Reflection: Storm Warnings

August 9, 2026

LaSalle

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Storm Warnings”

10:15

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

¹Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. ²This is the story of the family of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. ⁴But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

¹²Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” ¹⁴So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.

He came to Shechem, ¹⁵and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” ¹⁶“I am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” ¹⁷The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. ¹⁸They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. ¹⁹They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. ²⁰Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” ²¹But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” ²²Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him” — that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. ²³So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; ²⁴and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. ²⁶Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. ²⁸When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

You may have noticed there is no mention in this translation of a coat of many colors.  That’s from the King James Version.  Sorry, no amazing technocolor dreamcoat.  NIV says an ornate robe.  Good News and RSV say a long coat with full long sleeves, though given Hebrew sartorial fancies, it probably was colorful.  That’s because the coat awarded Joseph by Dad really was a robe with long sleeves.  Long sleeves.   When you wear a long robe with long sleeves, you don’t have to do the dirty work in the fields.  You’re wearing suit and tie.  Joseph’s brothers wear coveralls.  Worse:  he’s almost the baby of the family.  Second to last born

(1-Reuben, 2-Simeon, 3-Levi, 4-Judah, 5-Dan, 6-Naphtali, 7-Gad, 8-Asher, 9-Issachar, 10-Zebulon, 11-Joseph, 12-Benjamin). 

There’s no way he should be bossing around his older, middle-aged brothers.  But Joseph, all 17 years of him (and at 17, he knows it all), likes being boss.  The Privileged Princeling.  He’s the coolest.  Joseph wearing his Foster Grants.  An annoying “influencer.”

Jesus, you may have noticed, has a very different understanding of who is very cool, who’s important. 

Joseph:  if you met him you too might want to bop him on the nose because he’s so obnoxious.  It’s partly his father Jacob’s fault for making it obvious he’s the favored son.  Well, his jealous, resentful brothers do one better.  They toy with the idea about killing him but are persuaded to simply sell him into slavery.

Joseph, come the rest of his story, is about to be schooled, humbled.  School of Hard knocks.  You triumph over hard knocks rather than escape them.  The sin of easy.  It’s a hard knock life, sings Annie. 

No one's there when your dreams at night get creepy!No one cares if you grow...of if you shrink!No one dries when your eyes get wet an' weepy!

It's the hard-knock life for us!It's the hard-knock life for us!

Joseph.  Hated by his brothers.  Sold into slavery.  Sold again.  Slandered even without social media.  Imprisoned.  His sufferings are going to make him into the legend he became, his true quality getting the chance to be honed, forged, to where he ends up managing all of Egypt.  He learns the hard way to earn his merit.  Gotta’ love those who are privileged who argue that everyone else should merit success.

From Joseph to Simon Peter’s more than his share of hard knocks, often brought on by his rash impetuosity.  Which I like Simon Peter so much.  The Apostle Paul:  steady as a rock.  John:  loving and kind.  Simon Peter:  it don’t come easy. 

Listen, please:

Matthew 14:22-33

²²Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. ²⁵And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. ²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

²⁸Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. ³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³²When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Jesus walking on water.  It echoes Psalm 77: 19: 

“Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.”

Even in a storm.  Especially in a storm.  Wind and waves. 

And their tiny ship was tossed. 

Fun, fun -- where you are sitting is called the ‘nave.,’ source word for ‘Navy.’ You’re in the navy now.    We’re all the same boat.

Which can be fun to ask, what kind of boat are we?   So what kind of ship are we?

A luxury yacht?

A kayak for the Poudre?

A pontoon boat complete with cup holders?

A cruise ship with buffet and entertainment?

A pirate ship with a maniacal captain?

A ferry boat moving tourists from church to church?

An aircraft carrier sending sorties against falsehood and immorality?

An ornate paddlewheel stuck in the mud?

A rudderless sailboat, blown about by the wind?

A tugboat?

Or how about a Coast Guard Cutter? – where we’re the crew, Christ our captain -- splashing out into high seas and rescuing the perishing.  The nave reflects how this church is a ship.  We rely upon each other to crew it safely till we come to harbor.  Our destinies and successes are linked. 

~~~

I should mention here how I as an evangelical am a firm believer in the plain text of the Bible. Where this gets interesting is how the plain text often is symbolic, metaphorical.  Bible scholar Ken Bailey explained how Jesus is a metaphorical theologian.  Works for me too.

In a boat out in stormy sea. 

What is the sea?  Sure, the Hebrews appreciated water.  You would too in an arid land.   Colorado in a drought.  A thirsty people.  Wells are good, springs are better.  Living water.  Water, good.  But the Hebrews had a phobia about the sea.  They were never a seafaring people.  That’s where monsters of the deep lurk. 

It has to do with the Hebrew cosmology.  Okay, at the time of Jesus a few mathematicians and librarians knew the earth was a globe.  One smart math major [Eratosthenes], 200 years before Jesus, using wells and shadows and units of distance, had calculated the circumference of the earth.  His figures were only 15% higher from what we calculate today.  [The Discovers, by Daniel Boorstin]

That was for the scholars.  As Genesis painted, the common hoi polloi understood the earth to be a bowl on top of a plate.  Under the plate roiled the restless waters of chaos and darkness.   Above the bowl, called the firmament, roiled the waters of darkness and chaos. Chaos surrounds us. God’s hands separated, protected them, all well in moderation, but every now and then God’s fingers wiggled and storms thundered down, floods rose up.  Earth alone, as they knew it, offered preservation and salvation from these waters of chaos, order and promise, ardor decently and in order,  

