SHIP!

That’s a restored Chinese junk, one of the most successful exemplars of sailing vessels ever. This one is in Malacca Town, in the state of Malacca, in Malaysia, where I happened to be, a couple of weeks ago. The junk was one of the reasons for the fact that Malaysia is now about 25% Chinese. Ships have undoubtedly played important roles in people movements and world history.

For Christians, the “ship” has been an age-old symbol of the church—the body of believers—tossed about on a less than amiable world, hassled often, intimidated frequently, persecuted periodically. The metaphor goes back to the time of Noah and his family, saved in the ark, through water.

… the patience of God
kept waiting in the days of Noah,
during the construction of the ark,
in which a few, that is, eight persons,
were brought safely through the water.
Corresponding to that,
baptism now saves you …
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 3:20–21

The idea is, indeed, ancient. Tertullian (ca. 160–ca. 220 AD), a Church Father, talked about it:

… the apostles

then served the turn of baptism
when in their little ship,
were ... covered with the waves ….
… that little ship
did present a figure of the Church,
in that she is disquieted
“in the sea,”
that is, in the world,
“by the waves,”
that is, by persecutions and temptations;
the Lord, through patience,
sleeping as it were,
until, roused in their last extremities
by the prayers of the saints,
He checks the world,
and restores tranquility to His own.
On Baptism, XII

So also another worthy, Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150–215 AD):

And let our seals be either a dove,
or a fish, or a ship

scudding before the wind,
… or a ship’s anchor,

… and if there be one fishing,
he will remember the apostle,
and the children drawn out of the water.
The Pedagogue, III, 11

That the mast of these vessels forms a cross must certainly have stimulated the Christian imagination as well. Later, the “ship” motif became, literally, part of church architecture. Ancient (and modern) cathedrals and churches often have, as the main portion of their structure, a “nave” (related to “naval” and pertaining to ships—in Latin, “navis”), that section of the building that resembles an upside down ship.

As Tertullian alluded, significant to this theme also is the incident in Mark 4, when Jesus, in a boat, stilled a dangerous storm before the terrified disciples.

And He got up and rebuked the wind
and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.”
And the wind died down
and it became perfectly calm.
Mark 4:39

Jesus’ subsequent question to the disciples is poignant, and ought to echo in the hearts of believers today.

And He said to them,
“Why are you afraid?”
Mark 4:40

Why, indeed? No waters can swallow the ship where lies the Master of oceans, of earths, of skies.

That’s the basis of the hymn masterfully created by Edward Hopper (1816–1888):

Jesus, Savior, pilot me
Over life's tempestuous sea;
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rock and treacherous shoal.
Chart and compass come from thee;
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

When at last I near the shore,
And the fearful breakers roar
‘Twixt me and the peaceful rest,
Then, while leaning on thy breast,
May I hear thee say to me,
“Fear not, I will pilot thee.”

The shore is near. Arrival is nigh. Only a few more days of turbulence, tempests, trials, and tribulation. The Lord is with us. Why fear?