Thomas J Parlette
“Two Storms”
Matt. 14: 22-33, 1st Kings 19: 9-18
8/9/26
A storm is a great way to start a play.
At least William Shakespeare believed that to be true.
Think back to your high school or college days, or whenever you have had run-ins with the Bard. How many times did he start things off in the midst of a violent storm. Storms or strange weather are a part of such Shakespearean classics as Twelfth Night, in which a storm causes a shipwreck that gets the action rolling. In Macbeth, stormy, supernatural weather accompanies the witches’ predictions of “toil and trouble” and breaks out the night King Duncan is killed. And in the political thriller Julius Caesar, “strange portents in the sky” precede the bloody political violence that tears Rome apart.
But the two best examples of storms that begin Shakespearean plays are probably King Lear and The Tempest. In King Lear, the play opens during a violent storm with Lear raging at nature herself. The scene mirrors the anguish and brokenness of Lear as well as his descent into madness at the loss of his royal status. In The Tempest, the opening storm reflects Prospero’s rage and desire for revenge after years of exile as he shipwrecks the poor crew on his deserted island.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any first hand interviews with Ol’ Will, so we don’t know exactly why he liked to start his plays off with storms – but we might be able to make an educated guess.
First of all, it’s a great way to grab your audience’s attention from the get-go. We still see this technique used in action adventure movies – think of the Mission Impossible movies, or any of the James Bond movies. They almost always start off with a breath-taking, stunt – filled opening scene. Shakespeare was doing the same thing with what he had to work with in the 1600’s.
Secondly, a storm is a great metaphor to show us something about the characters we are going to meet. Shakespeare doesn’t just show us Prospero’s rage or King Lear’s oncoming madness – he shows it to us with a storm – symbolic of the characters’ inner conflict and turmoil.
We can see this not only in Shakespeare, but in the Bible as well.
This morning we have the stories of two storms. They are meant to grab our attention and announce God’s presence about to take the stage. They are also meant to show us something about the characters of Elijah and Peter – the central characters in today’s stories.
First, we turn to the book of 1st Kings. The prophet Elijah has had a tough time lately. He’s been driven out into the wilderness and the Israelites are trying to kill him. So, he is hiding out in a cave. The Lord comes and asks him “What are you doing here?”
So Elijah complains to the Lord – “I did what you asked, nobody listened. They killed all the prophets and now they are trying to kill me.”
Then the presence of the Lord sweeps onto the stage in the form of a storm. First, a strong wind, then an earthquake and then fire. And then the sound of sheer silence. And when the Lord has Elijah’s full, undivided attention - the Lord speaks. Elijah utters his complaints again – repeating himself word for word, and the Lord tells him what to do next.
Next, we turn to the Gospel of Matthew, where we hear about another storm, this one at sea. Jesus is still looking for some alone time after hearing about John the Baptist’s death, and he sends his disciples across the Sea of Galilee in a boat. A storm kicks up and the boat is being battered by the waves. Actually, the original language is a bit more descriptive here. The original language tells us that the boat was being “tormented” or “tortured” by the wind. (1) In the midst of this torment, Jesus came walking across the water. The disciples are terrified and think he’s a ghost, but Jesus assures them – “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Actually what Jesus says here is the same thing that Yahweh says to Moses from the burning bush when Moses asked about a name. The answers he receives is “I AM.” (2) That’s what Jesus says here to his terrified disciples – “Take heart, I AM; Do not be afraid.”
Peter gets so excited about all this that he initiates a conversation with Jesus over the wind and the waves, in fact, Matthew is the only Gospel writer who records this dialogue in which Peter cries out “save me, Lord,” and Jesus reaches out and grabs him. “Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
In both stories, the storms grab our attention and prepare us for the entrance of the Divine presence onto the stage. They also show us something about Elijah and Peter – and the nature of faith.
In these stories we see that God comes in the midst of the storms that we face, the storms that torment and torture and batter our souls. God comes in the midst of the earthquakes of life that shake us to our core. God comes in the midst of the fires of life that threaten to consume us. In fact, God uses those storms to get our attention, so that when the sheer silence descends when the crisis passes, we are ready to listen for what God has to say.
God gets our attention through tragedies and challenges and unexpected obstacles. As the theologian and author Frederick Buechner once said, “Coincidences are God’s way of getting our attention.” (3) So are the hardships we face – the storms, and earthquakes and fires.
Rick Warren, the author of “A Purpose-Driven Life, says, “God is more concerned with our development than our comfort.” (4) And we certainly see that here for both Elijah and Peter. Their situations were not comfortable, God used the wind, earthquake and fire to strengthen Elijah’s faith and trust. Jesus did the same for Peter on the Sea of Galilee.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote about this storm at sea – he said, “Peter had to leave the boat and risk his life on the sea, in order to learn both his own weakness and the almighty power of the Lord. If Peter had not taken the risk, he would never have learned the meaning of faith.” (5)
And sometimes to learn what faith truly is, sometimes to strengthen and deepen our faith, we must face storms and hardships and unexpected challenges. Sometimes we have to summon the courage to get out of the boat or come out of the safety of our caves. It may be uncomfortable, but the reward is a deeper trust in God’s power to pull us through and get us back into the boat.
Martin Luther once said that, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake their life on it a thousand times.” (6)
To be honest, Luther sets that bar pretty high. A perfect faith, one like Luther describes, that hard to imagine. A perfect faith like that doesn’t really exist, not for most of us. The best we can do is take one more step toward better. That’s what Elijah and Peter both did today. In the midst of the storms they faced - they took one more step toward better. A step toward:
Better, more satisfying relationships,
Better, more fulfilling lives,
And a better, deeper, more trusting faith.
One step closer to the kind of faith Martin Luther describes as a living and daring confidence.
May we all be more willing to take such a risk in the midst of the storms we face. If we are willing to step out of the safety of our boat – Jesus will be there to catch us, and haul us back to safety.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. Lance Pape, Connections, Yr. A, Vol. 3, Westminster John Knox Press, 2020, p 224.
2. Iwan Russell-Jones, Feasting on the Word, Yr. A, Vol. 3, Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p 334.
3. Retrieved online, 8/4/26.
4 Retrieved online, 8/4/26
5. Pape… p 226.
6. Gennifer Benjamin Brooks, Connections Yr. A, Vol. 3, Westminster John Knox Press, 220, p 223.
