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<h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 61, 74); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 34px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Part
XXIX Matthew <br>
Did Jesus Really Walk on
Water?<br>
Of Course Not!</h1>
<div>Sandwiched between
Matthew’s two stories of
Jesus feeding the multitude
is another popular tale in
the gospels. It is the
account of Jesus walking on
the water. Interestingly
enough, in each of the four
gospels this walking on the
water story is coupled with
the feeding of the
multitudes. All of the
gospel writers will treat
these two stories as a pair.
That is the first clue to
their meaning. It is clear
that among the early
followers of Jesus these
stories were deeply linked.
If the feeding of the
multitude accounts reflects
an updated version of Moses
providing manna in the
wilderness to the Children
of Israel, is it possible
that the walking on the
water story is an updated
version of Moses splitting
the Red Sea? I think that
this is highly probable and
it is exactly this
connection, which opens the
story of Jesus walking on
the water to its original
Jewish meaning. It is a
narrative that was never
meant to be read literally.</div>
<div>These two Jesus stories
correspond then to the two
great events in Moses’ life.
Earlier in this Matthew
series we saw how the
baptism of Jesus was made to
re-enact Moses’ Red Sea
experience. We then noted
that the account of Jesus’
forty days of being tempted
in the wilderness was
paralleled with Moses’ forty
years in the wilderness,
indeed the crises Moses
faced were almost identical
with the temptations that
Jesus faced. In the folklore
of the Jewish people, the
power of Moses over water
was clearly and regularly
established. Jesus, if he
was to fulfill the messianic
image of being the “New
Moses,” needed to have a
similar story in which power
over water was attributed to
him. The ability to walk on
water served that purpose
very well. The close
connection of Jesus feeding
the multitudes and walking
on water with Moses sending
“mamma” in the wilderness
and splitting the “Red Sea”
screams at us to open our
eyes to their original
Jewish meaning. For Matthew,
neither the feeding of the
multitude nor Jesus walking
on the water was meant to be
read as a miracle story.
They were Moses stories.
Only later Gentiles, unaware
of their Jewish meaning,
would ever have thought of
either one as a supernatural
act that had actually taken
place in real history. Jesus
refused, time after time, to
provide a “sign” to his
critics. Indeed that kind of
activity was overtly
rejected in Matthew’s
temptation narrative. Being
the messiah does not mean
putting God to the test with
daring acts of supernatural
power, like hurling ones
self off the pinnacle of the
Temple.</div>
<div>The walking on the water
story is itself memorable.
Like few biblical tales, it
has insinuated itself into
the life of our culture.
Even those who never go to
church will know this story.
There are thousands of golf
jokes that turn on Jesus’ or
God’s ability to walk on
water. Most clergy have
heard them all!</div>
<div>My favorite walking on the
water story comes, however,
not out of golf, but out of
baseball. It involves people
deep in the history of the
New York Yankees, a team to
which I am more than just a
little bit devoted. This
story happened some time ago
when the owner of the
Yankees, George
Steinbrenner, was still
alive and at the height of
his power. The Yankees had
acquired from the Kansas
City Royals in a trade a
promising outfielder named
Lou Piniella. Arriving in
the Bronx to join his new
team, Piniella appeared with
long hair and a heavy beard.
When he was told that it was
Yankee policy for players to
have their hair short and to
restrict facial hair to a
neat moustache, Piniella
objected. He was then told
that he would have to speak
to Mr. Steinbrenner about
that, since only the owner
could exempt a player from
this team policy. So a time
was set for this
long-haired, bearded
Piniella to talk with Yankee
owner, George Steinbrenner.
It would be their first
meeting.</div>
<div>“I don’t see why I have to
cut my hair and shave my
beard just to play for the
Yankees,” Piniella told the
owner. Then, trying to
strengthen his case,
Piniella added, “Jesus
Christ, the greatest person
who ever lived, had long
hair and a beard.” George
Steinbrenner invited his
balky left-fielder to go
with him outside Yankee
Stadium to where the East
River was flowing lazily
through New York City. Then
Mr. Steinbrenner spoke and
said, “Lou, Jesus Christ
could walk on water. Now if
you can walk on the top of
this river, then you can
keep your hair and your
beard!” Piniella went to the
barber for a shave and a
haircut and then he went on
to become a crucial part of
Yankee success for years,
finally finishing his career
as one of baseball’s finest
managers in New York,
Cincinnati, Seattle, Tamps
Bay and Chicago.</div>
<div>While the story of Jesus
walking on the water has
become part of our cultural
landscape, is there any
reason to believe that it
ever happened? I do not
think so. Those like
Matthew, who were familiar
with the Jewish Scriptures
and with the Jewish
story-telling tradition,
recognized this narrative
for what it was, an
interpretive Moses story.
