June 1, 2008
(Third Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 4)
How Long Can You Tread Water?
By The Very Rev. Terry White, Dean
Genesis 6: 9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19 •
Psalm 46 • Romans 1: 16-17;
3:22b-31 • Matthew 7: 21-29
(From
The Lectionary Page)
The story of the Great Flood. Do you think you know it? Hold that thought for a bit. You’ll notice in the bulletin that this reading from Genesis is not continuous, but includes verses from chapters 6, 7, & 8. In the Book of Genesis, the entire story runs from chapter 6:5 through 9:28. Scholars tell us that two different source documents were used: the Priestly Document (P) and the Yahwist Document (J). Today’s lesson is strictly according to the P Document.
There are of course many differences between these two accounts: P tells us that 1 pair of every animal went into the ark, but J says that 7 pairs of clean animals and one pair of the unclean. This is but one example of how each source has its own version of the nature of the Great Flood, the reasons for it, and the length of time involved.
So these two sources give us two accounts, and when combined into one story, they produce a third account. Scholars love this stuff, some clergy and lay people alike love studying the differences. (Preaching through the Christian Year A, p. 307)
But today is the parish picnic. School is out. It’s the first day of June, and everything points to summer. So with leisure on our minds, there is a particular biblical scholar I turn to. His name is Dr. Bill Cosby.
Some know his telling of this account from his routines of years ago, recorded on something called an LP, a long playing album of vinyl. (Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52wXFJjkubI to listen to the skit.)
Both P & J fail to tell us about Noah’s conversations with the Lord, so Dr. Cosby provides the missing material. He does a great job imagining Noah’s response to the Lord being something like, “C’mon! Who is this? Who is really talking to me?”
Reluctantly Noah goes about his work, getting his boys to help him build the ark. The animals are fetched, according to the P source, one pair.
But the Lord speaks to Noah just as he thinks all is set.
“Noah,” says the Lord, “You’ve got to bring up one hippopotamus and get another one.”
“What?!” screams Noah, “bring that stinky thing up from below? You have any idea how hard it was to get them down there? Why?”
The Lord responds, “Because you’ve got two males downstairs. You need a female.”
“No way,” says Noah. “Lord, you just take care of it. Turn one into a female.”
God says, “Noah, you know I don’t work that way. Now make the switch.”
And then Noah begins a long rant – I’ve worked and slaved and done what you’ve asked and people are laughing and my family thinks I’m nuts and half the time I think I’m nuts and this is too much, you can forget the whole thing. I’m going to chop up this ark and burn the wood and be done with it.
The Lord stops him with a question: “Noah, how long can you tread water?” And it begins to rain.
Noah finishes by saying, “It’s you and me, Lord. I’m your man. We’re solid.”
The skit still makes me laugh. Bill Cosby’s rendition is not a bad interpretation. Because the story tells us that while Noah is not perfect, there was something about him. J says he found favor in the Lord’s sight, and P says Noah was righteous and blameless. And common to both sources is Noah’s obedience.
One has to infer a fair amount to define what the reason was for the obedience: was it great faith, unusual wisdom (which J favors)? Was Noah obedient because he was pious (that’s P’s argument)? Was it sheer practicality, or a desire to save his own skin and his family? Whatever else was in play, the story comes back to obedience. Hearing the word of the Lord, and whether he was wise or pious or both, Noah acted in concert with God’s desires. He was obedient.
In some areas of life being obedient is necessary.
In the military a command is to be obeyed, and in battle, lives depend on obedience.
Driving in traffic, safety is greatly enhanced when the rules of the road are obeyed.
But generally speaking obedience is not conducive to relationships. The Prayer Book’s marriage vows no longer require the wife to obey and before any man says anything, I’m here to plead, “Don’t go there.”
Today we are used to phrases like “being a team player,” “interacts well with colleagues,” “knows his or her place in the system.” But being obedient? That’s something we train our dogs to be.
Our term obedience comes from the Latin word that means to listen actively, to listen with intent. God is creator, and we are creatures, and for God’s vision of humanity to be achieved, we must be obedient and listen intently.
Last week I was in the dentist’s office for my six-month visit. TV news was highlighting the devastation in Myanmar from the cyclone, in China from the earthquake, and due to tornadoes in the Midwest. Because I was in uniform, two different folks asked me, “Father, do you think the Lord is trying to tell us something?” It is a question often asked in some form that says a great deal about our view of God’s relation to us and the world, God’s desire for us, and our desire to serve God.
Some religious folks teach that if we are more obedient, these disasters will not happen. They claim that there is a way to live and appease God so that God will act benevolently, or at least not punish us with disasters. Such attitudes are so very wrong, for they twist the Holy Scriptures and spiritual violence is done to the faithful.
Today’s Gospel lesson calls us to something more authentic. Obedience is something to be chosen out of love.
This reading is at the end of Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. The two-fold conclusion to the Sermon addresses two audiences: those who might deceive themselves into thinking that performing extraordinary religious activity is an acceptable substitute for obedience to the will of God, and the second group is made up of those who might deceive themselves into thinking that there is saving merit in having heard Jesus preach. Both groups show no evidence of living obediently.
Matthew ends saying that obedience to the Lord’s teaching is the key to life in the kingdom. (Ibid, p.310-1)
In terms of living faithfully:
Obedience is not about barely qualifying for heaven, such as in loving my neighbor just enough.
We are not obedient to Christ when we speak against injustice only when we are safe and our position is guaranteed.
Obedience to share what we have and give to the poor is not about giving what’s left over.
And loving our enemies . . .one of the biggest challenges to living obediently.
And then Bill Cosby’s voice says: Terry, how long can you tread water? In other words, what do you want your life to be about?
These lessons are not about saving ourselves from destruction – they are about claiming the life we all desire, that peace which passes all understanding, knowing our hearts are right with God, and that by obeying the Lord Christ we find a godly life full of joy and peace and forgiveness and sheer contentment. Jesus desires so much for us.
Jesus desires more from us than being a team player. He redeemed us so that we can carry on his work of reconciling the world to God. Lessons like these are a healthy reality check, for they ask us as individuals, as a parish, and a Church: what are you about, and what are doing about it?
So beginning today we can work on obedience. Being cheerful givers, generous in spirit, ready to commit random acts of kindness, living as the beloved children of God we are.
Know the Lord’s love for you. Know his love as you face the floods, and quakes, and fierce winds of life while seeking to live faithfully and obediently. God is our refuge, our help in trouble. Let us listen intently to the Lord, who emptied himself and took the form of a servant, so that we might live and serve and love in ways that prove what we believe.
