Funeral Sudden Death

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 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?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Mention the Sea of Galilee and for most people, the picture that pops into one's head would be the picturesque location in the Northern part of Israel that is buzzling with activities as fishermen make their living off this water body, capturing their daily spoils from the fish-filled waters. It's natural beauty of flora and gentle hills provide a serene background that promotes a wonderful backdrop for your retreat, so much so that it is often been described as a sparkling jewel of Israel. Located far inland, and surrounded by hills, it is protected from the storms of the sea, and should be more accurately described as a lake rather than a sea. Therefore, it is against this idyllic background that this story seems out of place, but is perhaps the chief purpose of the story.

In this particular reading, Jesus was tired, seeking a break from the demand of the enthusiastic crowds that had been following him, seeking his constant attention, and seeking a little down-time, Jesus and His disciples took a boat to get to the other side. Nothing much out of the ordinary for someone who had a long day in wanting to get some relaxation. But suddenly their leisure night was disrupted by a sudden violent storm. Though perhaps not completely unusual in that it does happen, but perhaps it's unexpected. It definitely caught the disciples' attention as we can tell, but perhaps what was even more unexpected was that in that sudden storm, Jesus calmed the storm and as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared. And in the short narrative, we can learn some things that comfort us in the light of the difficult experience that we seek to navigate through these days.

I. No Guarantee Against the Sudden

I think the first thing that we can learn from this passage that being a Christian does not prevent you from being subject to disruptions in your lives. There is an unhealthy notion that perhaps have good intention, but is erroneous, which is that if a person is a faithful follower of Jesus, he or she is protected from the troubles of life.

Their children will be successful, sickness will never come their way, their financial ventures will always succeed, and disappointment will never knock at their door. This is simply not true and not representative of reality, and is a very destructive and misguided thinking.

A quick look at some of the men and women who knew and served God in the Scripture will debunk this notion.

Joseph went to prison.

Job lost everything but his life.

Jeremiah was put in prison.

Paul had an torn in the flesh that plagued him all his life.

All of the original disciples were martyred for their faith in Jesus, except John.

And the list goes on…

For a while, there were some really unfortunate teaching that the reason why bad things happen in your life is because you don't trust God enough.

Friends, that is not true, as we can see in the examples quoted above.

While this is true that Jesus never promised an easy life with Him, but listen to the good news… he did promise that he will be with us (). It may be tough to be in a storm with Jesus, but we are never alone.

And this leads to my second point for tonight… which is that

II. Jesus is Journeying with us

This is perhaps most difficult for us to acknowledge during difficult times like this, when such sudden experiences of life disrupts our life, causing us to question whether God is near us… whether God hears us, whether God cares about us…

In this story, these experienced, veteran, professional fishermen were thoroughly frightened. Though they spend much of their adult lives in the very waters they are in, they are still thoroughly afraid because they thought that their lives were on the line…

Their version of reality is that their end was real and as far as they are concerned, Jesus does not know, does not hear or does not care that they are perishing…

Yet, for Jesus, the reality was quite a different…

Jesus heard their cries and immediately rebuked the winds and stilled the sea…

As far as Jesus was concerned, their lives were never at risk…

As far as He was concerned, He was very near to them..

As far as He was concerned, He could hear their cries.

We do not know why Jesus did not clam the storm at the nascent stage…

But it really doesn't matter…

The fact of the matter is that Jesus was there, together with the disciples and were going through the same situation with them… He was in the boat with them, experiencing the same keeling of the boat and subject to the same perilous situation…

God is journeying alongside them…

In life, things come at us that we cannot control.

Some things come through the actions of other people, and some things in life are never explained.

Like today, as we remember the life of XXX it may be tempting to look into our lives and ask ourselves why did this thing happen?

Why can't the doctors do anything about it?

Why can't I do anything to prevent this?

What if I did something differently? Could that have prevented this?

Where is God in all of this?

Tempting as it might be to ask these questions, they may not be helpful at this point of time… Because in reality, we may never know the answers to these questions. And trying to find answers to these questions will just drive you to more and more frustration.

