Interpolation

Interpolation is a term used generally in math.  It means the insertion of something of a different nature into something else.  In math it is a way of estimation.  In life it should remind us of something that happened on Pentecost ... God's insertion of the Holy Spirit into the church (people like you and me).

I prefer to think of this in the context of wind and waves (Mark 4:35-41).  Jesus is teaching by the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus says, "Let us go over to the other side."  So they get into a boat, and other boats are with them, and they proceed across the "lake."  The Scripture says a furious squall comes up, and waves are breaking over the side of the boat.  Jesus is taking a nap on a cushion.  The disciples are distressed ... "Teacher, don't you acre if we drown?"  Jesus gets up, rebukes the wind, and the lake becomes calm.  The disciples ask a pointed question ... "Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?"

There are beings of different natures in the boat.  There is Jesus, fully God and fully human ... a unique being unlike any other.  There are disciples and followers of Jesus who are people like you and me.  Jesus is supernatural (above nature).  The followers are as bewildered as I would be if a storm arises.  What does this teach us about Jesus and ourselves?

First, the miracle of calming the storm wasn't done as a show for the disciples or as a exhibition of Jesus' power.  Jesus performed miracles that mirrored the saving grace of God while pointing to the glory of the Father in Heaven.  They are for us to see, but not about us.  

Second, as we learn about Jesus and grow into Christlikeness, we grow (become sanctified) in how we deal with life's wind and waves.  The disciples are puzzled by Jesus' calm demeanor inside a terrible storm.  They even accuse Him of not caring, because he sleeps through the storm.  But as we grow, we become more able to 1) trust God in the storm, 2) be patient in the storm, 3) believe that God somehow has a long-term plan that trumps the storm.  Jesus is for us, but about greater/higher things.

Finally, we should see this story as a preview of life in an unpredictable world.  Jesus didn't prevent the storm, even for Himself and his closest followers.  Jesus knows a lot of learning, and possibly even healing, happens in the storm.  In her song, Skellig, Lorena McKennitt writes about a monk travelling from Ireland to Rome to save the writings of the saints.  The trip was long and arduous, and one line recounts the lessons of a hard journey ... "the waves would wash my tears, the wind my memory."  

In the good times, God provides.  In the struggles and storms, God provides.  In the boat, tossed about by the wind and the waves, God teaches.  And God brings His Spirit, His lessons and His beautiful (and very different) perspective into our chaos and says, "peace ... be still."  Because it is exactly what we need, God brings something of a different nature (His Spirit) into something else (us) and it changes us.  We are a new creation!  Randy