Walking on Water

This week brings us (again) to the story of Yeshua walking on water.

This is a story that Thomas Jefferson dismissed as primitive nonsense, along with all other “miracle stories” in the Bible, and he simply cut them out with a scissors.

Jefferson was a towering figure in the emerging age of reason and rationalism, and understandably worried about how religion promoted anti-rational superstitions.

In fact, the very thing he worried about was also the product of the new age of rationality. People were beginning to insist that bible stories be understood as historical facts, an idea that is different from how composers and compilers of the biblical literature understood their stories. No, in the ancient world, transmitters of the great stories freely elaborated, embellished, and even changed stories more like artists and poets, trusting that their own imagination was welcome (inspired) in the transmission of truth.

The Bible is full of examples of this kind of elaboration, both in the Torah, and in the Gospels. “Literalism” as we like to call it, is a more modern problem, not an ancient one. Jefferson’s concern was valid, but to dismiss the fantastic parts of the text robs us of what I believe the writers wished to convey: astonishment, and a larger-than-life image that is unforgettable. Think of the story of the Trojan Horse. It is fantastic. Did there need to be an actual wooden horse big enough to hold the invading army in order for us to remember and learn from it?

(By the way, there is no harm in thinking these things happened historically, as long as there is room for others who think differently... and that seems to be a big “if.”)

Miracle stories are astonishing, literally. They disturb our normal assumptions and ways of seeing in the world. “How can this be?” we wonder. This is wonder-ful. Full of wonder.

The story conveys astonishment. The disciples, when they see Jesus walking toward them, in the storm, on top of the water, are astonished. We might say “freaked out.” This was not normal. It was extraordinary.

So much so, that one need never have read the bible to know what it means to say, “She walks on water.”

We live with too little astonishment in our rationalist age. Life is astonishing continually! Just the fact of being alive is astonishing. Children and wise people know this, and are in tune with it--even in the most ordinary things. Birth and death are moments that jar us to a sense of awe. Yet everything in between is awe-some for those with eyes to see. Every moment, every creative act, every insight, every experience of love, every creature is an expression of divine power and love.

In the story, Peter wants to try walking on water. He gets out of the boat and it works! For a moment. Then fear causes him to sink. He could not trust what was happening, and returned to his habitual assumptions about what is, and is not, possible.

Back to Jefferson. There’s a story about him where he observed Baptist preachers speaking publicly on the commons. They were arrested and jailed because in Virginia only Anglican ministers were authorized to preach publicly. Jefferson, who disliked Baptist religion intensely, decided to write an amendment to the freshly minted Constitution. It became what is known as the First Amendment, protecting freedom of speech and freedom of religion from government control, even (perhaps especially) for those with whom he disagreed.

In that moment, I believe, despite his many flaws, Thomas Jefferson walked on water. It was an astonishing act of love and trust. You and I too have this potential. That’s the truth.