Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me

 Jesu Juva

St. Mark 4:35-41                                                                   

June 20, 2021

Proper 7B                                       

 Dear saints of our Savior~

          Today’s topic is a wet and wild miracle from Mark chapter four:  Jesus calms the storm.  Miracles in Mark are always concise, always rich with meaning, always filled with possibilities for proclamation.  You may think you know this story.  You may think you’ve heard it all before.  But set aside what you think you know; and listen again to how Jesus stilled a storm on the Sea of Galilee with just two little words.

          It had been a long day of teaching on the seashore for Jesus.  In fact, the crowds were so large that Jesus had to do His teaching from a boat so that He could be seen and heard by all.  But when evening came, Jesus gave the order:  Let us go across to the other side.  Note well that Jesus gave the order to set sail.  Jesus set in motion a chain of events that would soon cause the twelve disciples to fear for their very lives.  Jesus, who is the chief meteorologist of the world’s weather, gave the order for a handful of boats to set sail into the growing darkness and into a gathering storm.

          Because Jesus is God in the flesh, we have to assume He could forecast the weather with perfect accuracy.  In fact, I think that would have been one of the main drawing cards for being a disciple of Jesus—instant, accurate weather forecasts.  Jesus, what’s the high temperature going to be, and what time is the rain moving in?  The Sea of Galilee was notoriously known as a place where the weather could get wild in a hurry—where severe storms could develop without warning.  So just be aware that if Jesus is charting your course, you shouldn’t expect any quick and easy detours around dangerous situations.  Don’t follow Jesus expecting only sunny, blue skies for every leg of your life’s journey.

          The fact is Jesus led His most faithful followers into a situation that was ripe for tragedy.  Of course, to say that Jesus “led” them isn’t perfectly accurate either.  Jesus wasn’t exactly leaning out over the bow like Leonardo DiCaprio on the

Titanic—not even like George Washington crossing the Delaware.  No, Jesus wasn’t acting very god-like at all.  In fact, He was engaged in that most human of activities.  He was sleeping!  As the weather started getting rough—as the boat began to fill with water, losing buoyancy and sinking down deeper and deeper—Jesus was snoozing on a pillow in the back of the boat.  Just when they needed Jesus most, He was unresponsive and snoring in the stern. 

          As always, Saint Mark is only concerned with giving us the facts—no matter how awkward they may be.  He’s not writing fiction; He is truth-telling.  And the truth is that when the weather started getting rough, Jesus wasn’t barking out orders from the bridge.  And the disciples weren’t calmly trusting Jesus as King of kings and Lord of Lords.  No, the Savior of the world was snoozing; and His hand-picked, elite apostles were panicking like faithless cowards.

          The Holy Spirit inspired St. Mark to record all of these unflattering details for your sake—so that you might have hope—so that you might be encouraged, even when you are feeling faithless and fearful.  I think I can detect a bit of faithlessness in the question the disciples used to wake Jesus up and prod Him to take action:  Teacher, don’t you care?  They didn’t say Deliver us from evil, or even Thy will be done.  They say:  Teacher, don’t you care?

          Perhaps that question—or one like it—has passed through your prayers a time or two.  It’s easy to trust Jesus when your life is smooth sailing, when your health is good, and the wind is at your back.  But it’s not so easy to trust Him when the weather starts getting rough and your tiny ship is tossed.  Jesus, don’t you care?  When you’re up to your neck in stress and conflict and worry—when it seems like your life is out of control, and hope is all gone—even the faithful sometimes ask:  Jesus, don’t you care?  Do you trust this Jesus who sleeps through the storm—this Jesus who seems just a little too comfortable with chaos?

          But it’s precisely in the chaos that Jesus teaches us who’s in control.  It’s precisely when Jesus seems most distant that we discover Him to be right by our side—a very present help in trouble.  While we crave quick fixes and spectacular special effects, Jesus simply speaks:  Peace!  Be still!  It’s only two words in the Greek.  It was nothing more than what you or I might yell at a barking dog in the middle of the night.  Be still.  But as soon as those words left His lips, the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  Within seconds, roaring, foamy waters became as smooth as glass.

          In this miracle the power of God is bound up tightly with the Word of God.  Everything hinges on the words that Jesus speaks.  His Words get results.  His Words accomplish what He desires.  And those powerful words of His are preserved right on the very pages of your Bible.  Those words of His are preached and proclaimed by pastors right from this very pulpit.  When you feel like you are sinking in a sea of chaos, listen to Jesus.  Trust what He says.  Don’t despise preaching and His Word.  Don’t ignore it—but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.

          What are you so afraid of?  Don’t you trust me?  That’s what Jesus asked the Twelve as they marveled at how the Sea of Galilee had become the sea of tranquility.  Those are good questions for us too:  Why are you so afraid?  Why do you live each day in fear and anxiety?  Why do act like your Savior is sleeping and distant?    Why do you live as if a Jesus you can’t see is a Jesus who can’t help you?  If Jesus single-handedly conquered sin and death and Satan by dying on the cross and rising again—if Jesus chose the whip and the thorns and the nails for you—if He was willing to suffer as your substitute under God’s wrath against sin—don’t you think that He also has a plan and a purpose for your life—that He will supply the help you need? 

          It takes faith to believe that.  And that’s why we’re here this morning—to hear the Words and eat the meal designed to strengthen our faith and to forgive our faithlessness.  The same powerful Word that stills the storm is also the Word that forgives all your sins and declares you to be justified before God.  In that Word is your safety—in life and in death—when storms are raging, and when all is calm.

          As that great calm settled over the waters, the disciples were no longer asking, “Teacher, don’t you care?”  That question had now been replaced by a different question:  Who is this guy?  Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?  You know the answer.  He is Jesus the Christ, true God begotten of the Father from eternity, and true man, born of the Virgin Mary—your Lord, our Savior.  No one else can still the storm.  No one else can order around the wind and the sea and have them obey.  Jesus is one of a kind.  Salvation is found in no one else.

          This miracle, like all miracles, is the exception rather than the rule.  There are plenty of ships that go down in the storm—some of them not too far east of here.  Airplanes crash, even with plenty of Christians on board.  Tornados and hurricanes typically don’t skip over churches as they do their destructive work.  So where is Jesus when all this happens?  Is He asleep at the wheel?  Does He care?

          Beloved in the Lord, today’s miracle teaches that Jesus is right here in the middle of it all.  He is God; and we are not.  But He is not just God; He is God-with- Us—Emmanuel.  God-with-us in the preaching and proclamation of His promises.  God-with-us in the wet, watery waves of Holy Baptism.  God-with-us in the bread that is His body and the wine that is His blood.  Jesus is an ever-present help in times of trouble. 

          The Sea of Galilee was a perilous and unpredictable place.  But as the disciples set sail into those evening waters, they were not alone.  Jesus was with them, in the boat with them.  And right here, in this sacred space, is where Jesus joins you on your earthly journey.  The fact that you’re sitting in the “nave” this morning is no accident.  By design most churches have a “nave.”  And “nave,” well, it’s just the Latin word for “boat.”  Beloved in the Lord, you are in the boat with Jesus.  Jesus is in the boat with you. And there’s just no better place to be.  Bon Voyage!

          In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.