SERMON: "It's Storming!" "Peace Be With You!"

"It's Storming! Peace Be With You!"
Mark 4:35-41

(A Sunday School class my pastor and others are leading this Advent season utilized the story in Mark about Jesus sleeping his way across a sea. The purpose of the class is to consider an alternative/more reflective and peaceful observance of this season. Someone mentioned remembering a sermon I shared about this text and that maybe I might want to share it with my blog community. OK, here goes. Peace be with you this Advent season!)

It was a very busy day in the life of Jesus according to the way the author of Mark records things. It was the Sabbath and Jesus began it like he began every Sabbath - in the synagogue - in a place of worship.

Some who were there were hoping to catch him do something illegal - oh, you know, like heal someone which was considered work and thus not allowed on the Sabbath. A man with a shriveled hand was there and Jesus had him stand front and center. Then he quizzed the crowd about what was the right thing to do - obey the law or do mercy. The crowd was deafeningly silent. He did the merciful thing despite his knowledge of the religious establishment's concern about his ministry and rumors that they desired to get rid of him.

He did a few other things that day:

* Like, going up a mountain with some of his followers and naming twelve of them his apostles;

*  Like, stopping at a home to get a bite to eat but being interrupted by the crowd; and some of his biological family arriving because they feared he'd gone crazy. That vignette ended with his offering this new, radical, yet significant definition of the Christian faith - that those who do the will of God are his relatives;

*  Like, his going back to the lake and getting into a small boat with this mass of people assembled along the edge and his telling an assortment of parables - short stories with life lessons - about seeds and different kinds of soil and putting a lamp under a bowl and finally one about the growth of the Kingdom of God being like that of a mustard seed.

Now, with all of these happenings of that day in Jesus' life swirling around in our heads - we turn our attention to the story in the text we are considering.

Jesus and his followers were still in the boat when evening came. Mark implies that the one-day boat marathon lecture came to a rather abrupt end by not mentioning any dismissal, benediction, or blessing - just this announcement on the part of Jesus: "Let's go over to the other side." Or, as one writer imagines it: "Let's get outta' here!"

Although the author of Mark doesn't offer us any explanation for the midnight cruise to the other side of the lake, some Bible scholars suggest it was probably because Jesus was just plain whipped from all the pushing and shoving and pulling that accompanies a crowd trying to get as close as possible to a celebrity. Others have made a case for this being an example of Jesus' desire/intent/plan, to broaden the focus of his ministry from just a perceived renewal movement within Judaism to a more inclusive message for all people, everywhere, and thus the trip over to the Gentile side of the Lake of Galilee.

If the desire was to get away from the crowd, the cruise was a colossal failure. The author of Mark reports that a flotilla of boats accompanied the boat Jesus was on. And, sometime during the night, a sudden storm developed with very large waves crashing over the boat threatening to capsize it. Sudden and violent storms are a common occurrence on the Lake of Galilee - has something to do with the way the hills and cliffs are situated around the lake and cool currents of air gathering between them and coming together with such force that the sea can sometimes be whipped into this ferocious water hazard.

While the storm was having its way with the boat-load of fishermen, Jesus was asleep on a cushion in an area reserved for passengers. The disciples woke him from his peaceful and needed sleep and asked him a rather stupid question, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

Jesus rebuked the wind, ordered the waves to quiet down and everything got calm - everything except Jesus that is. Staring into the fearful, soggy, and salt-streaked faces of his followers, Jesus asked them: "Why? Why did you wake me? Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" There's no question in my mind that his words stung - perhaps disappointment or criticism were conveyed. The disciples hardly ever come off looking good in the Gospels. They are forever not getting it right - misunderstanding.

The story ends with this terrified group of disciples asking themselves and one another: "Who is this guy that even the wind and the waves obey him!?"

OK, here goes: I'd like to suggest to you that the primary message of this story is not that Jesus has the power to perform miracles as many want it to be. Jesus didn't calm the wind and the sea to win more followers - to show off his powers - to make life easier or safer for his followers. In fact, until the disciples rudely awoke him he had no intention of doing anything about the storm except to sleep through it. Even though he did it, he wasn't happy about doing it because it meant that their relationship with him had not yet born in them the faith that God was with them no matter what happened to them, and because, I would suggest, it revealed that they had no or very little faith in their personal abilities to do what needed to be done.

Picture the scene again: There were a bunch of seasoned, professional fishermen on that boat that night! They'd been in a lot of storms before that one, thank you very much! What's going on here?

I would suggest this story reveals a misconception that continues in our day - that somehow having Jesus in one's life makes us dependent, skill-less, ignorant, insecure people! Friends, Jesus Christ heals us of our feelings of inferiority, our self-doubts, our lack of confidence and instills in us new attitudes about ourselves and our gifts from God - he strengthens/broadens our gifts, strengths, abilities, skills - not weakens or takes them away! Being born again means having our giftedness, our uniqueness enhanced, not discounted!

The message of this story is not that when troubles come our way all we need to do is turn them over to Jesus and let him work a miracle. It is not to make a case for the idea that we don't have to put up with what every other human being has to put up with. We live in a sinful, imperfect world, as well as a creative and beautiful one - it always has been and always will be - and we are in for some rough times as residents of this world: that's just the way it is. The storm - the weather system - didn't change just because Jesus was on board. Knowing Jesus Christ is not a vaccination from the painful realities that accompany life.

We too, will receive telephone calls in the middle of the night informing us that a loved one has been in a serious automobile accident - marriages will fall apart in our churches because of the unfaithfulness of husbands or wives - hurtful words will be shouted between parents and children in our families - we too, will be diagnosed with terminal illnesses - we too, will unexpectedly lose jobs and be ignored when it's time for a promotion - we too, will struggle and fail classes in school - we too, will be anxious about our financial situations - we too, will lose friends.

Perhaps the most important thing this lesson should implant in us is that even though we have to face the storms of life like everyone else, peace can be known/experienced while it's storming all around us. A peaceful voyage is not the ticket we purchase when we say yes to Jesus, but the journey can be peace-filled when we remember that God is on the journey with us.

The purpose of this story is not to get us to look at the storms of our lives and seek Jesus' healing touch so that they'll go away - that expectation upset Jesus, caused Jesus to question the very faith of those who thought that's what he should do. The purpose of the story is to invite us to look at the one who is willing to walk through the storms with us and to have faith that he will and does and that together we can endure whatever life sends our way. And, we experience the physical presence of Jesus when we let the community of faith that is his present reality walk with us.  That, my friends, is our experience and we are so thankful for your willingness to be Jesus for us.

The invitation to Christian discipleship I would invite us to consider is to take a careful look at what's going on in our lives and to ask ourselves if we need to "put our hands in the hands of the man from Galilee" in a new way - a way that unleashes the potential within us and gives us confidence that we can use the gifts and skills God has given us to meet the issues the world needs us to.

Yeh, it's storming all around us alright. But that's OK, God is with us. "Peace be with you."