To the Far Side of the Sea

To the Far Side of the Sea-January 10, 2017

"On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, 'Let us go across to the other side.' And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was...." [Mark 4:35-36]

I remember being on an airplane once and falling asleep over the ocean.  When I woke up, a thousand miles had passed underneath me.

I was not only going to arrive in a totally different time zone, but I would get off the plane in a place where there were military checkpoints between towns, walls topped with razor wire that ran along roadsides, and a language whose letters I could not even recognize.

Sometimes you don't realize just how many lines you may be crossing when you make a trip to "the other side" somewhere.  Not just miles, not just one shore traded for another, and not even national or political boundaries.  Sometimes it is like you are crossing into a whole new world... and by the act of cross, you yourself become the stranger.  You yourself become the foreign face.  I got off the plane with a gulp and a clearing of my throat.

Let me offer just that stark of a notice when it comes to following Jesus, also.  If, as we are beginning to consider and reflect on, the life of following Jesus is like being on a sailboat with Jesus at the helm, we should be prepared for the very real, very likely possibility that he will take us to the far side of the sea... across not merely geographical boundaries like rivers and mountain ranges, but the lines that divide "insiders" and "outsiders," the "acceptable" and the "unacceptable."  Jesus has a flair for crossing borders and taking his followers with him, right into the territory of "the other," so that he himself--and his movement of disciples!--become the outsiders, vulnerable to the stares, whims, and attitudes of others. 

Mark my words: Jesus makes a habit of taking himself and his followers into places and situations where they are not the ones in power or in the majority, and he intentionally brings us into places where we will be vulnerable.  It is not accidental.  It is not a random whim.  It is not a slip of the hand on the rudder.  When Jesus ends up across the sea on "the other side"--that is, the Gentile side--it is part of Jesus' systematic plan to show us how the Reign of God works. 

You may well know the way this story from Mark's Gospel goes, and you may well know, too, that Jesus and his disciples are headed, not on a three-hour tour or a pleasure cruise, but right into the heart of the territory of what first-century Judeans would have called "outsiders."  This was Gentile territory they were headed into--you can tell because they are raising pigs there when they finally get to the other shore in the very next story (see Mark 5).  Jesus knows where he is taking his disciples, and the disciples (many of whom were fishermen who knew those waters) knew exactly what kind of scandalous thing Jesus was suggesting when he said, "Let us go across to the other side."  And yet, as Mark says (I suspect with a wry smile), they took Jesus "just as he was."  (What a wonderful twist, no?  We church-folk like to sing, and perhaps rightfully so, about how Jesus takes me "just as I am, without one plea...," but we have a way of not taking Jesus on his own terms--we rarely taking him "just as he is" but rather look for ways to tame, edit, and sand off the parts of Jesus that challenge our politics, our comfortable way of life, or our insulation.)

All of this is to say that a lot of lines were crossed while Jesus was sleeping in that boat. They were not merely geographical or territorial. They were religious lines, cultural lines, language barriers, and divisions of hostility and suspicion.  Jesus doesn't merely welcome "outsiders" from the Gentile side to come to him in the comfort of his own majority-ruled culture in Jewish-controlled territory.  He puts himself in the position of vulnerability, and takes his followers along with him, going into the place where they will be the ones given strange looks and susceptible to people's prejudice and ancient hates.

That's what comes from letting Jesus have the wheel.  That's what happens when you let Jesus put his hand on the rudder.  That's what we are in for if we dare to take Jesus' lordship seriously--he will take us into places where we do not have power, do not have influence, do not have a majority stake... and instead Jesus leads us across the borders into the realm of vulnerable love.

So fair warning.  If, as we began to say yesterday, the whole Christian life is lived with the realization that Jesus has invited himself onto our little boats and is taking us on a new surprise voyage, then we should be ready for Jesus to take us into places we never expected.  Maybe you will not be sent very far in terms of distance, but maybe it will mean you are pulled out of your comfort zone to speak with love for those whose language and custom are different from yours.... or to listen to the stories of people whose experience is radically different from yours and makes you question your own view of the world.  Maybe it will mean you are called to be vulnerable yourself to someone else and risk that they will not like you or might look down on you.  Maybe it will mean you are pushed to discover that the person you know who voted differently from you can be a beacon of God's grace to you nevertheless. Maybe Jesus will change the way you view people who are led to cross boundaries into new places where they are the ones now wearing the label "outsider."

There's a line from a U2 song that says "grace travels outside of karma."  Well, that sounds like the way of Jesus, too--traveling outside the familiar boundaries of "be-nice-so-that-people-will-be-nice-back-to-you," and instead leading an expedition into the land of mercy, where we are called to be compassionate even to those who will never pay us back, who we do not know, and who may look at us as the outsider. 

That's where we are headed today: on a voyage with Jesus to the far side of the sea... and into the land of mercy.

Lord Jesus, you have the helm.  Take us where you will... and give us the courage to leave behind the familiar and go with you to the far side of the sea.