Moses had power over water.
He could split the Red Sea.
To portray Jesus as walking
on the water would assert
that Jesus also had power
over water. That was the
purpose of this narrative.
To be more specific, the
story of Jesus walking on
the water was a Red Sea
story magnified and repeated
about Jesus.</div>
<div>It comes in Matthew’s
gospel between the feeding
of the 5000 and the feeding
of the 4000. When the first
feeding story was complete,
Matthew had Jesus send the
disciples in a boat across
the lake ahead of him while
he dispersed the crowds.
Then Matthew says that Jesus
“went up the mountain alone
to pray.” By this time the
boat, carrying the
disciples, was “many
furlongs from the land”
(Matt. 14:24). Their boat,
however, had encountered a
storm and it was being
beaten by the waves. The
wind was also against it.
So, “in the fourth watch of
the night” (that would be
between 3:00 and 6:00 am)
Matthew says, “Jesus came to
them walking on the water”
(Matt 14:25). Matthew’s
clear message to the church
of his day was that Jesus
always comes when life’s
struggles are the hardest.
The disciples seeing him,
however, thought they were
seeing a ghost. Is this a
hint of their later Easter
experience? Possibly. Jesus
speaks, identifying himself,
telling them not to fear.
Then Matthew adds a wrinkle
to his story, found nowhere
else in any New Testament
book. Peter seeks further
identification of this
ghost-like figure. Peter is
always in a struggle to
understand Jesus in this
gospel. He believes and then
he does not believe. He
confesses that Jesus is the
Christ and then he
completely misunderstands
what the Christ function is.
He pledges his undying
loyalty and then when his
life is at risk he denies
ever knowing Jesus. So Peter
in this Matthean episode
steps forward to test his
senses and his perception.
“Lord, if it is you,” he is
clearly not convinced, “bid
me to come to you on the
water.” That would be a good
proof of identification.
Jesus bids him to come;
Peter steps out of the boat
and he too walks upon the
water! The power of Jesus
can be the power of the
disciples. That is the
message and it was a timely
one when Matthew was writing
and Jesus’ followers were
under the great pressure of
persecution.</div>
<div>As soon as Peter saw the
waves and felt the wind,
however, he became afraid
and began to sink. “Lord,
save me!” he cried out.
Jesus extended his hand to
Peter, held him up and said:
“O man of little faith, why
did you doubt?” Then they
both got into the boat and
at that moment the winds
ceased. Matthew added to his
text the story’s purpose,
namely that those in the
boat now “worshiped him” and
confessed him to be “the Son
of God” (Matt: 14:33).</div>
<div>Once again, just like the
feeding stories, this is a
parable, not a literal
event. No one defies nature
and gravity to walk on water
or to enable five loaves to
feed a multitude. Matthew’s
readers knew that. So what
he is doing is portraying
Jesus as possessing
Moses-like power. Moses had
the power to split the water
so that he could form a path
through it on dry land.
Jesus’ power was even
greater. He could navigate
the water by walking on its
surface. In this story the
message was that the
disciples saw God in Jesus
in a new and powerful way.
They then did what Jews
would do only to God: They
worshiped him, thus
acknowledging him to be part
of who God is. Jesus’ divine
nature was so apparent,
Matthew was suggesting, that
the people sought just to be
in his presence in a crisis
and to see a vision of him
coming to them when they
were in distress. Matthew
was describing the
disciples’ faith in Jesus,
not an event that actually
happened. Remember, that
when we put this story into
its literal history, Jesus
was yet to be betrayed, to
be denied and to be
abandoned by the members of
the Twelve. Matthew was
rather portraying the
growing faith of the
Christians at the time he
was writing some 55 years
after the crucifixion. The
idea of messiah as a “God
presence” was still
evolving. As the post-Jesus
Christian community endured
the storms of life and their
times of trial, sometimes
their confidence
disappeared. Like children
stepping out from the
security of their parents’
home, they were not sure
they could make it without
Jesus being physically
present. Matthew assures us,
however that they will reach
the security of the shore.</div>
<div>When they do arrive there,
however, they find the
Pharisees and the Scribes
have descended to a new
level of religious trivia.
Their chief worry concerned
why the disciples were
abandoning the religious
traditions: they did not
wash their hands before
eating nor honor their
elders. Jesus and his
disciples, they charged,
were making “void” the
literal word of God.</div>
<div>Jesus is then made to call
his critics hypocrites. He
talks about the difference
between external religious
forms and internal religious
faith. Peter, above all,
still doesn’t get it.
