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Mark 4:35-41; 6:45-51
September 13, 2009 – Rev. Jerry Duggins
Fixated on images of death and suffering, fast paced action, and permeated by fear: these are the characteristics of Mark that I emphasized a couple weeks ago while introducing the gospels. These two stories illustrate these quite well.
The first story might remind you of Jonah, who, in fleeing the call of God finds himself on a ship in the midst of a terrible storm. Like Jesus, he is asleep while the professional sailors are running about trying to secure things, fearing for their lives. If you were one of Mark’s readers, you might take note that Jonah was supposed to be headed for foreign territory to preach the Word of God as Jesus is in this story. You would certainly recall Jonah’s willingness to sacrifice his life for the safety of the others. Here Jesus simply commands the wind and the seas to silence, but the cross is in his future.
There are Old Testament allusions in the second story as well, though less obvious. Mark’s readers would recall Moses at the burning bush, the appearance of God to Elijah and the ominous events of the Passover. Mark is actually less interested in the miracle of Jesus walking on water than in the allusions that make clear to his readers the divine presence in the face of another crisis.
I mention this to remind us that the gospel writer is not so much concerned with recording historical events as with drawing on images in the tradition that help explain the meaning of Jesus for the community of faith.
Did Jesus really have power over the wind and the sea? Did he really walk on water? Attempts to explain away the miracle or stubbornly maintain them as facts of history really miss the point. These questions reflect an attempt to contrast faith with doubt. But doubt is not the problem here. Fear is the issue. Fear is faith’s opposite.
You want to be a skeptic? Fine,
Jesus had skeptics on staff. Don’t believe in miracles. Don’t believe in the
impossible. Mark is fine with this attitude. He challenge us to give up fear.
Don’t be afraid, even in the face of the impossible. Don’t be afraid even at
the time of crisis… because the
Remember, Mark is writing at the time of the Jewish wars just prior to the destruction of the second temple. He writes for a time of crisis. You see this in the setting of much of the gospel. Nearly all the action takes place by the sea or on the sea. And the sea is not a place of rest, relaxation and recreation. The sea is chaos, contains the forces of chaos, and describes the world in which Jesus and his disciples live as fearsome and critical. Jesus is taking things head on. He silences the winds and the waves with the same words that he silences demons.
He calls his first disciples by the sea. His intent is to conquer it, reorder it as a new creation. He means to remove its hold over the lives of his followers. And its most crippling hold is accomplished not by creating doubt but by instilling fear.
So what do these stories tell us? Imagine yourself a reader of Mark’s gospel. Jesus is doing all these marvelous and awe-inspiring things and never once do his followers offer praise to God. Always they are afraid, even more afraid after the miracle. There’s Mark’s challenge: Don’t be afraid, but believe. It’s not that there isn’t anything to be afraid of. But faith, for Mark doesn’t produce certainty. It engenders courage. COURAGE.
It doesn’t take a great act of
imagination to see what this has to do with our own times. The forces of chaos
continue to work. We are not totally unfamiliar with the wild and raging sea.
Hurricanes have taught us to fear its power. Those who operate by the
principles of chaos attempt to manipulate us with this fear. The damage they do
to society and individuals in some way exceeds the damage done by Katrina. While
the people of
And who can blame us? We’re still in the boat with the waves riding over the side and Jesus asleep. That’s where Mark’s readers were. The Romans were putting down revolt and didn’t pay any attention to whether you were a traditional Jew or one of those new ones that followed Jesus. Those were dangerous times, life-threatening times. The Romans thought you were a Jew and the Jews thought you were a renegade heretic. Maybe the water isn’t rushing into the boat, but you’re straining against the oars, against a tough wind and current, and there’s something out there on the water; and you don’t trust it because putting your faith in the wrong thing, in the wrong person can get you killed.
Mark doesn’t deny the reality of the storm or the reasons for suspicion; but he wants his readers to understand the power they have found in Jesus to overcome the FEAR.
