Master, Master, we are perishing!

 Icon of the Calming of the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Greek Orthodox Church of the Twelve Apostles, Capernaum, Galilee (photo: Fr. Patrick McInerney)

"No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.  For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.  Therefore take heed how you hear.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him."

Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd.  And it was told Him by some, who said, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You."  But He answered them and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."

Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples.  And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake."  And they launched out.  But as they sailed He fell asleep.  And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy.  And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!"  Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water.  And they ceased, and there was a calm.  But He said to them, "Where is your faith?"  And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be?  For he commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!"

- Luke 8:16-25

Yesterday we read that after Jesus preached the Sermon on the Plain, He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.  And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities -- Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.  And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable:  "A sower went out to sow his seed.  And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.  Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.  But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold."  When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Then His disciples asked Him, saying, "What does this parable mean?"  And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that  'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'  Now the parable is this:  The seed is the word of God.  Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.  But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.  Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and the pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.  But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience."

  "No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.  For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.  Therefore take heed how you hear.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him."  Jesus continues here to speak about the work of parables.  In yesterday's reading, He emphasized the capacity of the hearer to truly "hear," quoting from Isaiah (see Isaiah 6:9-10).  He indicates here that receptivity to the "mysteries of the Kingdom" will produce more, will allow those who can hear to grow in their capacity to comprehend.  He has revealed a great light, and now does so through parables.  But that light will come to those who can grasp it.  To those who are dull of perception, even what they have will be taken away.

Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd.  And it was told Him by some, who said, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You."  But He answered them and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."   There is a kind of relationship inherent in the capacity to receive His word, and here Jesus indicates this notion of family and communion.  His "brothers" are extended family, as the term brothers is still commonly used in the Middle East.  He's not rejecting His family, who haven't yet understood His mission and identity.  But, according to St. John Chrysostom, He corrects both them and His hearers "to the right idea concerning Himself," that the family of His Kingdom "is not by nature but by virtue."

Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples.  And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake."  And they launched out.  But as they sailed He fell asleep.  And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy.  And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!"  Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water.  And they ceased, and there was a calm.  But He said to them, "Where is your faith?"  And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be?  For he commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!"  My study bible says that Christ deliberately permits the windstorm to arise while He's sleeping in order to perfect their faith, and to rebuke their weaknesses, so that eventually they will remain unshaken by life's temptations.  These are the ones He will send out to the world on a mission, and they must be prepared for whatever they will encounter with faith.  Here their faith is still mixed with unbelief.  They showed faith when they came to Him, but unbelief when they said, "We are perishing."

Icons of the Church historically portray the Church as a boat or ship.  The image is an ancient one, and served the early Church to portray its mission on a sea of disbelief, persecution, and the problems of the world (or "worldliness").  In some sense the image illustrates what Jesus has taught in yesterday's reading with the parable of the Sower.  He taught that the seeds that did not truly take root and bear fruit were among those from whom the devil snatched away the word, or for whom temptations took away the word, or the cares, riches, and the pleasures of life choked out its roots.  The changes of life bring unanticipated challenges.  Chaos may be a part of that experience.  A stormy sea blown by the wind is an image of all of those obstacles that will be tossed on the path of the Church, that divine-human organism that carries the Word through human history.   In the story of the ship tossed by the sea, the disciples are terrified.  We remember that among them are seasoned fishermen (Peter, James, and John -- and most likely Andrew also, Peter's brother), and their fishing territory is the Sea of Galilee.  But in today's story, they are set off with Christ toward an unusual destiny to the other side of the lake (the Lake of Tiberias or Sea of Galilee are two names for the same body of freshwater), outside of what is known to them.  (There they will have a strange experience indeed.)  In a sense, this is a preparation mission, undertaken with Christ, for what they will be doing as His apostles.  He alone is calm enough to sleep while the boat is storm-tossed, and His one word to them is to ask, "Where is your faith?"  He is the one who calms the winds and the water.  But the Church will always be on this mission, and the ship has served as symbol from the earliest times of the Church.  The ship is also a reminder of Noah's ark, carrying those of faith through the waters of the earth.  It's a symbol that teaches us that the Church isn't an institution that stands still, but rather a living organism that is both human and divine, that must always meet its challenges, and is always on a pilgrimage with Christ to lead us.  It is an understanding that teaches us that we are reliant on Christ above all else.  From a Scriptural perspective, the Lord of the Old Testament, who guided Israel, is present as Christ.  The icon in the photo above is an icon of today's Scripture reading, but it also tells us something of the story of the Church.  If you look closely, you see two images of Christ in the boat:  one is of Him asleep, and in the other He is giving the blessing.  In both images, He is not only identified as Jesus Christ, but wears the crown of light in which is usually inscribed the letters that form the Greek version of the Tetragrammaton (Ο ΩΝ), that give the meaning "I am that I am," or the holy name of the Lord.  This ship isn't bound by time, as each moment of His life is with us, and He is presently always with us.  As we who make up the membership in the Church are all in this boat together, we may think of strengthening one another's faith as part of the mission of this ship, the way in which we survive and continue on and grow to meet our challenges, even through history.  On that boat are all the saints, and all who may guide and command, and the souls the ship will carry to its destination.  That is something, indeed, to think about.