Nothing seems to work for
Peter. Even seeing Moses’
power in Jesus was not
sufficient. Those who cling
to religious rules for their
meaning will never know a
change of heart.</div>
<div>The story then moves on to
one of the great iconic
figures in this gospel’s
narrative. She is a
Canaanite woman. The
boundaries of religion are
about to be expanded anew.
Stay tuned.</div>
<div>John Shelby Spong</div>
<div>Read the essay online <a style="color: rgb(68, 135, 207); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=23b78b87b9&e=0471473479" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(68, 135, 207); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Question
& Answer</h2>
<div>Ed Branthaver, via the
Internet, writes:</div>
<h4 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(68, 135, 207); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Question:</h4>
<div>In November I will be 76
years old. I grew up in one
of the historic Peace
churches – the Church of the
Brethren, which I attended
from childhood through my
adult years. The
congregations I attended
were conservative, but not
of the “Literalist” bent.
Even during my college years
and beyond I was unable to
understand the gospels. None
of my considerable studies
proved to be of significant
help. Not until I
accidentally found your
book: <em>Why Christianity
Must Change or Die?</em>
did I find a ray of light
and an individual who wrote
in a fashion that I could
understand. Since then, I
have purchased almost
everything you have written
and I subscribe to your
weekly e-messages. You have
helped me immeasurably to
make sense of what has been
a mystery to me for a long
time. Thank you.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>In your article “Christ and
the Body of Christ” in the
2000 issue of “The Once and
Future Jesus,” you write
“God is real for me, a
mythical, indefinable
presence which I can
experience but never
explain.” Further in THE
FUTURE OF THE CHRISTIAN
TRADITION (“Beyond Theism
but not Beyond God”) you
identify God with the real
and present “life force” in
the universe (love). My very
good friend, a former
fundamentalist Christian
turned atheist, claims that
because you do not define
God as a deity or Supreme
Being, you are in fact an
atheist (according to the
dictionary definition) even
though you said you could
accept the label Christian
Humanist. Could you explain
to me and to my atheist
friend how you can maintain
your status as a Christian
while at the same time meet
the “dictionary definition”
of an atheist?</div>
<h4 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(68, 135, 207); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Answer:</h4>
<div>Dear Ed,
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>Thank you for your letter
and congratulations on 76
years. I am happy to respond
to your inquiry.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>For me it is simple: the
dictionary definition of the
word “atheist” is wrong. An
atheist is not literally one
who says there is no God. An
atheist is one who says
there is no God who can be
defined in theistic terms!
That is a crucial
difference. Theism is not
God; Theism is a human
definition of God, one which
defines God as a “being,
supernatural in power,
dwelling somewhere outside
the world and capable of
invading human history in
miraculous ways.” It is this
theistic deity who died in
the intellectual revolution
that began with Copernicus
and Galileo, who were the
first to introduce us to the
dimensions of space and, in
the process, destroyed the
idea of a three-tiered
universe in which the
theistic God was conceived.
God’s dwelling place outside
this world was simply
removed.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>Next the work of Isaac
Newton showed us how the
laws of the universe
operated with such
mathematical precision that
the realm in which the
theistic God was thought to
operate began to shrink
perceptibly. The things we
once called miracles and
magic are now explained
without reference to
supernatural causes. The
weather and human sickness
were both demystified and we
understood the causes of
hurricanes, earthquakes,
floods and drought on one
side and coronary
occlusions, strokes, cancer
and infections on the other.
The prayers for rain and for
sickness, which grew out of
a theistic definition of
God, were dropped and
replaced. Instead of praying
for rain we now consult the
meteorologists. Instead of
asking God to heal us or our
loved ones we turn to
antibiotics, surgery,
chemotherapy and radiation.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>In time, Charles Darwin
taught us about the origins
of both the universe and
life and his insights
challenged the way
Christians once postulated
their primary way of telling
the Christian story. That
traditional story involved
us in asserting that there
was an original perfection,
followed by a fall into sin,
which then required the need
for a rescuing act of
redemption, which was
presumably accomplished in
Jesus. Jesus thus became the
incarnation of the theistic
deity. It was a fascinating
way to tell the Jesus story,
but it was quite pre-modern.
That kind of religious
language no longer
translates into reality for
us, but most Christians
never learned that there was
any other language that we
could use. Freud and
Einstein then added their
unique insights to our
expanding knowledge and all
of these things together
meant that the human
definition of God that we
call “theism” became
irrelevant to our educated
minds.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>The question then is does
God die when theism dies? I
don’t think so. The theistic
definition of God is a human
construct and all human
constructs ultimately die.
