The Night Sea Journey
As the saga of Joseph son of Jacob begins, one notes: “Jacob
settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of
Canaan.” [i]
The storyteller reminds us one and all of the care the Lord God of Israel has
for aliens and strangers: because we all were strangers in a new land once upon
a time. We tend to migrate. It’s what we do. It’s part of what it means to be
human. This theme is reprised in Exodus when, thanks to brother Joseph who
holds no grudge against his brothers who want to kill him, finds them a new
home as aliens in the strange land of Egypt. After they escape Pharoh’s Egypt, Moses
reminds them to always welcome the alien, the foreigner and the stranger: “For
the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and
awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the
orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and
clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land
of Egypt” [ii]
Because two of the brothers, Reuben and Judah, stand up to
the rest, instead of killing Joseph because they don’t like his favored status
with dad, and even more they don’t like his coat of very long sleeves, they
sell him for a profit to Ishmaelites, descendants of Abraham’s first son, who one
day become the people of Islam. Note, despite the popularity of Donny Osmond who
has currently been held over in Vegas (another sort of strange land!), the coat
was not made of “many colors.” That turns out to have been a poor translation leftover
from the King James project. After his trials in the land of Pharaoh’s Egypt,
Joseph becomes something like Secretary of State and helps Jacob and the other
eleven sons, daughters, daughters-in-law and many many grandchildren, to escape
famine in Canaan and live a life as slaves in Egypt where at least they get to
eat leek soup every day! One might also note: there is no mention of God in
this narrative. In fact, it is a fairly mundane tale of sibling rivalry. Until.
Until Joseph demonstrates what the forgiveness, compassion and love of God
really looks like. There is no place for grudges in the story of God’s people.
Then there is chapter 14 in Matthew, which includes what one
commentator and a psychologist, Fritz Kunkel, calls The Night Sea Journey. The
back story. Jesus is worn out. After hearing that John the Baptist had lost his
head, he tries to get away to be alone with God his Father. But the Sea of
Galilee being a relatively small lake, people saw where he was going, and tracked
him down to hear what new teachings he might convey. The disciples try to get
him to send the folks home to fend for dinner on their own. Poppycock, says he!
Feed them yourselves! They whine: we only have five loaves and two fish.
Sighhhh. Hand them over to me, says he. After inviting folks to sit down, he
takes the loaves, blesses the loaves, breaks the loaves and gives all that they
have away. Everyone ate and were full. There were twelve baskets of leftovers.
The number of people who ate were 5,000 men, not to mention women and children.
Make of this what you will, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that
once Jesus and the disciples took, blessed, broke and gave away all that they had,
others may have been inspired to do the same.
Once again he tries to get some time alone. He dismisses the
crowds, tells the disciples to get in the boat and go to the other side of the
lake, while he goes up on a mountain to pray – to talk with Abba, his Father,
and ours. As the sun sets in the west, he is finally all alone. Not for long.
A storm erupts over the lake. The boat is battered by waves,
and the headwind impedes their progress. They are stranded, far from land.
Proving once again that there is no rest for the weary, the next morning Jesus
walks across the sea to greet the lads. They are terrified! It’s a ghost, they
cry! “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter, never missing the teachable moment, says, “Oh yeah!
If it’s you, command me to walk to you on the water!” Jesus says, “Come.” Peter
steps out of the boat and begins to walk toward Jesus. On the water! Suddenly, Peter
remembers that it is windy, he gets frightened and begins to sink beneath the
surf. “Help me, Lord! Save me Lord! Help me! I’m going down!” Immediately,
without hesitation, Jesus reaches out his hand and brings Peter back up,
saying, “You of little faith; why do you doubt?” As soon as they get back in
the boat, the wind ceases. Like a Greek chorus of twelve the disciples cry out,
“Truly you are the Son of God.” No doubt Jesus is thinking, “Feeding five
thousand men, not to mention women and children, with five loaves and two fish
was not good enough to convince you that I am who I am?”
There is still no rest for the weary. They go ashore. Everyone
there recognizes immediately who he is. They bring all the halt, sick and the
lame to him. And all who touched the hem of his cloak were healed.
These strange stories were told by Matthew at a time when
not only was Jesus long gone, but the Temple and all of Jerusalem, and much of
Israel, was in ruins as the Roman Legions crushed the Jewish rebellion. People,
whole families, whole tribes, were displaced. There can be no doubt, people
were frightened like Peter on the lake – like Joseph, sold off to the sons of
Ishmael and carted off to Egypt. It is a long dark night for everyone. Everyone
is as hungry as the people on one side of the lake. Everyone is seeking healing
of some kind on the other side. The life of faith has become one long Night Sea
Journey. What are we to do. We struggle against the wind and the waves until we
remember who we are and whose we are; until we reach out and ask for help;
until we trust one another enough to love one another.
We all know what it’s like to be strangers in a strange
land. Like Jacob, we all live as aliens in the land. We all know what it’s like
to be a stranger. To feel alone. Not like everyone else. We all know what it’s
like when everything looks to be going down beneath the waves; when everything
seems to be stalled heading into a mighty wind; when resources appear
ridiculously small. We read these stories to remember: there is a hand that can
take, bless, break and give us what we really need – a helping hand, a morsel
of bread, a brother or sister who has every reason to hate us, but who reminds
us to love one another, no matter what.
Jacob lived as an alien in his father’s land. All of us do.
People are hungry for bread and healing of all manner of dis-ease. Like the Jacob,
Joseph and Peter, we are all on a Night Sea Journey of faith. Jesus walks
towards us. What does he say? How do we respond? Do we take his hand? Do we
touch the hem of his garment? Do we follow him wherever he goes? Do we strive
to do the things that he does? And greater things than these?
As the apostle Paul once said, the entire universe stands on
tiptoe in anticipation to see what we, the daughters and sons of God, will do. [iii]
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