Before we begin, however, let’s look at some terms that will have to be used. As most of you know, I try to refrain from using big “church” words. My reason for this is because those words are like suitcases where ideas and thoughts and understandings are packed into them. To explain the words would mean a long time spent unpacking the suitcases and explaining their contents. While such a pil...
Read more