~~~

Simon Peter tests the waters that night.  Hold it folks. Let’s give Simon Peter some credit.  As an edition of These Day devotionals pointed out, Peter stepping out of the boat shows Peter’s personal commitment.  Let me try.  Then they go on to point out how Peter gets distracted from eyes on Jesus by the turbulence of wind and wave, “his focus shifted.”   Ah, that sinking feeling.

Glug glug

Save me, he shouts out.  Actually, it’s a command.  He’s demanding he be saved.  I guess that’s confidence.  It also sounds a bit rude, hardly a plea for help.  ‘Soson’ in Greek.  Deliver me from this danger because I can’t.  You do it, Lord.  Now!

Glug glug

Hold it.  Simon Peter afraid of drowning?  Isn’t he an old salt? This is his sea.  This is his trade.  Though if the water symbolize the forces of chaos, upon which Jesus strolls, we can appreciate how even a rough and tumble fisherman might feel overwhelmed. 

Where’s our life savers?  Toss me a life jacket from danger, suffering, sickness, fear, hard knocks. From life out of control.

And we’re all in the same boat.  And chaos threatens, we swallow the water, lungs fill, can’t breathe.  Fearing life out of control.  Violence. Little wonder we keep seeking saviors who serve us.  I once heard it said that a drowning man will clutch even onto a razor.  

Disorder.  Disunity.  Dis-ease. Death.  Distraction.  Destruction.  Dissimulation. Discord.  Brothers so filled with jealousy and vengeance tossing a younger brother into a pit, selling him into slavery.  And yet, and yet, its not the end of the story.

Chaos:  the absence of all that God brings as revealed in Jesus.  Faith, humility, selflessness, reconciliation, sacrifice, hope, love, justice, truth, compassion, life in God, a future.   Serenity, peace, alone brings prosperity. 

Save me!  For Chaos wants to sink our souls.  The anti-Christ purveyors of Chaos are quite tricky.  They want to convince us that all the world is going to Hades in a handbasket – riots in the streets, Ghostbusters end-of-time stuff, “Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats, living together! Mass hysteria!"– when it really isn’t.  When haven’t there been storm warnings, turbulence?  “The good old days weren’t always good and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.” [Billy Joel]  Although, because it affects us, it may seem more intense. 

Storm warning, feels like a heavy rainWinds on the coast tonightWe may get tossed tonight

--Bonnie Raitt

The scheme is to make us afraid.   Oh goodie, they’re scared.  We got ‘em.  Now we can manipulate them.

Chaos tries to win, but we take heart, for those hostile to what Christ brings will never prevail, never last.  Take heart.  Have courage.  Take my hand, says Jesus, and hold on for dear life while the storms rage.

~~~

And then this sea story gets really interesting. They first assume Jesus is a ghost.  A friendly ghost?   No, they are afraid.  Literally in Greek:  a ‘phantasma.’  What a bunch of snowflakes, afraid of the strange.  Again, the plain text is symbolic. 

Early Christianity had no problem with viewing Jesus as a spirit.  Divine spirit, uncorrupted by matter, flesh.  Flesh, contrary to Hebrew values, was evil.  Which denies Jesus’ humanity.  All that stuff in the Apostles’ Creed about Jesus is there to reinforce his fleshiness, his humanity.  He was conceived. Born.  Suffered.  Crucified, dead, buried. 

Not sure a spirit has a hand to pull someone from drowning.   Then when Jesus is aboard that’s when wave and wind is calmed.  And so are they.  Saved.  No longer do they fear the absence of God.

Jesus reaches to Simon Peter.  Jesus reaches to us. 

Yet how often do we offer ghosts, phantoms, when a hand is needed?  For Jesus is neither concept nor idea nor even a belief – Jesus is the material, corporeal action of God’s New Humanity overcoming the threatening chaos, surfing the storms, running with the wind, bringing meaning and hope and life and promise and happiness and reconciliation and community.   

The Gospel, surprise, requires flesh.  Tag, you’re it. 

Amen