Vicar’s sermon 23.6.24 Mark 4.35-41

Mark 4.35-41
In the 1st Book of Kings chapter 18 the prophet Elijah challenged the massed ranks of Baal’s followers to a ‘spiritual duel’. They agreed to meet on Mount Carmel where each side prepared an altar. Whichever side succeeded in calling upon their God to rain down fire on the altar, that side would win the allegiance of the people of Israel. Well, you know what happened – Elijah (or rather the Lord) won the battle – but along the way the priests and prophets of Baal performed their rituals and made their prayers ‘from morning till noon’ to no avail. And here’s the thing: Elijah made fun of them. ‘Perhaps your god has taken himself off to the smallest room…or maybe he’s asleep?’ When the storm struck on the Sea of Galilee and even the fishermen who made up his closest disciples couldn’t make any headway against the wind and waves and feared for their lives…Jesus was asleep. Some commentators say that the cushion on which he slept was the helmsman’s seat – which sort of make it worse doesn’t it because (to use a motoring metaphor) it would appear that Jesus is asleep at the wheel.
The story of the calming of the storm is not an easy story. On the surface it says that ‘with Jesus in the boat all is well’ – ‘if you have Jesus in your life everything is going to be fine’. But it can’t really mean that can it? …because our experience suggests that often Jesus seems to be asleep. Earlier this week Israeli archaeologists displayed two amphora (those great big pottery jars) retrieved from a ship wreck off the coast of Israel. They are a magnificent discovery…but, of course, if the amphora were found at the bottom of the ocean that’s where the crew ended up as well’ …and my guess is that they prayed for deliverance. The musicians on the Titanic played the hymn ‘Nearer my God to thee’ as the boat went down, but they still drowned. It doesn’t really work to read the story as some sort of insurance policy that says that Christian people are immune to death and destruction: clearly, they are not. There’s a psalm (Psalm 35) where, like the disciples in our story, the psalmist (in desperation) turns to God and shouts ‘Wake up’ because God doesn’t seem at all close, God doesn’t seem to be anywhere near interested in the struggles he is facing.
Awake, arise, to my cause, to my defence, my God and my Lord! Give me justice, according to your righteousness; let not my enemies triumph over me. Let them not say, ‘We have swallowed him up.’ Psalm 35. 23ff
The psalmist doesn’t get an answer to his prayer, and perhaps we simply have to say as people of faith that this is our experience at times. Even worse, the disciples seem to get short shrift for even bothering Jesus in our story ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ Whilst the disciples question Jesus’ care for them, Jesus seems to live with an inner sense of security. ‘I will lie down in and sleep in peace’ says Psalm 4, ‘for you alone Lord, make me dwell in safety’. Or again ‘God is our strength and refuge…we will not fear, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam.’ ‘Be still and know that I am God’. Jesus and the disciples may well share the same faith tradition but they are living out of different parts of that tradition.
So how about trying a different tack with the story? Perhaps the clue to its meaning lies in the disciples’ question that ends it: ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’ This question is of a piece with the thrust of the Mark’s gospel, as (incidentally) is the mention of the disciples’ fear or sense of awe following the miraculous calming of the storm. ‘Who is this’ is a question that sits behind so many of the stories in Mark’s gospel. Jesus’ ministry of exorcism involves the demons crying out ‘’I know who you are’. ‘Who does he think he is?’ is the question at the back of his opponents’ minds as they gather round him to challenge him. Those possessed by demons cry out ‘You are the Son of God’. Jesus refers to himself as the ‘Son of Man’ – a loaded term for anyone who has read Daniel chapter 7. The Pharisees want to associate him with Beelzebub, the Prince of demons – ‘he casts out demons because he is possessed by demons himself’ seems to be their argument. Herod will want to know whether Jesus is John the Baptist returned from the dead. Some will say he is Elijah, others one of the prophets, Peter will say that he is the Messiah. The crowd will call him the Son of David. The High priest will ask him ‘are you the Son of the Blessed One’. The centurion will call him the ‘Son of God’. The whole gospel is built round this question – ‘who is Jesus?’
And the answer Mark gives us is clear: this is God Himself. Not for Mark the high theology of John’s Gospel – ‘In the beginning was the Word’…’and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’. No. For Mark it is a question of looking at what Jesus did and making the connections. Who was it in Genesis 1 who commanded the elements and put the sea and the dry land in their places? Who was it who restrained the forces of chaos and brought order to the universe? Who was it that held back the waters of the Red Sea and let the people of God pass through? Who was it that enabled the people of God to enter the Promised Land across the Jordan by creating a path through the waters? It was the Lord. No wonder the disciples are filled with awe, no wonder they are overwhelmed by what they have witnessed: they are in the presence of God most high.
The nature miracles – the calming of the storm and the feeding of the 5000 – are hard for us, but they point us to the truth that ‘Jesus is Lord’, not just of me, not just of those who choose to follow Him but of all things. Everything on heaven and in earth bows before Him. How do we put it? ‘At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow’, yes…but there is more ‘All creation’ is to name Him. The whole created order will one day be brought to confess and honour him.
This is the vision of Romans 8 (which some of us have studied recently in our bible series). This miracle points us towards the reconciliation of all things to God, the end of creation ‘standing on tip toe’ in anticipation of the Kingdom of God coming in all its fulness. The calming of the storm is a foretaste of all things being made new, all things put to rights.
So where does that leave us, those of us in the boat with Jesus? It leaves us with two challenges. The first is the challenge t live and trust God as Jesus did. To be the people who believe that there is hope even in the face of the wind and the waves, whatever shape or form the wind and the waves might take for us as individuals or as communities or nations. Life is pretty shaky at the moment, we’re all feeling somewhat vulnerable in the face of the stresses and strains of our common life as a nation and the upheavals around the world: but hear Jesus’ words ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ God does care. He has not forgotten us. Can we live confident, hopeful lives as we trust in His loving kindness?
And secondly, we have the challenge to obey Jesus. If the winds and the waves to obey Him so should we! There is no part of the created world that is beyond His rule. As those who obey Him, we are those who have been invited to work with Him to bring all things under His feet. Which is why ‘Caring for God’s creation’ is one of our Diocesan priorities. It’s why we should be concerned about how we begin to address our common failure to prevent the pumping of sewage into our rivers and the pollution of our waterways. It’s why this week’s Supreme Court ruling about the environmental impact of burning the oil from new oil fields is a spiritual matter as well as a political one…because there is no part of creation that is exempt from His rule and ours is the hard task of working out what that might mean
But enough. We must bring this sermon into the shore. ‘Trust and obey’ is the message: easy to remember, hard to do. But one final teaser for you to consider over lunch. What happened in the boat didn’t just affect the disciples who travelled with Jesus did it? What do you make of Mark telling us that ‘other boats were with him’ – and what was the storm like for them?