Third Sunday after Pentecost
June 21, 2009
The Gospel: Mark 4:35-41
Sermon: "Job/Jesus stills the storm"
The Rev. Dr. Vicki L. Smith, Rector
The Gospel: When evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
Mark 4:35-41
Job/Jesus stills the storm June 21, 2009
A number of years ago, I had a young man named Michael in one of my youth groups. Michael was about 15 or so when he and his buddies decided that it would be fun to drive around the school parking lot with Michael riding on the hood of the car. You can imagine how that ended: the driver braked the car and even though they hadn’t been going very fast, the car stopped and Michael didn’t. He hit the pavement hard enough to break both his arms and spent the next six weeks with casts from his shoulders to his fingertips on both arms and little sticks under the casts to hold his arms out in front of him.
Michael was a typical teenager- he was virtually fearless and really didn’t think anything bad could happen to him. I certainly remember feeling that way when I was Michael’s age —though most of us didn’t end up breaking both arm falling off the hood of a car- we’ve all been there. As teenagers, we felt immortal.
As adults, we feel almost too mortal. We know only too well the fragility of human life; we know that bad things can and do happen. And we are afraid: afraid of illness and death, afraid of family conflict, divorce and isolation. We’re afraid of economic hardship, losing our homes, losing our jobs. We’re afraid we might be the victims of crime or have a car accident. We can sum it all up in that old phrase: “the sea is so vast and my boat is so small.”
It is in those times of fear and fragility that we join with the disciples in today’s gospel and say to our Lord: “Do you not care that we are perishing?” Jesus and his disciples were out in a boat when a storm came up. Things got pretty wild and still Jesus slept. Finally, the disciples couldn’t stand it anymore: “Do you not care that we are perishing? This storm is about to destroy us, don’t you care?”
That’s a question for the ages. It was the disciples’ question and it was Job’s question, we just heard about him too. And it is often our question--- “Are you asleep God? There are real problems down here—don’t you care?”
Jesus’ response to that question was to say: “why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” Whenever an angel appears, whenever God speaks—it always begins with “Do not be afraid.” Those were the angel’s words to Mary when Jesus was conceived; they were the angels’ words to the shepherds when Jesus was born. They were God’s words to Abraham, Hagar, Joshua, and Jacob. They were God’s words to Joseph in his dream and to Paul on the Damascus road. And they are God’s words to us: “do not be afraid.”
There is an important difference though, between “do not be afraid,” and “there is nothing to be afraid of.” We know there are plenty of things to be afraid of. Much of what we fear is only too real. God never says to us “there’s nothing to be afraid of.” What God says is “Do not be afraid.”
Back to Job just for a second. You may remember that Job, who had been a wealthy, healthy man, lost everything and his friends wanted an explanation. In the process of asking “Don’t you care that Job is hurting down here?” they also kept asking for an explanation. As you can see from today’s lesson, God did not give them or Job any reasons. God knew that an explanation is cold comfort in the midst of distress. It really doesn’t help much to learn the physics of why Michael broke both his arms falling off the car or more seriously, how cancer cells grow. God gives Job what we all really need in the midst of distress—an assurance of God’s presence with us. The chaos is still there, but so is God, and that is enough.
That is the essence of our faith—the chaos is still there but so is God, and that is enough.
In the midst of the storm, the disciples didn’t confront their fear by “manning up” with a burst of courage; they didn’t resolve to bail harder and faster. In fact, they never really seemed to pull themselves together at all. What they did was to take their fear to Jesus and Jesus calmed them and the storm with his presence.
“Do you not care that we are perishing?” That is humanity’s abiding question to our God—“Do you not care that we are perishing?” It has been our question from Abraham to Job, from the disciples to us. Like the disciples, we know that there will be other storms. Like Job we know that the chaos is not necessarily ended. We know that our boats are very small and the sea can be very rough indeed. And like Job and the disciples, we sometimes wonder if God even cares. But we are people of faith, and we live in the assurance of the presence of God. Like Job and the disciples, we take our fear to God and we are assured that we are never alone in our boats and that is enough.
When Jesus returned to heaven after his resurrection he left us with the words we carry in our hearts every day; the words that calm our fears and still our storms: “I am with you always,” he said, “even to the end of the age.”