First Reading: Job 38:1-11
1The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 2“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. 4Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5Who determined its measurements — surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, 11and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?”
Psalm 124
1If the Lord had not been on our side, let Israel now say; 2If the Lord had not been on our side, when enemies rose up against us; 3Then would they have swallowed us up alive in their fierce anger toward us; 4Then would the waters have overwhelmed us and the torrent gone over us; 5Then would the raging waters have gone right over us. 6Blessed be the Lord! he has not given us over to be a prey for their teeth. 7We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and we have escaped. 8Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13
1Working together with {Christ}, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. 11We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.
Gospel: Mark 4:35-41
35On that day, when evening had come, {Jesus} said to {the disciples}, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Finding Calm in the Storm
Did you know that the bathtub was invented in 1850? The telephone wasn’t invented until 1875. “Just think,” someone said, “You could have sat in the bathtub for 25 years without the phone ringing.” It never fails, does it? Just when you think you’ll have some peace and quiet, the phone rings, or your child needs attention, or a text message comes in, or the boss calls you into the office. Peace: today it seems that calm is a precious commodity, something that remains elusive.
Dante, the Renaissance poet, was exiled from his home in Florence, Italy. Depressed by this cruel turn of fate, he decided to walk from Italy to Paris, where he could study philosophy, in an attempt to find a clue to the true meaning of life. During his trip, Dante found himself a weary pilgrim, forced to knock at the door of Santa Croce Monastery to find refuge for the night. A surly brother within was finally aroused. He came to the door, flung it open, and in a gruff voice asked, “What do you want?” Dante answered in a single word, “Peace.”
- G. Wells, a well-educated, creative man, was also an atheist. He said in his autobiography: “I cannot adjust my life to secure any fruitful peace. Here I am at sixty-five still seeking for peace…Dignified peace…[it’s] just a hopeless dream.” Peace is a beautiful word, isn’t it? Yet it’s a state of being that remains elusive for many people today. The fast-paced life that many of us lead provides us with an unprecedented measure of material possessions, but it doesn’t provide us with peace. Stress is our constant companion; anxiety haunts our dreams. What if we should be downsized out of a job, what if we were ill for a prolonged period of time, what if our next project is a failure? The disciples were not the only ones to long for peace in a raging storm. Where do we find peace? That’s the longing of every heart.
The experience the disciples had, in our gospel reading for today, is an experience we’ve all had, or will have eventually, out in a boat in a terrible storm and no peace in sight. Most of you remember the scene well. Jesus had been in His hometown and His mother and brothers, thinking He’d lost His mind, come to get Him. After this He spends time teaching the crowd in parables, some of this we read last week. When He was done, He and the disciples decide to cross the Sea of Galilee by boat. Suddenly a terrible storm came up. It’s something that can happen on any large body of water and it can be a frightening experience.
The winds howled and the waves beat against their boat to the point that it began filling with water. The disciples began to panic. It’s interesting that Jesus was in the stern of the boat asleep during all this. Either He was an unusually sound sleeper or, even more likely, He was at peace with the world. As I was putting this sermon together, I began to wonder how many people are like me, they toss and turn in bed each night, not because of a storm on the outside, but a storm on the inside. Life can be so fast paced that the struggles of life can invade our sleep.
The disciples, stressed by the storm woke Jesus. In their fear they asked Jesus, “Do you not care that we perish?” St. Mark tells us simply that Jesus awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace! Be still! And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” Mark tells us that the disciples were filled with awe, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?” It’s an interesting question, one that I asked the adults in the VBS Bible study this past week. Stop and think about the disciples’ question, “Who is this, that even the wind and sea obey Him.” I think it’s the most important question any Christian can ask.
Think about it, how can you pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name?” How can you obey the first three Commandments; “You shall have no other gods before me, You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain, and you shall honor the Sabbath and keep it holy”, if we cannot answer this one question, “who is this that even the wind and sea obey Him.” How can we obey Jesus’ command to “Love the Lord your God with all your soul, mind, and strength?” If we don’t know who God is, how can we, as Luther directs, “Fear and love God so that we” follow all that God expects of us? “Who is this, that even wind and sea obey him?” This is the most fundamental question that every believer must wrestle with. The answer to this question is key to how we live in this life and in the next. Secondary to the question of who Jesus is, there are three elements of this word picture that Mark has painted for us that we need to ponder today.
