Peace in the Storm
Psalm 107:1-3; 23-32 and Mark 4:35-41
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 23, 2024
We all face storms in our lives. How we get through the storm depends on how we react to it.
Jesus almost seems to be testing the faith of the disciples; however he is actually teaching them.
I saw a cartoon once where the first frame showed passengers on a plane experiencing turbulence. The cartoon characterized them with eyes wide open, some lifted up out of their seats, and others gripping their arm rests with their mouths wide open.
The next frame shows the pilot and co-pilot laughing with their hands on controls and buttons in the cockpit, and the pilot asks the co-pilot, “Do you think they’ve had enough?!”
Mark’s description of this event makes it almost sound as if Jesus is playing possum, snickering in his pretend sleep, as the waters rise, and those in the boat begin to get tossed to and fro. You wonder, is Jesus watching with one eye open waiting to see how the disciples will react once he causes the seas to bounce the boat around in the water like a toy.
You might ask, “How can he possibly be sleeping through this storm,” not only because the boat is being tossed around, but in addition, he must be getting wet from the rolling waves crashing up against the boat while he rests there in the stern.
And I’m sure the disciples were not reacting to the tossing boat with whispers while on their tiptoes trying not to wake Jesus while he slept.
You know they must have been yelling to each other:
“How can he possibly be sleeping through this?”
“Does he not know the water is splashing on him? Does he not feel the motion of the boat?”
“Who is going to wake him so that he doesn’t get tossed off into the water?”
“Surely, he will save us if we wake him up!”
I’m sure there was a lot of yelling and moving going on, no doubt, and yet, Mark tells us that Jesus is asleep. He remains calm.
Now I don’t know about you all, but I don’t mind a good storm in the daylight. I sometimes even sit in my sunroom and watch the rain pour down, the trees swaying in the strong winds and the lightening flashing. It can be a delightful reminder of the power of God.
However, don’t give me a storm in the night! I have been known to sleep through a storm; however, that is usually when I have already fallen asleep before it comes through. If I know a storm is approaching, and it’s time to go to bed, I’m not one to lay down and rest peacefully. I listen as it approaches. I wonder how bad is it going to be, and will I need to find my safe place. I wait and listen. I get out of bed and go to the window and look out to try and see if I can see how hard the wind is blowing, but you really can’t see much in the night when it is pitch black dark.
That would have been the scenario with the storm in Mark’s gospel as they had sailed off in the evening. And I’m sure unlike me being able to see a little with street light, it was pitch black darkness in the storm the disciples found themselves in.
So we may be heckling a bit thinking, “Yeah Disciples, where was your faith? Hadn’t you seen all the miracles Jesus had performed? Hadn’t he told you about having the faith of a mustard seed? Were you not listening?”
One of my favorite titles for Jesus is Teacher because he never missed an opportunity to teach, and in his teaching, he didn’t just speak words, he also taught by his actions.
As the boat is tossed about in the water, Jesus remains calm, and he sleeps. He is at peace because his faith and knowledge is in his Abba Father who is in control, just like we read in the scripture last week in Ezekiel.
Having faith in the storm means that we acknowledge God’s control in the storm, no matter what the storm brings, God will take care of us.
As humans, it is natural that we have fear and that we worry, because that is what humans do in their humanness. Yet when we pack our bags with a boat load of Jesus, we can have faith that the storm will be calmed, and we will be held in the arms of Jesus.
Mark says the disciples “carry Jesus with them.” They put him in the boat as he has commanded them that they “go over to the other side.” Obeying Jesus, “they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.”
So let’s break this sentence down just a minute. It doesn’t say that Jesus stepped into the boat, but rather the disciples “took him with them.” They took with them the most important asset so they were prepared for a storm they didn’t even know was going to occur.
Then, they took him, “Just as he was.” I find it interesting that Mark states the scripture this way. I ask myself, so how was Jesus as he was? Probably tired after a day’s teaching along the shoreline with the crowd, maybe a little alone after recently dismissing his human family so that he might continue the will of God. Maybe he was a little unsettled not knowing exactly how things would play out going forward, or unsettled because he did know how his life would play out going forward.
