Nadia Bolz-Weber
Nadia Bolz-Weber is the author of Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People.
The “Jesus asleep in the boat during a terrible storm” story has always seemed unfair to me. I feel for the disciples when they wake him; they are understandably angry that he doesn’t seem to care that they are about to die. I’d be just as angry at Jesus for appearing so calm in the midst of real danger. The disciples are uncomfortable that Jesus is not acting according to the category of “concerned friend,” much less “messiah”—so they kind of yell at him. And when it comes down to it, who hasn’t yelled at God during the storms of life?
Being fearful in a storm at sea is not exactly irrational like pogonophobia (fear of beards).
Parables aren’t too helpful, are they? Here’s what would be helpful: six steps to better discipleship. Or the three secrets of the kingdom of God, spelled out in an acrostic. If only Jesus’ teachings were as simplistic as they are often portrayed.
These parables are like God's joke in the form of an invasive species.
In the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Christ we see that God is so for us and with us that we can no longer be defined according to death, a religion-based worthiness system or even the categories of late-stage capitalism.
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