Becoming Good Sailors

My father grew up on a quiet estuary of the Chesapeake Bay. From his earliest days he loved playing on his parents’ sailboat. By the time he was 10, he could handle that sailboat quite well in his calm tidal basin.

One Saturday he decided to follow the tide out into Hampton Roads. You need to know that Hampton Roads is the largest natural harbor in the world - and one of the busiest. It is a huge military and commercial shipping area – and it is no place for a boy’s afternoon sail in a small sailboat.

At first, all seemed well, but suddenly, directly in front of him, loomed a huge, out-bound Naval battleship, accompanied by 3 enormous tugboats. Suddenly, his WORLD was filled with… SHIPS! Dad’s immature sailing skills were no match for the USS Maryland and her escorts. He was in trouble, literally, even before he knew where he was.

Desperate to return to the shelter of his tributary, he tried to come about. But it was too late; the ships had cut off his wind, and the current was too strong for his immature arms to wrestle the boat’s wheel and ruder. He fought with the current, yanked at the ropes, and vainly screamed at the battleship: “Stop! STOP!”
He was still screaming at the top of his lungs when his little vessel capsized under a wash of salt water, sails and jellyfish.

That was the last he saw of his beloved sailboat. He was eventually rescued by one of the greatly angered tugboat captains. Stung from head to toe, soaking wet, and freezing cold, he was unceremoniously flopped onto the shipyard dock like a dead tuna, before his terrified parents and snickering friends.

As you can well imagine, this became one of our “Family Stories.” As every parent does, Dad would re-tell his story at those “teachable moments” in our lives, framing it with a few lessons I too now hold as proven and essential.

The first lesson was: Know the ship; find the wind; study the waters. In other words: Know – really know – the vessel; be sure it is trust-worthy. Then, Find the source of your power and guidance, and finally, study your surroundings to prepare yourself for the time when you are sure to be tested. A second lesson was: A smooth sea never made a good captain. In other words, only in that inevitable time of testing can a child-sailor be transformed into A Good Captain. Testing and responding under stress are necessary elements for maturity.

In today’s readings there is an awful lot of testing going on, and there is a good amount of distress! But these lessons also offer us insights into both the character of the Christ we Christians can trust, and the waters we Christians must navigate. These readings equip us – as all Scripture does – for the challenging transformation from child-sailor to Good Captain of our own often-difficult life’s experiences.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ tells the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge. As you know, in 1st C. Palestine, a widow had no power, and, here, has no one to protect her from this unjust judge. The judge himself tells us he has no fear of either God or man, and he certainly has no problem withholding justice to a powerless widow. All in all, her situation could not be much more fearsome.

But this is no ordinary widow. She hounds that man day and night, pestering and embarrassing him as she trails him – loudly, I’d imagine - through the city streets. The English translation misses some of Luke’s intensity. In the original Greek version, the judge actually uses a boxing term for this widow: “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone,” he says, “yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out with continued blows under the eye.” Can’t you just see this bedraggled little powerhouse of a widow, hauling off and punching that judge right in the eye – over and over and over again? Apparently, according to Jesus, prayer is a full contact encounter!

Interestingly, this parable – one of the very few parables in which Jesus actually gives his meaning – this parable, follows immediately on one of Christ’s more disturbing descriptions of the End Times. That passage concludes with: “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.” A pretty bleak and horrifying image, for sure, and one which certainly left his disciples feeling frightened and vulnerable. It is here that Luke has placed this parable about intense prayer – unrelenting, pleading, sweating, boxing, prayer. He offers the disciples - and us - a path of Hope in situations that are beyond-our-control, terrifying and jeopardizing. Jesus tells us to persevere in our prayer – even when all seems lost - and our LORD will quickly provide for us justly.
In our OT lesson, fear and threat are even more obvious. Jacob has left his uncle Laban’s settlement - under less than happy circumstances. But that is no surprise to any who have had to deal with Jacob. All his life, Jacob has been a self-seeking conniver and deceiver. His very name means “one who supplants.” He rode into this world, literally, grabbing on to the heels of his twin brother. He has since stolen that brother’s birthright - and his blessing – and was ultimately chased out of Cana by Esau with a pledge to kill Jacob the first chance he gets.

After his long, difficult sojourn with Laban, Jacob is now heading back to Cana, and has just noticed Esau on the horizon, coming toward him with a dubious “Welcome Home” message: 400 sword-bearing soldiers! As our reading begins, Jacob is once again conniving to save his skin in hopes that at least part of his estate will survive Esau’s murderous attacks. Jacob is terrified, alone, and it seems, his life of deceit has finally caught up with him.

Then, as if things could get any worse, this mysterious “Man” appears before Jacob, wrestles him to the ground, and the two writhe and punch and claw their way through that dark night, leaving both exhausted, and Jacob with a bad hip and a permanent limp.

As I mentioned earlier, this reading about Jacob includes additional verses. I believe this more complete reading is an important piece of the story. Interestingly, these omitted verses include the longest prayer in all of Genesis. The desperate Jacob, realizing the jig is up, finally turns to God and prays.

