The Stilling of the Storms -- FPC sermon excerpt
My family and I got off a cruise ship yesterday, after taking a trip to Alaska to celebrate my in-laws’ 50th wedding anniversary. We had a terrific time, and I am thankful that our trip was much smoother than the cruise taken by Jesus and his disciples.
Mark tells us that Jesus is teaching at the edge of the Sea of Galilee, and when evening comes he says to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side” (4:35). As they are making their way across the water, a great windstorm arises, causing waves to crash into the boat and swamp it. Jesus is sleeping soundly at the back of the boat, but the disciples panic and wake him, saying, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (vv. 36-38).
What a question. The disciples are scared to death, and they simply have to know if Jesus is with them, or against them. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
As early as the first century, this dramatic story became a symbol for the Christian church. In Christian artwork, the church began to be pictured as a ship — a ship with a cross for a mast, sailing through the storm of life. Presbyterian pastor and medical doctor Richard Deibert writes that Mark paints this scene “to typify the mighty challenges confronting [the] Christian community throughout the centuries.”
But this story is more than a symbol of the church — it is also a statement about the identity of Jesus. Mark tells us that Jesus gets up from his nap in the stern, probably feeling a little cranky, rebukes the wind and says to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” (v. 39). He rebukes the wind in the same way that he rebuked an unclean spirit in a man earlier in the Gospel of Mark (1:25). Jesus has power over the wild, dark, chaotic side of life, both in the hearts of human beings and out in the natural world. In this case, his words cause the wind to cease and the water to fall into a dead calm.
Then Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” They are filled with great awe and say to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (vv. 40-41). The story reveals that Jesus is one who has within himself the awesome and unlimited power of Almighty God — power that can overcome both evil and chaos.
Eddie Rickenbacker, the American aviator, was in a plane during the Second World War that accidentally went off course, ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific. He and six other men floated in a raft for 24 days.
Food was gone after three days — although at one point a seagull landed on Rickenbacker’s head. Eddie slowly reached up and caught it, and the bird turned into both dinner and fishing bait. It seemed as if the men were facing certain death, but their faith in God grew — in the midst of a storm, in the darkness of night, in a time of hunger and thirst.
Soon after their rescue, Rickenbacker visited some airmen in a military hospital. They had just been sent back from the front, and many of them thought they could not go on. Some had arms or legs missing, and most were broken in spirit as well as in body. Rickenbacker spoke to these airmen and told them that they must not give in to depression and defeat. Having experienced the power and goodness of God personally, he said, “If you haven’t had an experience of God in your life, you get yourself one mighty quick, because with that you will have power over all your problems.”
The disciples are given “an experience of God” when Jesus stills the storm. They discover that even the wind and the sea obey this one who has within himself the power of Almighty God. With a word he can drive out a demon, calm a sea, or strengthen the faith of airmen floating without food in the Pacific.
But this is only the first of four “storms” that Jesus confronts in chapters 4 and 5 of Mark — he goes on to show us his power in three additional dramas. First, we join him in sailing on the Sea of Galilee as the powers of the watery abyss crash against our boat. Then, writes Richard Deibert, we “make it to the eastern shore, to the eerie country of the Gerasenes, where a soul fouled by evil lunges at our faith. We are forced back to the western shore, where a street woman stalks us. Finally, the death of a twelve-year-old child threatens to steal the last breath of our discipleship. Miraculously, we survive.” And Jesus is made known to us as the one who is Lord over chaos.
In all of these stories, Jesus teaches us to trust his power over all that can hurt or destroy us. The “experience of God” we have with Jesus can give us strength — strength to face and overcome our problems. As we cross the Sea of Galilee with the disciples, we do not need to fear the water that was a symbol of chaos, death and disorder to the ancient Israelites. We can trust that the Lord will answer when we cry out, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck” (Psalm 69:1). We know what that feels like, don’t we? In fact, we still use the expressions, “I’m swamped,” or “I’m in over my head.”
As we encounter the Gerasene demoniac (5:1-20), we can trust Jesus to calm the chaos of the past. As we encounter chronic illness in the untouchable woman (5:25-34), we can trust Jesus to calm the chaos of the present. As we encounter death in Jairus’ daughter (5:21-24, 35-43), we can trust Jesus to calm the chaos of the future. “In every sphere of human existence,” concludes Richard Deibert, “Jesus reigns over disorder.”
We can be thankful that Jesus stilled a variety of storms during his ministry, saving people from death, illness, and demonic possession. But what kind of victory can we expect today? What kind of victory can we expect right now, when Jesus is not physically by our side — in the stern of a boat, or next to the bed of a dying child? Not all of the storms we encounter in our lives will be miraculously calmed, nor will all the diseases we face be instantly cured. And so we need to answer for ourselves the questions that Jesus asks the disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (4:40) — and we have to answer these questions in a way that focuses on faith, instead of on miracles.
Our challenge is to have faith that Jesus loves us and is working for an ultimate good, even when waves beat around us and our boat is being swamped. To have faith that God has created the world and is in control of it, even when chaos seems to reign and evil seems to triumph. To have faith that the Holy Spirit is giving us strength and inner peace, even when we’re feeling stressed and exhausted and at the end of our ropes.
