Drops

Central to what we find Jesus doing in the world is bringing God's 'Way' to earth. It is typically referenced as God's Kingdom or the Kingdom of Heaven [just a Jewish way to say 'God' without actually saying it] and it has the implication that, by Jesus using this particular phrase and language, he was intentionally contrasting the other kingdoms all over the world. The kingdom of Rome, the kingdom of Herod, the kingdoms of violence and oppression and injustice, the individual selfish kingdoms that we so often orient our worlds around.

It is into this that Jesus enters announcing that another Kingdom is on the scene, the Kingdom that embodies the very essence of God and God's vision for humanity.

This is what Jesus means when he brings up God's Kingdom.

It is God's realm.

God's movement.

God's economy.

God's sphere.

God's dominion.

God's Way.

Not ours.

The Kingdom is just another way of talking about God's dream for the world.



And I think a good way to describe how this thing works is that it is a bit like the ocean.



The Kingdom of God is like the ocean.






__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________




There is this story about Jesus that many of us have heard again and again. It is a story that doesn't really seem to make a whole lot of sense, has resulted in a lot of bad sermons and, really, just causes a lot of confusion often leaving me thinking, "There has got to be more to it than this."



[Mark 4v35-41]

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, 
"Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd behind, 
they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.
Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, 
and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.

But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke 
him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing!?"

He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!"
Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, 
"Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?"

And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, 
"Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

So usually we get something about how this proves Jesus is actually God and has power over creation, which is great stuff, but is that really it?

The story has just become this seemingly out of place and strange event thoroughly disconnected from everything else going on in the rest of the text.




___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________





The Hebrew Bible has a thematic narrative arc to it.

The Jewish people are in slavery, they are liberated, they become the very Empire they needed rescued from, and then they go into exile right back where they started.

Consequentially, the majority of their story takes place in exile.

Again and again, foreign dominators come in and take over, typically deporting most of the nation away to a pagan land, and Israel is forced to somehow return, both physically and mentally, from the sort of captivity they again find themselves in.

It is in the midst of this narrative arc that we get a story about a man named Daniel. The Babylonian Empire had come and overtaken Israel and had deported some of its inhabitants back to the foreign land.

Daniel was one of them.

So at one point, Daniel has this dream and the central essence of the dream is the presence of these various "beasts" who represented the various oppressive empires that had placed Israel in exile.

Because this was Israel's story.

Oppressive empire after oppressive empire leaving them in the bondage of exile.
God's people that had supposedly been liberated keep finding themselves dominated
by foreign pagan rulers.

This is the dream that Daniel has.

And the important detail to note is that all of this Gentile oppression, all of this slavery to the pagan world, Daniel tells us that it happens on the sea.

Now, for the Jewish people, you knew the text. From the time you were first able to hear and listen, you were told the stories of your people. You went to school to study and immerse yourself in the scrolls of your ancestors and the writings of the Torah and the Prophets and, eventually, you would know them so well that you had the entire Hebrew Bible memorized.

Genesis to Malachi.

Memorized.

Central to being a Jew was having the text engrained in your soul.

So eventually, when someone referred to "the sea", you knew exactly what was meant. Your mind immediately was taken to the dream of Daniel.

The sea came to mean the beasts of Gentile oppression in all of their terror and chaos and evil.



________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________




Back to the story of Jesus in Mark 4.

Where is Jesus?

The sea.

This is why it is so important to read a story in its entirety. For some reason, we've developed the habit of exporting 'passages' of text or even single verses out of the narrative as a whole and into the abstract context-less world as if the Gospels and other writings are just collages as opposed to stories with structure and arc and rhythm and flow. It is like taking a line out of a movie with no sort of reference to the movie's structure and context that gives meaning to that very line. Because even with this story of the storm on the sea, there is a backdrop that propels us into what the author is trying to show us. Up until this point, Jesus has interacted mostly with Israel, but now, we are told that he is going "across the sea", outside of Israel.

It is at this point that we get this strange story of Jesus on the sea.

