Sermon for Pentecost
5, June 23, 2024
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.
Mark 4:35-41 35On
that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go over to the other
side.” 36After leaving the
crowd behind, the disciples took him along in the boat, just as he was. Other small boats also followed him. 37A great windstorm arose, and the
waves were splashing into the boat, so that the boat was quickly filling
up. 38Jesus himself was in
the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They
woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?” 39Then he got up, rebuked the
wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be
still!” The wind stopped, and there was
a great calm. 40He said to
them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you
still lack faith?” 41They
were filled with awe and said to one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!” (EHV)
Fear not! Jesus is
with you too.
Dear fellow travelers on a storm-tossed sea,
How do you
like your boat rides? Do you enjoy unexpected
crises? Can you calmly handle sudden turbulence,
or are you one who needs to be in control of every detail of every tour, in
every trip around the sun? How do you
handle the sudden storms that come up in the voyage of your life?
Before the events of our sermon text, Jesus’
disciples looked the model of faithfulness.
As Jesus preached that day, they listened attentively and when He
decided to leave one place to travel to another, the disciples, without
question, lifted the sail or bent to their oars to take Jesus where He wanted
to go. Then, when the storm suddenly
overtook them, they knew right where to turn for help—or did they?
Looking back at the actions of the disciples,
they can seem much like all of us. We
listen to Jesus. We too diligently throw
ourselves into the work He gives us, and we call to Him in prayer. Yet, all too often, even those who look like
faithful Christians can get confused about who Jesus really is and what He does. Thus, whenever troubles arise while we carry
on the work of the church, we may find it all too easy to think Jesus is asleep
on the job. Too often, then, people
despair and become afraid. However, the
Holy Spirit tells us, Fear not! Jesus is with you too.
As Jesus and His disciples were crossing the
Sea of Galilee, “A great windstorm arose,
and the waves were splashing into the boat, so that the boat was quickly
filling up. Jesus himself was in the
stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke
him and said, ‘Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?’” Sudden storms were not unusual on that lake,
but this one was unusually strong, so even those competent, experienced
sailors, who had made their living fishing on this lake, were soon overwhelmed. When that terrible wind came up, the
disciples battled with everything they had, but the wind became too strong and
the waves too high, so high that the boat was nearly swamped.
Terrified, those former fishermen were sure
that unless they had every hand on deck bailing water and fighting the storm,
they all would be lost in the depths of the sea. In their panic, the disciples thought ill of
Jesus. Why was He sleeping at a time
like this? They didn’t ask how He could
sleep through the raging storm; they asked,
“Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?” They could have just as much asked if He was
too lazy to help.
The disciples knew Jesus as the Messiah, the
Promised One of Israel, but they failed to remember what that meant. Unfortunately, like them, forgetfulness can trouble
us, as well. When the storms of life
threaten, how quickly we wonder if Jesus cares.
When health is compromised, or we have to face death—our own or a loved
one’s—how quickly faith can whither. At
times, we can feel attacked on all sides: by politics, criminals, mockers, by
the great thinkers of our day, and by the storms of world events. Too often, we might wrongly imagine that
Jesus came into this world to give us smooth sailing. At any of these times, it becomes oh so easy
to listen to Satan whisper in our ears that Jesus must be asleep, or that God
must be on vacation, if He doesn’t immediately answer our prayers the way we
would want Him to. And there we are, floundering
about like the twelve asking Jesus, “Don’t
You care?”
Even after all the miracles the disciples had
seen Jesus perform and all the times they had seen Him handle trouble, they
still forgot who was with them. “Jesus got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the
sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ The wind stopped, and there was a great
calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so
afraid? Do you still lack faith’ They were filled with awe and said to one
another, ‘Who then is this? Even the
wind and the sea obey him!’”
Those twelve men expected that Jesus should be
helping them fight the storm, row the boat, and bail out the water that the
surging waves were throwing over them.
Instead, Jesus spoke only two words, and immediately, the wind stopped,
and the sea, that had been so stirred up no sailor expected to survive, became
as smooth as glass. It happened
instantly. The disciples were awestruck,
perhaps even more afraid. Who was this
Man? How could any man possibly have such
power? To their knowledge, Jesus didn’t
even pray to God for help, He just told that raging storm and sea, “Peace!
Be still!” And it was!
Who was that Man asleep in the boat? The same Son of God by whom God spoke in the
days of creation and what He said came to be.
The disciples understood that Jesus had come on a mission from God and
had been equipped to carry out His work, but now they truly saw Him as He
is—true God as well as true Man. As a
Man, Jesus rested His body as He slept without fear. As true God, He speaks and all of nature obeys. When that realization that Jesus is more than
an ordinary man entered their minds, the disciples became even more
afraid. Their sins now accused
them. Who could stand in the presence of
the One who is true God? The sinful
nature knows it cannot, so the disciples trembled.