However, I think when Mark says they took him, “just as he was,” Mark wanted the reader to know they took him in his human form, just as you and I are in our human form. There was no glow about him, there was no indication that he was someone who could actually have even the power to calm the storm. He was just like you and me in his human form.
And there were other boats with him. It’s always good to have others with us when we go through a storm. They can be with us and support us and pray for and with us. I say bring on as many other boats as you can secure to help you get through the storm.
The key however is Jesus, who they took with them, like an ace in their pockets. When they had done all they could do to save themselves in the storm, they wake Jesus up, and they cry out for help. “Teacher do you not care that we are perishing?”
Here Jesus responds, not in his human form, but in his powerful, Godly form, filled with all that these people need in their storm, and he calms the waters. “Peace! Be still!”
“Peace! Be still!” Let’s just take a moment and soak up those words with silence and gratitude to the Jesus we carry with us each day. (Pause for silence).
The Jesus we call out to when the storm becomes bigger than us, and more than we can handle, and says, “Peace! Be still!”
Indeed we all face storms in our lives, and some storms are bigger than others. Some storms are harder to get through than others. It’s natural to fear what lies ahead when you haven’t been through a particular storm.
Yet Jesus teaches us in this writing by Mark, that when we take Jesus with us, we are not alone. We not only have him, but we also have others that care about us, that love us, and that will be with us in the journey.
The key is that we take Jesus with us, so that he is there to calm the waves when it gets too much for us to bear alone.
We remember that we are children of God in whatever storm that is placed in our lives, and whether we remain asleep in the boat or are tossed out of the boat, we are God’s, and he will take care of us.
One of my commentaries summed it up this way:
‘“What shall we finally make of Jesus’ rebuke to those frightened disciples: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” What does he mean by that? How are we supposed to take that? He certainly is not saying that, if we have faith, nothing bad will happen to us. People of devout faith are overcome by natural disasters, diseases, accidents. Innocents – not to mention combatants who had no idea what they were getting themselves into – die in wars…it’s happening right now! And we all eventually face death, sooner or later. Jesus himself will suffer betrayal and desertion, followed by the most horrible death imaginable. So, according to this passage, what does faith do for us? What is Jesus saying faith should do for us? What does faith give us as we face these very real transitions from yesterday to an indecipherable future?
Jesus is telling us that everything happens in its time. He says, to any who care to listen, that God is in control, and that we have absolutely nothing to fear, no matter what happens. We have absolutely no reason to fear in the face of anything!”’
Jesus says, “Peace! Be still!”
(Silent Reflection)
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and THE LORD’S PRAYER
As we pray this morning, Presbyterian Outlook has provided a prayer (written by Erin Weber-Johnson and Mieke Vandersall) for consideration with upcoming Presidential debates this week which I will include as I pray. Let us pray:
Merciful and Saving God, we’ve cried, we’ve yelled, we’ve worried, we’ve cheered, we’ve ignored, we’ve spoken what we thought was “truth.” We’ve tried to make all sorts of ideas and all sorts of people into our salvation, forgetting that you are our salvation. This time, we remind ourselves that the work you call us to continues, regardless of election outcomes. And yet, what happens in November matters to real people. So, here we are. Before you. We remember the arc of history is long and points toward justice; we remember the stories of kingdoms that rose and fell; we remember there was Jesus who turned the world upside down. Help us ground our mind, our hearts, our souls. Quiet whirlwinds in our brains and our bodies. Help us remember: You endure beyond this moment; your love is greater than our imaginations; we are yours. And, we have work to do. Your work. For your people and your earth. Work through us as we offer care for the most vulnerable among us. Work through us as we try to show up in the world in a way that reflects your promises. Work through us as we try. Hold us together as we hold the contradictions of being human, we know you can do this for it is you who knit us together at the time of creation. Hear this our prayer as we remember those who are indeed dealing with the storms of life and those who have asked for our prayers_______________________________________
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Jesus be with all of these for whom we pray and awaken to the call of their need in the midst of the storm so they will hear you say, “Peace! Be still!” so that they might find calm in their storm. We ask all these things in Jesus Christ who taught his disciples to pray, Our Father, who art in heaven…..