Do you see what the author is doing here?

Jesus, in fulfilling what it means to be the Messiah, in continuing the story the prophets had spoken of that Mark is so clear on pointing out, is on the sea because this movement he is bringing, the Kingdom of God, involves expanding it to the Gentile people. Jesus is taking Israel in the direction God has always destined them for - to the ends of the earth.

So naturally, Mark is going to have to confront the connotation of the sea. If Jesus is going to take God's dominion to the very places and powers that have been oppressing the Jewish people for centuries, somewhere in his story he is going to have to involve confronting the dream of Daniel that has been so real throughout Israel's history.

And this is why Jesus goes to the sea. Because not only does Jesus want to enter into the oppression of the world, Jesus also wants to liberate it. He wants to go to these Gentile beasts and heal them.

But doing so would probably be a bit like a storm.





______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________





Yet the story gets stranger.

Not only has Jesus brought his disciples into the storm that occurs when you enter into the heart of "the sea", Jesus has fallen asleep in the midst of it. He is at the stern of the boat, on a cushion, asleep.

Which obviously makes the disciples a little upset and their pleas of, "Why are you asleep? Don't you see we are perishing?" are certainly justified.

Now, if you are reading this or hearing it read, you would be picking up on something because, remember, you know the text. You have the story of the Hebrew Bible memorized and so in the midst of this storm on the sea, you not only realize the role of Daniel 7 as the theme of the situation, you are picking up on something else as well.

There is this thing in Jewish culture called a remez. Essentially, you would quote one line of a particular text, especially a Psalm, but by quoting that one line, you implied the entire thing. It would be the same thing as me writing, "I have a dream..." Because in my writing that, it brings to mind the whole speech of Martin Luther King Jr. and his message of liberation. But all I have to say is the one line.

This is a remez.

And in Mark 4, this is what the disciples are doing.

They aren't just giving an emotional outburst of their fear and anger. They are quoting Psalm 44. And in their quotation, they are implying the entire thing. For us, we probably don't have Psalm 44 memorized, so we have to do the extra work of going back and reading it and, when we do, it sheds a lot of light on what the disciples are attempting to communicate to Jesus.

We have heard with our ears, O God,

our ancestors have told us, 

what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:

you with your own hand drove out the nations,

but them you planted; 

you afflicted peoples,

but them you set free;

for not by their own sword did they win the land, 

nor did their own arm give them victory;

but your right hand, and your arm,

and the light of your countenance,

for you delighted in them.

You are my King and my God;

you command victories for Jacob.

Through you we push down our foes;

through your name we tread down our assailants.

For not in my bow do I trust, 

nor can my sword save me.

But you have saved us from our foes,

and have put to confusion those who hate us.

In God we have boasted continually,

and we will give thanks to your name forever.

Yet you have rejected us and abased us, 

and have not gone out with our armies.

You made us turn back from the foe,

and our enemies have taken spoil for themselves.

You have made us like sheep for slaughter,

and have scattered us among the nations.

You have sold your people for a trifle,

demanding no high price for them.

You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,

the derision and scorn of those around us.

You have made us a byword among the nations,

a laughing-stock among the peoples.

All day long my disgrace is before me,

and shame has covered my face

at the words of the taunters and revilers,

at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.

All this has come upon us,

yet we have not forgotten you,

or been false to your covenant.

Our heart has not turned back, 

nor have our steps departed from your way,

yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals,

and covered us with deep darkness.

If we had forgotten the name of our God,

or spread out our hands to a strange god,

would not Adonai discover this?

For he knows the secrets of the heart.

Because of you we are being killed all day long, 

and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?

Awake, do not cast us off forever!

Why do you hide your face?

Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

For we sink down to the dust;

our bodies cling to the ground.

Rise up, come to our help. 

Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.

God, you have delivered our ancestors, yet here we sit rejected. We've been exiled by all of these beasts and empires, we've become practically extinct in the world, we are starving and poor and oppressed, and, despite our continuous obedience, we've still lost our land and been destroyed.

