July 27, 2005

 

July 27, 2005

 

 

There is a beautiful little analogy in tonight’s Gospel—one of the best we can take form this somewhat strange little story.

 

The disciples, in the boat, are pushing against the wind. They are struggling forward, so caught up in their struggles.

 

Jesus is alone on the shore.

 

As the disciples move forward against the wind, Jesus walks out to them. There’s an interesting little passage here: “He meant to walk on by.”

 

If he meant to walk on by, what was the purpose in his coming out on the lake?

 

The disciples called to him and he calmed the wind—and therefore their struggling.

 

Whenever we encounter a story like this that, at first glance, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, the one redeeming quality is making the story out own story.

 

Most of us probably find ourselves relating to those disciples in the boat.

 

How often in our lives have we found ourselves straining against the wind, so to speak?

 

How often have we felt as though we are struggling against the forces that be, trying to hold us back?

 

What do we do in those times? How do we feel?

 

Well, certainly we feel sometimes as though God is passing us by as well.

 

God is there, we know, but doesn’t it seem sometimes like God is “out there” somewhere—not here beside us—or even here within us.

 

God sometimes seems “out there” somewhere, about to pass us by without noticing us.

 

It’s a terrible feeling to think of God not thinking of us—of being so close and yet so far and still not giving us a second thought.

 

This despair only makes the struggle against the wind so much more difficult.

 

But then, all we have to do is call out.

 

Even over the chaos and the roar of the wind, somehow our voices—feeble with tiredness as they may be—find their way to God’s ear.

 

And what does God do?

 

God turns and looks at us.

 

God’s attentions are turned in our direction. We know, suddenly, that we are, in fact, important to God and we might feel a bit embarrassed by the fact that we despaired in the first place.

 

All we had to all along was call out and we could’ve avoided all the difficulties we just went though.

 

But there is something even more wonderful about this story and how it relates to us.

 

Not only do we find God turning to us and looking at us.

 

But, like Jesus, in this story, God comes to us.

 

And as God comes to us, God stills the wind we are struggling against.

 

With God’s p[presence comes the calm.