unhappy jack

While we were on our houseboat vacation, we got a front row seat to something amazing.  It was during a brief squall, in which the boats were being a little bit blown about by the wind.  However, we had an experienced captain and crew, so our boat was safe and secure on the shore, so no problem there.  However, the same cannot be said for the crew of 'Happy Jack.'  Happy Jack was showing up a
lot on the radio chatter, to the extent that we figured that he may be in trouble.  However, the Shushwap lakes are big, so we had no idea that we'd actually see    Happy Jack drift by.  Which we did.  Happy Jack drifted by, and seemed to cruise right into the rocks on the shore.  Now, structurally, the boat was sound.  It wasn't sinking, wasn't vanishing beneath the waves, nothing like that.  But it was in trouble.  It was in trouble, and was going to be unable to drive itself off of the rocks where it found itself wedged.  What a front row seat we had. 

So the crew of happy jack were on the radio back to base, trying to get some help, and base sent a tugboat out to them to pull them away from danger.  It was super interesting to see the tugboat with its raw power move in, and pull the boat safely into the lake.  And reading our epistle reading for Sunday got me thinking about that incident. 

For you see, James talks at length about our tongues, our words, our language and the use thereof, which is what gets us into trouble.  It's what we say that ends up getting us into messes.  If you will permit the metaphor, the words you say end up steering you towards rocks almost all the time.  Now, on a boat, you can avoid rocks by not just steering properly, but by consulting the maps and charts which will tell you about the narrows, the sand bars, and the rocks that you might not see.  But these maps, charts, guides, instruments, they only work if you consult them.  And that's where we end up getting into a fix.

It's not for lack of guidance that we get into trouble.  The holy scriptures are full of guidance for you, and will tell you what to do, how to behave, in order that your joy may be full.  It seems counter-intuitive, in the same sense that on a houseboat, you just want to sail around.  You don't want big Shushwap telling you where you can and can't sail.  But if you choose to ignore the maps and charts, you'll end up aground, having significantly less fun than you would otherwise.  And Happy Jack, as he careened towards the rocks, probably ought to have been consulting the various buzzkill charts that would have kept him out of trouble, and safely cruising around. 

In that same sense, the guidance you get from James is there for your benefit. . It's supposed to keep you off of the rocks, and away from the shores.  James, and God, are well aware of the results of your unchecked gossip, your harsh words with each other, your careless and foolish arguments that you enter into, James knows where those things will end up, and he cautions you to tame your tongue, to avoid those conversations, those words, that only lead to trouble.  You don't have to beach yourself, it's not an inevitability, but it will end up happening if you ignore the directives.  And once you have beached yourself on the rocks, once you've gotten wedged on the rocks, slapped sideways against the beach, then good luck driving yourself out of it. 

And this is where the story of the Bible really begins to take hold.  For you see, the Bible does indeed do its fair share of telling you what to do and say.  It has moral rules, lots of them.  If you want to know how God wants you to live your life, you will find abundant material in the Bible to tell you what you should be doing.  But it doesn't stop there.  The Gospel reading gets into that, too.  It's the reading where a man brings his possessed son to Jesus for help, telling Jesus that they've tried everything, and nothing has worked.  This boy is in far too deep to be helped by conventional means.  So they approach Jesus, and ask him if he can help.  And Jesus responds by saying that all things are possible for them who believe. 

That's a tough thing to hear, but it's what we would expect.  We would expect Jesus to say that if we just pray harder, worship more, read our Bibles more, become more moral, then things would by definition work out.  But they don't.  We try and we try, and we end up frustrated, bitter, and alone.  The more effort we put in, the more we realize we still have to go, and the more frustrated we end up.  It's a horrible cycle full of disappointment, because you continue to say to yourself that if you were working harder, you wouldn't be in this moral mess.  Unfortunately, it ends up being the same as telling Happy Jack to steer better....once he's grounded on the rocks. 

When the boy's father hears that all things are possible for him who believes, he replies by saying 'Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.'  I want to do what you say, but I'm sinful.  I want to believe in your word, but I live in the real world, which tends to get in the way.  I want to avoid the rocks, but I keep on steering into them.  And Jesus doesn't respond by stepping back and telling this man and his son to work harder, to believe more.  Instead, he steps into them, and heals the boy, casting the unclean spirit out.  This is what the incarnation is all about, you know, about God seeing that we had run aground on the rocks, had spoken and acted our way into misery, had consistently chosen things and words we ought not to have chosen, and stepping in to tow us out of it.  To tow us to safety, away from the forces that would threaten to sink us.  Of which there are many, and they're usually of our own making.

I know, it's tempting to ignore God's advice, to say what seems like a good idea at the time, and then to end up struggling on the rocks, trying to talk your way out of it, trying to reason with God and with human beings.  It's tempting to do this, to try to argue or rationalize yourself into or out of situations.  It's tempting, but ultimately flawed.  Once you're on the rocks, you cant' use that same rudder to get yourself out of it.  You can't radio in to base and tell them that everything is fine.  All you can do is say that the charts were right, but that you need help getting back to safety.  Essentially, 'Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.'