Caught Between The Glory And The Terror
Matt 14:22-33 Matt 27:54
It’s 1962 or somewhen like that.
Mum and Dad were going to visit some friends in Partridge Green and to make it more interesting for me – they decided we’d go by train. Along from Worthing to Shoreham By Sea where we would change platforms to take one of the remaining steam trains still in service up to Partridge Green on the old Horsham line.
This sounded splendid until we got to Shoreham By Sea station for the only way to get to the platform where the steam train was, was down the subway, and the subway looked decidedly dodgy. Old stone steps descending into a black pit basically. Full of echoes and a strange icy coldness, such a terrible prospect that I would not go down there. Not for love or money. I stood on the platform making a right old fuss. Tears. Wailing. Stamping. All that sort of thing – I believed there was a monster!
Even though the glory of the steam train lay just one siding away, the terror in between had a hold on me. “We’re going to miss this train” my parents scolded “and then we’ll be stuck here for hours” – but I would not budge. In the end a porter allowed us to cross the line, something you never would do now and we got on our steam train, me sulking quietly in a corner of the carriage. Such a difficult child!
But caught like many of us are, in one way or another, caught between the glory and the terror. Something good just over there, but you can only get to it through darkness right here.
I’d like you to glance at your news sheet if you have it handy and go to the side with the bible readings on it. Look at the end of the Gospel reading we’ve just shared and think where you’ve read words like that before.
“Truly you are the Son of God”
I think of the centurion at the foot of the cross who having observed the terror of Jesus’ crucifixion perceives glory in his dying breath and recognises him for who he is.
Strange that Mark should end the story of Jesus walking on the water with those same words, unless he’s trying to make a point. Unless he’s trying to draw a parallel or two between Peter’s experience in this story and Jesus’ experience of His passion.
Man and God caught together between the glory and the terror..
The story of the walking on the water is familiar territory to us. It’s a well known passage of scripture and it’s also an experience most of us are well aware of personally that of falling flat on our faces, with other people around!
In our Gospel the disciples are full of fear. They’ve lost Jesus, Their boat has blown off course. There is a high wind, there are dangerous waves, there is a ghostly experience, a sense of failure and in the end, a wonderful exclamation of faith. Peter tries to writhe his way out – he tries to reach the glory of Jesus through the terror of the storm and he cannot do it. The wind is all he sees – the glory in the face of Jesus is lost in that crucial moment.
Contrast the experience of the disciples in this story with that of Jesus at his crucifixion.
Jesus was full of fear as he prayed in Gethsemane. He’d lost a sense of where his heavenly Father was as he cried out on the cross “Why have you forsaken me”. His ministry is seen as being blown off course by evil forces “He saved others but himself he cannot save” There is a stormy outbreak as we read of an earthquake shattering the tombs in which the dead lay, There is a ghostly appearance as the dead are raised to life. There is the perceived failure of Jesus as the crowds go by wagging their heads and looking for a sign which is not going to come – and he dies on the cross, at that moment, defeated.
Yet the centurion raises his voice as the followers of Jesus did in our Gospel “Truly this man was the son of God”
What can these parallels mean if not this.
Jesus understands our striving to reach the glory of his kingdom.
He realises the fear of what lies between is often too much, for he has heard for himself how the disciples screamed in their boat and he has seen for himself how Peter floundered in the water.
His response is not just to cry out “Have no fear it is I”.
He does not just offer a hand to the one who is sinking – he does more – on the cross – he comes into the story of the walking on the water and takes Peter’s place – takes the place of our failure – and look – he fails too – he doubts, he is derided, he flounders.
This is the love that draws closer than we ever believed – in the parallels between these stories we begin to see how our salvation opens up. He takes our part and fails too.
This is the glory of God’s son – one who becomes one of us!
And it is no play acting – it is the reality of existence – the ache of love.
The resurrection is the incident which brings hope – he rises from that floundering sinking, nailing, crucifying place – he rises and brings us with him. He shares our defeat so that we can share his victory.
Thus it is one of the famous Easter stories finds the disciples on a boat again, but this time the weather is calm and the day is new. Peter sees Jesus on the shore making breakfast and he doesn’t need to try walking on the water anymore – he just throws himself in there – he simply swims to Jesus – coming as he is all human, all battered, all wondering, but now at last all trusting.
It’s a sign of where we need to get to.
It’s the difference resurrection makes.
Shoreham By Sea station and me caught in the terror of the subway – unable to get to the glory of the steam train – because of fear both real and imagined.
I don’t think Jesus is the porter who allowed us to cross the line – although sometimes I wish he was like that – I think he is one who accompanies us into the echoy darkness and the icy cold of those old stone steps and if we trust him enough to go there – we end up sharing his life even to the cross and he shares our life even to our worst fears – and brings Easter out of it all.
If you ever doubt what your faith is really about – I suggest in something like this is the heart of it.
RH 10.8.08