9/28/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5.9)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Let’s get on board with this beatitude, shall we? The best image that comes to my mind in illustrating this promise of living righteously is captured on the troubled waters of Lake Genneseret, or the Sea of Galilee. The call to “get on board” with it is obvious when we look at two recollections from the disciples’ experience on the waters of the Sea of Galilee. We know them both and can easily share them with others. We have heard them since Vacation Bible School and Sunday School were “a thing.” But, as we tell those stories where do we put the emphasis. Of course, it is on Jesus Christ whom the disciples acknowledge is “The Lord of the Sea and the Waves.” They marvel at His power over the elements of the earth. They also marvel at the result of the exercise of His power over those elements. Many, perhaps too many, call these superhuman or supernatural powers. For Jesus, it was neither. Rather, it was His ability to make peace with the situation and restore it back to order. If we throw ourselves back into the troubled waters of “pre-creation”, we will find that God did not have an affinity with chaos. When Moses shares the description of God’s creating “…the heavens and the earth,” it begins with “…and it was formless and void.” Don’t be duped into thinking that ex nihilo, the concept of creating something out of nothing, means the absence of “stuff.” All the building blocks of life existed in a state of chaos, disparity, disconnectedness, turmoil and confusion. No one and nothing was at peace outside of the Kingdom of God, in that heavenly realm which is His own. As Moses preceded through the description of the Master Craftsman and Architect at work, things seemingly “got on board” with God’s mission, purpose and identity. The building up and establishment of a living and harmonious community was accomplished in that “six days of God’s work.” Even on the seventh day, the Sabbath, the rest God calls to order was not a ceasation of activity but of the need to create anything more. To pursue further creation would mean that what had been created was insufficient to the task. There was to be no more struggling against something as if a life and death conflict still existed. Mighty ones of God, sin still wants to convince us that creation is insufficient. Believing that, we must commit ourselves to believing that God is insufficient. If anything may be closer to the truth it would be the following. The continuing creation of “new things” is the measure and means of restoring balance to the chaos which sin has wrought. We are not so much moving ahead but catching back up. Instead of trusting in the way, means and identity of God, we rush ahead making more and achieving less in developing who we already are as made in the image of Jesus Christ Himself. It is time to be at peace and “get on board” with Jesus.

Doing this allows us to become the peacemakers Jesus said that we can be. I would suggest that it wasn’t merely what we can be. Instead, I believe it is what we should be. It should be our goal and objective as followers of Christ. We should not simply “lean on Jesus” to do it for us. He gave us His Holy Spirit as a blessing to accomplish all that He has taught us, continues to teach us by the Word and the Holy Spirit and to put into practice those lessons of righteous living empowered by the same Spirit that unites us as humanity with God. In both stories I have only alluded to, this would be the case.

Story 1: The fishing boats of the disciples and other followers of Jesus are travelling from one side of Lake Genneseret to the other. For natural or unnatural reasons, a great storm rises out of the darkness. It crests the surrounding hilltops and mountain tops and comes crashing down on the sea like a mighty wave off the coast of Portugal or the North Shore of Hawaii. Some love to take on those great waves. All merely want to survive the experience and live to tell about it. Even those who were experienced fishermen in these waters, shuddered at the thought of being caught in the midst of such a tempest. They had no desire to conquer the wind and the waves. They did want to survive to live and tell about the experience. There in the midst of all that chaos and angst was Jesus. He did not have His hand cupped over His eyes peering for the shore and a safe haven. He did not put His hand to the rudder. He did grasp the sail line with the other to hold a small sail in the proper angle to keep balance. He did not hold the anchor line. He did not put His hands to His head in despair. He did not grasp the side of the boat to surrender His lunch to the sea. He slept. With His head resting on fishing nets as it there were a pillow, Jesus slept. And the disciples raged at Jesus to awaken Him crying out, “Do You care so little that You cannot regard our own lives and safety?” In other words, they were saying, “If You are God, then do something here and now!” Wow. Really? If followers of Jesus for three years through thick and thin amounted only to this kind of response, is it little wonder why those who have not met the Master of the Wind and the Wave have a difficult time with the gospel? What was needed in the moment was for the disciples to “get on board” with Jesus. I don’t mean “get in the boat.” They were already in the boat. I mean, get in tune with Jesus. Practice what He was preaching with His life in that moment. Jesus slept not because He knew God would not let Him come to harm. Jesus slept not because He knew that if He died, He would live again. Jesus slept not because He knew the end was not in that moment. Jesus slept because He trusted the Lord with all His heart, mind, soul, body and strength. Jesus did not lean on His own understanding but that of God. He embraced God’s shalom and rested. But, as Jesus was literally in the same boat with the disciples and other followers, He rose up and spoke “Peace, be still.” He took control. He issued the order. He spoke into the chaos. The chaos obeyed. The winds lowered to a gentle breeze. The waves became mere ripples on the face of the water. Jesus brought peace into a situation and allowed the disciples to do what they would normally due in such times: bail and set sail.

