Jesus Calms the Storm

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Hey guys. Hey. Welcome everyone. So nice to see you all. See the littles and the babies in the crowd. Hi Nellie. Even the, even the young ones. Oops, where'd you go there? Okay. I'm Debbie Manning. I'm one of the pastors here at The Table, part of the table team. Tonight we're gonna be talking, um, storms and water. It's gonna be a familiar story, but it made me think about a story of my own.

Many a year ago, back in my early marriage, there was a time that my husband and I, we were probably 26, 27, we had saved up and we thought we're gonna take a little trip over to England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland. Now, first of all, I think y'all would've wanted to be friends with us because we were so cool. Like we didn't have a lot of money, but we thought it was important to invest in matching rust jackets for the trip. So we had our little matching rust jackets on. We also thought that we were confident enough to say we could go over there and not have a reservation anywhere for three weeks. We also brought a whole bunch of luggage that we ended up storing at Heathrow Airport for most of the trip. 

But it was on this trip that I actually came to have a deep understanding of my husband's issues, let's say with water and storms. I'd heard the stories didn't quite get, it wasn't my reality. But one of the nights we, uh, were gonna head from Wales over to Ireland for the last part of our trip. And of course we thought the 3:30 in the morning ferry was a lot easier and cheaper. So we're gonna take that. And as we laid on the benches in our rust jackets waiting for the ferry, we hopped in on, we went to the lounge and we started off across the sea over to Ireland. 

And lo and behold, outta nowhere came this huge tumultuous storm. And within about two minutes, my husband saw the sign and uh, he headed straight to the bathroom, claimed a toilet stall that he refused to give up, and literally with no exaggeration, kept his head on the side and vomited every 15 minutes for the whole 3 hours and 15 minute trip. Now his wife, on the other hand, had fallen asleep and in the lounge, had a great rest, iron cast stomach, had no idea where he was until I to much to his embarrassment, were walking into the men's bathroom. “Steve, where are you?” But you learn it was my late twenties. 

But I think the thing about trips or about storms and water is that it's not only that you might get sick, but they can also be terrifying. And that's a little bit about our story tonight. We continue on in the book of Mark. So far, um, we've been traveling through Mark all September. We're gonna, the totality of It will be about a year and a half. So far we've learned about, um, the divine authority of Jesus, who Jesus, we learned about who Jesus was and is through his teaching, his preaching, his healing, um, his exorcisms, his forgiveness of sins. And all along the way the religious authorities are getting, um, more and more afraid, maybe, of the power that Jesus is carrying 'cause the crowds are following him everywhere. 

And that's where we are tonight. Um, in the Book of Mark, as he returns to the theme of divine authority, God's power, living through Jesus, acting through Jesus. And here we are in, um, four Mark 4:35-41:

As the evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, let's cross to the other side of the lake. So they took Jesus in the boat and they started out leaving the crowds behind, although other boats followed. But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat and it began to fill with water. 

Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up shouting, teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown? And Jesus was sleeping or Jesus was, when Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, silence be still. And suddenly the wind stopped and there was a great calm. And then he asked them, why are you afraid? You still have no faith? The disciples were absolutely terrified. Who is this man? They asked each other, even the winds and the waves obey him. 

Well, the Sea of Galilee. And and Patti, if you wanna throw that picture up there, you know, some years ago I shared this in a, uh, sermon earlier this fall, Matt and I had the privilege of taking a group from the table over to Israel and Palestine. That is literally me, uh, lounging on the sea of Galilee. And the Sea of Galilee. Um, if you wanna show the next picture, Patti is, it's lovely, it's can be tranquil. But the moments notice, it is known for flipping quickly and storms abruptly coming upon and causing havoc. I mean, even on the western side of the Sea of Galilee where there's a parking area, they have signs for drivers that warn them about what might happen when the winds whip up, that they'll be doused. I mean, the storms come up quickly. It's very dangerous there. 

