What the tsunami teaches us

[Isaiah 42:1–9, Psalm 29, Matthew 3:13–17]

Sermon preached at All Hallows by Ray Gaston on 9 January 2005

The tsunami teaches us we are not as in control as we like to think — this natural disaster shows the power of nature to destroy and confuse. We like to think we have it all under control — we moderns — we like to think with our technology and our machines we control and subdue the earth and sea — the tsunami tells us something very different!

The ancients knew this well. Biblical scholars tell us that Psalm 29 is believed to be one of the oldest pieces of writing in the Bible and is based on an even older Canaanite myth where the Canaanite god Baal subdues Yam, the god of the sea, in a battle. Baal, the god of the weather and natural forces, overcomes the chaos of the sea and is therefore to be worshipped. The Hebrews took on this myth but claimed the power to overcome chaos with order to be rooted in the God Yahweh, the God who is the one living God of Abrahamic faith. The Hebrews and the Canaanites were in conflict over their gods, as the story of Elijah shows us — whose god is the biggest and the best!

But the story of Elijah tells us something new about God. After playing with magic and outwitting the prophets of Baal, Elijah, fearful of Jezebel’s fury, retreats to the mountain and goes into hiding (so much for confidence in Yahweh), but here Elijah learns that God is not in the natural forces of wind , thunder and quake but is to be found in the still small voice of silence.

The ancients knew full well, as do many people in the third world today, the reality of chaos and the daily struggle to survive in the face of natural forces. The illusion of the god Baal was and is an understandable reaction to the realities of life — project your fears onto the hope that there is something bigger and greater than the wind, the quake and the sea — Baal, who if we worship and follow him will not let us perish! And the truth is the Canaanites still influence us, and we are still prone to follow or seek the illusionary Baal over the living God. It is Baal who is sought in the understandable cry of ‘where is God?’ It is the illusion of Baal that is sought in the explanations for disaster that tell us it was God’s punishment or God caused it for this or that reason. But we are not called to seek or worship Baal, but the one whom the Hebrews called Yahweh, the living God, and whom we see revealed in Jesus Christ.

The world is full of chaos and disaster — 150,000 have recently died in the awful and shocking reality of the natural power of a wave unleashed by an earthquake. We see the sea as a place of play, somewhere to paddle or swim, so we are horrified to discover its awesome beauty, its power and terror, and that it is deep, dark and chaotic. But the sea is not the only unleasher of chaos in our world. — 150,000 have perished at its might, but daily 30,000 children die of preventable diseases in the Third World, and in Iraq alone 100,000 people have been killed by bombs and guns in the last two years, and murder and violence continues in those places not mentioned in the news like the Congo and Sudan, and AIDS ravages the people of Africa despite the fact that in the West it has become less of a killer through drugs that are unavailable to the Third World. The chaos of violence, exploitation and so-called economic realities creates mass disasters every day.

Psalm 29 announces that God is enthroned over the chaos — natural or man-made — but how? Isaiah begins to explain that it is in justice and service that God is known, it is in justice and service that God conquers and rules over the chaos, both natural and man-made. And for us what Isaiah intimated is most fully revealed in Christ. For here God walks amongst the chaos of the world and shows us the path by which to overcome it — and that path is through love. God takes upon himself the chaos inflicted by tyranny, by empire and religious authority, and with love overcomes death and destruction. The symbol of baptism is not so much about cleansing as about overcoming chaos: John baptised to cleanse, but Jesus calls us to baptism in order to overcome chaos, to be submerged in the waters of chaos but to rise and love, and in loving to reveal that the world is won for God.

In a world of chaos and confusion, we are called to become lovers — to proclaim the enthronement of love over chaos, however it manifests itself. That is why we are here, that is why we worship — to learn to love more; that is why we are called to be Church, to become a school for love in the midst of a seemingly chaotic world.

This page was last updated on Saturday, 15 January 2005

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