The first element we need to look at is the fury of the storm. Living here in the southeast, we all know that storms are part of life. Most of the time, here in the Carolinas, the days are pleasant and non-challenging, however, since we’re now in the midst of hurricane season, we know that the weather can change rapidly. Soon the weather apps are sounding alarms, the stores shelves are bare of bread, milk, peanut butter, and the like, the wind is howling outside, and our tiny craft is being tossed on the waves of life’s uncertainties. Of course, storm is a relative term. Each of us, metaphorically speaking, must assign our own definition to the severity and nature of any “storm” that we experience in this life.
Mary Ellen Clark’s storm was a strange physical problem that threatened her life’s goal. If you’re a fan of the Olympics, you probably know Mary Ellen’s name quite well. She, during the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, was one of the U.S. swimming team’s premiere divers, both years she brought home a bronze metal. She began diving as a kid.
Natural talent and tenacious hard work moved Mary Clark into the ranks of the country’s best competitive divers. That makes it almost unbelievable to think that she suffers from vertigo. Mary Ellen experienced her first attack of vertigo after a dive in a college meet in Australia in 1988. After plunging into the water, she suddenly lost all sense of balance and direction. She couldn’t figure out which way was up. At the time, she had no idea what was wrong. As she would later write, “If you asked a scriptwriter to concoct the worst condition to afflict a competitive diver, a really imaginative scenarist might come up with vertigo.” Because her vertigo episodes were so rare, Mary Ellen didn’t visit a doctor to find out what was wrong.
Over the next few years, she moved up in the ranks of divers, and won her first bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Then, while training for the 96’ Olympics, Mary Ellen had another episode of this frightening disorientation. It was then that the doctors diagnosed her with vertigo. She knew that her days as a diver might soon be over. She tried every medical treatment available, but nothing worked. One night, in despair, Mary Ellen called a friend, Steve Duvall, and poured out her sadness. Steve simply asked her, “Mary Ellen, what is the worst possible scenario you can imagine?”
Mary Ellen answered, “That I’ll never dive again.” And then Steve asked, “Can you accept that?” Mary Ellen didn’t know how to answer that question.
After she had hung up, she began thinking about verses 12 and 13 of Philippians 4: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” This is an inspiring and comforting verse for many of us. But it sparked in Mary Ellen a very different question: could she NOT do something through Him who gave her strength? Could God give her the strength to NOT dive again and still be content? Mary Ellen credits her parents with giving her the answer.
Mary Ellen’s parents taught her long ago that her faith in God was more important than anything else in life. She knew that she could trust God no matter if she ever competed again. Mary Ellen Clark did overcome her vertigo. She went on to win her second bronze medal in 1996, and she’ll go down in history as the oldest diver yet to win in her event. For Mary Ellen Clark the storm was vertigo. For you and me, it may be something quite different.
It might be a failed venture at work or with an investment. It might be a serious health problem. It could be a concern over a family member or close friend. It might be the loss of a loved one. The only certainty in this life is that sooner or later we must all confront our storm. That is the first element of the picture – the fury of the storm. The second element is the fear of the disciples.
It’s important to note, that several of the disciples were experienced sailors. And those that Jesus called from that life were fishermen who had fished these waters many times and had experienced many storms. But this storm was different somehow, and they were afraid. If we’re honest, all of us have experienced fear at one time or another. The artist Rembrandt once painted a canvas titled “Storm on the Sea of Galilee.”
If you examine the painting carefully, you’ll note that there are fourteen men in the boat. There are the twelve disciples plus Jesus. That makes thirteen. Who then, is the fourteenth passenger? It’s Rembrandt himself. If you and I were to paint that picture, we might include ourselves in the picture as well. We all know what it is to be afraid. We may even know what it means to be on the verge of panic. Mickey Brown knew that feeling.
