I am participating 
in a discussion group (for me online; for others, either online and/or IRL) with the First Lutheran Church of Jamestown, N.Y. on the book, Holy Conversation: Talking About God in Everyday Life by Richard Peace. I was invited to the group by Tara Lamont Eastman, with whom I have become acquainted through the blog Sleeping with Bread and now her own blog Uphill Idealist. This will be my fourth post as part of that group. The first post can be found here; the second, here; and the third, here.
In your own words – tell a Jesus story that is important to you and tell us why you choose it.
He got into a boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm, came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us, we are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the seas obey?”
Matthew 8:23-27
Why I chose this story is partially because of the humor inherent in this story: In the midst of the storm, Jesus was asleep. His reaction: “Dudes, relax, my Father, I and the Holy Spirit have it under control.” Then he yawns, gets up, calms the winds and the sea and goes back to sleep, I like to imagine. Their reaction: “Whoa, who is this guy who we’re hanging out with?”
Also I chose this story because I think that often it is our habit to call out to God in those times of storms in our lives instead of realizing he is there all the time. I think of something as simple as a couple nights ago when I was calling out for him after eating hot wings: “Lord, help me!” but when I’ve had a home-cooked meal, I don’t say, “Hey, thanks, dude.”
The footnote in my Bible, The Catholic Bible: Personal Study Edition, on Matthew 8:26 on the phrase: “Of little faith” says to see the footnote on Matthew 6:30 (“If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?”). The footnote reads:
Except for the parallel in Luke 12, 28, the word translated of little faith is found in the New Testament only in Matthew. It is used by him of those who are disciples of Jesus in whose faith in him as not as deep as it should be (see Mt 8, 26; 14:31; 16, 8 and the cognate noun in 17, 20).”
Even Peter was one of those disciples whose faith in God wasn’t as deep as it should have been, as evidenced in Matthew 14 when after starting to walk on the water, he began to doubt (“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”). Yet it is this same Peter who later will have enough faith to answer Jesus when he asks who does Peter think Jesus is:
“You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.”
Then just like that (Bam!), he is, at least, in terms of Catholic theology, made the founder of the Church and, in terms of other Christian traditions, given the keys to the kingdom.
If Peter can change like that, maybe there is hope for us also to change.
So if you are a Christian, what is your favorite Jesus story and why? If you are of another faith, what is your favorite story about a/the major religious figure(s) to your faith: Muhammad, Moses, Buddha, and why? If you are of no faith, what is your favorite story of Nietzsche (ahem, partially said tongue-in-cheek) or another philosophical figure like him, and why?
(After looking through all the music videos of “Walk on the Water,” including songs by Aerosmith and Eddie Money, I decided on this one. Yes, still apropos of nothing, but I always liked the Violent Femmes.)
There is one story of Jesus which I haven’t heard from Christians:
Jesus commanded his disciples to fast for 30 days. When they finished their fasting after 30 days, they asked Jesus to bring a table spread with food from heaven so they may eat of it. They also wanted it to be a day of festival for all Israelites.
Jesus admonished them and feared that they may not fulfil its conditions. But the disciples persisted.
Jesus prayed to Allâh to send a table spread with food for them from Heaven. So Allâh sent it down while people were looking at it – coming down from the clouds.
It slowly came down and it was covered, till it landed in front of Jesus. He uncovered the table in the name of Allâh. It had seven pieces of fish and seven loaves of bread and there were fruits as well.
Jesus asked his disciples to eat from it. They refused till he ate. But Jesus turned to the poor, destitute, the disabled and the sick to come and eat from it.
There were about one thousand three hundred and they all ate from it and found themselves cured and healed. Those who refused to eat from it became regretful.
It is said that the table came down once everyday. Everyone found themselves satisfied – their number is said to be around seven thousand people.
Then it was sent down every other day and then it was sent down for only the poor and destitute.
People started bickering about it and began to speak against Jesus.
And so it was stopped. And those who spoke against Jesus were transformed into Pigs.
Allah says in the Qûr’an: “I will send it down to you, but if any of you disbelieves thereafter, I will chastise him with a chastisement with which I have chastised no one among all people”.
Probably why you haven’t heard it from Christians is because it’s extra-Biblical, or not included in the Bible. That said, it’s still an interesting story…what do you think it means? To me, it seems to be saying that we should satisfied with whatever Allah provides and for whomever he provides. What do you think?
Well, according to exegesis, they should have been satisfied with Jesus’ message. But they wanted to convince themselves.
Therefore those who still denied this sign even when they had already believed in Jesus’ message before, were punished severely.
This, episode is God’s advice to those present in the time of Muhammad, and to us in this time, to take his message as he presents and teaches and be satisfied with it.
By the way, as Catholic, do you consider what ever the Jesus said outside of the Bible as part of your beliefs ?
For me, the Qur’an is not a one complete authority. To understand it I must refer to what ever the Prophet Muhammad said and explained about the Qur’an. It takes two to complete Islam.
Much like an example of a textbook, that must require a teacher for explaining
First, let me respond to your first response
: Wow! Great response and even used the word “exegesis,” which blew me out of the water. 
Second, well, as a Catholic, while we don’t go by just what is in the Bible like most Protestants do (Sola scriptura: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sola_scriptura), I believe we still mostly adhere to what Jesus said outside the Bible, or from other sources, as heretical. For example, there are other works considered apocyphal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament_apocrypha that contain sayings and stories of Jesus, perhaps even the story above, but are not considered as “part of the faith.” That’s a short, very abbreviated explanation….
…and thank you for answering what was going to be my next question for you about the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad and how Muslims view their sacred text. I admit I am not very knowledgeable about Islam and appreciate you sharing with me about your faith.