Jesus used boats for some amazing miracles
That’s no big deal, because he was God, but — Jesus was God!
The call for his apostles to be fishers of men was Jesus’ central metaphor, rather than riffing on accountants, lawyers, carpenters, or well diggers. He could have come up with a great analogy for a baker of bread (nothing great comes to mind), but he chose men of boats instead. Jesus used boats and sandals like anyone else, and he morphed into God from within the same reality as us. It confirms to us that his promise to return and resurrect us is assured.
Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
James 1:12-18
Mark 8:14-21
I had to rewrite my reflection this week after reading Ron Bruni and Steve Hall’s articles. Good on them. They’ve chewed on two of the most difficult top-of-mind theological conundrums in our Catholic faith — why does God allow trials, and what does God really have in mind for us in the next life? Heady, personal, and well-explained studies on their part. Bread and trials are covered. I ash-canned my less worthy work.
Instead, I went aquatic and dredged up a seemingly inconsequential but curious issue— why does Jesus wade through so many encounters with the apostles on boats?
He preached to his initial circle of disciples for the first time from a boat just off the shore. Next, he performed his famous “that’s too many fish!” miracle off the side of Peter, James, and John’s fishing boat. A year or two later, he wandered about, walking on the sea — apparently as Jesus is wont to do — and climbed into the apostles’ boat when they panicked in a storm. He rescued Peter, who attempted to defy physics, and helped him get back into a boat. On, it seems, a separate occassion he slept in a boat while they panicked again, and Jesus yawned and calmed the seas. He ran from the crowds at one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other, specifically not on the boat that they all took, and they wondered how he did it. In Tuesday’s gospel in Mark, Jesus used their lack of food supplies as a reminder of who he was — yes, on a boat.
One might argue, citing Jesus’ various opportunities to teach, that boats are yesteryear’s buses, airliners, space ships, trains, and minivans. That’s too easy. It’s likely true, but not the stuff of a potentially heady review of what God is up to.
Of course, there is Noah’s Ark bobbling about on the drenched earth. Jonah got tossed out of a boat before the giant fish swallowed him up. Paul’s journeys on two boat rides ended in crumpled wood and some apparent deaths. All are exciting venues of dramatic turns in the challenging events of human travel. Great adventures that keep us cleverly attentive to historic biblical tales.
Is it just that boats were a primary mode of travel from pre-Jesus through post-Jesus? Yes. That’s probably as deep and watery as it gets. He mostly walked everywhere else and may have only ridden a donkey that one time.
Granted, the call for his apostles to be fishers of men was Jesus’ central metaphor, rather than riffing on accountants, lawyers, carpenters, or well diggers. He could have come up with a great analogy for a baker of bread (nothing great comes to mind), but he chose men of boats instead.
Think about the natural/supernaturalness of it all, though. He had the capability to walk on water. We could say that’s no big deal, because he was God. He performed unbelievable and wholly impossible miracles, too. He wafted through an angry crowd set on tossing him off a cliff by divining invisibility or some other superhero trait. Was his unseen escape a precursor to the Flash, maybe?
No matter his methods, the amazing feats are a big deal. Jesus used boats and sandals like anyone else, and he morphed into God from within the same reality as us. He spoke like us, but his words exhibit wisdom, knowledge, and insights beyond the reach of any human. Can there be any question about who he was? How many mechanical and philosophical magic show explanations must we manufacture to hide the fact that Jesus was God in every way a human is not? All that, while being every bit a human being, just like us?
Even Jesus’ resurrection took place by exiting our broken human reality into the supernatural realm, rescuing millions from Hades, opening the gates of Heaven for them, and returning here, waving to his forlorn apostles (they were on a boat) and cooking up some fish. Now that’s some irreducible boldness of God being a fully hungry human while orchestrating cosmic Godly events.
Jesus firmly and intentionally awakened us to his divine capabilities because he wants us to know that the spiritual realm not only exists but pokes, lives, and thrives in our existence. He was tortured, killed, and buried. Then, ta da! His restored/raptured/illuminated rescue from death performs as no more unreal than walking on water and unwrapping a 4-day-old dead Lazarus. OK, it’s a lot more unreal, but Jesus used our same realm to reveal all three divine endeavors.
When Jesus returns in his glory, there will be trains, airplanes, rocket ships, wi-fi, and likely the common use of nuclear fusion. That is, if he waits another decade or so.
Jesus didn’t dismiss boats. He used them. He used plates and cups. Forks and thermoses came later, but I’m sure he’ll be scarfing up a meal in the future on a boat with both of them. What else would he do?
It’s an exciting, paranormal expectation we’re sure to see. Even we, in our transformed, resurrected, and immortal bodies, will be part of a whole new normal.
I think Jesus used boats just like he used clothing, carpentry tools, and language. It’s all practical proof, physical evidence that he was here, and it confirms for us that his promise to come back and resurrect us is assured. He’ll be waving at us, cooking up something that we’re familiar with — maybe on a cooking surface we’re most familiar with.
Are we hungry?