Sailing the Storm

Greetings

Good Morning

Great to be here with you today

My name is Joe Kraftchick and Gary has invited me to share with you this morning

Please turn to , we’re going to look at Jesus and the storm on the Sea of Galilee

Full disclosure that the inspiration for this sermon, and this particular text actually comes from a Twitter thread I came across last week

So depending on how this goes we can attribute some positive element to social media in 2018

But first, let’s pray

Background

Been awhile since we’ve kicked off a sermon in the NT

Let’s do a quick recap to what’s going on as we approach a story that is probably a familiar one

Up to this point in his ministry Jesus has been hanging out primarily in the northern part of Israel around Galille

He’s done some healing, he’s appointed some disciples, and in chapter 4 he’s been doing some teaching

He has been drawing some crowds, and as our story picks up we can gather that these crowds are probably pretty sizeable

As they’re down at the Sea of Galilee, Jesus is presumably doing this teaching from a boat

Practically he would want to do this so he could stand on the raised portion of the boat in the back, so that the whole crowd could hear him speak.

Think of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, similar idea. In a world without microphones you do what you can to make listening easier. Essentially you want to be up high with your audience below.

People also like to see the speaker, standing in a boat or higher on a mountain makes this easier.

Now, let’s jump into our story with Jesus changing the setting starting in v. 35

Mark 4:35–41 NIV

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

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Now, let’s jump into our story

Jesus has been teaching the crowds from the boat and once evening comes he tells his disciples that he wants to go across the Sea to the other side.

I have read this story countless times and always thought of it as Jesus being finished teaching and wanting to rest

I’m not sure that’s the case, the boat has been the place he’s been teaching the crowds and I think that the teaching continues after they shove off

The teaching doesn’t stop, but his audience changes, the text tells us the disciples take him along ‘as he was’

Which in this case ‘as he was’ was teaching from a boat

Now, I’m not sure how familiar you are with boating in the Bible, but it very rarely seems to go smoothly

The disciples probably aren’t too thrilled with Jesus at this point as he tells them to shove off for the other side of the Sea and then he goes and finds a cushion in the stern to sleep on.

They wake him, he quiets the wind and waves by rebuking them

Then he rebukes the disciples, questioning their faith, before presumably going back to his cushion and to sleep

Storms and Chaos

Now, this is a story that is short and familiar to many of us

It’s less about weather and more about God

Maybe I’ve made a small sidenote about Jesus calming the storm b

Throughout all Scripture we have this idea come up several times of God calming a storm.

The image being that God is the one in control over the chaos and power of storms that might overcome us.

That same power is on display here as Jesus rebukes a force of nature

The word used for rebuke here is the same one used when Jesus casts out demons

The word for storm used here is the same one used to describe the whirlwind that confronts Job

These are big forces at work and still Jesus is above them all and they are subject to him

The questions that he asks the disciples are interesting.

Why are you afraid?

Because of the storm

Do you still have no faith?

The point of these questions from Jesus is that the disciples don’t believe that Jesus is capable of taking care of them.

Why fear the storm when you know this whole thing was Jesus idea to begin with?

Why fear the chaos when you have the Son of God?

The disciples don’t get it though, and now after fearing the storm they in turn fear Jesus.

It’s funny, when you read Mark’s gospel, the disciples don’t always come off looking very well

Often they’re missing the point or getting rebuked by Jesus

What About Us?

I think that there is lots for us to take away from this text

The first thing that likely jumps out is the idea that Jesus is above the agents of chaos of the world and as just as he calmed the winds and storm he can lead us through the storms in our own lives

With that said I want to dive a bit deeper

No pun intended with a story about the Sea of Galilee

Mentioning the Sea of Galilee, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Israel and when you get to the Sea, one of the most striking things is how it’s not very big

When we hear about Seas we tend to think big scale, that’s not the case here

The SoG is about 21 km long and at it’s widest it is 13 km, with a surface area of about 166 square km

For reference, Harrison Lake is 60 km long and about 9 km at it’s widest, for a surface area of 218 square km

So the Sea of Galilee is more like a big lake then it is a Sea like say the Mediterranean Sea

Lake and Sea is used interchangeably by the OT and NT writers

My understanding after approximately 10 minutes of googling is that there is no scientific difference between a lake or sea, but sea does seem to carry a connotation of big or sizable

Semantics aside is that the Sea of Galilee isn’t like setting sail onto the Atlantic, it’s a different scale. That’s important because the smaller scope makes it a little more appealing to ancient people, especially Israelites who were not a seafaring people.

The reason you can go out on a body like the SoG is that not much can surprise you out there. You want to know what the conditions on the water are like look out and you can see a lot of it.

Want to know if there’s a storm coming? look around, look up to the sky.

When we read Scripture, sometimes more so the gospels we have to think of symbolism in the text. Think about how many times we hear about storms, seas, and water in Scripture and what is behind them.

The point of the disciples and Jesus out on the boat isn’t necessarily the storm they encountered but the bigger picture is the idea of a life surrounded by forces of chaos.

I think we can all identify with periods of time when we are sailing in our own proverbial boats and the storms are welling up threatening to capsize our boats

This can be a personal or communal experience.

We likely can identify periods of personal chaos or feeling overwhelmed by outside forces.

