JUN 21, 2009  SERMON ARCHIVE

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our heavenly Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, AMEN.

The text for our meditation today is the Gospel Lesson for the 3rd Sunday of Pentecost, Mark 4:35-41. There we read these words:

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But 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?" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?"

We begin in the name of Jesus, AMEN.

It was the end of a long day-even the Lord was tired as the disciples sat out in a boat across the sea. Suddenly, a storm struck with fierce winds and beating waves, and the disciples could see hat the boat had begun filling up with water. The disciples saw the storm, and they knew they are no match; they were going down.

Furthermore, they saw the Lord asleep in the stern of the boat, and their sinful nature whispered that He did not care enough to save them. They saw indifference, not assistance, and concluded He had no concern for their welfare. They woke Him up and shouted out, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"

You know, I have always found this account intriguing. Did the disciples not recognize the fact that Jesus was in the boat with them? If they were going down, surely He would too. If hey were going to perish, surely Jesus would too. Kind of reminds me of a little story I heard one time concerning a military bomb squad. The sign written on the back of their Hummer said, "If you see us running, you might want to try and keep up."

Well, anyway. It was simple enough for the Lord to remedy. He stood up and quietly spoke, "Peace, be still!" to the wind and immediately, everything was calm. One would think that the disciples would be grateful, overwhelmed with thankfulness. But doubt made them even more afraid. Why?

Because while they had seen His power, they sill doubted His mercy. They had seen the ferociousness of hat killing storm, and knew they were no match. And they had seen that Jesus was much more powerful than the storm-He silenced the gale by simply speaking a few words, shhhhh!

If the disciples were no match for the storm, there was no way that they were a match for this Jesus. If He should use His power against them, they didn't have a chance. They doubted His promise that He would use His power for their good. Why?

They are all well aware of their sin. And because of that sin, there was no reason for God to love them or help them with His power. They believed He was powerful, but they doubted that He would be powerful for their good. Why should He help out poor, miserable sinners?

Dear friends. I believe that this problem lurks within all who doubt the mercy of God but believe in His might: They do not doubt His power, but they cannot believe that He will freely use His power for their good. Therefore, they will attempt to make peace with Him by their works, believing that He will be good to them only if they are good for Him. This is a life, not f hope, but of fear and doubt.

How terrible it would be if God were only powerful and not merciful. How terrible it would be if each one of you were forced to live lives filled sin with no assurance that God felt any mercy at all.

That is why your heavenly Father, so that you might be able to trust in His mercy, gave each one of you the gift of faith through the waters of baptism. What do I mean by that? Consider the story one more time through the eyes of the faith God has given you.

It was the end of a long day, and Jesus was very tired because He is also very human. The storm whipped up: It was indeed powerful and visibly terrifying and potentially killing. But, although the sleeping Lord looks passive, He was still present; and although He seemed uncaring in His sleep, He was present in that boat for the sake of the doubting disciples. They were His people, and He would work all things for their good.

He silenced the storm for them, but He did not want to leave them afraid of Him because of His power. His power was only half the story, for His power was made perfect in weakness. If His power was terrifying, how awesome is it that the One who could rebuke the wind would submit Himself to the cross and suffer death to redeem them? His power is astonishing; His willingness to sacrifice Himself for the world is even more so.

Sin and faith look at the same story and arrive at two different conclusions. What do the disciples-both sinner and saint-conclude? Panicked by the storm, it is easy to lapse into sin and weakness and doubt. Nevertheless, the Lord is present in the boat, and He is present for their good. The disciples must endure the storm for a while, and for a while the storm seemed so much more powerful than the Savior.

But the Savior was and is more powerful, as is the Word He speaks. He spoke, and the storm was stilled. He spoke and rebuked them for their lack of faith, and His Law convicted them of their sin. And when He spoke to them His powerful Word of Absolution, the same Word that drove away the storm also drove away their sin.

They were His disciples. He was present with them. He was present for them, to rescue them from the storm-and from sin, death and the devil.

Dear friends in Christ, rejoice! From the Word of the Lord, you know the following to be true.

Jesus Christ, conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary, is both God and man.

He was crucified for your sins, that He rose again on the third day, that He ascended into heaven.

He is still omnipotent (all-powerful); by simply speaking His Word, He can still silence storms or melt the earth (Ps. 46:6).

It is also true that the Lord is merciful, and that His mercy for you is as astonishingly great as His power.

Furthermore, the Lord is present with you by His means of grace. In the Sacrament of Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord's Supper, He is just as present with you as He was with those disciples in the boat.

It is also true that you will encounter your share of storms in this life. They may be in the form of sickness and injury, broken relationships and disagreements with others, the suffering of loved ones, financial woes, etc. Storms will strike, and they will be menacing and overwhelming and powerful and terrifying in their appearance. Your sinful nature will shriek at such times, "Where is God now, and how is He helping me?!" Indeed, it may seem that the Lord is asleep or uncaring about you. But don't go by appearances. The Lord has already promised that He will work all things to your good.

And He has: He has already saved you from sin, death and the devil. Listen again to a verse from the epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:19).

The Son of God, able to rebuke a hurricane with a word, submitted Himself to death on the cross for your salvation. So merciful is your Father in heaven that He poured out His righteous judgment for your sin upon His righteous Son-so that you might be reconciled to Him. You know this by faith, not by sight: If you think that the Lord Jesus looks helpless sleeping in a boat, He looked far more powerless when He hung bloodied and dead on the cross. But the Lord God saved you by His mercy, and Christ's death is the victory over sin for you.

In Christ and His death, God reconciled you to Himself. And that is your comfort as you face all sorts of other storms in this life. The Lord Jesus has already shed His blood to make you His, and He will not fail you now.

You will face personal storms and tribulations; as we said before, it may be personal suffering or the suffering of those you love. At times, the Lord will allow you to be pitched about and thrown around until you despair and say, "There is nothing I can do to save myself from this."

And even though the storm may throw you violently, the Lord is with you. He may appear to be asleep, but He is with you. "Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?"; like the disciples, you will be tempted to cry out the same. The answer, of course, is that He does care if you perish-so much so that He perished on the cross to give you life.

If there is a time when the Lord may seem especially asleep, it is when you must face death. This is truly an enemy greater than you, and there is nothing that you can do to keep from sinking into the grave.

But the Lord is not asleep, nor is He weak: He has defeated His enemy death, but has not yet destroyed him; instead, the Lord uses His enemy as He pleases, to deliver His people out of this sinful, stormy world to everlasting life.

The silence that follows man's last breath may sound like the devil's triumph. But the devil's boast is empty, because the Lord who silenced the storm with a word also says, "I say to you, arise."

This is a world of storms, and you will encounter perhaps more than your fair share. 

It is also a world in which you live as both saint and sinner.

Thus you will view each storm through eyes of doubt and eyes of faith, and so you will be tossed back and forth. At all times, however, rejoice in this: Storms will pass, but the Lord remains the same in His power and mercy. He is never far away, but with you by His means of grace. And to deliver you from all such storms, He continues to speak to you today His powerful word.

Especially the good news.

Christ Is Risen.

AMEN