June 25, 2006
3 Pentecost, Year B
The Rev. Canon Allison St. Louis
Vicar, Christ Church Cathedral

A MIRACLE. . .PLUS

Have you ever wanted – or needed – a miracle?
Have you ever felt that only a miracle could change a bad situation?

That’s where Jesus’ disciples are today. They are having what I call a “Miracle Plus Day.” The miracle follows the pattern of a typical biblical miracle story:
1) A context: a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee
2) A problem: a windstorm so severe that even the experienced fishermen among Jesus’ disciples are afraid for their lives. To make matters worse, Jesus is asleep, unaware of what is happening to his friends.
3) A solution: Jesus awakes, rebukes the wind and commands the sea to be still.
4) Evidence of a miracle: The wind ceases and the sea becomes calm.
5) A response of wonder: The disciples are filled with great awe, asking themselves “who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Inserted between the evidence of the miracle – the wind obeying Jesus’ command, and the response of wonder – the disciples being filled with awe, is the “plus.” New Testament scholar, Lamar Williamson Jr., tells us the literal translation of Jesus’ unexpected question in the midst of the miracle: “Are you still without faith? . . .Why are you afraid? Do you not yet trust the God whose rule is present in me?”

Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, his other disciples – the early church – also struggle with these questions. By the middle of the first century of the common era, Christians were sufficiently distinguishable from Jews, and, during the Emperor Nero’s reign, they were singled out as scapegoats, accused of setting the great fire of Rome, and persecuted mercilessly. Recalling that Jesus never abandoned the terror-stricken disciples in the boat reassured the early Christians that they, too, were not forsaken.

In addition to being persecuted, the early church also had to confront the fear of moving into unknown territory. This story – which is a bridge between Jesus’ work among Israel and first major work in gentile territory – may have encouraged the church to continue “crossing over” to the other side and preaching the good news to the gentiles, in spite of storms that resulted, even when it seemed like only a miracle would help them move forward with their mission.

Last Sunday was a “Miracle Plus Day” in the life of the Episcopal Church. The miracle follows the pattern of a typical Episcopal miracle story:

1) A context: General Convention, 2006
2) A problem: the need to elect a new Presiding Bishop.
3) A solution: Ballots are cast – five times.
4) Evidence of a miracle: The first female nominee for Presiding Bishop in the Episcopal Church’s history, the only woman among the seven candidates, the one whom many considered a long shot, is elected.
5) A response of wonder: All who witness the event, and all who hear the news are filled with great awe.

Speaking to the election of the Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori, who was ordained to the priesthood in 1994 and consecrated bishop of Nevada in 2001, Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana in Central Africa, marveled: “God is a God of surprises. . .(adding that) this is a great year for women and we honor the role that women are playing in the world today." (Episcopal News Service, June 18, 2006). God is indeed a God of surprises, considering the fact that it was only thirty years ago that the General Convention voted to admit women into the priesthood and the episcopate. As some might say, “We’ve come a long way, baby!”

So what’s the “plus?” Perhaps it’s the question to those who started wondering if God had fallen asleep, leaving the church to battle her storms on her own: “Why are you afraid? Do you not yet trust the God whose rule is present in Jesus – the head of the church and the author of our salvation?”

And, like the disciples, many are left wondering, “Who then is this – the One who at times seems to be asleep, but who is always at work – even in the middle of our storms?”

Like the disciples, many of us experience crises at various times in our lives – it may be a crisis in our church, or in our families, or in our individual lives – and heaven help us when there’s a crisis in all three!

How do you respond when it seems as though:
Jesus is not with you/doesn’t care about you?
Jesus is unaware (sleeping through) a crisis in your life?
You are in a panic, and Jesus is not?

In some people’s minds, there’s a direct relationship between our level of panic at their problems and our level of concern for them. So if we panic when they are panicking, that means we care a lot about them. But if we don’t panic when they are panicking, that means we don’t care that much about them. Unless we are able to raise our panic level to match theirs, we are dismissed as uncaring and even unchristian.

The disciples, watching Jesus asleep at the stern, subject him to such distorted thinking:
How can you sleep when there’s a crisis?
Do you not care?

When we are in the midst of a storm, it’s tempting to ask Jesus, the ruler of nature and history, these or similar questions. And it’s tempting to judge Jesus’ concern for us by his level of panic. Perhaps he does not panic because he knows what we sometimes forget – that God sees, hears, cares and is at work in our church, our families and our lives.

So, in the midst of one of our own “Miracle Plus Days,” we, too, may sense him asking: “Why are you afraid? Do you not yet trust the God whose rule is present in me?”