In the same way, there
are many people in our world who avoid God and His Word because they are afraid
of being judged. They might not admit
it, but ultimately that is the reason even baptized Christians sometimes stay
away. They choose to live in a lifestyle
they know isn’t God-pleasing but rather than repent, they stay away—away from
church, away from Bible reading, away from prayer, away from their friends and
family members in the church, avoiding the comfort of the Gospel and the
strengthening food and drink of the Sacrament—all because they are afraid of
God’s judgment.
The disciples had no reason to fear that night
for two reasons; first, with Jesus in the boat there was no way it was going to
sink and no way even one of them would be lost.
Even when He was sleeping, Jesus remained true God in full control of
all things. Though they couldn’t
recognize it in that moment of distress, God was working all things for their
good. Second, Jesus did not come into
this world to guarantee smooth sailing, nor to judge the disciples or anyone
else. He came to save us, just as He declared,
“I did not come to judge the world, but
to save the world.” (John 12:47)
Like the disciples, we often assume that our
efforts keep the boat afloat. Sometimes,
we wonder if God is even listening to our prayers or helping at all. Things don’t go the way we would choose and
we wonder why Jesus doesn’t help us fight the storm! Other times, we forget to call out to Jesus
until the waves of life are threatening to swamp us.
Now, don’t get me wrong, we do have work to do,
but none of it contributes to our salvation.
Our Redeemer has already accomplished everything needed to save us. Jesus lived in perfect trust in His Father
every day of His life. In fact, when
Jesus was asleep in the back of that boat, He was trusting His heavenly Father
on your behalf. Jesus’ perfect confidence
that He was safe in His Father’s care is, today, credited to those who believe
in Him. It is credited to all of us who
have been made believers by the power of the Gospel in our Baptisms and through
the hearing of the Word. Therefore, Fear not!
Jesus is with you too.
Because He came to rescue us from the seas of
this sinful world, Jesus not only lived the perfect trust and obedience that
fulfilled the Law for you and me, but He also then went to the cross to pay the
full penalty for our sins. Jesus didn’t
go to that awful hill to pay for His own crimes for He had none—He paid there
for you and me. As our fellow sinners
nailed Him to the killing tree, Jesus prayed for you and me and everyone, “Father, forgiven them.” (Luke
23:34) And at the end, when everything
necessary to give us forgiveness and eternal life had been accomplished, Jesus
boldly declared, “It is finished.” (John
19:30)
Because of all Jesus did for us then and all He
continues to promise us today, what should we fear? Before Jesus left this world, He promised us,
“Surely I am with you always until
the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20) The Holy Spirit assures us also that there is
nothing that can separate us from God’s love and that God continues to work all
things for our everlasting good. (Romans 8)
So, do you feel better that I say, Fear not!
Jesus is with you too.? Most
likely, you will still be afraid at times.
We all have to fight the good fight against our sinful nature that wants
us to trust ourselves instead of Jesus.
We all have to struggle against the devil’s lies and the world’s
temptations, but that’s why Jesus brought you into His boat.
Quite often, the Christian Church has been
pictured as a rescue boat pulling believers from the terrible waves of this
world. That picture comes from events
like this one in our sermon text and from Peter’s declaration about how Baptism
saves us as the ark lifted Noah and his family above the waters and saved
them. Some old churches were even
designed inside to look like a boat tipped over the congregation protecting
them from harm.
Dear friends, you entered this world condemned
to eternal death, and the storms of this world tossed you about like flotsam on
the sea. From that terrible fate, Jesus
rescued you in your baptism. There,
through the water and the Word of His Gospel, God made you His own dear child
and a brother or sister of Jesus, as He reeled you into the unsinkable boat of
His Church. Here, God marked you as His
own dear child and covered you with Jesus’ perfect righteousness. No longer does God see you as an enemy; no
longer does He remember even one of your sins.
Therefore, whenever your last day may come, whether
by old age, accident, persecution, cancer, or crime, you do not have any reason
to fear, for physical death is not your end but the step from this life to
everlasting life and peace in heaven.
Jesus promised, "In my
Father’s house are many mansions. If it
were not so, I would have told you. I am
going to prepare a place for you.” (John
14:2-3) Jesus prepared your home in
heaven by dying for you on the cross, and His resurrection from the grave
proves that you too will be raised to live forever, just as He said. Therefore, Fear not! Jesus is with you
too.
In addition, while you live here on earth, you
are never alone nor neglected by your Savior.
He promised to be with you always, and He promises “that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who
have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) He further had the
Apostle, Paul, write for us: “If God is for us, who can be against
us? He who did not spare His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us
all things?” (Romans 8:31-32)
Therefore, whenever
the storms of life blow against you and the waves of trouble seem ready to pull
you under, ride out the storm with Jesus.
Come hear the good news that you are forgiven and you have a home
waiting for you in heaven. Believe that
Jesus is both true God and the true Man who lived, died, and rose again to make
you righteous in His Father’s eyes.
Don’t come to Jesus asking Him just to help you bail water. Instead, know that Jesus has already calmed
the devil’s storm, and Jesus will carry you home. Your loving Savior did everything necessary
to rescue you; all, so that you and I may boldly tell our fellow believers, Fear not! Jesus is with you too. Amen.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every
way. The Lord be with you all.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment