I wonder how you feel about the phrase “It is what it is”.  I have to tell you I don’t love it.  This is not a theological position, and far be it from me to tell you how to feel about a phrase.  Or use it for that matter, I won’t judge you.  I know that it can be used as a sort of resolve to go on in the face of unchangeable circumstances.  It may also be used to signify a kind of resignation that might even verge on despair.  A mental “whatever”.  Some people consider it toxic.  No matter what you think, the words we use are important.  When I hear “It is what it is,” I might say something like “Well, what is it?”  I might also say “It was what it was, it will be what it will be.”  What is it we’re talking about here?  The words we say are important.  The words Jesus says in our story today are important.  “It is I, do not be afraid.”  This is a good message for us this August 3^rd.  I don’t want to be afraid.  I don’t want any of you to be afraid.  “It is I,” says Jesus.  I’ve translated this “I, I am” in the sermon title today.  Ego eimi in Greek.  Now, think about Greek is that you can say the verb “am” without the subject “I”.  Eimi indaxi is one of the first Greek expressions I learned back in the 90s when I was going to Montreal to meet Nicole’s family.  Eimi (I am) indaxi (fine).  Ego is “I” and you can use it to emphasize yourself. Ego eimi (“I, myself am” or “I, I am”).  It’s the same in Spanish, where you can say “Soy” to mean “I am” or “Yo soy” (“I, myself am”).

Why the language lesson?  These words that Jesus speaks to his disciples go back to a conversation Moses has with God in Exodus 3, which provides the inspiration for my whole “It was what it was, it will be what it will be” thing.  Moses is in a conversation with God at a bush that is on fire and not consumed.  God is calling Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt.  Here’s part of the conversation:

But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’  what shall I say to them?”

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”  He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’  God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my title for all generations.”  (Ex 3:13-15.

I am who I am.  I will be what I will be.  “I AM has sent you.”  Jesus in John 6 as he walks toward his disciples on the water - “I, I am.”  Do not be afraid.   Two weeks ago, we heard Jesus speak about the unity between himself and the Father.  Today, Jesus claims the divine name.  This is the fifth of seven signs in John’s Gospel, and it has been well established that the signs carry a significance beyond the signs.  This is not just about walking on water, though there is meaning to walking on water.  This is not just about the secondary miracle here – the boat immediately reaching land (a kind of divine teleportation), though that has meaning too.  We are looking to and listening to the One toward whom the signs point through these weeks.  That we might come to trust him more.  That we might come to know him more.  “I AM,” says God.  “I AM,” says Jesus.  We do well to ask the question, “Who are you, Lord?”  The story of the exodus is all over John 6, with the talk of manna and of a way being made through water.  In Exodus 33, Moses is again in conversation with God.  Listen to what he says, “Now if I have found favour in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you…” (Ex 33:13a)  This is a good prayer!  “Show me your ways, so that I may know you.”  “Who are you, Lord?” is what Paul asked the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9:5)  Don’t we want to know Christ?  “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his suffering,s” Paul wrote to the church in Philippi. 

This sign is for the church, in particular.  This sign is the only one of the seven that happens in front of the disciples alone.  This one is for followers of Christ.  If you’re not following Christ and you’re hearing this, I implore you to stay with us to hear about what Jesus is like.  There will be an invitation for all of us at the end.  We remember last week the miraculous feeding of at least 5,000 people.  We remember that the crowd wanted to come and take Jesus by force to make him king, but he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.  Jesus is not someone for us to put our own concepts of God on.  Jesus is not someone to be used for our own purposes, be they personal, corporate, socio-economic, or political. 

“When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum.  It was not dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.  The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.” (6:16-18)  The sign is about Jesus, but his followers are in the story too.  We are in the story too.  Note what’s going on here.  There’s no danger of the boat being swamped as in other Jesus-calms-the-storm stories.  But it’s dark.  Jesus is not physically with them.  The sea is rough.  The wind is against them.  It’s dark.  This is not 5,000-plus people getting lots of bread and fish and good times all around.  This is hard.  It’s a grind, rowing in the middle of a lake in the dark. Things are unknown.  Things are uncertain.  They are three to four miles out on a lake, which is seven miles across at its widest point.

