Power Proclaimed - Tewantin

Anglican Church Noosa - June 30, 2024 Mark 4:35 - 5:20 JESUS in Galilee - Power Proclaimed Most of you are aware I think that a few weeks ago I had a short hospital stay for a heart procedure. It didn’t quite go according to plan, and ve hours after returning to the room, I collapsed in the bathroom, and lost consciousness for about 10 minutes as a result of an unwanted and unscheduled bleed out. When I came to, I was in bed and I felt like I was waking from a really deep and really good sleep, until I realised that there was a lot of noise and commotion in the room and that I was surrounded by about 10 staff all of whom were very busy and loud, and there were all sorts of beeping sounds going on. There was a doctor above my head, who very calmly and repeatedly told me I was ok, and I was safe. Well that made me realise that things weren’t as they should be, and I started to feel unsafe. It’s a surprise when you realise that you are unsafe, and that things are actually out of your control. I didn’t realise that I had been unsafe, until she told me I was safe. Now I’m normally a person who is quite calm and controlled, and in situations of emergency, I’m can think quickly, and can mostly bring a calming in uence to a dif cult situation. But that’s the case when things are happening to someone else. But apparently, not necessarily when things are happening to me. I didn’t like the feeling of not being in control. And it took a little while for me to get myself into a reasonable frame of mind. Today we have the fear lled disciples, waking up a sleeping Jesus, saying to him, "Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?" And the scriptures tell us that Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. In Tom Wrights paraphrase of this passage, he puts it this way - "Teacher! We’re going down. Don’t you care?" Jesus got up, scolded the wind, and said to the sea, 'Silence! Shut up!' It’s a great paraphrase! Chris and I have been on the Sea of Galilee on a relatively calm day, but I’m told that when the weather changes and the wind comes up very quickly and violently, it’s an incredibly dangerous place to be. We need to remember though that these disciples had experienced shermen in their ranks, and their knowledge and know how of the lake, would have been vast. And yet these disciples were terri ed. They thought they were going to die. fi fi fl fi fi fi Page 1 of 5 But this is not just a story that’s told in this gospel. We have to remember that it’s also in the context of Mark telling the bigger overall story in his gospel, of who Jesus is, and what he can do. Like Ralph said last week, this is a mystery revealing itself. The original readers of this gospel would have had in mind the images and stories of the sea from the OT. Think of what happened when the Hebrews were being rescued from Egypt and were crossing the Red Sea. The marauding Egyptians lost their lives. The sea is powerful and scary. Think of what happened with Jonah - when he refused to obey God, and instead went in the opposite direction from Nineveh. A storm came up, he was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a great sh. The sea - 1. Jonah 0. I also think of the references in the Psalms, where the sea was associated with monsters, with evil, with danger. Psalm 74:13-14 It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters. It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert. In Isaiah 27:1 the Leviathan is cast as the monster of the sea; and symbolically as the enemy of Israel, whom God will deal with. And in Job 41 again, the Leviathan is cast as a sea monster, and God says to Job, 'can you pull in Leviathan with a shhook, or tie down its tongue with a rope?' And of course, Job can’t do those things, only the power of God can. And then there’s the references in the Psalms to God having control over the sea, control over creation. Psalm 89:9 You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them. And listen to these verses from Psalm 107:23-29. This is incredible when we think of this particular story in the gospel: 'Some went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep. For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away. They reeled and staggered like drunkards; they were at their wits’ end. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.’ fi fi Page 2 of 5 What is this Gospel teaching us about Jesus? We are nding out his true identity. This Jesus is the one and only God, the Lord - the one who the OT has taught for hundreds of years has control over the raging sea. And Jesus says to his disciples 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?' And the disciples interestingly, don’t show signs of relief that they are out of danger; they don’t say, 'gee, that was great, thanks Jesus!'. No. The text tells us, Mark tells us, that they were terri ed. This terror wasn’t fear of drowning or dying anymore. There was a new terror, as they slowly came to realise the truth about Jesus. "Who is this?" they asked each other. Even the wind and the waves obey him". I remind you of Psalm 74 'Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.’ This person they have chosen to follow is more than just a person. His God-like actions are telling their own story. And it’s in this context that they come to the other side of the lake, into gentile territory. No Jews over here, Jesus and the disciples are entering a place where the OT is not known. These people are pagans. But, there’s a link to these stories, despite the massive differences in context. They have moved away from the danger of the sea, and its symbolism of evil and monsters, into the presence of a madman who comes to meet them, a man possessed by evil, and a designated monster by his own people. The forces of nature had been untamable, and so is this man. He couldn’t be restrained with shackles or chains, in fact he broke them apart. No one was able to subdue him. These evil spirits that had overtaken him were of supernatural strength. Now in this part of the land, the Romans had been there