Rock the Boat

I love thunder and lighting, a powerful wind and a good downpour. There is something amazing about a storm, a feral beauty in their raw power that I never tire of. Even so, I find it difficult to sleep through one. The noise can keep you up all night, wondering if the roof will fall in. Once it did, at three am--half the kitchen ceiling landed on the kitchen floor.
Jesus slept through storms as if they were quiet, peaceful nights. While his disciples desperately tried to bail the water out of the boat, he snored on oblivious. He wouldn’t have woken up until the boat capsized if the disciples hadn’t roused him. Jesus was never worried about storms. They didn’t bother him.
Obviously he knew he wouldn’t die in a shipwreck. He knew he could stop the wind and rain at any time. But I think there was another reason he didn’t care about the storms.
Jesus made storms. He rocked the boat. Wherever he went he made waves.
Jesus’ entire life was a storm. You could find him by following the line of thundering scribes and Pharisees. Jesus broke all the social barriers of his time. He taught women. He talked to Samaritans. He ate with tax collectors and commended prostitutes for their faith. He touched lepers, and he extended a friendly hand to the gentiles. Jesus did things the wrong way. Nothing he said was socially acceptable. Nothing he did fit into a happy, normal lifestyle.
When Jesus was gone, killed because of his radical ideas and strange behavior, his disciples just kept doing what he did. They had finally learned to stop being afraid of the storms and start making them. The thunder and lighting are ours to command. We should shake up this earth and leave no one standing.
Because this world is messed up, and the only way to fix things is to learn how to walk all over again. To build it up from scratch. Smash the status quo and make something new. Something good. A kingdom of heaven.
Anyone who lives in this kingdom of heaven, the kingdom Jesus brought to earth, cannot live a normal life. They cannot sail on peaceful waters any more. To be a Christian is to rock the boat. Shake things up. Say no to the things that are wrong in this world. Turn polite society upside down.
If we aren’t walking on stormy seas, we aren’t following him.