Sermon Tone Analysis
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Fear is universal.
Whether you are 2 or 102 you have fears.
Sometimes people face their fears with a degree of courage.
They may be scared, but they go ahead with the right thing anyway.
Sometimes people face the same fear or less, yet they totally to go pieces and panic.
I submit that the difference is not the intensity of the situation.
People have demonstrated courage under extreme stress, while others buckle under comparatively small things.
I submit that the difference is not a lack of fear - if you have nothing to be afraid of, you don’t need courage.
That is why sometimes young people seem like they are not afraid of anything - they don’t know there is danger, so they aren’t afraid.
But ignorance of danger is not courage.
Instead, I believe that faith in God can free you from the kind of crippling fear that paralyzes you.
Today we will be in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 8.
There we will find two stories that reveal how faith in Jesus overcomes fear.
Jesus calms the storm
Why were they afraid?
Now the “Sea of Galilee” is not an ocean, but a lake.
At the time it was about 8 miles by 13 miles.
Today it is slightly smaller because of the dam and water usage.
It is some 700 feet below sea level, yet surrounded by mountains.
This means that it is possible to see the other side from any point on the lake.
Therefore the region around it is quite warm, yet cold air can come down from the Golan Heights to the Northeast.
The temperature and pressure difference can cause sudden windstorms to rise up with little warning.
Even today small fishing boats do not go out when severe winds are forecasted.
In March, 1992 Gale-force winds of up to 60 mph whipped up 6 ft waves that swept into lakeside restaurants and cafes and flooded the scenic road along the shore.
Mulla Amsalem, a restaurant owner in Tiberias stated that the crashing waves carried fish right to his front door - no shopping required!
We sometimes think of the
Not only was the storm intense, but the boat they used would have been heavily loaded.
In 1986 Fishermen and amatur archaeologists Moshe and Yuval Lufan discovered the remains of a Galilean Fishing boat.
Jesus probably didn't use this particular boat, but it has been dated by various means to about the first century BC to first century AD.
It is of the construction typical from 100 BC to 200 AD.
Drought that year had reduced the water-level of the lake, exposing the remains of a half-buried boat.
The brothers reported their discovery to the authorities, who sent a team to investigate.
The team realized the tremendous significance of the find, so they included the Israel Antiquities Authority, as well as a local Kibbutz and other volunteers.
The dig had to be guarded night and day from potential looters.
It took 12 days to excavate the boat and transport it to where it now resides at the Yigal Allon Galilee Boat Museum.
They submerged the boat in a wax bath for 12 years before it was stable enough to be shown.
The boat was approximately 26.5 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and it has a preserved height of 4.3 feet.
This made it about the same length as a UPS truck.
It would have held about 15 people maximum.
It has a flat bottom which allowed it to get close to shore, but it is made of ten different types of wood.
It was rowable, with four rowers, as well as a mast to allow them to sail the boat.
When it was beyond repair, the owners removed all useful parts and let it sink to the bottom of the lake, where it was covered with mud that preserved it.
At least 13 people would have been in the boat Jesus used, so it was fairly close to the maximum capacity, which of course made surviving an intense storm more difficult.
Now many of the disciples were professional fishermen.
Not only that, but they had spent their entire lives on this lake.
If they were afraid, it was because they had something to be afraid of.
Because of the wind and the heavily laden boat, it had begun to fill with water, and they couldn’t keep up bailing.
Where was Jesus through the fierce winds and crashing waves?
He was so exhausted from his ministry that he was fast asleep.
Let us not forget that Jesus was completely human.
He wasn’t a superhero who cruised above the difficulties of ordinary existence.
Jesus had probably spent the day teaching - if you have taught you know that it is exhausting, even if you enjoy it.
But because he was asleep he couldn’t take control of the situation, so that left the disciples to figure out for themselves.
Perhaps they thought they could handle it - after all, they were professionals.
How did Jesus calm the Storm?
Let’s give the disciples some credit - when they had a problem they couldn’t handle, they did ask Jesus for help.
I’m not sure what they thought they he was going to do about it - more on that later.
Jesus rose and commanded the wind and the waves.
He spoke with a commanding voice, but with the simple directness of someone who is supremely confident in his authority.
The miracle itself is just that short.
I imagine the disciples must have wondered what he thought this would accomplish.
After all, Jesus is a man, as they are.
In the Old Testament only God can calm the Sea
Nothing like this had ever been done before.
Moses stopped the plague of Hail on God’s command, but he had also sent it ().
Samuel called down a storm during the dry season to prove that asking for a King was the wrong move ().
Elijah caused a drought then called down rain, but he had to pray fervently seven times to do it.
Jonah did actually calm a storm, and like Jesus he had fallen asleep on the boat.
But the similarity ends there.
Jonah didn’t know there was a fish waiting for him - he would rather die than do what God said.
So he calmed the storm by having the men throw him overboard - I’m not sure that’s the best way to calm a storm.
But no one had ever stood up during a storm they didn’t cause and just order it to stop.
Nor did they expect the Messiah to be able to calm storms.
Any hint in the Old Testament about the Messiah’s power over nature is so subtle they probably missed it.
For example
They probably understood this passage to mean that the Messiah would rule from the Mediterranean sea to the Red Sea, and from the Euphrates to the River of Egypt.
So although they believed Jesus was the Messiah, his confident authority over the mighty storm completely blew their minds.
They said
In other words
Who is this Guy?!?
They had just witness a man - someone just as human as they were - stand up and simply order the raging storm to stop, and it did.
They were now afraid, but not the kind of fear that makes you want to hide in the closet.
The kind that leaves you awestruck.
Yet they had seen Jesus work nature miracles before.
Turn to Luke 5:8
Turn to Luke 5:8
Back in chapter 5 Jesus provides a miraculous catch of fish.
Peter knew what was normal - he was a professional, after all - and he knew that wasn’t normal.
That is why he was so overcome with emotion that he
See, they were still figuring out who Jesus was.
They truly followed him, but they didn’t understand fully that he was God in the flesh.
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