Mark 4:35-41
June 18, 2000
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
Have you cried out in pain and despair, and received nothing in reply? “Is there anyone ‘out there’ who cares about us ‘down here?’” Or in time of pain, are we mostly left to our own devices of doctor’s appointments and medicine cabinets?
When we prayed, “Deliver us from evil,” do we really expect God to hear, to care, to act? Or, are we only talking to ourselves? Does Jesus really care about us?
As modern people living today in a highly scientific world where the “Science” section of the morning paper makes front page news while religious news is hidden near the obituaries, we wonder if there’s a God out there. We have become too familiar with our “We can do it!” attitude that we have perhaps left little for God to make a difference in our lives. As modern skeptical people, do we really want a God who, from time to time, steps in, reaches out, and acts?
Jesus Stills a Storm
At the beginning of Mark 4, a large crowd has gathered at the Sea of Galilee. For Jesus to teach them, he got into a boat. Later that evening as the sun begins to set, Jesus calls the disciples to come into the boat to go over to the other side.
Most likely, Jesus’ boat and some others headed toward the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, a body of water about 13 miles long and 7.5 miles wide. Surrounded by hills, a cool current of air rushing down from hills and cliffs could whip the sea into a violent fury, and a small fishing boat would be in danger of being sunk.
Sailing with Jesus is no placid journey. This was not a Carnival Cruise! No sooner have they set sail, there is a great storm. The waves rage; the boat took on water.
And Jesus? He’s asleep! Jesus was sleeping in the stern of the boat. This is the seat occupied by the steersman or probably under the afterdeck. In either case, Jesus is protected from the raging waves and the threatening water.
The Bible also said that Jesus was sleeping on a cushion, probably curled up with a blanket, sleeping like a baby when everyone else is terrorized by the storm.
While the disciples were scared for their lives, Jesus was peacefully sleeping. Their question is the same as ours: Do you not care that we perish?
Jesus doesn’t care about the storm. But he does care about us who care about the storm.
No Safe Harbors
On this beautiful June day in the Bay Area, it is easy to be here and think good thoughts about the world. But you and I know about life. There can be darker, more difficult days than this.
Last Sunday, Joy and I walked around Sausalito and visited the many sail boats moored in the bay. The bay was placid, walking around our touristy town seems like being on vacation. And as modern people, even when the sudden threatening storm comes, we have devised so many ways of protecting ourselves from nature’s threats. When we go camping, we can always check into Motel 6, where they leave the lights on for you.
But this story of Jesus and his disciples in a boat tells us of another world, a world where storms rise up out of nowhere and nature puts us in peril.
If you have ever suffered from cancer, you know that world. In cancer, the normal reproductive processes, the “natural” working cells, somehow go out of control, reproduce with astonishing speed, oblivious to the checks and balances of the body. The once placid sea that has been our body on most days becomes an angry raging sea.
This is what this story is about.
Perhaps you thought that there would be smooth sailing with Jesus. You thought that, with Jesus in the boat, there would be no storm, no waves, no fear. Almost every page of Mark’s Gospel proclaims that Jesus is the center of the storm. When Jesus is near, the wind picks up, the waves bang against the side of the boat, and there is trouble.
If you happen to be enjoying smooth sailing right now, if this Sunday in June is pleasant and peaceful, then perhaps this sermon has little to say to you. However, be assured, life being what it is; discipleship with Jesus being what it is, there will be storms.
Personal Story
Some years ago, some friends said to us that they admired how blessed our lives were. They noticed that things fell into place: job opportunities, buying a house, great children. Although not active church goers, they wondered if our blessings were the result of our Christian faith. They thought that having Jesus in our boat of life meant there would be smooth sailing.
The sudden whipping up of violent storm winds and the splashing of water into our boat of life have happened to us too.
Some years ago, when my niece called to report to me that my mother was back in the hospital for cancer and this time they didn’t think she would ever leave to come home again, a storm was raging. When you are startled in the middle of the night by a telephone call and the voice on the other end says, “I have some bad news,” a storm is raging. When you have tried over and over again to mend relationships and to regain the
trust and love that you and your spouse once had but still end up with doubts and tension, the storm is raging on.
When these kinds of storms are raging in our lives, we cry out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” “Jesus, don’t you care that we are about to die?”
Jesus Cares
Coming to the West Coast has meant that I needed to learn how to read the weather in a different way. In Philadelphia, our weather maker originates in the Caribbean. We get some monstrous northeasters of snowstorms and hurricanes when low depressions formed south of Florida. But here in San Francisco, the storms come from the Pacific Ocean and sometimes the hot temperatures are pushing from the valley like the record-breaking temperatures this past week.
