August 7 , 2005
Matthew 14:22-33
NRSV
Chaos
First Congregational Church, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
August 7, 2005
Rev. Carrie Kreps Wegenast
[Text: Matthew 14:22-33]
I would like to begin the sermon with a word of explanation on the sermon title. This week, in the midst of Vacation Bible School, Carla Cummings came up to me and asked if the title was a direct reflection of VBS. To be honest, chaos is a great description for a week of VBS, but in a good way.
This morning’s text should have been familiar to you. Even if you have never read the Gospel of Matthew’s account of Jesus walking on water you should have heard about this famous miracle. This story follows two important events in Jesus’ ministry. First, John the Baptist is beheaded by Herod. In an attempt to get away and grieve for his cousin and predecessor, Jesus boards a boat by himself. It is when he reaches the other side of lake that the other important event occurs. He finds that the people have followed him. He heals the sick and when it becomes late in the day, he feeds the five thousand. We are then told that Jesus makes his disciples go before him in the boat. He dismisses the crowds and goes up a mountain to pray. This is when the chaos of our story begins. We are told in the Revised Standard Version that by evening the boat is quite a ways from the land, “beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them” (v. 24). Throughout the Gospel of Matthew the sea is a symbol for the forces of chaos held at bay in the creative act of God. This goes back to God’s creation of water and land. The watery void was filled with light and darkness, land and water, humans and animals, and plants and things of the sea. God’s creative act claimed the chaos. By walking on water, Jesus, the Son of God, overpowers the chaos.
Jesus also overpowers the fear of the disciples in the boat. We are told that they are terrified and rightly so. Imagine being on the water in the middle of the night. The moon light flickers off of the waves creating shadows. You think you see something off in the distance but with the wind and waves you guess that your eyes are deceiving you. The ‘thing’ glides closer and in fear of this unknown you assume it is a ghost. What else could it be?
Terror or at least fear was a present part of the VBS planning this year. In the months prior, I heard of sleepless night, prayers that everything would get done, and urgent requests for help. For the adults who planned Vacation Bible School there is a certain fear. One never knows what will come out of the chaos. The first issue revolved around the schedule. The children were divided by age into tribes. Each tribe was to go to art, games, snack, synagogue school and have tribe time each day. They were also to spend time in the marketplace, learn the VBS songs and see a play performed by the middle school players. Imagine coordinating the scheduling of these activities. In the end, order came out of the scheduling chaos.
Slowly and surely creativity also came out of the chaos. Today after worship you will have the opportunity, if you have not already, to see the creative genius otherwise known as the marketplace. Visit the social hall for coffee hour to see the pottery shop, the jewelry maker, the barnyard, the well, and the tribes’ tents. Let me tell you, in the beginning there was fear as those working on this decorating project surveyed the space and the materials. It was a huge job to coordinate.
Everyday there were a few crisises. Some were handled quickly, without much fear. Others caused everyone’s heart to jump. On Friday, to add to the celebration, we had two inflatable activities. One was a moon walk. The shoeless kids got to jump inside a big balloon cage. At one point the pump flipped over in the grass. Without air, the balloon began to deflate much to the terror of the children inside. Parents jumped up to help hold up the cage as the crying children quickly scrambled for safety. This real terror did not look anything like a ghost but it created the same heart pounding fear the disciples experienced in the boat.
Peter’s role in this story does not seem to be as much of a showing-off as a desire to have proof of the presence of God. Peter challenges Jesus, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water” (v. 28). He wants to know that this is the Son of God. In order to do so, he steps away from the community and out of the boat. While in the boat, Peter is confident, self-assured, ready for the task Jesus will ask of him. It is when he is away from the others that he sees the wind and the waves and becomes afraid. Peter needs the assurance of the community in addition to the assurance of Christ’s presence.
Part of the reason we sponsor Vacation Bible School it to help form community. We want to help the children of our church and the wider community realize that the church community is one to stay in the boat for. This week we sought to give them the assurance that God was with them in this community. This was done in part through the care of the adults who came to help and the countless prayers that were spoken for each child this week.