Similarly as a body of believers, followers of Christ we can read or watch the news and see the forces of chaos swirling around our world.

In our text it’s easy to focus solely on Jesus calming the waves

Let’s focus also on Jesus rebuking the disciples and why he rebukes them

Why are you afraid?

Jesus asks 2 questions

Why are you afraid?

Do you still have no faith?

They are 2 questions but they’re related

He’s asking about their fear and their faith

I don’t think he’s asking a rhetorical question,

He wants to go deeper, if it’s the storm they’re afraid of, why are they afraid of it?

This is a bunch of ancient Jewish guys on a boat in a lake, they’re not swimmers

They’re afraid that the storm will swamp their boat and they’ll drown

They are afraid of dying, they fear death

That is why Jesus asks why they have no faith.

The point Jesus is getting at is that they shouldn’t fear death

Look at the life of Jesus as a whole, he doesn’t fear death instead he surrenders to death before overcoming it.

The idea of dying to the agents of this world, death to a part of us, and to a part of the world

This isn’t something unique to Jesus here in Mark, Paul picks this type of language up and runs with it over and over again

Galatians 2:20 NIV

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Colossians 3:5 NIV

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Romans 6:11 NIV

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:8 NIV

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Death seems like it is the final authority and power, but what overcomes the power of death for Christians is that we have a saviour in Jesus who walks us through those gates

The power of death is to isolate and separate, that was the point of crucifying Jesus to isolate and get rid of him

But in that crucifixion, deaths power was undone, because he lives!

Jesus does the same thing for us, in his death, the death that we share there is life!

We believe in life yet to come after this one

This is totally a Jesus thing, that in him and his death and resurrection we too may have life after this one passes away

This is a contrast to the OT where you lived through your family and descendants, that’s why genealogies are important and why children are so important in the OT

The world, forces of chaos, evil, death, do not have the final say, because those powers were undone by the death and resurrection of Jesus

The irony being that by embracing death on a cross Jesus undid the powers of death and evil

Do we get it?

This is why Jesus asks his second question of the disciples. Do you still have no faith?

They don’t need to be afraid because Jesus is there with them

What’s the worst that could happen? They die? Jesus is still with them.

That’s the reality lost on the disciples that in the midst of the storm, it doesn’t matter because Jesus is with them

That’s the reality that gets lost on us too, in the chaos of this world Jesus is with us.

The point isn’t just about Jesus’ ability to calm the storm it’s that he’s present in the storm

It’s the love of God for humanity, a huge massive love that makes this possible.

It’s this love expressed to us by God that we can express in our world in the midst of chaos.

This love shared by God, realized in the presence of Christ is one that we can share in the world.

In this love there is life, we’ve seen death overcome by life in Jesus, we’ve seen Jesus in a ministry marked by the love of God for humanity

The response to the chaos, wickedness, and evil in this world is love

A love we have because of the one who has shown us love

Remember that we have Jesus with us and that’s why we can go out and be love, go into the chaos and bring life

Go, be with the sick, be with the dying, Jesus is already there with them just as he with us

Go out and be with the outcast, the untouchable, the others, Jesus is with them and with you

Go and be with the victims of injustice, the ones who suffer for no reason, stand with those who can’t stand for themselves, that society pushes to the fringes, Jesus is there with them and with you

Be there with your enemies, those who give in to hate and injustice, pray for them, remember them too

But don’t be afraid to speak out against and rebuke the powers of evil and the agents of chaos in our world. Remember that Jesus rebukes the storm first, he speaks against the chaos.

We aren’t doing this alone, we’re not weathering the storm alone, Jesus is in the boat with us even if it feels like he isn’t he’s still there. He’s always there, when we go and face the storms of our lives and our world, summoning the courage to do so is hard to do, remember we are not in it alone, he is there. So let’s go and do as he does.

Communion

Now, we’re going to transition into a time of communion

As is our custom here at Broadway we engage in the practice of communion that is the observation of the Lord’s Supper as instituted by Jesus. The elements of communion point to Christ, whose body was broken and whose blood was shed to ensure salvation for believers and establish the new covenant in Christ.

Who is invited to participate?

All who confess and believe that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Saviour are welcome to participate

Prayer of thanksgiving

In Jesus life, ministry, death, and resurrection we have a covenant and communion table that is open

Jesus’ life, death, resurrection

Presence with us now, and hope and promise of return

Invite servers to come forward and distribute the bread, please hold on to it and we will take it together

Give bread to servers, take as well

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 NIV

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

1 Cor. 11.23-

Hand juice to servers

Give juice to servers, take as well

1 Corinthians 11:25 NIV

In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

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Take the juice

1 Corinthians 11:26 NIV

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

We will now take a benevolent offering, which is a special offering that is extra that goes towards areas of need in our family and community, another way to be a blessing unto others

· Explain the New Covenant and that the Table is open to all believers in Jesus  for the forgiveness of sins

· Prayer of Thanksgiving for The fulfillment of The Promise in Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension

· Call the servers forward – Give them the bread – Middle servers get 2 “dishes” if there are more dishes than servers

· When the servers return to the Table give them the bread – Say “ Do this in Remembrance of me – Let’s take together”

· Give servers the cup plates

· When the servers return to the Table give them a cup – Say “ Do this in Remembrance of me – Let’s take together”