NewCreation

Homily for Sunday 19 in Ordinary Time Year A

Welcome, my sisters and brothers, to this Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our Gospel today continues directly on from last Sunday's Gospel, where, if you remember, Jesus was re-enacting the manna and quails in the desert. He was re-enacting Moses feeding the people, but being much more than Moses, being the sign of what Moses had been pointing to. And we continue in exactly the same vein today, but now we move from Moses to Joshua. It's all in very fast motion. Today's Gospel begins immediately. Jesus is in a hurry to get his disciples into the promised land — that they should understand that that's what the purpose of the journey of the people of God through the wilderness was: to get to the promised land. So he makes the disciples, immediately, before he even sends the crowds away, makes them get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side. In other words, he's sending Joshua and his troops on ahead into the promised land — actually, the troops representing the twelve tribes — on ahead into the promised land, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. Two things going on here. One: yes, he needed to detox. After all, he'd been in the midst of a crowd of people before whom he had enacted an extraordinary sign that one greater than Moses was here, and the risk of him, as a human, picking up the vibes of the crowd's understanding of messiahhood are always likely. So he goes to spend time to detox. That's one thing he's doing. But another thing he's doing — remember — is that Moses didn't get to see the promised land. Moses goes up into the mountain and dies, disappears. And it's Joshua who has to carry on. So here he is, going up to the mountain by himself to pray. This is Moses disappearing. "When evening came, he was there alone. But by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them." Now, let's remember: if you're the disciples, this is not the first time you have been in a boat in a storm on a lake while following Jesus. In fact, in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 8, we have the story of how they got into a boat and Jesus was asleep in it. They got into a storm and they lost it, and in the middle he woke up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and they recognized who he was. "Who is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" The obvious answer being: it is the Lord, it is Yahweh, whose way is through the midst of the sea. In other words, it was not their first time in this gig, the disciples. So it's rather interesting that they're in the boat and the boat was being battered — it was far from the land, the wind was against them — it was literally the fourth watch of the night, so somewhere between three and six a.m. And at this stage it doesn't talk about them being frightened; they're just going flying on through. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost." In other words, their first reaction is to misapprehend what's going on here, because the one walking across the sea is Joshua, who led the people of Israel and the ark of the covenant across the Jordan dry-footed. The Jordan dammed itself up in a repetition of the Red Sea miracle, according to the book of Joshua, and the people walked dry-shod through the sea of Jordan — the swollen Jordan, the river of Jordan. But the key thing was that their feet remained absolutely dry, and Joshua later collected the stones on which the priests had carried the ark dry across the river. But here we have Joshua — and the ark itself — re-performing the miracle. But one greater than Joshua, one who actually is the ark, re-performing the miracle of the walking across the Jordan. But they, of course, slightly misguided, think it's a ghost. They're not quite aware that they are reenacting the second part of the move to the promised land. And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid." This is wonderful — he's quoting something from Isaiah here. "Do not fear" — this is Isaiah 43 — "do not fear, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you." So this is the Lord confirming to the people who are making the trek into the promised land, and this is what's going ahead. And rather wonderfully, the moment he perceives it's not a ghost, Peter kind of half gets the idea right. He half realizes that this is a Joshua thing, and therefore he who's the leader ought to be kind of Joshua too. So he wants to see whether he can walk across the river of Jordan dry-footed as well. So he says, "If you command me to come to you on the water" — saying, "Yeah, I get it, I want to be your Joshua" — because Jesus of course just means Joshua, and Joshua and Jesus are the same thing. And he says, "Come." So Peter gets out of the boat, starts walking on the water, and comes toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened and began to sink, so he cried out, "Lord, save me." But please notice: all this is entirely unnecessary. Peter's doing this is just, if you like, a fit of enthusiasm which requires him to get out of the boat, which is perfectly safe for going across the storm. If you like, you're even putting yourself at greater risk than you need to be, and it's really quite pointless. But our Lord doesn't rebuke him, doesn't tick him off for doing this. "You know you want to do that, you want to become the new Joshua like me? Come on, come on, give it a go. The only way through this is learning." Peter realizes that no, he has to get back into the boat, as so many of our holy fathers have had to learn over the centuries that rather than trying to run things from outside the boat, they have to get back into it. And so our current holy father really understands that his job is inside the boat. Our Lord reaches out to him, catches him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" And the funny thing is that we all assume that that means, "Why did you doubt in your walking, when you walked on the water?" But maybe it means something richer than that: "Why did you doubt that I was coming to you in the boat, that the ark would cross, that the Lord would be with you in the boat?" As I was before — last time we had this story, you didn't need to get out. "I am coming into the boat. The ark is going in the midst of the people, and I am more than the ark, I am more than Joshua, and you are going to get to the other side safely and fully." When they got into the boat, the wind ceased, and those in the boat worshipped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." Again, this wonderful realization that it is the Lord — the Lord whose ways are through the waters. This is a quote from Psalm 77: "Your way was through the sea, your path through the mighty waters, yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses" — and here, by the hand of Joshua. All of this is brought beautifully to life in Psalm 107, which is actually obviously being quoted here, since it actually has the sense of the disciples crying out to the Lord in their distress, and bringing them out of their distresses: "He makes the storm calm, so that the waves thereof are still; then are they glad because they be quiet, so he bringeth them unto their desired haven." So please notice what we're having here is the second part of the trek into the promised land, the Lord showing that there is one more than Joshua, and that even the manner of following and being the new people doesn't even… They need a leader, a Joshua-star leader. He will be in their midst, all together, and will be carrying the cross himself. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.