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Although
many people aren’t aware of this fact, the Book of Genesis relates not
one but two creation stories.
In the first
story, chaos and disorder rule what the authors have termed a “dark and
formless void.” It is from this awful and lawless mess that God creates
everything necessary to sustain every form of life. It took God six
days to tame the forces of chaos and disorder; then, if my translation
of the text is accurate, on the seventh day God went on vacation to the
Jersey shore!
Did you realize
that human beings—through the power of free will—“undo” God’s creative
work and re-introduce the primeval forces of chaos and disorder back
into the world?
What’s it like to
experience that dark and formless void?
It’s similar to
the forces of chaos and disorder that a Category Five hurricane
unleashes as it passes over the Florida peninsula. If you’ve ever been
in a hurricane or, at least, watched a meteorologist from The Weather
Channel reporting as a hurricane strikes, the wind and rain turn any
sense of being “grounded” and “safe” upside down and inside out.
To experience
that dark and formless void is also similar to the forces of chaos and
disorder when we are hurt or when tragedy strikes. Beyond losing a
sense of confidence and direction, the ensuing loss and grief turn our
lives upside down and inside out. We’re not quite sure where we are
headed or what we need to do.
The key point of
the first creation story that we oftentimes overlook is that God is
creating everything necessary to sustain life as the chaos and disorder
press in from all sides. These are the very places, however, we
oftentimes believe God is absent.
The central
mystery of human life and Christian faith is that in the middle of all
of the chaos and disorder, God is present and fashioning the Garden of
Eden; that is, if we can discern God’s presence in the middle of the
chaos and disorder. The challenge this central mystery of human life
and Christian faith places before us, then, is to remain intent upon God
and to discern how God is present not to doubt that God is
present. It is the choice to be focused upon God when He commands
“Come!” while our instincts tell us “Run!”
All of us make
choices that unleash the forces of chaos and disorder that re-introduce
the dark and formless void into our lives.
For example,
chaos and disorder press in upon young people when they fail a test or
course in school, upon discovering a friend’s betrayal, or when one is
banished from the “in group” for standing up for what’s right and
proper. As chaos and disorder press in from all sides, young people
seek to make sense of the mess. But, they oftentimes focus upon
themselves rather than upon God, doubting that God is present in the
messes in which young people find themselves. The challenge of faith is
for young people to discern how God is really present and creating the
Garden of Eden out of the chaos and disorder.
Likewise for
young adults. Chaos and disorder press in upon young adults when they
fail succeed to land a coveted job, as opportunities are snatched from
one’s grasp by self-promoting colleagues and friends, or as potential
mates terminate relationships for less-than-honest or honorable
reasons. Confronted by the ensuing chaos and disorder, young adults
oftentimes focus upon themselves and their pain and anguish rather than
upon God. Doubting that God is present in the messes in which they find
themselves, young adults don’t seek to discern how God is present and
creating the Garden of Eden in these messes.
Parents
experience chaos and disorder as their children end up being nothing
more than human. Children fail to live up to their parents’
expectations, don’t fulfill responsibilities, or engage in
inappropriate, illegal, or immoral behavior. All of these behaviors
invite chaos and disorder into parents’ lives. And, just like young
people and young adults, parents oftentimes doubt that God is present in
these messes. Christian faith challenges parents to seek to discern how
God is busy creating the Garden of Eden for their families as children
introduce chaos and disorder into their parents’ lives.
Spouses
experience lots of chaos and disorder in their marriages. What spouses
believed would be “happily ever after” somehow becomes a matter of
learning the “discipline of marriage.” But, the spouse who allows the
chaos and disorder introduced into one’s marriage by inviting the little
things to direct one’s focus upon oneself and one’s needs rather than
upon God quickly finds oneself doubting that God is present in one’s
marriage. Christian faith challenges this spouse to seek sincerely to
discern how God is present in the chaos and disorder of one’s marriage.
What all of these
people are doing—and that’s all of us—is to focus upon themselves and
their needs, while overlooking the place where God is busy at work
creating the Garden of Eden. This teaching is what’s at the heart of
today’s scripture readings. Whereas we oftentimes think about prophets
and apostles as “supermen” who never fail or fall short in responding
wholeheartedly to what God commands, we see quite the opposite in Elijah
and Peter.
What preceded the
events of today’s first reading is that the prophet Elijah has been very
busy preaching God’s word and quite effectively so. But, success is
short lived as Elijah’s effectiveness as a preacher introduces chaos and
disorder into his life. The king’s wife, Jezebel, wants Elijah’s head
for embarrassing her for having demonstrated the superiority of his God,
Yahweh, to Jezebel’s god, Baal.
Faced with a
death threat, Elijah flees for his life into the desert. There, Elijah
grows dejected and convinces himself that is a dismal failure because he
is the only faithful Israelite left. That includes everyone, family
members, friends, and the royal family as well! Elijah would rather be
dead.