This is what the disciples are saying to Jesus.

"Here we sit in the middle of the sea, in the midst of Gentile oppression, of the evil beasts and pagan domination.

So when are you gonna do something?!

Why is this happening?

WAKE UP!"


The disciples have committed themselves to following this Jesus, but now, they find themselves in the midst of "the sea" and, naturally, they have some questions.

And we know what it is like to be the disciples.

God is asleep, we have been rejected again, and the cycle of pain and oppression and hopeless dominance continues. We know this story.

Because it is the story of our world.

Yet, in good rabbinic fashion, Jesus doesn't give an explanation. Jesus doesn't argue. He simply responds by quoting a Psalm.

He responds with a remez of his own.

God is our refuge and strength, 

a very present help in trouble.

Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change,

though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy habitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;

God will help it when the morning dawns.

The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

Adonai of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of Adonai;

see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;

he burns the shields with fire.

'Be still. And know that I am God!

I am exalted among the nations, 

I am exalted in the earth'

Adonai of hosts is with us; 

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

So it makes sense that the disciples are amazed. People don't just do this kind of thing, showing a power over "the sea" that has been absent since their exile started so many centuries ago. It would have been groundbreaking for the Jewish people.

Yet this is how Jesus responds.

Which means "Be still..." has some implications.

Because if this is a remez, then Jesus is saying more than just some command to stop the waves and comfort his disciples. Jesus is saying that in the midst of the beasts and the sea and the oppression and the storm, God is still going to do his thing. God is still going to overcome even when it doesn't seem like it.

This is why Jesus also throws in the word "shalom". He is implying that in the midst of a chaotic and oppressive storm, he is still bringing peace.

Which is something that Jesus has already communicated to his disciples and that had been central to his life with them. And this is why he asks the question, "Why are you afraid? Do you still not have faith?"

Essentially Jesus is saying, "Why are you guys second guessing me? I know about the sea, I know about the beasts, I know you think I had given up, that God has been absent in your oppression.

But did you not think I was capable of this?"

Because God doesn't let injustice and pain and terror and evil have the last word. God is in the business of bringing shalom to those things.

So be still and know this.



__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________






Which makes God's movement in the world a bit like the water of the ocean.

Because, chemically, water is incredibly weak. Yet, somehow, it still manages to do things like this:

However, when you watch the water of the ocean crashing against cliffs and rocks, it seems kind of harmless because it isn't really doing anything. It just seems like a child running into their annoyed parent. You can watch the interaction of water and rock for an entire lifetime and still conclude that the water isn't actually making any progress.

It is like the water is a slave to the rock.

But that simply isn't true is it?

Because though it is technically very weak, water has tremendous strength that can't be found in its composition. Because the strength of water is in its persistence. Its strength is not in overpowering shock or showcasing destruction.

But in the slow, constant movement of persistance and time.

It doesn't seem to be making any progress, it is practically asleep, it isn't big or explosive with massive amounts of capacity. It doesn't come with the speed and immediacy that we demand.

Yet it is the very thing capable of carving out the Grand Canyon.

Because water's way of overcoming happens drop by drop by drop and, eventually, it will overcome that rock. Through persistant and enduring crashing that doesn't seem to be making any progress with only small, discouraging, and practically meaningless expansion, God, too, overcomes.

There are all sorts of ways we look around in the world and say, "God why are you sleeping? Don't you see what is happening here? Do you realize the storms and the beasts and the 'sea' that we are in?" Because we live in a world of deep and painful oppression and injustice and big massive rocks that seem to be different manifestations of hell on earth; there is a certain brokenness to the world around us that we inherently know it isn't supposed to be like.

And it is in this world, where we can feel the approaching oppression of the storm, where we experience a world of overwhelming beasts that leave us dismayed and hopeless and rejected that Jesus says,

"Be still..."



Be still.



Be still.



Because God's movement in the world is a bit like the ocean.

So in the midst of the sea - know that God is at work.

Drop

by drop

by drop.