It’s been eight years now since
the attack on the
I’m not saying that we have no cause to be afraid, but I’m tired of acting out of fear. And I’m only now realizing (after 50 years on this planet) the damage that fear has done to my soul. I’m not talking about the fears that arise from global politics or issues of crime but more of the daily encounters in life.. I sometimes, for example tone down or avoid topics that might generate controversy. Whether it’s fear of offending someone who could make my life difficult, fear of stirring up divisive conversation or just fear of not being liked I don’t know. I worry about all those things.
So it’s with a little trepidation that I mention THE fear that seems to be on a lot of minds lately. But first let me say why I raise this topic today. To begin with, I’ve had a wonderful time this summer introducing the various parts of the Bible. But the task was so large and had to be so general that it may have left you with an impression about the Bible that isn’t strictly speaking true. One of my goals in the series was to help you feel more comfortable with the Bible as a way of encouraging you to do more with it on your own. I wanted to make it less intimidating, but as many preachers have pointed out, while comforting the afflicted, the Bible also afflicts the comfortable.
As we move back to focusing on specific texts, these stories from Mark remind us that we are in a sea of trouble; and like the disciples, we’re not exactly handling it very well. Our fears are getting the better of us and are in some ways compromising the practice of our faith. So after becoming more comfortable with scripture, I still want us to hear its challenge in the context of our fears.
The other reason I want to raise the issue of our fears surrounding health care reform is that I have a personal stake in this. I have a daughter who will be turning 25 next June and I am afraid for her. That’s more than she would want me to say, but you have a right to know what flavors my views on this topic.
Having said this, I am not going to tell you how you ought to think about the options. I’m not going to talk about what kind of reform we need or even whether we need reform. I simply want to draw our attention to the fears on which politicians and other interested parties are playing in order to maintain the status quo. You’ve heard the loaded terms: big government, rationed health care, death panels, socialized medicine and countless more usually aimed at specific voting blocs.
None of this language would have any impact on the discussion if it weren’t for the fact that more people than not have adequate health insurance and are satisfied with the care they’re receiving. Many people are afraid of losing that. You may be afraid of losing that. It’s not an unreasonable concern. I understand the fear of losing something. There’s a lot of that going around: fear of losing a job, fear of losing the house, fear of losing a spouse or one’s health. We have so much… that we want to hang on to. And this is where the issue touches our faith. Those fears can get in the way. Sometimes that fear of losing hardens our hearts and we can’t hear the stories of those who lost homes or jobs. We can’t hear the stories of those who lack adequate health care. Sometimes the desire to hold on to what we have makes us shut down compassion. And that’s where damage to the soul begins, where faith becomes compromised. We can never stop hearing the stories of need. Those are the storms we are called to address.
Listen to what Mark says at the conclusion of the second story: “Then Jesus got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded [read afraid], for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.”
Among other things, between these two stories, Jesus feeds five thousand people with very limited resources. Actually Jesus didn’t provide any of the food. His contributions were the compassion and the blessing. Without that, there would have been no effort made to feed the people. With it, all it took was five loaves and two fish. And the disciples didn’t get it. They chose to persist in their fear, rather than build on their faith.
So put the stories together. In the first Jesus wants to cross the sea in order to bring the good news to strangers. He falls asleep in the boat while crossing. The storm comes up, and the disciples in fear of their lives, wake Jesus and accuse him of not caring. He calms the storm, sees that they are still afraid and says, “Have you still no faith?”
In yet another sea crossing the disciples are alone, struggling against the wind; and Jesus, seeing their trouble, comes to them across the water. This causes more fear and even when Jesus steps into the boat and calms the wind, they remain afraid. Mark’s comment suggests that their fear paralyzed them to such a degree that they had quickly forgotten what they were able to do with a few resources that same the day.
Whether you’re in the first century or the twenty-first century, the message is clear: “Let go of the fear, hold firm to compassion, and practice faith.” Jesus doesn’t promise us smooth sailing. We continue to travel on a sea of trouble. The needs of the world, the challenges of our own individual lives are often overwhelming. But if you want to live, really live and not just pass through life; we need to set our fears behind us, to have courage and take up the task at hand. Faith has placed into our hands the power to calm the turbulent water. Have courage. Jesus is right there in the same boat. Have courage. The stormy water poses no barrier to his coming. Have courage, let go of fear and believe; know that God’s love will never depart though we lose life itself. Amen.