2014A 9 Pentecost Salvation and Wholeness (Matt 14:22-33)

Nancy S. Streufert
10 August 2014 Proper 14
1
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.
In January, it was my great privilege to accompany Bishop Beisner and other seminarians from
our diocese on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Of all the wonderful places we visited including
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Jordan River my favorite was Galilee, where we stayed for
three nights at a lovely pilgrim house right on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. During the day,
we visited the sites of Jesus lakeside public ministry, including the church of the Loaves and
Fishes, the Mount of the Beatitudes, and Capernaum where Jesus called his disciples Peter,
Andrew, James, John, and Matthew. Before moving on to Jerusalem, we traveled across the
Sea of Galilee on a vessel described as a modern-day version of the kind of boat used for
fishing at the time of Jesus. Fortunately, tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians
were relatively subdued during our stay. Yet, we were reminded as we approached the Golan
Heights on our boat trip that the civil war in Syria was smoldering just 30 miles away.
Im not very good at visualizing in my mind what it might have been like in the times and places
of history, (pause) and as I tried to place myself in the crowd at Galilee during Jesus day, I
found it difficult. The weather was picture perfect with daily temperatures averaging 60 to 65
degrees with sunny skies and a light breeze.
So it was hard to imagine a stormy Sea of Galilee with high winds like we find in our gospel
reading today. What is so compelling to me about this passage is not that Jesus walked on
water. (As an aside, I have no problem at all accepting what some call supernatural events in
the Bible. If God could create the universe couldnt He also walk on water and control a storm?
But thats another sermon.)
What is compelling to me is the stark metaphor of what it means to be saved by Jesus. Can you
think of a better example of total dependency and surrender that we would feel were we
drowning in stormy waters in the dark of night? Would we not also cry out for mercy, Lord,
save me! as Peter did?
It is a basic tenet of the Christian faith that we find our salvation in Jesus Christ. Our hymns and
prayers and the Psalms and other Scripture are permeated through and through with
references to Gods saving grace. To illustrate:
1. Our opening hymn this morning began, Eternal Father, strong to save . . . .
2. From Psalm 85, we [read/chanted] Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, . .
.
3. In the passage from Pauls Letter to the Romans that [Peg/Barbara] read, Paul teaches his
disciples that . . . if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
4. In the Nicene Creed, we will say in a few moments, . . . for us and for our salvation he came
down from heaven . . . .
5. The opening sentence to the Lords Prayer begins As our Savior Christ has taught us, we
2014A 9 Pentecost Salvation and Wholeness (Matt 14:22-33)
Nancy S. Streufert
10 August 2014 Proper 14
2
now pray, . . .
I could go on and on, but you get the idea . . .
What does it really mean to be saved in Jesus Christ?
The Hebrew and Greek words translated salvation mean different things in different contexts.
In the Old Testament, Gods saving acts often took the form of military victory over enemies, a
physical deliverance in this life, rather than for some kind of afterlife.
In the New Testament, salvation is sometimes used to describe physical wholeness, as in Jesus
healing of the seven lepers. But more often than not, the Greek words for save or salvation
have to do with the ultimate salvation of believers in Jesus Christ, those who will be saved from
sin and death, those who will live under Gods reign, understood as both a present and future
reality.
This question of salvation is one that I struggled with for many years as a Christian. As a youth,
my understanding of the Christian faith boiled down to this: You are a sinner and you are
saved and will go to heaven because Jesus died for your sins. No context. Just this sound bite.
I didnt get it.
Surprisingly, many of the commentators I consulted do not directly address what it means to be
saved. One who does with some rather provocative conclusions is the British theologian and
one-time Bishop of Durham, N.T. Wright. Wrights career as a New Testament scholar has
immersed him in what the Scriptures say and what the early Christians believed about what it
means to be saved and why it matters. In his book Surprised by Hope, Wright lays out in detail
his understanding of heaven, resurrection, and the mission of the church. There is too much to
explain in a sermon, but his main point is this: When God saves people in this life, by working
through his Spirit to bring them to faith, by leading them to follow Jesus in discipleship, prayer,
holiness, hope, and love, such people are designed to be a sign and foretaste of what God
wants to do for the entire cosmos . . . . The work of salvation, Wright says, is about
wholeness, about the present not just the future, about what God does through us. Which is
why what we do in this life matters. Because what we do in Christ and by the Spirit in the
present is not wasted. It will last all the way into Gods new creation, when the world is set
right. Forget the idea, he says, that we will be sitting on fluffy clouds playing harps. No, we
will be engaged in living our lives in peace and harmony in the new creation, relishing our work
as embodied whole beings, not as disembodied souls.
Those who believe heaven is a place where our naked souls go to escape the material world
which may include many Christians! will find Wrights conclusion to be controversial. But at
least he is asking the right questions and compelling his readers think about them!
For many years I worked at a large defense electronics corporation in Los Angeles. Its common
in the business world now to develop elevator speeches. These are statements about our
products or programs that are short and concise enough, that in the time it takes to go up or
2014A 9 Pentecost Salvation and Wholeness (Matt 14:22-33)
Nancy S. Streufert
10 August 2014 Proper 14
3
down in an elevator, we can explain their importance to a fellow traveler. The purpose of
course, is to persuade them of the value of our product or idea while we have them captive.
The building where I worked had ten stories. I imagine an elevator speech in Manhattan could
be much longer than one in Eureka.
But, Im not sure the Christian faith is a topic that lends itself very well to an elevator speech,
because faith is intangible; its something that is complex and difficult to explain. My
experience as a youth tells me that sound bites do not persuade those who dont yet have faith.
I imagine its like trying to explain to a small child what it feels like to fall in love. Or trying to
explain color to a person who has been blind from birth. But when it comes to our faith, its
really not an option to keep it to ourselves.
Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah when he says "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
good news!" Its not just missionaries like Paul or preachers in the pulpit who are tasked with
this. As Christs disciples, we all are to be messengers of the gospel. But how can we do this if
we cant articulate what we believe?
Suppose someone asks you in an elevator why you are a Christian. Suppose this person is
either unfamiliar with Christianity or was once a Christian who has turned away from the
Church and is cynical about religion in general.
What if you said: I believe that we are all sinners, and God sent his only Son Jesus to die for our
sins on a cross so we could be saved and go to heaven when we die.
Or instead, what if you said:
I believe that God loves us so much that when we turned away from him and made a real mess
of our lives and his beautiful creation, he became a human being, the man Jesus, so he could
manifest Gods loving presence directly to get us back on track. Through his Spirit, even now,
Jesus is healing us, making us whole, and guiding us in becoming the persons we have the
potential to be, and in the process is reconciling the world.
Both statements are technically accurate. Which do you think would be more persuasive?
What does it mean to you to be saved in Jesus Christ? What is your elevator speech?