As I mentioned, the children were divided into Tribes. Part of this was to avoid mass chaos but it was also to give the children a community of their own age group. With their tribe leaders, the children worked and lived together as a team in their tent and as they traveled to each activity. I saw many of the children become friends as they learned together. They formed a community that helped when someone got hurt, was disappointed, or just needed some attention.
The third person in this story is Jesus. Once again, playing the miracle worker and Son of God, Jesus joins the disciples by walking across the water. He brings the presence of God to the disciples and through this act of waking on the sea’s watery chaos overpowers the greater chaos.
As you can imagine, VBS rivals the wind and waves on any body of water. Very few places in the building were immune to the thunder of children’s feet or the crash of voices. It truly was chaos at times. At the same time, there was a real sense of the presence of God. There were children having fun, shouting with excited voices. There were children talking about God and celebrating Jesus’ resurrection. There were children learning about God’s love. Just the number of adults who came to help was a sign of God’s presence among us.
I taught Synagogue School this week. LL2, a room in the basement, was converted to a biblical-times classroom with an ark holding the Torah, a menorah, and where each day we learned to read and write Hebrew and studied the Scriptures. On the first day I introduced myself as Rabbi Carrie. I explained to the children that in biblical times only boys were allowed to attend Synagogue school. The girls found this fascinating. They shared with me/Rabbi Carrie what they did in school and how it was different from this new experience. We also talked about why Jews wear yarmulkes. In biblical times, slaves or servants were forced to cover their heads as a sign of respect and to show that they served someone. Freemen did not have to do this. However, Jews covered their heads in the Temple or synagogue in order to demonstrate their obedience to God. Each day the children wore their yarmulkes during class to show that they obey God.
On Monday, we also began to learn the Shema. The Shema was God’s first commandment to the Israelites. [Ask for one of the children to recite the Shema in Hebrew.] In Hebrew it is spoken, Shema Israel adoni eloheynu adoni ech-had. For those of you not at VBS this week, it is translated, Hear Israel the Lord you God the Lord is one. (Deut. 6:4) Each day we worked on memorizing this verse in Hebrew. It was amazing how quickly the children learned the Shema. By Friday, almost every single child could recite it by him or herself. We also read from the Torah each day. Who can tell me how many books are in the Torah? Who can name all five?
On Tuesday, we read from Genesis 1 and learned that we are each created in the image of God. We looked at each other to see God in each other. We realized that God must really love us to create each one of us in his image.
On Thursday, we learned about the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. I, as Rabbi Carrie – a good Jew who is waiting for the Messiah’s return - was surprised to learn from the children that the curtain had been torn in two at the same time that Jesus died. We discussed that now, because the curtain tore, we, as Christians, can come to God with our thanks, with our sins, and with our prayers. Before, only one person on one day each year could enter God’s holy place without dying.
All week we talked about Jesus. I pretended not to know who Jesus was. I would ask questions about the things I had heard about a miracle worker in the marketplace. I shared with the children a story about teaching a young man many years ago in Synagogue School. A boy named Jesus. I told them about how smart he was and wondered if this boy Jesus and the man named Jesus might be the same. On Friday, the most amazing thing happened. Not only did we read Numbers and learn that God smiles on us, we also saw Jesus. This came as quite a surprise considering he had been killed on a cross on Thursday. He told us that he loved us and that he would always be with us. The assurance of this was wonderful as we ended our week together. Jesus overpowered the chaos to remind us of the wonder of his love for us.
This week’s VBS was very much a week of chaos – children running through every hallway, laughter, fun, even some grumpiness as the week’s activities led to tiredness. However, the chaos was very much overpowered by the presence of Jesus. He was with us as we made friends, learned about him, and experienced the marketplace. I can just imagine Jesus saying to all of those who worked and planned for the week, “O one of little faith, why did you doubt?” as he reached out his hand to catch us as we started to sink.
Thanks be to the one who is truly the “Son of God.” Amen.