God of the Gaps: Shock & Awe

One of the sins of modern Christianity is to perpetuate the idea that with enough prayer, enough Bible study, and enough brainpower, we can divine God’s will for our lives. Modern Christianity is a child of the Enlightenment—as such it has emphasized empirical analysis and careful scrutiny as the way of knowledge. That might work for science, but the idea of a finite human mind comprehending an infinite deity in any satisfactory was is foolhardy. Paul says we now only know in part, although one day when we have our perfect mind and perfect bodies, we will know in full (1 Cor. 13:9-12).

In the meantime we have to muddle along, struggling to comprehend the incomprehensible, and every revelation from God is as likely to spawn more questions than answers.

Matthew 8:23-27

Commentary

Matthew and the parallel accounts in Mark 4:35-41 & Luke 8:22-25 differ on some of the details of the event—the disciples’ plea to Jesus, Jesus’ rebuke of the disciples, and even the disciples’ response to this revelation. (Comparing and contrasting these three accounts is a good example of what’s called synoptic criticism. When one compares the different versions of an event like this one, the particular details, style, and theme of any particular gospel account sometimes more clearer.)

v25 Lord save us! Compare this cry for help with the versions in Mark and Luke. Put yourself into the story—which sounds the most like what you would say? (Remember, in hindsight you know Jesus is the Son of God, but to these guys, he’s just a great rabbi who just might be the Messiah who’s going to kick the Romans out of Judah.)

We’re going to drown! (Literally, “We are being destroyed!”) Again, compare with Mark and Luke. What would you say to a sleeping rabbi in the back of the boat?

v27 What kind of man is this? Mark & Luke both ask, “Who IS this?” In either case, the revelation of Jesus as Lord of Creation is so beyond their immediate ability to understand that they are left with these questions. God’s action here doesn’t answer their questions—at least not all at once.

Application

“The men were amazed.” Luke says they were afraid & amazed. Mark simply says, “They were terrified.” For as much as we sing songs about Jesus being our friend, how much we want to know God, frequently God’s intervention in our lives leaves us with shock & awe. We end up with questions, not answers.

Matt. 9:8 – Jesus heals a paralytic, and the witnesses are awe-struck. (They don’t comprehend that Jesus is God. To them, he is a man who has been given authority.)

Matt. 9:33 – Jesus casts out a demon & the crowd says, “Nothing like this has ever been done in Israel.” (At the same time, the Pharisees really don’t get it—they ascribe Jesus’ power to the Prince of Demons.)

Matt. 15:31 – Jesus heals many & the crowd is amazed. (But the disciples still don’t get who they’re dealing with; next, they’re grousing about food while Jesus makes lunch for a crowd of 4,000.)

Matt. 21:20 – Jesus withers a fig tree & the amazement of the crowd does not lead to
comprehension. (The Pharisees then ask, “Who gave YOU the authority to do these
things?”)

Matt. 22:22 – After Jesus answers the Pharisees question about paying taxes to Caesar, they are amazed. (But they go away, unchanged.)

Matt. 27:14 – Pilate is amazed when Jesus is silent at his trial.

Shock & awe. God intrudes into our lives:

Our first reaction is not belief, but unbelief: Did what I think just happened really happen?

Disbelief may give way to fear: If this is really the way God operates, will my life have to change?

Fear may give way to bargaining: Can I salvage part of my old life?

Bargaining may give way to faith on the move: OK, I’ll follow, God, but where are we going next?

Jesus calms the storm, and the initial reaction of the disciples is not faith, but disbelief, shock, and fear. Jesus comes into our lives and calms the storm, and our initial reactions are frequently not too different. As much as we may crave stability in our lives:

When you’re on a journey, & the end keeps getting further & further away, then you realize that the real end is the journey” — Joseph Campbell

The Discipline of Pilgrimage:
The Journey IS the Destination

A pilgrimage is a special kind of a journey that presumes something special is going to happen in route. One may think that the special event will occur at a certain place—e.g. a pilgrimage to a holy shrine—but sometimes the event happens in route.

Nikos Kazantzakis tells the story of a monk who planned a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The monk hoped to offer a gift of 30 pounds at a shrine and return home a new man. However, as soon as he left the monastery he met a beggar with a wife and hungry children. When beggar asked the monk for money, and the monk thought for a moment, then gave the money to the beggar and returned to his monastery.

Kazantzakis writes:

He returned home a new person, of course, having recognized that the beggar was Christ himself—not in some magical place far away, but right outside his monastery door ...

Life is a pilgrimage. The story of a pilgrimage is:

This is how life used to be;

this is what happened, where I went, what I did;

this is life is now.

Perhaps life is more like a series of pilgrimages; each day has the potential for this kind of transformation for those who have eyes to se where God is at work. Our job is not to make the miracle; our job is not to invoke the miracle; our job is not to explain the miracle; our job is to see the miracle and respond to what we have seen.

Our destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things. — Henry Miller

Points to Ponder

Where has God worked in your live so powerfully that you have had to go back and reassess your life? What did you keep and take forward with you? What did you have to leave behind?

Confucius said, “Staying is nowhere. It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.