Mark tells us that Jesus is teaching at the edge of the Sea of Galilee, and when evening comes he says to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side” (4:35). As they are making their way across the water, a great windstorm arises, causing waves to crash into the boat and swamp it. Jesus is sleeping soundly at the back of the boat, but the disciples panic and wake him, saying, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (vv. 36-38).
What a question. The disciples are scared to death, and they simply have to know if Jesus is with them, or against them. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
As early as the first century, this dramatic story became a symbol for the Christian church. In Christian artwork, the church began to be pictured as a ship — a ship with a cross for a mast, sailing through the storm of life. Presbyterian pastor and medical doctor Richard Deibert writes that Mark paints this scene “to typify the mighty challenges confronting [the] Christian community throughout the centuries.”
But this story is more than a symbol of the church — it is also a statement about the identity of Jesus. Mark tells us that Jesus gets up from his nap in the stern, probably feeling a little cranky, rebukes the wind and says to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” (v. 39). He rebukes the wind in the same way that he rebuked an unclean spirit in a man earlier in the Gospel of Mark (1:25). Jesus has power over the wild, dark, chaotic side of life, both in the hearts of human beings and out in the natural world. In this case, his words cause the wind to cease and the water to fall into a dead calm.
Then Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” They are filled with great awe and say to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (vv. 40-41). The story reveals that Jesus is one who has within himself the awesome and unlimited power of Almighty God — power that can overcome both evil and chaos.
Eddie Rickenbacker, the American aviator, was in a plane during the Second World War that accidentally went off course, ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific. He and six other men floated in a raft for 24 days.
Food was gone after three days — although at one point a seagull landed on Rickenbacker’s head. Eddie slowly reached up and caught it, and the bird turned into both dinner and fishing bait. It seemed as if the men were facing certain death, but their faith in God grew — in the midst of a storm, in the darkness of night, in a time of hunger and thirst.
Soon after their rescue, Rickenbacker visited some airmen in a military hospital. They had just been sent back from the front, and many of them thought they could not go on. Some had arms or legs missing, and most were broken in spirit as well as in body. Rickenbacker spoke to these airmen and told them that they must not give in to depression and defeat. Having experienced the power and goodness of God personally, he said, “If you haven’t had an experience of God in your life, you get yourself one mighty quick, because with that you will have power over all your problems.”
The disciples are given “an experience of God” when Jesus stills the storm. They discover that even the wind and the sea obey this one who has within himself the power of Almighty God. With a word he can drive out a demon, calm a sea, or strengthen the faith of airmen floating without food in the Pacific.
But this is only the first of four “storms” that Jesus confronts in chapters 4 and 5 of Mark — he goes on to show us his power in three additional dramas. First, we join him in sailing on the Sea of Galilee as the powers of the watery abyss crash against our boat. Then, writes Richard Deibert, we “make it to the eastern shore, to the eerie country of the Gerasenes, where a soul fouled by evil lunges at our faith. We are forced back to the western shore, where a street woman stalks us. Finally, the death of a twelve-year-old child threatens to steal the last breath of our discipleship. Miraculously, we survive.” And Jesus is made known to us as the one who is Lord over chaos.
In all of these stories, Jesus teaches us to trust his power over all that can hurt or destroy us. The “experience of God” we have with Jesus can give us strength — strength to face and overcome our problems. As we cross the Sea of Galilee with the disciples, we do not need to fear the water that was a symbol of chaos, death and disorder to the ancient Israelites. We can trust that the Lord will answer when we cry out, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck” (Psalm 69:1). We know what that feels like, don’t we? In fact, we still use the expressions, “I’m swamped,” or “I’m in over my head.”
As we encounter the Gerasene demoniac (5:1-20), we can trust Jesus to calm the chaos of the past. As we encounter chronic illness in the untouchable woman (5:25-34), we can trust Jesus to calm the chaos of the present. As we encounter death in Jairus’ daughter (5:21-24, 35-43), we can trust Jesus to calm the chaos of the future. “In every sphere of human existence,” concludes Richard Deibert, “Jesus reigns over disorder.”
We can be thankful that Jesus stilled a variety of storms during his ministry, saving people from death, illness, and demonic possession. But what kind of victory can we expect today? What kind of victory can we expect right now, when Jesus is not physically by our side — in the stern of a boat, or next to the bed of a dying child? Not all of the storms we encounter in our lives will be miraculously calmed, nor will all the diseases we face be instantly cured. And so we need to answer for ourselves the questions that Jesus asks the disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (4:40) — and we have to answer these questions in a way that focuses on faith, instead of on miracles.
Our challenge is to have faith that Jesus loves us and is working for an ultimate good, even when waves beat around us and our boat is being swamped. To have faith that God has created the world and is in control of it, even when chaos seems to reign and evil seems to triumph. To have faith that the Holy Spirit is giving us strength and inner peace, even when we’re feeling stressed and exhausted and at the end of our ropes.
posted by Henry Brinton | 8:23 AM
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