It’s pretty easy
to imagine the questions darting through Elijah’s mind: “Why me? Why is
God doing this to me? Why has God abandoned me here? Doesn’t God ‘owe
me one’ because, after all, He did get me into this fix?” With chaos
and disorder pressing in upon him, Elijah is focusing exclusively upon
himself. He isn’t seeking to discern how God is present and creating
the Garden of Eden in all of this mess.
Then, there’s
Peter. Responding to Jesus’ command, everything worked out pretty well
for Peter when he got out of the boat and walked on the water. But,
turning his attention to the tempest around him rather than upon
discerning how God is present in the midst of the tempest pressing in
upon him from all sides, the chaos and disorder engulfs Peter and he
begins to sink into the sea. I think that Jesus’ admonition, “O you of
little faith, why did you doubt?”, could just as easily have been
translated, “Com’on, Peter, let’s get with the program!”
Chaos and
disorder inject themselves into our lives with little advanced notice.
Yes, growing up is difficult; careers and jobs oftentimes meet dead
ends; raising children oftentimes isn’t as easy as it seems; turbulence
strikes even good marriages; we or a loved one contract terminal
diseases; and, a child or spouse dies.
We have choices,
however, in the way we can respond to all of the chaos and disorder. We
can focus upon ourselves and doubt that God is present. We can focus
upon God and seek to discern how God is present. Or, we can focus upon
God and, then, as we see all of the turbulence pressing in around us,
focus upon ourselves.
Keeping our eyes
fixed on God, we somehow will be able to make it through the turbulent
times as we get a glimmer, perhaps even a glimpse, of the Garden of Eden
that God is creating out of the chaos and disorder, a Garden in which we
will find ourselves if we remain faithful.
If we don keep
focused upon God, we will succumb to the chaos and disorder and allow
ourselves to become engulfed by the turbulence. We have Elijah the
prophet and Peter the apostle to show us where this choice directs us.
But, even there, when we recognize the chaos and disorder for what it is
and seek instead to discern how God is present, we will find God, like
Elijah, in the quiet where we will hear God whisper, and like Peter, we
will be humble enough to cry out, “Lord, save me!”
As chaos and
disorder press in from all sides, it’s so easy to believe that God only
manifests His presence in dramatic and powerful ways as He waves his
almighty arm from the heaves, for example, in strong winds, earthquakes,
and volcanic eruptions and as God smotes the enemies of His People. If
that’s where we’re looking for God, Elijah’s error teaches us that we
will miss God altogether. God manifests His presence in the small and
seemingly insignificant things of our lives that, when we see that God
is present, we become overwhelmed and, like Elijah, we must hide our
faces.
As chaos and
disorder press in from all sides, it’s also so easy to believe that God
only manifests His presence in dramatic and powerful ways, for example,
through miracles, where God contravenes the laws of nature. If that’s
where we’re looking for God, Peter’s error teaches us that we will miss
God altogether. Failure, hurt, pain, sickness, and death unnerve us and
we lose control of our lives, despite all of our bluster and
self-confidence. Until we recognize what we truly need, God may be
revealing His presence as hurt, pain, sickness, and even death press in
from all sides. But, if we are to discern God’s presence in these
difficult and trying moments, we must look not for miracles but at our
weakness wherein, like Peter, we realize that God alone will save us.
Our biggest
failure when confronted with chaos and disorder is to remember that no
matter how bad things are, God is creating the Garden of Eden out of
these messes. Through the power of free will, sometimes we cause the
turbulence and at other times the turbulence is thrust upon us from
outside ourselves. But, whatever the source of the turbulence, God is
in charge and too often we forget this challenge which our faith
presents in moments like these.
With God’s
assistance, like Peter, we can walk over the chaos and disorder present
in our lives. But, to do this, we have to learn to remain focused upon
God who commands us, “Come.” To see God at work in our lives, we must
do so first by discerning His presence in the small things. It’s like
running a marathon. It takes months if not years of preparation to run
twenty six miles. But, if we start by jogging a mile and then
continuously add a little more each day until we build ourselves up for
the marathon, we may succeed in our endeavor and achieve our goal.
Likewise, if we fail to discern God present in the small difficulties of
our lives, we will miss God entirely when He commands us, “Come!”
To hear, we must
be listening…to God, not to TV, radio, iPods, cell phones, CD players,
and certainly not to ourselves as if we are God. We’re the one’s who
have to be listening! While God whispers “Come!”, our basic
instincts tell us “Run!”
A brief commercial
break...
Although
it may seem a bit premature for me to be making this announcement,
Advent is just around the corner!
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season of Advent. The 2005 companion edition is entitled “He Comes! The
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Grandparents might consider purchasing a copy for themselves and copies
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HOMILY
