In the Sundays prior to the Transfiguration, we heard a number of Our Lord Jesus’ parables about the kingdom of heaven. Being that the Kingdom of Heaven (or Kingdom of God) is our Lord’s way of referring to the Holy Spirit, the parables of Jesus about the Kingdom of Heaven or Kingdom of God are poetic narratives that describe what it is like to experience the Holy Spirit and to know how He works in the world. Now, in our Gospel passage today, we do not hear our Lord describe a parable, in the way we heard the parable of the sower, the parable of the wheat and weeds, the parable of the treasure in a field, the parable of the pearl of great price, and the rest. But what we do hear in S. Matthew’s gospel account, wherein the raging winds are against the disciples on a boat, our Lord’s walking on the sea, and the ceasing of the winds, is a parable of a different sort. In order to explain how Matthew’s story is a different sort of parable, let me first say something about parables in general, and specifically, the word parable in scripture.
Parables are simple stories used by Jesus to make a comparison between something heavenly and something earthly and material. The kingdom of heaven is heavenly; the sowing of seeds is earthly. The sowing of seeds is used in comparison to the Kingdom of Heaven, or as I said, the experience of the Holy Spirit and how He works in the world. And the same goes for all the parables of the Kingdom. Earthly and materials things or episodes are used in comparison as a simile to convey deeper, spiritual truth.
The word “parable” comes from the Greek translation of a Hebrew word, mâshâl, and it means “likeness”. And the first instance of mâshâl in Scripture comes in the Book of Genesis, the first chapter, verse 26: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’.” And so human beings, male and female, are created in the image of God after God’s likeness. After God’s mâshâl. We are made to be parables of God, each man or woman every created. Human beings are created to be, in other words, living parables. In our material existence, indeed made of earth (of dust), we are as living parables to convey deeper, spiritual truth, and to do so poetically, as parables are poetic. We are all created to be embodied parables.
We are made to be parables of God, each man or woman every created.
Human beings are created to be, in other words, living parables.
And so if we return to considering the Gospel passage, our Lord is using the waters of the sea, the wind, and a boat to convey the spiritual truth of His power and His mighty. He has put Himself into a parable of the raging waters. He is embodying a parable in His desire to convey why our faith in Him should be strong. And not only is our Lord Jesus using earthly, material things in this parable He is embodying, but He is also using scripture. I say that because this episode has direct reference to the Psalms. In the tenth verse of the 89th Psalm, we read, “Thou rulest the raging of the sea; thou stillest the waves thereof when they arise.” And in the 107th Psalm, we have a longer passage, verses 25-29: “For at his word the stormy wind ariseth, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They are carried up to the heaven, and down again to the deep; their soul melteth away because of the trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. So when they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, he delivereth them out of their distress. For he maketh the storm to cease, * so that the waves thereof are still.” Those verses summarize most if not all of our Gospel passage today from S. Matthew!
And that fact points to why Jesus chose this specific place to reveal His power: meaning, why Jesus chose a sea with raging waves because of high winds. By telling them to “Take heart, it is I; have no fear” and by pulling Saint Peter up as he was beginning to sink – another moment which refers to the Psalms, here the 69th Psalm, verse 1: “Save me, O God; * for the waters are come in, even unto my soul” – Our Lord can even more effectively teach of His power to save, His power to comfort, and thus the necessity of having faith in Him, because now He has shown that the Psalms themselves are a likeness to Him; that the Psalms themselves are parables of Jesus, are poetic narratives about life in the Holy Spirit and intimacy with Christ, is what the Psalms are.
Christ wants us to read the Psalms; He wants us to dig by prayer into them, and drink deeply of their healing mercy. He knows life can be tough, life can be a challenge, life sometimes puts us on our belly, as if we were in the belly of a whale. He wants us to read the Psalms that we are equipped to handle life’s challenges; so that when the waters are come in, even unto our soul, even up to our neck, we will know that Christ is there for us and with us, to pull us up. As we say with S. Peter, “Lord, save me,” we know in the Psalms we can always find Christ who hears us, Christ who loves us, Christ who saves us. That when we call to Him in distress, sinking in the waters, we know that Jesus sits above the water-flood; and by calling to Him, He shall give strength unto us, and give us the blessing of peace. Amen.
On Knowing Christ's Power and Might