It also means that, much
more than we once thought,
claims once believed to be
absolutely necessary to
religion, will also
inevitably die. I refer to
such irrational ideas as the
concept of infallible Popes
and inerrant scriptures and
whether or not there is “one
true faith” and “one true
church.” It means we have to
recognize that the human
mind can never define or
contain the ultimate mystery
to which human beings refer
when they say the word
“God.” It means that our God
language will become less
concrete and more mystical.
It will mean, inevitably,
that we will be less certain
and, shall I say, “vaguer”
in the God language we use.
It means that concepts like
“Christian atheist” or
“believing non-theist” will
not be seen as oxymorons.
Ultimately it means that the
death of the theistic
definition of God will not
mean the death of God.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>Today, theologians speak of
God as a human symbol
pointing to a reality that
words cannot capture. They
will say things like “God is
dead” and still be drawn in
worship. They look at Jesus,
but not in the way that
causes us to think that
Jesus is related to God in
the same way that Clark Kent
is related to superman.
Divinity becomes an aspect
of humanity and is found in
Jesus because his was a
human life that escaped the
boundaries of the human and
thus reflected and channeled
the reality of God to us and
for us. It is a fermenting,
frightening, creative time
in the theological world. A
new explanation is underway.
I believe I can experience
God, but I can no longer
define God in theistic
terms. That makes me a
non-theist believer, but not
one who denies the reality
of God. I pursue God inside
the parameters of
Christianity because that
has always been my doorway,
but not because I am
convinced it is the only
doorway. This makes me a
Christian by my definition,
but I do not believe
Christianity itself can
contain the wonder of God
and my journey will always
lead me beyond the
boundaries of Christianity.
Into what I do not yet know,
but it will be a step into a
new dimension of reality for
which I do not have words.
Christianity has always been
evolving. This will simply
be the next, but not the
last stage in that
evolution. I claim my role
in this evolution,
specifically as a Christian.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>This kind of radical
reformation of our faith
story has happened before,
but perhaps in not so total
a way. Christianity was born
in a Jewish world and then
had to translate itself into
a Platonic-thinking Greek
world in order to survive. A
man named Augustine, the
bishop of Hippo did that for
us in the Fourth century.
When Aristotle’s thought
replaced Plato’s in the
twelfth and thirteenth
centuries as the dominant
way of perceiving truth then
Western theology once more
had to adapt. Christianity
did so by translating itself
anew into Aristotelian
terms. A man named Thomas
Aquinas did that for us.
When the age of the
Enlightenment emerged, there
was a great need for
Christianity to be
translated into the
categories of new scientific
learning and into the
emerging new humanism. The
Protestant Reformation
sought to accomplish that.
The jury is still out on how
successful that was. Today,
the knowledge on which the
modern world is based, both
its intellectual knowledge
and its technological
knowledge, cries out for
what I have called “A New
Christianity for a New
World.” Developing that “New
Christianity” is an ongoing
work in progress.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>There are some who believe
that Christianity will die
if it has to change and
adapt and so they resist
change and entrench
themselves in the formulas
of yesterday. We call them
fundamentalists and they
come in both a Catholic and
Protestant variety. There
are also some who think that
Christianity in none of its
forms will ever be able to
live in this modern world
and so they abandon it
altogether. We call them
secular humanists.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>I call myself “A Believer
in Exile.” Both words are
important. I am a believer.
God is infinitely real to me
even though I cannot define
that reality. I am also in
exile from the traditional
understanding of my
religious past. I will never
abandon my Christian roots,
but I do see Christianity as
an evolving force and I want
to be part of that
evolution.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>So I gather with my
community of faith in
worship each week. I sing
the hymns that reflect our
journey through history. I
listen to and pray prayers
that are still largely
addressed to a theistic
understanding of God. I
listen to sermons that help
me explore a new interior
reality. I participate in
educational activities that
force me into a dialogue
between faith and knowledge.
In my own way, I see my life
as a journey into the
mystery of God. In that
journey, I am not able to
pursue or even to
contemplate that journey’s
end, but I believe I walk in
God and with God and that
God lives in me and through
me. Perhaps I am delusional,
but I don’t think so.
Perhaps God is the journey
and not the destination.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>It is from this perspective
that I write not only my
books, but this weekly
column and because so many
seem to be willing to walk
with me, I never feel that I
walk alone.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>Thank you for your letter.
John Shelby Spong</div>
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