Mickey was raised in the church, but as a young adult found his faith was weak. Mickey went to Vietnam as a medic. “There life seemed fragile and ephemeral (or transient),” Mickey says, “and, looking for something solid to hold on to I began attending services in the chapel.” One night word came that an enemy was about to attack. Mickey was sent to defend the chapel. He realized that he wouldn’t have enough ammunition to fight off a whole battalion by himself. “The only thing I could do in such a hopeless situation was to pray,” Mickey remembered. In that tense situation Mickey recalled a line from the 91st Psalm, “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” “Calmness washed over me like warm sunlight coming through a window,” he said. He still dreaded the battle, but now he could see his way through it. The attack never came. That night the village was quiet.
“Now, [all these] years later,” Mickey said, “I still carry the pocket-sized Bible I had in Vietnam. When danger is close, I reread the one passage outlined in faded red pencil: Psalm 91.” Mickey found himself in a situation that easily could engender feelings of panic. But he found comfort in the Scriptures. So did a woman that Hazel B. Goddard tells about in her book, Hope for Tomorrow.
In this book, she recounts some of the counseling cases she’s dealt with over the years. This one case involved a young woman who was dealing with deep depression and a detachment from reality. The young woman was filled with anxiety and fear. She couldn’t sleep at night because her mind was so full of disturbing thoughts. She felt totally alone, like God didn’t care that she existed. Dr. Goddard asked the woman if she knew of the peace that God promised us in the Bible. When the woman shook her head, Dr. Goddard took a slip of paper and wrote, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee” (Isaiah 26:3). Then Dr. Goddard left. The next day she returned to find the young woman smiling and alert. Throughout the night, this young woman had repeated the Bible verse over and over again. Her panic subsided and she was able to go to sleep. Now she was able to see some kind of hope for the future.
Each of us must face our own storm. Often the greatest adversary we face is our own fear. The fury of the storm “the fear of the disciples” brings us to the third element in this picture: The faith that saves. Jesus awoke, rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Then He asked His disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
This is a question many of us struggle with throughout our lives. I know I ponder this question often. Jesus said, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). So why does it seem that when the winds are howling and the waves are beating on our boats, we ask, “Why am I so afraid? Have I no faith?”
Dr. F. Townley Lord was a president of the Baptist World Alliance. Speaking to the Alliance on one occasion, Lord told about some of his experiences in the Second World War. He said he had been a warden during the war with the responsibility to see that a nearby bomb shelter was open when it was needed. Lord said they had a piano down in the shelter and a good pianist to play it. One night when they were in the bomb shelter, Lord noticed two young American soldiers and their dates among those seeking shelter. Holding his hand up for silence, Lord told the four young people to come up to the piano and sing a song. After a bit of hesitation, they came to the piano, pushed aside the popular song the group had been singing, opened the hymnbook and began to sing, “Standing On The Promises of God.”
Dr. Lord said that after the quartet had sung, he led the group in prayer. Lord told the Alliance: “I have never been in a church service where the presence of the Holy Spirit was more evident.” In the midst of war, with bombs falling all around them, four young people sang about “the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.” You and I have sung many hymns with that same message. And yet sometimes it’s hard to hold on when the whole world seems to be shaking around us. Still, this is the message we need to hear. We know the One who quiets the winds and stills the waves. We know the One who speaks to our hearts, and when we listen, He will calm our fearful spirits as well. He can calm the fury of the storm, the fear of His disciples, and He also provides the faith that saves.
Linda Sledge recalls a day from her childhood that she will never forget. She was playing in the sand of a Hawaiian beach near where she lived, building towers with her little shovel and bucket. She had wandered away from her parents. Suddenly a great wave knocked her off her feet into the ocean. She managed to get up on her feet, but the sand was flowing out from under her feet. Then another wave struck, and she had no footing. She cried out for her parents. All she could see was the vast ocean ahead. She thought she was doomed. Just then two strong arms reached out from behind and pulled her to safety. “Don’t be afraid,” her father said. “I’ve been watching you all the time.”
These are our heavenly Father’s words to us. He isn’t sleeping. He is always watching over us. The most important question a Christian can ask is, “Who is this that even the wind and waves obey Him.” When we know the answer to this, we can then answer the question, “Why am I afraid? Have I no faith?
Amen