You see, there are certain natural laws that have been established, certain climatic processes, and when they converge, there are storms. Nothing is to be done about it. When things happen to us, particularly those we may call “bad things,” they occur because of these natural laws that have been put in place. God just doesn’t go out of his way to make bad things happen to you. The life storms are part of living. Just as the “great windstorm that suddenly arose, and the waves beat into their boat” happened to Jesus and his disciples. Life storms will happen to us too.
Jesus, who is unconcerned about the storm, the wind, the waves and the raging sea, is concerned about his disciples. At their cry, Jesus wakes up, rebukes the waves and the wind, and there is calm. Jesus cares, not only cares, but acts and saves.
When we are in the frenzy of life storms, when illness is at its worst, when the clouds turn dark and the wind howls, when all seems lost, there is his strong voice, “Quiet! Be still!”
The story does not explain how, it only reassures us that in the storm, Jesus cares, speaks, and saves. This is good news whenever we are in the middle of the storm.
Terrified in Faith
Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” Jesus was wondering why they acted so cowardly. You see, the disciples have not yet become transformed by the awareness that God is actively present in Jesus’ ministry.
Notice that the disciples were afraid at the beginning of the story and at the end of the story. First, they were terrified by the wind and the waves. And when Jesus stopped the storm and calmed the wind, the disciples were afraid again. They said, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
The disciples were terrified because they understood the Old Testament images of raging water. The power to control the seas and to subdue storms belongs to God. The disciples were now terrified not only by the raging storm but they are shocked, filled with great awe at the man who holds the power over the angry forces of nature.
Have any of you said to someone, “Pinch me and tell me if this is for real?” Sometimes, we need to be pinched or scared to realize that something unbelievable is happening. The disciples were terrified over the raging storm so they woke Jesus up. They were terrified again when they realized that Jesus was God who can command the storm to be quiet and be still.
When we have problems and situations in life that may startle us and terrify us, we too may find ourselves crying out in the midst of a storm for Jesus to come into our lives to calm the raging wind and the threatening water.
Jesus Cares
Does Jesus care for us? Jesus cared enough for his disciples to command the storm to stop raging. In Jesus, our God is revealed to be a God who not only hears, but also cares, who not only cares, but also acts.
There’s no weather forecast out there that will predict that you will never be caught unprepared in the storms of life. But we believe that when these stormy tragedies come, Jesus will intervene and rebuke the storm to be calm.
There’s no guaranteed that you and I may always be free from illnesses and sicknesses. But we believe that Jesus will come with some strong words to command the demonic forces out of our lives.
There’s no certainty that with all the education and learning that we have had that we would stop taking advantage of another human being that destroys integrity and decency. But we know that Jesus will stand up against this kind of injustices with rebuke because every person is a child of God.
There are no earplugs, blindfold, or Dramamine to prevent us from the thundering noise of life’s trials and struggles because in life there’s no safe harbor. But we believe that Jesus in his calming voice will still our anxieties and give us his peace.
Some of us may not want Jesus to be so active in our lives. We like the kind of God who creates the world, abandons it, and let us do whatever we want. But when we say we want a God who hears, who cares, who acts, then we need to be prepared for anything to happen.
Astrid Peterson
When I think about Miss Astrid Peterson, I don’t see a woman who is 99 years old spending most of her days sitting and waiting for someone to visit her.
If I were to say, “Would you like me to have a prayer with you before I leave?” I bet she would say, “Go ahead, but I am having an ongoing conversation with God already.” She would say that God is still bothering her while she lives in Piedmont Gardens and asking her to do many things today as God has asked her to do in the past.
She still sends me a birthday card on my birthday. She gives out devotional reading brochures to all the youth. She is still the advisor to the Emmanuel Family Group. She bears witness to God’s blessing on her life when she mails out her annual Christmas letter. And when I saw her last, she was advising me about the direction of the church’s ministry after reading the church newsletter thoroughly.
After the Emmanuel Family Group celebrated her 99th birthday at Piedmont Gardens, she sent me a thank-you note for my brief devotion. She wrote it on Piedmont Gardens stationary and pointed out the names of each building and where her room was located, “On the 9th floor in Oakmont.” Then in her note, she said, “I hope you stay at CBC until you retire. After that sometime you may consider moving into Piedmont Gardens!”
Astrid is already planning to have me be one of her neighbors! Does God care? God cares for Astrid! God has not and will never stop hearing Astrid’s prayers, caring for her life, and acting through her long and faithful ministry.
Isn’t that great! Astrid Peterson knows well the active, demanding, living God who goes on hearing, caring, and acting in her life. We want God to act and care in our lives too.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, you have called us to be on a boat ride through life with you. When the journey gets rough, we cry out to you. Keep listening for us, keep encouraging us, and keep caring for us as we serve in your name our strength and Redeemer. Amen.