Parting the sea or Walking on Water, God is faithful

A sermon for July30, 2006

2 Kings 21-15 and Mark 6:45-52

When we lived in Austin, Sam worked for an appliance company as an electronics technician. At one point, the owner of another business began to call Sam and offer him a job. Sam’s answer was that he had a job he was happy with. The owner of the new company told him, “Your company is going out of business, you might as well come to work for me.” This guy called Sam every week for three weeks and Sam still said “no.” Then one Monday he went to work and all the employees were handed paychecks and told to cash them immediately, the company was closing. Sam was loyal, he stayed until the bitter end. (And just to make sure that I don’t forget to tell you, Sam did go to work for the other company two days later.)

This is not much different from what’s happening in our first lesson today. This is a story about loyalty. Elisha, who is a prophet apprenticed to Elijah, is told by all the other prophets that his master is going to be taken away that day. And even Elijah gives him the opportunity to leave – “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me…” Three times he gives Elisha the opportunity to leave, and three times Elisha refuses and travels on with his master. His loyalty – his faithfulness – is rewarded – “What may I do for you…” And Elisha asks for a double portion of the spirit that rests on Elijah. The double portion is the share of the oldest male child – the heir – it’s about inheritance. Elisha wants to inherit the heir’s portion of Elijah’s spirit.

There is so much going on here – you notice that everywhere they go, there is a company of prophets who meet them and tell Elisha, “The Lord will take you master away today.” The companies of prophets were similar to monks – followers of Elijah at the various cities.

Elijah and Elisha travel from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to the Jordan river and on across. And look at how they crossed the river. This is the third time that some follower of Yahweh has parted the waters in order to walk across on dry land. Everyone remembers the first time – when Moses parted the Reed Sea so the Israelites could go across and then the Egyptian army got drowned. Fewer people know about the second time when Joshua was leading the people into the Promised Land. They approached the Promised Land from the east, from across the Jordan – in the country that is now called Jordan. When they got ready to cross the river, Joshua told the four priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant to step out into the water. The minute their feet touched the water, it began to draw back from their feet and eventually made a space of dry land wide enough for all the Israelites to cross over. When the last person was across then the priests carried the Ark on across and when they stepped out of the river bed, the water began to flow down again.

Now here we have Elijah who simply hits the water with his mantle and the water parts so they can walk over on dry land. Now remember that there is a company of prophets who have followed them and are watching from a distance to see what will happen. Parting the water means Elijah commands the same kind of relationship with God that both Moses and Joshua had. When they reach the other side Elijah tells Elisha “If you see me taken up, that means that God has granted your wish.” And as they are walking and talking, Elisha sees a chariot of fire and horses of fire and Elijah is taken up in a whirlwind. And when Elijah is gone, he rends his garments – tears them in two. (That’s the way people mourned in those days – grief expressed outwardly and visibly.)

So Elisha picks up Elijah’s mantle and he strikes the water of the Jordan and utters a prayer, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And the waters part – just as they had for Elijah – meaning that God is right there with him just as God had been there with Elijah, and it meant that Elisha had indeed inherited the double portion of Elijah’s Spirit.

Remember those 50 prophets who were watching from the distance, they saw this and knew that Elisha was now the prophet in Judah & Israel. They came and bowed down before Elisha to show that their allegiance now rested with him because of the power of God that they saw working in him.

They saw the power of God working in Elisha – just as the disciples saw the power of God working in Jesus. With Moses and Joshua and Elijah and Elisha, there was this dramatic parting of the waters so that they could cross. With Jesus, he doesn’t part the water, he simply walks across it. With this, Mark sets Jesus apart from all the others – he’s different – he doesn’t have to part the waters – he just walks across it – no dramatics.

When we saw Jesus Christ Superstar, I remember King Herod’s song and the funny line from it, “walk across my swimming pool…” When we were in Israel we visited Caesarea and the excavations of Herod’s palace and I was surprised to find he really did have a swimming pool. And that was not unusual – there were also swimming pools at Massada – ten stories up – and also at Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. But back to Jesus…

This ability of Jesus to walk on water shows the power of God working in him in a totally different way. Now the disciples have heard him teach, and seen him heal the sick, and drive out the demons and feed five thousand people with only two fish and five loaves – but that’s different – that’s working with people and very human things. Well, maybe not the driving out demons, but he’s still working with people – you might say he’s working out of his humanity in those things.

But this is the second time in the Gospel of Mark that we see Jesus doing something truly astonishing – and both times it’s on the water. Back in chapter 4, the disciples are in the boat and Jesus is asleep in the back. You remember that Jesus got up and stilled the storm and they were amazed that he had command over even the wind and the waves.

Now the disciples are on the water again, but Jesus isn’t with them this time. He stayed on the shore to dismiss the crowd of 5000 people and he went up on a mountain to pray. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Just when you think you have everything taken care of, something else happens. A wind came up and it says the disciples were “straining at the oars.” The idea is that they were rowing as hard as they could and not going anywhere. They were staying in the same place.

So Jesus comes walking to them early in the morning – other versions say “in the fourth watch of the night” – which, using the Roman terminology, would be between 3 am and 6 am. And it says that he was going to pass them by. Mark uses this phrase to remind his listeners about two occurrences in the Old Testament.

In Exodus 33:22, God tells Moses to go on the mountain and he will see God “pass by.” Moses was to hide in a crevice in the rock until God had passed by and then he could come out and see God’s back.

The other occurrence was in 1 Kings 19:11 – Elijah had defeated the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel and had gone into hiding for fear of Queen Jezebel. God chides him for hiding and tells him to go stand out on the mountain because the Lord is about to “pass by.” Remember, there’s a great wind, and an earthquake and a fire, but Elijah knows that God is not in those things – but when he hears a gentle whisper – a light breeze, if you will – he knows God is present.

So Jesus was about to “pass by” but the disciples saw him and cried out. They thought they were seeing a ghost. Jesus tells them – ‘fear not – don’t be afraid – it is I.” A better translation might be “I am” which would refer back to Moses when he asked God who he was – God said, “I am.” And here we have Jesus saying essentially the same thing. The divinity of Jesus is being stressed in images that go back a thousand years and more.

(Remember this next week when we come back to Moses and Elijah with Jesus on the mountain of Transfiguration.)

Experts argue over what this means that Jesus was coming to them and meant to pass them by. But I think that Jesus saw them in trouble and came to be near them – then when they cry out for help, he’s right there. I think that Jesus doesn’t that today. He sees us in trouble and he comes to stand by us – and when we cry out for help, he is right there and makes his presence known. \

Notice when he steps into the boat, what happens, well, the wind dies down, of course. He comes to us, he gets in the boat with us – whatever troubled waters you might be going through – Jesus will get in the boat with you and he will calm the wind and calm the sea and bring you through to the other side. He will see you through everything in this life – and he will see you through even to the next life. There is not anything that you have to do alone.

Elisha had the mantle of Elijah to fall back on. We have Jesus.

Jesus was with God in the beginning and all things were created through him – therefore all things are subject to him. And he will take care of us when we cry out to him. God is the faithful one – loyal to us – even to the bitter end. Just as Elisha cried out, “Where is the God of Elijah?” and he was made known to him: so we cry out, where is God in Jesus – and he reaches out to us – wherever we are, in whatever condition we are – Jesus comes to us with great power – out of great love for us. He sees us straining against the oars of this world – and he is there.

Please feel free to comment. Send an email to me at nan@doerrworks.com