Job 38:1-11; Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41
The Rev. Drew Brislin
This morning, we hear the story of the first of four miracles that Jesus performs in Mark’s Gospel. It just so happens also that this is the first time that Jesus is referred to as teacher and it is the first time that we hear a hint of doubt and lack of trust from the disciples. Being out on large open bodies of water can be fun, but they can also be a little scary. It has been a few years since I have been out on the gulf fishing, however, I used to make an annual trip down to Orange Beach to visit my best friend, whose parents owned a home on Ono Island. They had a boat and my friend and I loved to get out and wet a hook. Sometimes we would leave out early and head for the deep water in search of snapper and other fish that thrived in blue water as they call it. Other days when we were not as industrious, we would spend the day trolling close to the shore. This one particular day we decided to stay a little closer to home and head out for the waters just offshore and try our luck at landing some king and Spanish mackerel. We had been out for a while and had not had much luck as I recall with the fishing, however, we were having a great time catching up and sharing stories when all of the sudden we looked back to the shore and could see really dark thunder cloud moving towards us. Here in the South these sporadic summer thunderstorms are a normal part of life and if you have spent any time on the coast, you are probably familiar with how impactful they can be on the water. We began to look around and realized that many of the other boats that were out with us had begun to make their way back towards the pass trying to beat the storm home. We looked at each other and took our cue and joined them. Now to make matters worse, maintenance was being performed on the pass as they were dredging the channel and some of the rigging pulled loose as a result of the storm pulling the tide out rather swiftly which blocked us along with the other boats from continuing on our way home. We then had to figure out what we would do. Our original plan had been thwarted and we were being thrust into the unknown.
So too this morning are the disciples heading into the unfamiliar as they head out into the open water of the sea and all the unknowns they will encounter on this journey. Jesus and the disciples encounter a storm, and the disciples are thrust into fear and panic, emotions that I can relate to myself. Having probably done all that they could to shore up the boat they finally turn to Jesus, who we find sleeping on a cushion in the stern of the boat per our scripture this morning. The disciples wake Jesus looking for help navigating the storm. The disciples almost seem annoyed with Jesus when they question him about whether or not he cares what will happen to them? I think we often expect others to share in our fear and panic and when they don’t, we think they don’t care. The fear experienced by the disciples this morning should encourage us in our own times of crisis as they turned to Jesus. Then with the words “Peace! Be still!” Jesus brings order to the sea. He then proceeds to question the disciples about their faith, and they are filled with awe. In our epistle reading, Paul is confronting these same seeds of doubt with his fledgling community of believers in Corinth. This community that is exasperated and asking for God to show up, hears from Paul that they are not alone and that they are loved. They do not have to do the hard things on their own.
Laura shared with me a children’s book titled Jonathan James and the Whatif Monster. It begins “Some Whatif Monsters like to hang out and fill up our heads with worry and doubt. They are sneaky and quiet and quick as a blink. Jonathan James heard those words full of dread, and all those “what ifs” got stuck in his head.” It proceeds to offer a bunch of what if..I bang my knee, other kids make fun of me, I’m not good at baseball, I come in last, etc. Midway through the book though Jonathan stops and asks the whatif monster, “Now wait just a minute! I have something to say, after hearing ‘what ifs’ all through the day, I hear all your worries; I hear all your claims. But what if you’re wrong?” asks Jonathan James. The whatifs then become “What if I’m cool, I’m good at baseball, I come in first, I take a chance and meet my best friend?” So often we build things up in our heads and tell ourselves stories that interfere with our relationships with each other which in turn cause us to place space between ourselves and God. This message of overcoming fear is so important that Luke’s Gospel begins with the angel telling the shepherds to not be afraid and concludes with the angel appearing to the woman at the tomb, instructing her as well to not be afraid. Our reading this morning in Mark’s Gospel sets the stage for how he will bring his Gospel to an end in telling those gathered at the tomb to not be afraid.
So often when we find ourselves in the middle of the sea of our own troubles, we find ourselves facing doubt and fear that probably more often than not comes from a false sense of control. We want to know what our options are and the subsequent outcomes. It’s like reading a choose your own adventure book. We ask, “If we do that, then this will happen” or “if we choose that, then this is the result.” In the end we usually discover that something totally different happens. If we would only stop and invite Jesus into the middle of our chaos, we might find out that he can bring peace and order to our personal storms. My friend and I learned a lot from that experience out on the water that we were forced to navigate by ourselves. In making some wrong decisions, we learned how we would respond should we ever find ourselves in the same predicament again. Learning to trust God and giving things up to Jesus requires practice on our part. I don’t know if we ever get it right, but maybe that is the point. We are supposed to keep trying and maybe just maybe we get a little bit better with each try. And just like the disciples who found themselves in awe together at what Jesus had done, we get to share in each other’s moments of awe when God works in our lives, and we can nudge each other and say, “Did you see that?” Jesus reminds us, this morning that we are not alone. Not only is Jesus with us uttering to us “Peace! Be still!” but we also have each other in the boat with us. We don’t have to navigate the storms by ourselves.