Danger and Fear Meet Salvation – 13 August 2017 – 10th Sunday after Pentecost/ Lectionary 19

Matthew 14:22-33

 Still seeking solitude (cf. 14:13), Jesus went up the mountain alone to pray; the narrator repeats that he was still there alone when evening came. Two forces came down the mountain toward the disciples in the boat: first the wind, and they battled it fiercely. . . But when they saw a man walking through that storm toward them, they were convinced they were really in trouble. . .  They cried out in fear, but Jesus identified himself and said, “do not be afraid.”

. . . Peter was at once doubtful and confident: “If it is you,” he said. . .  Jesus did not chastise him for the test, but invited him to come, and so Peter did…until a strong blast of the wind slapped him in the face and brought him back. Perfect fear drives out faith, but not entirely: Peter cried out for salvation and Jesus' hand found him.

For the second time Jesus questioned a disciple's “little faith,” this time asking, “why did you doubt?” Once again the wind stopped, but this time the disciples do not ask who it might be, rather they worshipped the “Son of God.” –– Paul E. Koptak

1 Kings 19:9-18

Alone on the mountain and afraid of political and religious forces that are out to get him, Elijah waits for the Lord to come. He looks in all the wrong places for God’s presence: wind, earthquake, and fire. But the Lord was not in the powerful and destructive energies that visit Earth regularly. Instead, the Lord was in the silence which Elijah could “hear” and it caused him to recoil by covering his face.

Prof. Robert E. Bornemann, who taught Old Testament at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia held that the literal translation of the Hebrew for “sound of sheer silence” is “the sound of silence pulverized.” That is, God’s presence came to Elijah in less than silence, in crushed silence, in sound––even sound!––that was broken.

In the broken “voices” of this world, we find the presence of God. And from out of that brokenness, the voice of the Lord spoke to Elijah with assurance that his people would remain and survive.

The voice at the mouth of the cave gives Elijah the command to appoint new leaders with the assurance that he is not alone: a remnant of seven thousand remain and will survive judgment (1 Kgs 19:13–18). –– Paul E. Koptak

Romans 10:5-15

Paul draws from Hebrew scripture to support his claim that “Christ is the end of the law [telos can mean the termination or the goal. . . ] so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (v 10:4).

Each half of that claim is taken in turn; the “righteousness of faith” marks the telos of the law in the righteous life of Christ, and so it is offered to all. Paul quotes Moses from Leviticus 18:5, “the person who does these things will live by them,” thought by many to refer to Christ, the fulfillment of the “righteousness that comes from the law.” He then draws from Deuteronomy 30:11–14 to show that the “righteousness that comes by faith” neither brings Christ down from heaven nor up from the grave. Those works belong to God. . .  

In a mirror repetition of verse 9, Paul adds that one believes with the heart and is justified. . . and one confesses with the mouth and is saved (v 10). The righteousness of faith is for everyone, Paul says three times: he quotes Isaiah 28:16 in verse 11, affirms one Lord of Jew and Greek in verse 12, and quotes Joel 2:32 in verse 13.

. . . Isaiah thought messengers of good news ran on beautiful feet (Isa 52:7), even though he knew that not everyone would believe. So the church finds its great commission in evangelism and worship: “O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples” (Ps. 105:1). –– Paul E. Koptak

Paul E. Koptak is professor of communication and biblical interpretation at North Park University Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois.

Homily Service 41, no. 3 (2008): 145-154.

Rescue – 10 August 2014 – Lectionary 19

These readings are filled with storms. Understand the storms as life’s dangers, the consequence of fear and of having stepped out in conviction. Peter has faith enough to get out of the boat to walk on the water toward Jesus. Elijah has faith enough to challenge Baal’s prophets and then has them killed. Jezebel is out to get him.  

What is God’s response to human fears? Jesus walks on water in a storm and pulls Peter-of-little-faith from death. Elijah stands on the mountain in a storm alone, in fear of assassins, not hearing or seeing the holy one, but the God of hosts comes and gives him a job, sends him on a mission. In both situations, God rescues the one in need.

We tend to ask the wrong question about our lives: How we are to find the power to combat fear? These readings plant in us the image of the holy one coming to us, setting the fear aside, rescuing us from our own failings, and setting us on the path… again and again.

The governing image for this Sunday is God’s rescue regardless of our amount of faith or fear.

Matthew 14:22-33 

A society that emphasizes what we have and what we do as measures of personal success and often equates wealth and might with power can be difficult to navigate. We find it hard to extricate ourselves from the habit of grabbing for power in the obvious places—habits that we have built over a lifetime.

 When Peter leaves the boat, however, he shows us a way of navigating our storm of cultural values that surrounds us. As long as the focus is Jesus, Peter (and we) are all right. The minute the voices of greed and power tempt us to turn away, though, we will sink as surely as Peter did into a world that closes its eyes to injustice and the plight of the poor.  . . . When Jesus pulls us into our boats, though, we are given new life and the power of such attitudes becomes nothing before the power of Jesus. 

 –– Mary Katharine Deeley, Pastoral Associate and Director of the Christ the Teacher Institute, Sheili Catholic Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

Hold onto that reference to the power of distracting, negative attitudes becoming “nothing.” The “nothing” is also crucial to Elijah’s story; it signals God’s power to give us strength, appearing out of nowhere.

1 Kings 19:9-18

Elijah’s vision of the One God, YHWH, stands in opposition to Baal, the god worshiped by the political powers. … Elijah is understandably running and hiding for his life. But the LORD finds him and gives him another boost of confidence with instructions on where to stand so that he might see the LORD and thereby be bolstered in courage for the tasks ahead of him. Elijah … looks to the wind, the earthquake, and the fire—all the earth’s means for astounding us with power.

 Nature does not, however, contain the revelation. Not even an absence of nature’s witness—silence—holds what Elijah thinks he is there to hear or see. Instead, the Hebrew words for the NRSV’s “the sound of sheer silence” should be translated as “the sound of silence pulverized.” In other words, the deepest revelation of the Most High is not merely nothing, but crushed nothingness. . . . And yet, the LORD came again to Elijah in voice with instructions for more daring work for the prophet and, most importantly, promise of ultimate triumph.

–– Melinda Quivik, General Editor of Liturgy, independent liturgical scholar.

The divine voice sometimes is audible, sometimes a mere whisper of an inkling. We listen because that is the only trustworthy voice.

Commenting on the reading from Romans, Michael Van Horn reminds us of the story in C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia as a way of grasping that “Jesus is Lord.” Jill is lost in Narnia and very thirsty. She finds water but Aslan, the lion, stands in her way. He invites her to drink, but she is fearful that he will harm her. He is a lion, after all.

Romans 10:5-15

 Terrifed, the girl politely asks the lion to go away before she drinks. The lion responds with a low growl. 

Then she bargains, “Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I do come?” Aslan replies, “I make no promises.”

Desperate for water, but too fearful, Jill despairs, “I dare not come and drink.” “Then you will die of thirst,” says the lion. 

“Oh dear,” said Jill, “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”

And the lion answers, “There is no other stream.”

–– Michael A. Van Horn, at the time of this 2005 publication, was pastor of Trinity Church, Evangelical Covenant, in Livonia, Michigan

This is Elijah’s, Peter’s, and Jill’s dilemma: “There is no other stream.” Jesus is the face of the one who has rescued people of faith and doubt for centuries.

Homily Service 38, no. 9 (7 Aug 2005): 5-14.