So, they were in the boat, in the storm.
They were battered by the waves and had a great distance yet to go.
The wind was against them.
When Jesus came, they thought they now faced supernatural threats.
Peter, full of "himself", boldly requested permission to face it by himself,
to do what Jesus was doing.
Peter, losing sight of Jesus and what Jesus was doing, focused on the
power of the chaos and started to lose faith and sink.
Jesus saved him and called for a deeper faith in Jesus' Way of facing the
storm.
I always wonder if the disciples who cowered in the boat ever learned the
lesson, or even if Peter did.
The church (boat image in scripture) is in the storm.
Many in the church have helped fuel the storms of chaos in the world today.
Many in the church ignore the storm, as if it has nothing to do with them.
But many in the church are afraid, seeing the reality, striving against the storm,
and being battered by the waves of hatefulness, greed, abuses of power and
focus on status/superiority over others, which are empire values.
The wind of national will, of empire values, of hateful ignorance are against
them. The winds of doctrine that support empire values (prosperity theology,
personal salvation theology, church growth, purity/holiness beliefs and
theocratic ideologies) are blowing hard right now, and have been for over
39 years.
And Jesus comes, but some don't recognize Him because they are looking
for supernatural powers and principalities to present themselves.
They don't see Jesus for who Jesus is, because in their magical thinking,
they expect supernatural events.
They sit in the boat, in the storm, and do nothing to strive against it, because
in their fear, they expect supernatural interventions to save them, instead of
striving to walk with Jesus, in Jesus' Way, even in the storm.
And those who do see what Jesus is doing, recognizing the power of the
chaotic world storm but not giving into it in how they walk, may try the
same - to walk with Jesus in the storm.
But it is easy to lose sight of the better way - Jesus' Way.
We can get all caught up in the hatefulness, ignorance, lust for power and
desire for status ourselves, as if that will quell the storm or allow us to
walk through it and be faithful to Jesus. We can't.
We lose sight of Jesus and Jesus' Way, and only see the chaos of the storm
in the world.
To his credit, Peter knew that he needed to be saved by Jesus from it.
For some, the sinking into empire values and ways seems to be natural
and inevitable.
Jesus will save us from sinking into the chaos of the world's storm, if we know
that we need to be saved from it. Jesus will admonish us to have more faith in
Jesus' Way of facing the world's chaotic storm of hatefulness, greed, lust for
power and desire for status, but will save us and teach us His, better Way.
Jesus' Way of walking through the storm - the Way of not giving into it or allowing
it to have power over us or stopping us from our mission, and not being swallowed
up by its chaos, blowing in its winds of false doctrines, pushed by its waves of
empire values, is the only real, healthy and sane way of facing this storm for any
who claim to be followers of Jesus.
We can either be battered by it and in pathetic inactivity expect supernatural
intervention because of the false doctrines of magical thinking we've been taught,
or strive to walk with Jesus through it and not give into the storm, but stay focused on
Jesus and our mission of living Agape Love and Grace in the world with Jesus.
We are in the middle of this storm.
The winds of doctrines that support the waves of anti-Christ empire values are battering
the church in it.
Jesus is showing us how to walk in this.
Will we cower in the boat and cry out for supernatural intervention,
or will we WALK WITH JESUS, IN JESUS' WAY through it?
If we walk with Jesus in it, we will find out just how far in the storm we have sunk.
Pastor Jamie
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