The Other Side of the Lake

The Other Side of the Lake

Luke 8:22-25

            My New Testament professor in seminary warned us against “harmonizing the gospels”—that is, trying to blend them together into one continuous story.  Instead, she told us, the gospels were four different versions of the same event, Jesus’ time on earth.  We must view them as separate accounts, with each chronicler telling the story of Jesus’ life from a different viewpoint, in the same way that witnesses at a trial tell the same story from their differing points of view.  This would account for the discrepancies between the gospels.  In fact, I, like many of you, would be more suspicious of the gospel accounts if they were uniform—exactly the same.  We would suspect collusion—that the disciples got together and decided on the “official” account.  This would be especially true of the events of the resurrection and Jesus’ appearances afterwards.

            We read in the gospels the stories of Jesus crossing the Sea of Galilee.  Some of these accounts mention Jesus walking on the water.  All of them describe Jesus calming a storm.  It isn’t these events that catch my attention today—at least, not exactly.

            One side of the Galilee was Jewish territory.  The other side was Gentile land.  When Jesus and his followers “crossed the lake” they were going from their home turf to foreign soil.  This would have been a daunting experience for Jews.  Remember, they were to have no contact with the impure Gentiles.  They couldn’t eat with them; they couldn’t talk to them; they certainly weren’t supposed to be in their territory.  Yet when Jesus said, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake,” they went—if not willingly, at least with no hesitation.

            We know what they found there:  a man so possessed by demons that he could no longer live in civilized society.  His countrymen had tried to contain him.  Perhaps they felt that if they could subdue him they might effect a cure, but that didn’t happen.  He burst any bonds they tried to place on him, including chains.  He’d been given up as hopeless, left to his own devices.  Perhaps the people thought he’d eventually destroy himself or die of starvation, and they wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore.

            We know the rest of the story, how Jesus drove out the man’s demons and scared the wits out of the local inhabitants so that they practically threw him out of town.  Jesus and his followers had to cross to the other side of the lake one more time.

            How many times in our lives are we called to cross to the other side of the lake?  We find ourselves in comfortable country.  Everything is going well for us.  We’re living peacefully among family and friends—likeminded people who support us and make us feel at home.  But Jesus comes to us and says, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”  We know the journey won’t be easy—and oftentimes we’re right.  Just getting to the other side of the lake involves danger—at the very least insecurity, because we’re leaving behind all that’s familiar, all that’s comfortable.  Yet when Jesus calls we know how we must respond.  We go.  In spite of the possible dangers, and the upset to our well-loved lives, when Jesus calls us, we go, because that’s where God wants us to be.

Where is the other side of the lake?  Perhaps we’ll find it at work.  Perhaps it will be in a new church congregation.  Perhaps it will be a new city, or with a new set of friends, or in a new living arrangement.   Wherever it is, we must go.  Never mind the storms we may pass through to get there.   Never mind the challenges we face when we arrive.  The other side of the lake is where we are called to live our lives.  How can we do any less for the God who has done so much for us?