Sermon for June 23, 2024 5th Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 4:35 Jesus Stills the Storm

So tomorrow morning bright and early we begin Vacation Bible School; I’m super excited and

also kind of nervous. I saw this meme this week of before and after VBS, so true. As I

mentioned and by all the decorations you saw coming in this morning (and by the way, don’t

you love our yellow submarine!?) our theme is Under the Sea, and this morning’s Gospel story

where Jesus calms the storm is actually one of our Bible stories this week, I think Tuesday,

right? And anyone who is even remotely a fan of Disney movies knows of course where we

stole the theme from. (Stole? …borrowed.) Under the Sea is one of the most iconic songs from

Disney’s The Little Mermaid, but no, we won’t be singing that particular song this week. I don’t

want to hear from Disney’s lawyers. But the Gospel story this morning certainly conjures up

images from the very beginning of the Little Mermaid movie. Prince Eric is out exploring and

gallivanting on a ship when a sudden storm swoops in. There is commotion and panic as fierce

winds blow and waves begin to buffet the ship. Lightning strikes the mast, starts a fire and of

course Prince Eric ends up overboard, sinking into the depths where he is saved by, of

course…Jesus! No, he isn’t saved by Jesus, but I had to bring it back to the Gospel. You see the

same scene in your mind, don’t you, as it says Jesus and the disciples took their fishing boats

out on the lake when a great windstorm arose, (just like Prince Eric) and the waves were

beating at the boats so that they were in danger of being swamped. But here’s the best

part…where was Jesus? Asleep in the back of the boat. How do you even sleep through a

storm? I don’t know, but we’ll get back to that later. First, a little more about that storm.

The Sea of Galilee is in a valley surrounded by mountains, so it was not uncommon for sudden

winds to sweep down and cause storms. In fact, as recently as 1992 a particularly violent

storm on the Sea of Galilee recorded waves at heights of over 10 feet. And Jesus’ disciples

were veteran fishermen; so they’d seen their fair share of storms. But there they are, bailing

water, legitimately afraid for the lives. So this was no ordinary storm. It literally calls it “a great

storm of wind,” but I love some of the other translations: a furious squall; a fierce windstorm;

or my favorite, a violent wind. Have you ever lived in hurricane country? Or tornado country?

They say it sounds like a locomotive bearing down on you and it is one of the most terrifying

experiences, and that’s just the sound of the wind. Add to that the violence of the waves and

wind…I don’t know about you, but I find the thought of being swept into the deep and

drowning as I sank into the abyss utterly terrifying. And so did the ancient Hebrews. The sea in

the Bible is almost always a metaphor for chaos and terror. We see it right away in Genesis 1:1

where it says in the beginning the earth was a formless void and the spirit hovered over the

waters, or the spirit moved over the deep. This is the Hebrew’s answer to the ancient

Babylonian creation myth of Marduk and Tiamat. Do you know this one? The god Marduk slays

the chaos dragon Tiamat with his sword and out of the divided chaos-beast the world is born.

Notice in the Hebrew creation story God likewise divides the watery-chaos-beast, only unlike

Marduk who uses a sword, God needs only…his Word. “Let there be…” and the ancient foe of

darkness and watery chaos is divided and slain. In the ancient world the dark watery depths

are representative of threats of death and anything that stands against the power of life. For

example Scriptures like Psalm 18, “The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of

destruction overwhelmed me.” Or Psalm 29, “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood.” Or

again our Psalm for this morning, Psalm 107, “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.” The storm as a symbol of all the powers standing against God, all the forces working

against God’s good order and God’s gift of life. And this was no ordinary storm, but as the

translation calls it, a furious storm or a violent wind. And remember, that the word for spirit is

also the word for breath or wind. And so when Genesis says the spirit moved over the waters,

the Spirit is God’s wind, God’s breath. It is the Spirit of life, the Spirit of creation. Whereas this

wind that threatens Jesus’ disciples is described as a “violent” wind. It is not a spirit of life, but

a spirit of violence. It stands opposed to God like a blaspheming spirit, filled with arrogance

and spite as it can only threaten with violence and cause death and destruction. But it is safe

to say this violent and blasphemous wind has met its match.

Again, where is Jesus? Asleep in the back of the boat. What do the disciples do? They rebuke

him, “Teacher, wake up! Do you not care that we are perishing?” Now, some say this is

evidence of the disciples’ faith, that they woke him up believing that he could perform a

miracle and save them. I say hogwash. Since when are the disciples ever an example of faith?

Rather, I think this is sheer panic turned to outrage as they are bailing water to save their skins

and Jesus is sleeping through it?! Shouldn’t he be helping with a bucket or something? What

good is Jesus asleep in the back of the boat? Aha, I actually think that is the most important

question we can ask: What good is a sleeping Jesus, anyways? I’ll come back to that for my

grand finale. So Jesus wakes up and what does he do? He rebukes the wind, “Silence! Be still!”

And…immediately the storm was silenced and the water became dead calm. Have you ever

woken up early in the morning when you’re camping and the lake is just glassy calm, so still it

reflects everything like a mirror. Imagine going from the storm at the beginning of The Little

Mermaid to that glassy calm. It says the disciples were terrified, and can you blame them?

They ask, and I think this is the right question, “Who is this that even the wind and waves obey

him?” Who is this, indeed? Remember when God slayed the watery chaos dragon with nothing

but his word? In John chapter one it says that Word was Christ, “In the beginning was the

word and the word was with God and the word was God…and the word became flesh and

dwelt among us.” That means that Jesus was the Word God used to divide the watery depths

in the beginning, and so really, what chance did this little storm on the Sea of Galilee stand

against this one, the Word made flesh? And so the disciples ask, “Who is this?” Who is this

indeed? This is none other than the very Word of God that called and ordered all things into

being. And so the disciples are faithless and full of fear, because who can possibly comprehend

that? And I think that is how Jesus was sleeping even as the winds blew violently and spray

from the waves stung his face; he slept because this storm was no threat to him, how could it

be? He is the Word that has existed from before all things. What did Jesus have to worry or

fear?

But that is the power of the promise for us! The watery deep is still symbolic of all things that

stand against God, all the powers of death and all the forces of terror and violence, and our

lives and our world are still profligate with those! From literal storms that are increasing in

intensity, to wars that rage in Gaza and Ukraine, to threats of violence here at home and of

course death’s knocking come to our own door – we know too well what it is to fear and lose

faith as the wind and waves batter us and the depths threaten to swallow us. Where is God

when the waves threaten us? Where is God when death comes for us? Where is God, as the

hymnist famously asks, when all the wrong seems oft so strong? Are you ready for the

answer? You’re gonna love it. Where is God? God is…asleep in the back of your boat.

Remember when I asked, what use is a sleeping Jesus? What use is a Christ who is asleep in

the back of the boat? What use is a Messiah dead and lying in a grave? What use is a dead

Messiah hanging on a cross? Answer: God, in his perfectly upside down kingdom uses that

which is useless to deliver the very best gifts of his kingdom. God uses the dead guy on the

cross to forgive the sins of the world. God uses the dead Messiah rotting in the tomb to defeat

death once and for all. And so it turns out, Jesus sleeping in the back of your boat is the most

powerful thing you can have, because that one sleeping is none other than God’s eternal

Word, there from the beginning of creation and there at the end of all things to call you into

his kingdom of new life. His word is your forgiveness. His word is your salvation. Turns out

there’s nothing else you need than Jesus sleeping in the back of your boat. Amen.