He prays as if his whole life depends on it – which it probably does! He confesses his fear, proclaiming God’s many specific mercies to him over the years, and he reminds God – and himself - of God’s promises to him. He cries out, like a drowning man, to the God he Trusts to save him from the tumult that awaits him. Whatever his motives, by the end of his prayer, Jacob has changed his plan… or rather now he has a plan! Instead of resigning himself to a certain death for at least half his household, he now takes the initiative - not to retaliate or defend himself – but rather to bless his brother, and renew their relationship. Jacob’s conversion has begun. By the time this night of fear and wounding is over, Jacob knows that he has been in the presence of no ordinary “Man;” he has been fighting with God Himself – and has been transformed. God blesses him with a name change – a change of his very character and identity. He is no longer “He who unseats;” He is now Israel, “Striver with God.” At that moment the nation of Israel is solidified, and Jacob is transformed into the patriarch of the 12 tribes of Israel, named for his 12 sons.

This is one of the most mysterious stories in the Bible, but one thing is certain: that night Jacob found himself in a typhoon of terror, and he threw himself at the feet of God. He escaped nothing that night. Rather than dealing with the powerful brother who was out to kill him, Jacob had to deal with the very God of the Universe… and he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. Wounded, exhausted, half-crippled, that night Jacob was transformed by his God, and he was made into a new creature ready to be of use in God’s kingdom. Never again do we hear that he has deceived or conspired. He became, truly, God’s man. And he came to know that even the wound was a blessing, for he had grappled with God and LIVED… really lived – in intimate relationship with YHWH!

But how do we live – really Live – in the midst of a dangerous and threatening world? Neither conniving Jacob nor the desperate, perhaps broken-hearted widow could escape suffering and catastrophe. Perhaps that widow was just as steadfast in praying for her husband to live, as she was persistent in harassing the unjust judge. She couldn’t escape grief and fear, any more than we can.

In his letter to Timothy, Paul assumes - he takes for granted - human testing and struggle. Life IS difficult, and by the Grace of God, that is the un-sugar-coated truth Paul helps us deal with. Hardship, betrayal, loneliness and grief are the “givens” in a sinful and broken world. And, he warns us, there are plenty of false teachers – teachers we are more than likely to go looking for – or create! – Teachers who would supply us with counterfeit, momentary comfort or escape. Paul urges us to a humble widow’s perseverance – in the midst of suffering and persecution – not as an escape from it. He calls us to our own steadfastness – as individual, fragile, often frightened souls, and as His church.

Instead of lulling us into thinking we can escape stormy waters, Paul prepares Christ’s church – and each of us - for the inevitable struggle and testing. He tells us to rely upon what God has revealed to us in Scripture. He encourages us to adhere to time-tested doctrines and teachings that were honed by God’s leading hand, to instruct, guide and protect us. He warns us not to trade the authentic for the appeasing, the true for the comfortable; momentary satiation for eternal health. When the seas are rolling over us, trying to mold God into our own image is as dangerous – to US, not to Almighty God - as moving the channel markers… simply because we like the view of the shoreline.

Paul reminds us of who God is, just as Jacob reminds of who God is, just as Jesus reminds us of who God is. All three of today’s accounts tell us of the same LORD – intimately merciful, like a blessing and an answered prayer, and unwaveringly Righteous as an unbiased judge who will not – cannot - condone falsehood, equivocation or deceit.

There was one more lesson my Dad learned from his near-drowning day on the Chesapeake, and it was one he relied upon from that day forward. It involves the wind. In Hebrew, the word for Wind is RU-AH, and significantly, it is the same word used for the “Holy Spirit.”

Dad’s final lesson was: when you just can’t find the wind, when you have wrestled yourself into injury, exhaustion and terror; when betrayal or shame or illness or grief are all you see on the horizon; when you have prayed as if your life depends upon it - don’t give up! Simply let go of the wheel! Take your own controlling hands off the struggle, release yourself to the vessel you know you can trust, and the most amazing thing will happen. Your sailboat will – naturally, effortlessly – turn you toward the wind. The sailboat that is the healing Christ revealed to us in Scripture will lead you into the delivering wind that is the Holy Spirit’s deep, transforming channel.

So, my family, be of steadfast heart! No matter what terror or loss you face on your own seas – no matter what typhoons our denomination faces – our LORD is Faithful! We are simply called to be fearless and bold and confident in our commitment to KNOW, Trust and Proclaim the authentic, unchanging Christ! You might get wet – you might even think you will drown – but this is the only way for us to receive our new names: from child-sailor to Good Captain, from fear-filled supplanter, to faithful follower; from lost striver to labeled as Christ’s own; from bereft to blessed; from griever to glorifyer. May each of us, and our denomination, allow the RU-AH to move us, shape us, and transform us – and finally lead us and MOLD us into the safety of God’s harboring arms.
AMEN