And this is where we have the disciples. They're crossing the sea of Galilee. They're moving from the Jewish side to the Gentile side. They're moving from what they're familiar with to what's unfamiliar with them, for them, what's different, what's unfamiliar. And though many of us have probably never been on a boat in the Sea of Galilee, we've all been on a boat where we move from what's familiar to what's uncomfortable. 

This isn't just a story about weather, it's not a story just about danger and rescue. There's two hugely important theological themes in this story. The identity of Jesus and the faith of the disciples. And by calming the storm, Jesus is demonstrating his divine authority over the forces of nature. At the same time, it's calling the disciples to a greater deeper faith in him. A faith that is inspired awe and wonder and fear and amazement. Even the winds obey Jesus. 

But even moreso under this big umbrella, this important divine authority and power of Jesus is that this is a story about life and fear and faith. And whenever you find one of those things, you often find all three of them. They often come together. They're often hard to separate because this passage that many of you familiar with and many have heard this take on it, right, the sea of life, it's rush the wind, the waves, they're swamping the boat. And we all know what that's like. 

Each of us here could tell a storm story, some of our stories, they'll begin with a phone call, test results, a doctor visit, news that we didn't wanna hear, news that we never dreamed that we would hear. And some of the stories start with the choices we make, the mistakes we make and continue to make. And other stories are about the difficulty that we might have in our relationships, the hopes, the plans, the dreams that fall apart, the struggles we have to grow up, the struggles we might have to help our kids grow up, help our kids find their way. We all have a story. 

And here's the thing about storms. Sometimes storms seem like they arise outta nowhere and they just bowl you over. I can't help but think about dear friends of our son, Sam, who one year ago today out of the blue, lost their three month old baby going for a walk, got back from the walk and the baby had passed away. That storm bowled them over and that storm is still rolling. They were able to, with the help of community and the faith in God and pick themselves back up and continue on. But it knocked them over. It came out of the blue. I think about the times that as a police chaplain, I would knock on someone's door they say is so-and-So your son, yep, he is. I'm so sorry to tell you that he died in an accident this afternoon. Those storms that come up and hit us when we least expect it. Sometimes it happens in marriage. I, one of my dearest friends seemed like everything was okay and she was at home changing a her 12 week old baby's diaper and her husband walked in the door and what seemed like outta the blue said, I'm not happy. And he said goodbye. And he never came back again. 

Sometimes those storms are brewing, they're brewing and sometimes we know it, but sort of push it to the side and we're denying it. And sometimes we know it, we keep on keeping on 'cause that's all we know how to do. And we watch. We watch is those storms brew. Sometimes that happens with people we love that are struggling with addiction, mental health, those storms, storms are hard as well. But what we do know is that storms will come our way. That is life. The storms of loss and sorrow, the storms of suffering, storms of confusion, of failure, of disappointment, regret storms of depression, mental illness, storms of uncertainty and second guessing and storms of thoughts and voices in our heads. 

But no matter how they arise, storms are about changing conditions. It's those moments when life feels out of control, when what we thought was ordered all of a sudden feels like chaos when the circumstances feel like they're too much to handle when it actually feels like we are sinking. 

I was meeting with someone a couple weeks ago, a pastoral care appointment, and um, someone who has struggled for a long time with mental health issues. Um, a painful divorce, an abusive relationship prior to that, financial issues, just one thing after another. Each little storm like knocking her over and knocking her over and outta the blue, far before I was getting ready to prepare for this message,she said to me, sometimes I feel like I've fallen over the side of the boat and I'm sinking and I'm sinking and I'm underwater. And just when I think all is lost, hand comes in and pulls me up and I can gasp for air. And all of a sudden I find hope and I know that God is with me. That's how she experiences the storms that come her way when she's sinking. 