for about a century. They had literally marched in and taken control. And they had marched in by their legions. And they were the enemy. An enemy of legions. A Roman legion was a well known entity. We recognise the term still today don’t we? It means thousands. This man, described himself, he named himself, Legion. Because there were so many evil spirits who had overtaken him. The evil spirits who were the enemy of Jesus, just as the Romans were the enemy of those places they took over. And, to make matters worse for a Jew, Legion lived among the tombs. Anything to do with the dead was unclean according to Jewish law. Well, one thing evil spirits can do is to recognise other spiritual forces around them. fi fi Page 3 of 5 And as Jesus approaches, he recognises the evil immediately, and says “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!” The man runs up to him and bows down and shouts at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name, don’t torture me!” These evil spirits recognise who Jesus is and the power that he wields. Something that the disciples were yet to fully recognise. And we have noted in previous weeks, that this is also something that the religious leaders of the Jews, refused to recognise. Evil spirits though have no such issue. They recognise and name Jesus for who he is - Jesus Son of the Most High God. Jesus was named, and then he asks the man “what is your name?” And the spirits answer “Legion.” This conversation is a conversation of the spiritual world. The confrontation of powers. And Legion soon realises his own weakness in comparison, and begs not to be sent out of the country, presumably meaning out of this world. But he does ask to at least be allowed to enter the ock of pigs grazing over on the hill. So Jesus gives permission. There’s perhaps an ironic twist to this story as the unclean spirits enter these unclean animals (pigs) and both rush into the sea and are drowned. The sea that the disciples had just been rescued from. But what does all this say to us? We very rarely have to deal with big storms in small boats, and we probably even more rarely have to deal with the demon possessed. So what do we take away from these two stories? Well, I think rstly, we take away the knowledge that Jesus’ power is greater than both the natural forces of this world, and the spiritual forces of this world. The entire created order, material and spiritual are under his control. You could say this is one of the great consequences of Jesus becoming a human being like us. As Jesus enters the created world in human form, yet still truly God, surely we should expect miracles in the created order. If God put skin on, which is a great miracle in and of itself, then any other miracles would surely be simple for him. Secondly, both these stories speak to us about acknowledging our dependence on God and on Jesus in our daily life. If we are truly disciples of Jesus, then being with Jesus should give us con dence. Whether we’re experiencing storms or calm, what matters is that Jesus is with us. Being with Jesus doesn’t guarantee success, excitement and growth all the time. What it does mean, is that Jesus’ presence will bring a reassurance that will never disappoint. Being with Jesus means we no longer need to fear what might happen to us. fi fl fi Page 4 of 5 Jesus is watching over us, and we are people whose hope lies rmly in the future, and being in God’s presence for eternity. And nothing that happens on earth can threaten that. Thirdly, and I wonder if this is the most signi cant thing we can learn from these stories, is to compare the results of these two miraculous acts. The disciples were in a state of fear, bewilderment and confusion as they got to the other side of the lake. As far as we can tell from what Mark tells us, the disciples must have been watching this interplay, not saying a word to Jesus or to each other. Maybe, we don’t know, but maybe their fear, bewilderment and confusion was just increasing as they saw this interaction happen before their eyes. But what about our man who had been cleared of all those evil spirits? He wanted to get into the boat and join the crew. He was convinced about who Jesus was, and wanted to become a disciple. And Jesus says, no - go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. In other words, Jesus sent him out to be a witness. To share his newfound faith with others. To go out into this pagan territory and share his testimony. To call people to Jesus. And that’s exactly what the man did. Right throughout the whole region of the decapolis - the ten cities. He became an evangelist. And even the people who had lost their livelihood with the herd of pigs, were amazed. Do you remember a few weeks ago, I said that one of the interesting and seemingly contradictory things we will learn from these passages, is about the nature of being a true disciple. I take you back to chapter 3 verse 14. Jesus appointed the twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority over demons. We are both with Jesus and sent out by Jesus. This demon-possessed man recognised Jesus and came to him, and Jesus recognised him and cleansed him. He was with Jesus, and was then sent out by Jesus. This is the radical nature of belonging to Jesus, of belonging to his church, of being a disciple. Sometimes it takes a while to come to grips with that, as the inner twelve found. And sometimes it happens immediately and we respond straight away. Our vision as a Church re ects this great truth. We are a church that lives to love and proclaim Jesus. Loving Jesus means being close to him, being together as his church, worshipping and glorifying him, being strengthened together. Proclaiming Jesus means being sent out by him, to share our faith, to tell others what the Lord has done for us, and how he has had had mercy on us. Being with, being sent out. Being with, being sent out. May we do just that, with more conviction each day, each week, each month and each year. And may the people Jesus sends us to, be amazed, like those of the decapolis. Amen. fi fi fl Page 5 of 5