On many occasions in the gospels, it seems, we hear Jesus speak to his disciples with what sounds like long-suffering exasperation. Often they just don’t seem to get it. They don’t get how much he cares for them. In today’s lesson from Mark, they don’t recognize the extent of the power Jesus is capable of wielding on their behalf. Asleep in the stern of their boat during a violent storm, Jesus is awakened with the words, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Of course he cares; he is right there with them, isn’t he? Maybe the words of the disciples when they awaken him are particularly upsetting to Jesus because they betray a lack of trust in his love for them. When the storm is stilled and the wind is silent, the disciples are appropriately filled with awe, and they say to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” But Jesus says to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
At this stage in my life, I have read and reread some passages from scripture many times, and yet I still hear something new with each reading. Of course, that has much to do with the vibrancy and mystery of the Word, but it may also be a function of my maturing—or aging, I should honestly say. When I was young, I often perceived anger in the voice of the Lord when he challenges the disciples, as he does in this passage. Now I hear a tone of sorrow more than of anger, of disappointment more than judgment.
In our Old Testament reading for today, we enter the Book of Job very near its ending. Serious theological questions about why people must suffer have been asked by the humans in this story, and in Chapter 38, we hear the immense voice of God responding out of a whirlwind. From this brief excerpt, it is easy to see why the Book of Job has been described as possessing some of the most beautiful poetry in the entire Bible. You may recall that the prophet Elijah anticipated hearing the voice of God in a mighty wind, but he instead heard a still, small voice. Now, Job and the friends who have spent the 37 previous chapters attempting both to explain Job’s suffering and to comfort him will hear anything but a still, small voice of God. A cartoon image of this vocalization by God Almighty could have Job and his friends flattened on the ground before Him. Even so, God’s purpose is not to terrify Job, but to supplant the need humans have to explain everything with a sense of awe at the incomprehensible power of the Creator. In other words, human awe and humility will suffice. This incredibly beautiful and intimate revelation of the act and art of God’s creation continues through Chapter 41of the Book of Job. (If you have never read it, please pick up your Bible sometime and read Chapters 38 through 41 of Job.)
God’s message seems to work. When Job finally responds to what he has heard, he says, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted... Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” That Job has the courage to respond to God as he does shows us that he hears the compassion in God’s voice; yes, Job may be awestruck, as God intends, but he is also comforted. Job’s suffering is behind him and his former life is restored to him. The book of Job ends with these words, “After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and he saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. And Job died, old and full of days.” Like Job, we can humble ourselves before the awe-inspiring power of God, while we listen for and find the loving mercy in God’s infinite generosity.
As with Job and the whirlwind or Moses and the burning bush, God finds ways to get our attention. Yesterday we had a wedding here at the chapel, and the bride and groom chose to have read Paul’s treatise on love contained in I Corinthians 13. The opening verse reminds us that humans can be given prophetic voices, that we can hear the voice of God through each other. But Paul cautions us: “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol.” When we listen for God’s voice in the words of our fellow humans, we must be attuned to discern the underlying love we hear there. If love is not present, then we are not hearing what God would have us hear. Sometimes it may be that we will hear God’s voice in the crying of a young child.
As our human understanding of the universe expands, as scientific discoveries of all kinds open up creation to us in new ways, our awe for God’s creative power also has an opportunity to grow. I am saddened by the thought that some Christians are stuck in the literal interpretation of creation as taking only seven days instead of recognizing the words of Genesis I as a beautiful metaphor for the infinite and timeless power of God. In fact, such a concept may very well be the purpose behind God’s words in Job 38 to 41. Couldn’t we hear God saying to Job and to us, “How dare you imagine that you fully comprehend all that I, God, am capable of doing?” Some contemporary theologians use a lovely term for the Lord’s power as it is expressed through the immensity of the Universe: the Cosmic Christ.
“The Cosmic Christ” vividly expresses a theological concept that may require an explanation. Panentheism is a belief that all of creation is contained within God. God’s being both penetrates everything in the universe and transcends it. In this way, we can see how creation reflects its Creator, but at the same time, that God is greater than all of the parts of creation combined. We are told by Jesus that God dwells within us as we are contained in God. Even so, God as our Creator is both within us and powerful beyond our comprehension. (As a footnote, this distinction separates panENtheism from a discounted concept, pantheism, which simply equates God with Creation.)
God is truly an immense power beyond our ability to comprehend, as Job discovered. Last month, we worshiped here together on Trinity Sunday, and I shared with you some thoughts on the idea of God as three persons, God’s attributes being expressed in the characteristics of Father (or Mother or Creator), Son (or Redeemer or Savior) and Holy Spirit (or Comforter or Intercessor). The concept of the Trinity was intended to help us understand how complicated God is, I guess. Complicated is certainly correct. Maybe the idea of a Cosmic Christ, vast enough to create and inhabit an entire universe and yet small enough to live within the soul of a little child, is another way of imagining the Trinity.
The collect appointed for this Sunday illustrates the connection between the mighty voice of God in the lesson from Job and the reassuring words of Jesus to his disciples in the storm-tossed boat. The prayer includes a promise for our faith: “O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your lovingkindness.” It isn’t so much a crippling fear of God’s angry judgment as humble awe for God’s creative, loving, and ever-present mercy that we are meant to embody. Set upon that sure foundation, we can trust the promise that God will never fail to help and govern us.
As we read and contemplate and listen for God’s voice, we hear what we need to hear. Sometimes the words may be the same ones we have heard before, but we hear them from a new perspective and in a new way. God’s immense power, goodness, wisdom and love never change; only our understanding of God changes.
As always, the task before us is to demonstrate with our lives that we are indeed set upon God’s foundation of lovingkindness. We are God’s chosen partners, co-Creators of a kingdom worthy of the Cosmic Christ. Possessing both courage and humility, may we be empowered to live out our call to lovingkindness in all that we do, day by day. AMEN.
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