A little backpedal...
I guess I don't really know if it is ever God's will for us to be sick, and I was a bit hasty to make such a bold statement. All I can really say is that He allows it for some reason. I was just so excited about this new thing that I was learning that I let myself draw conclusions hastily. Sorry. But I am still interested to get your feedback on anything else I shared.
posted by Jenn @ 8:15 PM
5 Comments:
Jenn, I heard a really interesting sermon today in chapel. I kinda spaced out during some of it, but I'll give you what I heard the general gist to be.
The sermon was based on the Matthew account of Jesus walking on the water. The chapel chaplain's thoughts were that we normally look at that passage and think about how Peter was so brave and faithful to want to walk on the water, but how if only he had a little more faith, he could have made it. Her point was that that could be a dangerous perspective on the story. Peter, at that point, was beginning to show himself as a leader and she argues that as, essentially, the captain of the boat, as the captain of the boat, he should not have deserted his crew in the face of such a storm in order to walk on the water. Because, really, walking on water is not something a human should be doing, but it is something that all of us want to do. And then she made it relevant by saying that if God would just let us walk on water, what would we do? Some of us might abolish cancer, some would make the winds stop in the hurricane approaching TX, etc. All of those things are things that God should be doing and are things that, once we try to tackle and solve them on our own, we quickly realize we're sinking and in over our heads. She said that Jesus put Peter back in the boat, because that's where he belongs - in the boat instead of trying to do things that only God can do. But, she notes that once he puts Peter back into the boat, Jesus gets in the boat with them, and then that is when the storm subsides.
So, I'm not sure whether or not God allows us to be sick or causes us to be sick or whatever. I've learned that things become VERY complicated once you start studying them in seminary. But, maybe the point is regardless of how someone has gotten sick, the thing to pray for is for God/Jesus to be with us in our illness and suffering, that we might feel his presence in the midst of it, and that we might be brought peace from that.
That sermon is definitely an interesting take on the story, but one thing doesn't make sense to me. Peter said, "Lord, if it is you, tell me to come out to you on the water." and Jesus told him to come. If Jesus wanted him to stay in the boat, why didn't he just reprimand Peter right away? And then when Peter began to sink, the reprimand Jesus DID give him was "You of little faith... "why did you doubt?" So it doesn't sound to me like Jesus had a problem with Peter coming out, only that Peter lost faith and sank. And along those lines, Peter was acting in Christ's power for the few steps he did take. If Christ had not permitted it, then he would've sunk immediately. So I think there is a flaw in drawing the parallel that we might try to do things only God should do. We couldn't do anything if He didn't enable us; it is His power working through us to accomplish HIS will, not ours. So if God does give power to heal or whatever, it is because it is His will to do so. He would not give us a "blank check" from His power account, as it were, that we could misspend like a teenager with Dad's credit card.
That's my two cents...
Wow Jenny. Last Sunday I heard a sermon on Jesus walking on the water. Hadn't heard a sermon on that in years!!! What a coincidence.
Those are excellent observations from the story that I never thought of, although I would caution against drawing too much from every detail of what happened and essentially allogorizing them. But still, they are very good points. Jesus did not just keep walking on the water, but joined them in.
Jenn, my prayers are with you. I just think that when it comes to suffering and tragedy, there aren't cut and dry answers. We may never know and I think a lot of those are shrouded in deep mystery.
Well, I do remember her talking a little bit about him saying come, but I think that's the part I spaced out upon. I am very bad when it comes to listening to sermons because I so easily space. I have been thinking of asking her for a copy of her manuscript so that I can re-read the sermon.
David--
No, I don't think there are cut and dried answers either. I hope I didn't give that impression (one reason for the backpedalling...). I guess what I am most excited about is just discovering that God does answer prayer and that He gives great strength to persevere through trials.
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