Story 2: Once again, the disciples and other followers, find themselves on the lake at night. It shows extreme confidence for the fishermen to travel across the lake. It is a confidence that is born out of the experience of always being on the lake at night. In contrast to most “lake” fishers who fish during the daylight hours, the Galilean fishers went out at night. This does not insinuate any evil intent. It shows wisdom in their craft. They did not fish “in the dark,” but only at night. The Galilean boats were equipped with lanterns which cast a light over the waters. You might imagine how those boats might appear on the dark waters as the “spirit of light” hovered over them. If that sounds vaguely familiar, then I would direct your attention again to Genesis 1, verse 2: “Now the earth was formless and void (devoid of purpose), darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Some might even consider the appearance of the Temple of God in Jerusalem there on Mount Zion. While it was not the highest peak among the seven there at Jerusalem, it was the brightest. Think of it this way. As you are driving at night down a long dark stretch of highway, in the distance you see an aura of light. If it is cloudy, it would seem that the light hovered over the darkness so as to drive it away. Of course, while it may drive the darkness away, it draws living things to it as a moth to a candle or cold hands to a warming fire. The Temple may not have been visible to the naked eye from miles away, but the aura of light which illumined it was. So was the principle of well-lit fishing boats. The Spirit of light hovering over the dark waters attracted fish to it. As the water became alive, the fishers would cast their nets and harvest a catch of fish. The chaotic waters were soon replaced by peaceful calm waters with the nets drawn up out of them. With that peace came the joy of success. You can imagine the sense of failure when the waters remained dark until the light of day signaled a job not full-filling. On this night, the disciples had gone ahead of Jesus to the other side. Why did they leave Him behind? It wasn’t with a confidence that “He will find a way,” I am sure. It was because He said so. He was delayed because after a long day of teaching He needed to solace of the night to dwell in the presence of the Lord unabated. But, as seems the pattern, a storm rose up and over the mountains and swooping down “the plain” of the water and caught the disciples in its chaos. Struggling mightily against the wind and the waves, they lost their bearing. What they feared was death and no one to save them. They didn’t even consider God answering their prayers for deliverance nor that Jesus was the answer. That became obvious when one of them saw a figure walking on the water toward them. Captured in the “myths of the sea,” they assumed the figure was a harbinger of death; a ghost. I have no doubt that Jesus was aglow with the glory of having spent time with the Father. In the midst of the dark sky and waters, the Spirit of Light hovered over the face of the deep. Another recognized the figure as it neared to be Jesus. Peter cried out, “If it is You, Lord, call me to come out and meet with You.” Did Peter think that Jesus simply knew where the rocks were? Did he think that Jesus had found a sandbar which reached out in their direction? Or did Peter simply forget himself and want to share in the “glory” of walking on the water as an exercise of faith. Peter was, after all, the most brazen of the disciples [I am not sure it was boldness.] And what did Jesus do but call Him. Why? Because He was Jesus and Peter said, “If it is You, call me out!” Jesus was true to His word, faithful and obedient to a fault. And Peter responded in like kind. He stepped out of the tempest tossed boat and found calm waters to cross to Jesus. Maybe in that moment, like the Red Sea for the Hebrew free bound from Egypt to Canaan, the waters parted and Peter was able to cross over. Regardless, as long as his eye was on Jesus he was at peace. But, when his eye looked to what was happening around him, a watery grave rose up and consumed him. He called out in a panic fearing all was lost. He needed Jesus. His faith alone was not enough. He needed the faithfulness of Jesus to bring him up. Jesus responded, again true to His word. He then took Peter back to the boat and they got in it together. When they did, the wind abated and the waters calmed.

But, there is more to see as we consider this beatitude. Remember, it says “blessed are the peacemakers.” Those who “get on board” with Jesus whether in the water or on the water (figuratively more than literally) will be able to make peace with the world around them. They are able to walk, and sail and fish and worship and live, by faith and not merely limited to what they see. Seeing can be believing just as much as it can be deceiving. But, faith is “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” What is the result of being a peacemaker as Jesus was a peacemaker and as He teaches us to be peacemakers? In other words, what is the blessing which comes to those who accept the call to live in peace; be at peace with themselves, others and God; and promote the life of peace which true righteousness conceives and creates? It is nothing less and nothing more than being called “children of God.” That is, after all, what we are as being first created. It is also what we are when we are recreated and born again. Children of God with the full benefit of dwelling in the midst of God and God’s Kingdom as joint heirs with Jesus as the Christ. As He is the greatest peacemaker, so should we be in His name.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.