They saw Jesus. 

“When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified.” (6:19)  It’s interesting that the thing that makes the disciples afraid is seeing Jesus.  When God (or messengers of God) appear in God’s story, this is often the reaction.  It’s a good reminder, I think, that we mustn’t try to tame Jesus.  Jesus is not simply the figurine winking at me and giving me the thumbs up from my dashboard.  Jesus is not simply someone with whom I have an understanding.  Jesus is my friend.  Jesus calls me his brother.  Jesus is also the great unchangeable I am who I am/I will be who I will be (praise God and give him glory great things he has done).

Jesus is walking on the Sea of Galilee (aka Sea of Tiberias).  He has no need to say anything to the wind or rough seas here.  Jesus is showing divine mastery over the wind and the waves.  Jesus is God, “who alone stretches out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea.” (Job 9:8)  This is the God who makes a way when there is no way.  “It is I (I, I am); do not be afraid.”  Jesus is fully and completely identifying himself with the God who makes a delivers/saves/brings us back to Him.  Listen to these verses from Isaiah 51 – “Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to cross over?” (Is 51:10)  Then “I, I am he who comforts you…” (Is 51:12a)   

It is I, do not be afraid.  I am, do not be afraid.  “Before Abraham was born, I AM,” Jesus will say in chapter 8.  The great I AM comes to us.  What shall I fear?  The great I AM comes to us.  Of whom shall I be afraid?  Jesus comes striding on the water and how could we not think of John’s opening words, which are just resonating like crazy here – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  Through him all things came into being, and without him not one thing came into being.  What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”  Of whom then shall I be afraid?

Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.  There’s a secondary miracle here that transcends the usual laws of space and time.  They reach the other side immediately.  There’s a truth here about life in Christ that we should note here.  Life in Jesus is two seemingly opposite truths which we hold together.  While we are on our way, we have also reached our destination.  Trust in Jesus is our spiritual destination.  To trust Jesus is to know in part what it means to be at home with him. 

One of the wonderful things about being at home is gathering around a table to share a meal.  We heard Jesus proclaim himself the bread of life last week.  We said that coming to his table is a continual altar call; a continual call to conversion and transformation and being made new.  The disciples react in the best possible way here at the end of our story.  “Then they wanted to take him into the boat.”  This word that’s been translated “take” is the same word that’s translated receive in John 1.  Same word.  Take.  Receive.  It’s used by John to signify faith in Jesus.  Trust in Jesus.  It keeps coming back to John 1!  “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God…” (1:12)  Then they wanted to receive him into the boat.  We may have been trusting Jesus for quite some time.  We may be saying for the first time, “I want to receive you, Jesus.  I want to trust you.”  Someone has said wanting to believe is a form of believing, too.  Let us come to the table and say, “I, too, receive you, the great I AM.  My deliverer.  God with us.  Our guide.  The One who is bringing us home and assuring us we are at home as we go.”     

May we all receive him this way this day, and every day.  Amen

Psalm 77: 23-32

Some went down to the sea in ships,     doing business on the mighty waters; ²⁴ they saw the deeds of the Lord,     his wondrous works in the deep. ²⁵ For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,     which lifted up the waves of the sea. ²⁶ They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;     their courage melted away in their calamity; ²⁷ they reeled and staggered like drunkards,     and were at their wits’ end. ²⁸ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,     and he brought them out from their distress; ²⁹ he made the storm be still,     and the waves of the sea were hushed. ³⁰ Then they were glad because they had quiet,     and he brought them to their desired haven. ³¹ Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,     for his wonderful works to humankind. ³² Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,     and praise him in the assembly of the elders.