Jesus walking on water. Daniel of Uranc
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary TimeThe Cosmic Christ
It isn’t often that I look at the three Sunday readings and discover them as a unified whole, there is always the problem of our second reading seeming slightly difficult to weave into the pairing that is the OT first reading and the gospel, there is of course a link through our second reading, more in the continual opening out for us of the teaching of the NT scriptures and the various themes tracked and presented by the various writers. But this Sunday seemed different, perhaps it is my poetic and artistic side, which makes connections through imagery, coming to the surface this week. But it struck me that the picture I have of our first and second readings ( I Kings 19 and Romans 9) are like two sides of a triptych (a painting or carved panel-that is divided into three sections ) where the two side panels of our first and second reading reveal the central portrait of Christ in the gospel for this Sunday. How? Basically we are faced with unpicking the picture of the Cosmic Christ, for not only is Jesus incarnate as one of us , as the Messiah Christ he is also the only begotten Son of the Father, the eternal and uncreated Word, second person in the unity of the Triune One.
Listen to the friends of God!
Now that’s quite a lot of deep theology for us and not easily digestible every time we come to prayer, or reflect on Christ’s presence amongst us each day. The Cosmic Christ is difficult to grasp and understand, and rightly so, because the immensity and eternity of love that is God, found for us in Christ, has innumerable permutations. This sense of the immensity of Christ’s love is something I hold fast to when, as I often do, I hear or read ‘so called’ and often ‘self appointed’ religious figures pontificating on who Christ is, and telling us what he ‘feels’ and ‘wants’. A word to the wise: do not listen to these siren voices, they only know as much as you do, and often get things wrong, rather listen to those who teach you how to discern and seek Christ, pay more attention to those who show by their own faith and example his merciful love and encourage you in forming YOUR relationship with him, these are the guides of truth, the friends of God who support us on our own journey.
Two images: I Kings and Romans 9
But let us look at the three images of Christ given to us through the readings this week. Firstly we look at the story of Elijah and God found in our first picture. There is something in the structure of that magnificent image of the coming of the Holy One in stages to be finally revealed in the communication described in 1Kings 19:12. This in Hebrew is qol demamah daqqah, translated as ‘the sound of crushed silence’ or ‘a voice of thin stillness’ interpreted in many of our scriptural readings as the ‘tiny whispering sound’. This is a complete and utter contrast to the noise some and dramatic heralds of theophany, the unchecked forces of nature which precedes the revelation of something tangible, available and open to us. There it is, the heart of the living God discovered the Word!
Then taking as our second picture the declaration of Romans 9, we discover a similar unfolding of a set of word images, namely the revelation of Jesus the Christ unfurled through manifestations in Scripture such as to the Israelites ( for whom Paul is desperately concerned) sounding like the natural forces in I Kings but acting more as a chorus in a divine orchestral piece, in which Paul sets out salvation in Christ by gradually uousncovering its meaning for us. Here is the synergy of unfolding image I found between these two readings: “They are Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Messiah. God who is over all* be blessed forever. Amen”. (Rm 9:4,5)
What a wonderful hymn this is, unveiling the Jewish origins of our faith, of the Covenantal promise made between God and Israel, and of the ultimate gift of Christ the Word made flesh amongst humanity and earthly life!
The Gospel Christ: the Word that calms!
The central image is a wonderfully layered picture of Christ about his mission, then retreating to pray on the mountain by himself, and yet again from that vantage point, sees far below him on the lake, the distant wind tossed fishing boat in perilous circumstances. He who was the Word that uttered and with the Spirit brought into being the waters at creation, walks on those waters and his disciples are in awe of him, stunned at what is taking place he tells them not to fear. Again it is in the dialogue between Jesus and others that we discern truth, and this portrait teaches us a lesson, namely that we must not fear the presence of Christ, instead we must learn how to hear him as the disciples did by facing our difficulties and problems of faith. The Cosmic Christ continually speaks to us, and perhaps like Peter did we hear his voice and discern his presence, but discover doubt in our hearts, it is then, when we have faced the winds of anxiety, disturbance and perhaps deceit and let them die down, then, when honesty becomes the way we reply to the Lord, the still small voice of Christ the Word will be heard. Here is the completion of our picture, Christ calmer of all things will never leave us no matter whatever storms may rage.
Some Sayings of Amma Syncletica of Alexandria:
1. “In the beginning there is struggle and a lot of work for those who come near to God. But after that there is indescribable joy. It is just like building a fire: at first it is smoky and your eyes water, but later you get the desired result. Thus we ought to light the divine fire in ourselves with tears and effort.”
2. “Those who put out to sea at first sailed with a favourable wind; then the sails spread, but later the wind becomes adverse. Then the ship is tossed by the waves and is no longer controlled by the rudder. But when in a little while there is calm, and the tempest dies down, then the ship sails on again. So it is with us, when we are driven by the spirits who are against us; we hold to the cross as our sail and so we can set a safe course.”
Thomas Merton
“If nothing that can be seen can either be God or represent Him to us as He is, then to find God we must pass beyond everything that can be seen and enter into darkness. Since nothing that can be heard is God, to find Him we must enter into silence. Since God cannot be imagined, anything our imagination tells us about Him is ultimately a lie and therefore we cannot know Him as He really is unless we pass beyond everything that can be imagined and enter into an obscurity without images and without the likeness of any created thing.”