And it's the disciples that are quick to call out “Don't you care that we're sinking here?” And it sounds both sort of accusatory, but I also think it is a, it's a call for help. And I think we all have been there. I certainly have in those moments where I feel overwhelmed or I can't carry this anymore. Something so horrible is going on and like in my prayer out loud, sitting on the floor, I'll say, where are you God, how could you let this happen? Whether it's something big going on in the world or in someone's personal life, God, where are you? Fix it. Step in. You have the power to do it. Where are you God, how can you sleep at a time like this? 

Because the reality is the disciples didn't want, and we don't want a sleeping Jesus. But sleeping Jesus is in the same boat that the disciples are in experiencing the same storm. He's surrounded by the same waves, he's blown by the same wind. But his response is different. Where the disciples wanna move into action, do something quickly. Jesus sleeps in peace and stillness and what his sleep tells the disciples tells us too is that the greater storm, the real threat is not the wind and the waves and the water around us. It's what's within us. 

The real storm. The more threatening storm is the storm that's within us. That's what blows us off course. That's what batters our faith and threatens to drown us. The vulnerability, the powerlessness, that's what blows within us. And it's those moments of uncertainty and insecurity, criticism of ourself and others, judgment. Those are the waves that pound on us. And sadly what happens is sometimes the anger and the isolation and the desperation and the cynicism and the denial is what becomes our shelter. And ultimately it's what separates us from God and truth and one another. 

Peace be still. Jesus speaks to the wind and the sea. But Jesus isn't so much changing the weather as much as he, as much as he is inviting the disciples to change, he's speaking to the wind and the waves within them because the disciples have been pointing to everything outside of themselves, never looking inside of themselves, never asking the question, “what's going on inside of me?” Why aren't you afraid? Why do you still not have faith?

 And Jesus's words are more about us than they are about the circumstances of our lives, the storms that we will meet because storms happen. Faith, more faith, better faith, deeper faith. Stronger faith, the right kind of faith, do not eliminate the storms of our life. I dunno about you, but I think I've gotten messed up on that over the years because the wind and the storms will come our way. And faith does not change the storms. Faith changes us. 

There's an author, Haruki Murakami, a Japanese fictional writer and there's lots of quote he, he's quoted often wise, prayerful. And this is what he says about storms. “And once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain, when you come outta the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in.” 

That is what the storm is all about. Faith doesn't take us around the storm. Faith actually takes us right through it. It allows us in the midst of whatever it is going on in our lives to see and experience God's presence, God's love. We've all been through hard things and in the midst of hard things, we can all cite moments in that where we were able to be still to have the reprieve of peace in the midst of whatever it was. That's faith. It's a glimpse of God in his presence. It's the light breaking through the storm. 

You know, Matt and I talk a lot about that sometimes when we have these very common passages or even themes, it's like, wow, you know, part of the preacher's job. Like how do you make this different? How do you make it interesting? But you know what I think is interesting about this? There's four gospel writers, three of the four wrote this story, recorded this story about Jesus calming the storm. And I wonder if that wasn't the Holy Spirit knowing that future Jesus followers are gonna need to be reminded of this message. That no matter what we're going through, Jesus is present with us. And that's what faith is about. 

Spirit of God blows within us more mightily than any winds of any storm in the power of God is stronger than any waves that beat against us. And the love of God is deeper than any water that threatens to drown us. I know that to be true. I've experienced it in every storm. Jesus is present and his response is always the same. Peace be still. 

Will you pray with me? Holy and gracious. God was thinking the other day about how so many are referring to our world as a world on fire. It feels that way. It feels like sometimes the world's on fire and our country's on fire and our communities are on fire. And sometimes it feels like our lives are on fire. God, we hang on to your promise that no matter what we walk through, uh, so often as beyond anything we could have ever imagined. But no matter what that is, God, that you are there with us, you're there with us bringing peace and comfort beyond our own human understanding. God, we're so grateful that we have this community to walk through the storms of life together and that we have you at the center. We pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.