Fourth Sunday After Pentecost - Proper 7
June 24, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline
Job 38:1-11 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Mark
4:35-41
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Amen. Our text today comes from the
Gospel lesson, especially these words, “Jesus said, ‘Why are you so afraid?
Have you still no faith?’ And
they were filled with great fear.” Thus
far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ. It is an interesting turn of
events in our text today. The disciples
think they are afraid. They are out on a
small rickety boat in a lake 8 miles wide and 13 miles long. They have no outboard motor, perhaps a few
oars and a sail, and all of a sudden a squall blows into the lake. The waves grow and crash into the tiny boat –
filled to the brim with 12 apostles and one teacher. Water begins pouring over the sides, the boat
gets lower in the water allowing even more water to come in.
The disciples are
frantically bailing water out of the boat knowing that a boat full of water
doesn’t float. If the boat sinks, they
will die. It’s a terrifying
thought. They don’t want to drown. They don’t want to meet their end that
way. They want to live to see another
day, they want to make it to shore. They
are scared for their lives. And while
they are scared, there Jesus sits, sleeping on a cushion in the back of the
boat.
It sounds like our
life, so very often doesn’t it? We are
terrified of the things going on around us, yes, but mostly we are scared to
die. Sure, I know, most the time we
avoid thinking about it, but it’s coming for you dear friends. And it is coming on a day and in a way that
you probably aren’t anticipating. Just
like those disciples on that boat, one day the waves will increase, the boat
will fill with water, and you will know that the end must be near.
Cancer,
Alzheimer’s, emphysema, heart attack, stroke, old age, and more, these things
and more will be your future. They will
come to you. They will slowly increase
in your life until at last dear friends, they will take you, each one of
you. And your life will be no more.
The disciples when
faced with this prospect, turned as many of us do to God. “Wake up Jesus, don’t you care that we are
going to drown? Don’t you care that our
lives are quickly going to come to an end?
Do something, save us! Do it
now!”
I imagine that as
the disciples said this to Jesus, they had in mind Jesus picking up a bucket
and bailing water out of the boat. But
that is not what Jesus does. Jesus
stands up in the rocking boat, and speaks to the waters, “Peace! Be still” and the waters listen. The storms stops suddenly. The sun shines, the boats make it safely to
the other side of the lake. Jesus turns
to them and says, “Why were you afraid?
Do you still have no faith?”
And at this point
dear friends is the interesting turn in our text today. The text says, “And the disciples were filled
with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind
and the sea obey him?” It is at this
point they realize they had nothing to worry about from the storm, because in
the boat with them is God. The God who
created them. The God who formed them
out of the dust, who controls all things, including small little storms. The God who commands them to be perfect and a
part from sin.
This is their
fear, for they, like you, have failed the God who is the boat with them. They,
like you, have sinned daily. The words
of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew strike true for the disciples in that boat
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather,
be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” – the one who
can stop a storm in its tracks. They are
to fear and love and trust in God, and they have failed. And that causes them
true fear.
And for you,
Cancer may destroy your body, but only Jesus can destroy your soul. Alzheimer’s may destroy your memory and mind,
but only Jesus can destroy your soul.
All these illness and the threat of death are always there, and yet,
Jesus is the only one who can truly end you.
And dear friends, he doesn’t.
Jesus doesn’t
choose to send you to hell, for you believe in him. Jesus doesn’t destroy you in the squalor of
sin, but instead stands up in the midst of it and says, “Peace, be still.” Peace be still, for I have suffered for sin
on the cross, and I will count that as sufficient payment. Peace be still, These things that destroy
your body are only temporary. And peace
and stillness will come after.
Jesus brings peace
and stillness to your lives. You may
face death, but you no longer need to fear it, for Jesus has defeated it for
you. He allowed his own body to be
nailed to a cross, laid in a grave and raised, so that you might know the same
thing will one day happen to you. You
have already drowned in the sea of baptismal waters, and you have already be
rescued from them into peace, and stillness apart from sin.
Peace, the only
one you need fear loves you, so much that he would die for you. Peace, don’t fear the waves of this
world. They are overcome. Peace for you – forever in Christ, Amen.
