The Sound of silence

Sunday 9^th August – Trinity 9 (Proper 14)

I will preside at St. Peter’s at 10am and Karen will preside at All Saints at 9.30am and St. Michael’s at 11am. The lectionary readings are as follows.

1 Kings 19: 9-18. Old Testament theophanies (encounters with God) don’t come any more thought provoking or mystical than this. God is not in the earthquake or fire on Mount Horeb (another name for Mount Sinai) but is “heard” in the sound of sheer silence, as the NRSV Bible translates it. Hearing God in the silence has been equated with a person’s conscience guiding their actions and also interpreted as meaning that God’s purposes will not be achieved by spectacular physical phenomena, but by people quietly carrying out God’s will.

Romans 10: 5-15. Interpretation of this piece is fraught with difficulties regarding context and meaning. The overall context is clearly on the relationship between Jews and Christians and whether God’s promises to the Jews are still extant. What is interesting is that Paul quotes extensively from the Hebrew scriptures (Old testament) without any regard for the original context. He is in a lively dialogue with the writings which is far more akin to Jewish engagement with scripture than with modern Christian interpretation. Within the wider context of Jewish/Christian conundrum Paul stresses that the gospel knows no barriers (verses 12,13) though of course it has first to be preached before it can be believed.

Matthew 14: 22-33. The deepest meaning of this acted parable is that one who often appears to be absent in the storms of life is yet in truth always present. Peter too can also walk on water all the while he keeps his eyes on Jesus, but the moment he is distracted the “rock” starts to sink like a stone. He is saved from drowning by the strong arm of Jesus. The theological point is obvious, and this episode follows a time when Jesus retreated to a mountain by himself to pray. The juxtaposition of this walking on water story with the feeding of the 5000 has long been a part of church tradition because they recall the twin Exodus themes of the manna in the wilderness and the parting of the red sea, presenting Jesus as the new Moses to a largely Jewish congregation.   

People love the spectacular. Signs and wonders that evoke an ooh or an aah!
One of the problems Jesus consistently encountered in his ministry was that people loved a show but weren’t quite so quick to absorb the spiritual teaching.
He upbraided people in John’s gospel for only looking for spectacular events like the feeding of the 5000 and not seeing that these miracles were just signposts to something greater.

The key to unlocking today’s readings is found in the story of Elijah on the top of Mount Sinai. God told him that he - God himself - was going to pass by, so you can imagine how nervous and full of anticipation Elijah would have been.  

But God didn’t reveal himself in anything dramatic like an earthquake or a mighty wind, something that could be marvelled at or measured, he made himself known in one of the most enigmatic verses in the whole Bible.

God made himself known in the sound of sheer silence.

That phrase can be interpreted in different ways. Now the sound of silence isn’t just a beautiful song by Simon and Garfunkel.  Some have interpreted the “sound of silence” as a spiritual prompting from within – some equating that with your conscience and this has led others to conclude that the true voice of God can only be detected in the silence and this has led them into various forms of quiet contemplation or meditation.

John’s gospel famously speaks of signs rather than miracles and this is significant because it leads us to try and understand the deeper meaning or significance of something like a miracle. It is a sign - What is it pointing us towards?
The walking on water episode is a good case in point.

Water symbolised chaos for the Jews in any case. Creation itself in the book of Genesis was the bringing of order out of chaos. The world was created by the parting of the waters.
These waters of chaos in the story take on added significance by the fact there was a storm. We can justly make that leap of perception and say that this storm as well as being a true storm at a certain time and place stands for the trials, pains, regrets, Illnesses and death that all people experience at different times in their life.

And in the midst of these storms Jesus comes to us, walking above the chaos of this life.
I’m reminded of a poignant saying of Jesus here when he said. “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world”(John 16:33)
The significance of Peter walking on water is the same. We can weather the storms of life when we have faith in the one that has authority over the forces of chaos.

When Peter lost his focus and took his eyes off Jesus, Peter the rock started to sink like a stone.

The trails and storms of life started to overwhelm him, but even then Jesus grabbed him by his arm to pull him out.

Jesus is always there to save you from being immersed by all of life’s troubles up to and including death but many people leave depending on him until the last minute  - a bit like a death bed conversion – but surely it is preferable to not let it get to that point if you can help it and have your faith supporting you through your life especially when times are hard.

That is the truth contained within and signposted by this miracle. It is why I try and see all miracles as signs to see where they lead. In this way I think a good practice is to try and see the miracles of Jesus as acted parables.

A parable is almost always really about something else that lies behind the surface meaning of the story. Think about some well-known parables – The prodigal son, the mustard seed, the talents, the sower, the yeast. The underlying meaning is not the surface story

This way of understanding the walking on water story doesn’t confirm or deny the historicity of the miracle itself but seeks to understand the meaning for all of our lives.
Jesus is the Lord of life, who has authority over the outward chaos of life, and is there to help us through those storms.