But while we don't have answers to these questions, we nevertheless have something that we can be assured of, which is that in the midst of all these things, our God is present in all these things…

Our God who had suffered on the cross for us, is present in the midst of all our challenges and difficulties. Jesus was in the boat with them.

God seems to be silent when we long for a word, but He is never absent.

One theologian, in facing this dilemma, said that “sometimes the silence of God is God's highest thought.” Like these hardy fishermen, we protest the seeming inaction of Jesus when he seems to be asleep at the wheel of our lives, but we can take comfort in the fact that while inactive, He is never absent.

III. Storms Don't Last Forever

Another reality of this story is the truth that storms don't last forever.

In certain localities in this country and the world, as on the Sea of Galilee, a storm can brew within a matter of minutes and hurl its fury in torrents of rain, lightning flashes, and thunder. Then it's over.

True, while you are in the storm, it feels like it will never end, just like if you are like me, an amateur runner who suffers while you are challenging yourself to run longer distances and question yourself why you are doing this, and soon enough the run would be over and then you tell yourself, actually it's not that bad, only to repeat the same 'I don't know why I'm doing this' thinking the next time you run…

Similarly, all of us here who knows XXX feel a sense of lost because he/she is no longer around. Because he had been such an intrinsic part of our lives, his death will create a void in our lives that will be felt by us. This void that we feel will be with us for a long time, especially so when he is taken from us so suddenly.

But hear the good news, this separation, like the storm in our passage today, is only for a short period of time.

Our Lord told us that He is the "way, the truth and the life" () and that whoever believes in Him has "eternal life" (), and that in Heaven, Jesus has prepared a place for XXX, for you and for me.

Though the storm we are facing now, the sadness, the sense of lost and the sense of grief because of the departure of XXX, hear the good news… this storm shall soon past, and we will meet with XXX again when Christ returns, and noting that our life span on earth is 70, 80, 90 years, that is almost nothing, compared to eternity…

And when Christ returns, we will look back and see in perspective, how short this storm really is…

Of course, this doesn't take away the pain… it will continue to linger for a while, but its power will be softened because we know what lies ahead.

IV. Sudden Storms Serve to Turn Us to Jesus Who is in Control

Another reality this story brings out is that it gives us a sense of reality that this life is temporal and sudden storms like this reminds us that we are not completely in control of everything and turns us to Jesus (v. 38). In life, we can be so caught up in everything else in life, career, family, leisure, that God is moved into the edges of our existence. For sure, it's not intentional, nor conscious, and doesn't happen quickly. But gradually the joy of knowing and serving him evaporates from our lives. Then when the sudden storm hits and we are reminded how fragile and temporal our earthly life is and reminds us that we have a higher reality which is the reality with God…

Without the storms, we may be so caught up with our lives, thinking we are in control of everything that

we may start to drift away from Him. But storms and trouble have a way of making us stop in our tracks, take stock and realign our walk back to God.

Friends, I do not believe that God sent these storms into our lives. Our God is a loving God who hates death and had conquered the grave through His works on the cross. This death we see before us, is a temporal death that will be overcome, when Christ returns.

Yet, this storm, death in itself, reminds us of the mortality of our bodies. It reminds us that while Christ had conquered the grave, we are still awaiting for the final victory when Christ shall return and it reminds us that there is a greater victory ahead and the difficulties and challenges and this pain we feel right now will not last forever…

It reminds us that we have a saviour who loves us in whom we can always turn to in times of trouble…

We are reminded that God's purposes will eventually come through and in that we can find assurance.

We are reminded that the best is yet to be…

It reminds us that this storm that we are facing is not all there is to be…

So, my friends, as we mourn the passing of our brother/sister XXX let us be comforted with the fact that our Lord is journeying with us and feeling our pain, but also take heart that this storm will not last forever and that will come a day when all storms in our lives, will pass and this we can be assured because of what our Lord Jesus Christ had done on the cross for all of us, and we look forward to the day in which we can be reunited with him/her once again, because our Lord reigns! Amen.

Henry, Jim. A Minister's Treasury of Funeral and Memorial Messages. B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.