Date: 19 Jun 2000
Time: 02:58:29
In the past I have found this a great passage to preach: "Jesus Still Calms the Storms of Life." There are many people very worried in the pews, and I feel they need to realize what Jesus taught, faith is the key to having peace in your life. Revup
Date: 19 Jun 2000
Time: 12:42:38
A great windstorm arose .... what's new? Life is very unpredictable ... it is so easy to be swallowed by the black dog of depression when life is so insecure. Where is Christ/God in the midst of the turbulence? Oh, he is asleep on a cushion in the back of the boat. How insensitive! Yet there is great comfort in knowing that no matter how bad it gets, Christ knowing the outcome remains calm and peaceful. He is surprised when we awaken him, yet calms our fears and the storm, reminding us that he is very near.
tom in ga
Date: 19 Jun 2000
Time: 14:33:25
Tom: Let me spin your comments another way - Life is predictible, the storms will come and God will act to still them, either through the action of the Spirit or the action of Jesus' people, the church. We're never alone in the storms, though the church sometimes does sleep in the stern of the boat. Peace: ogremtb in PA
Date: 20 Jun 2000
Time: 04:27:58
A good friend says God is with us in the storms so we can be assured God is not a fair weather friend.
Pastor Bill in NY
Date: 20 Jun 2000
Time: 13:17:16
I think of Julian of Norwich's favorite saying: "All will be well that will be well." In the midst of the turbulence of this life is it possible to rest in God knowing this truth and living with expectant hope within the darkness?
tom in ga
Date: 20 Jun 2000
Time: 14:08:46
Hi all.
I think we might be giving in to a tendency to hear this story telling us that "everything will be ok." You know, the usual North American optimisim that ignores the painful reality.
Sure, Jesus calmed the storm, but with what result for the disciples?? They ended up in a storm of faith! Their lives were no longer threatened by the waves, but now they were pushed further, to see their preconceptions threatened by this Jesus. "Wait a minute! Who is this???"
What's the verse? "The peace of God, it is NO peace, but strife sown in the sod."
And again, "The peace of God, which PASSES all human understanding...." It doesn't LOOK like what we think peace should look like! Sure, the waves have gone, but we are left with mind-boggling, even earth shattering questions which now leave us adrift on a waveless, windless sea.
Can we leave our people like Jesus left these disciples this time, with a bunch of questions, and no easy answers?
Rick in Canada, eh?
Date: 20 Jun 2000
Time: 15:37:12
Rick in Canada,
You make an excellent point - who is this? A subversion of their idea of God. It is the beginning of conversion.
tom in ga
Date: 20 Jun 2000
Time: 17:58:55
Hi again, all.
More thoughts. I recently finished a Bible study series on Mark. The point that kept coming up again and again was how the disciples kept missing the point. Just skim over some of the stories Mark tells in his gospel. They start out missing the point, and go down hill from there! At the end, no one is left; they have all deserted Jesus. (Obviously, this assumes that Mark did not write verses 9 ff., but that's a topic for another time.)
But we readers are priveledged. We know something that the disiples didn't, or couldn't grasp. The answer to the question is in Mark's very first sentence - "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God."
There's the answer we've been look for! It's taken care of for us! Mark (or God!) doesn't leave us in the dark. We have the answer!! Praise the Lord!
And yet...
I submit that "having the answer" is very far away from the point. "tom in ga" points out that this story is the beginning of conversion. Agreed, but whose? The disciples never "got it," but are we really any different? How has "knowing the answer," how has "knowing" Jesus' "identity" made us any different from them?
Perhaps this Pentecost season can be one in which we stop pointing our fingers at "those silly disciples," or "those inactive members," or "those non-Christains out there." Perhaps we can begin to embrace our OWN need for constant conversion, repentance, letting go, turning around. Perhaps we can let go of answers, and begin again to ask, seek, knock.
Thanks for listening. Now I'll listen to you for a while.
Rick in Canada, eh?
Date: 20 Jun 2000
Time: 19:12:28
Jesus calmed one storm in one place at one particular time; he did not forever extinguish storms on the Sea of Galilee. Yet, so often we expect the Lord of the Storms to calm our seas once and for all. The reality is that God calms the storms within and without one at a time, as each arises in turn. Such is the walk of faith: learning to trust day by day, one storm at a time.
ladyrev
Date: 20 Jun 2000
Time: 20:28:39
The following quote of the Bishop of Hippo in the fourth century suggests another kind of storm which threats us:
For the enemy does not cease to persecute, and when he does not openly rage, he plots in secret. The evil one is called a lion and a dragon: Lion for open rage; dragon, for hidden treachery. Let it not seem to you as if the devil has lost his ferocity. when he blandly flatters, then is he the more vigilantly to be guarded against.
tom in ga
Date: 20 Jun 2000
Time: 21:04:55
Some ideas for my sermon this Sunday! Ministry seems to be always at those places when someone is facing a storm (Mark passage) or a great giant (Samuel) or a rebellious church like at Corinth and spoken to by Paul! We are called here to explore the power of faith. Also to explore the way faith can address the darknesses of life---the inevitable! Every trip I make to the hospital or every visit to a home in turmoil, or every minute spent in the middle of an argument between spouses or parents and children are moments when i need to place a stone in my sling and teach people how to stand up to the giants. I would like the stone to be the rock of the sure foundation built by the son of God but I don't find these people anywhere near the rest and peace that was at the heart of the Son of God in the midst of the storm. I fnd people who are "Lord, don't you care about us?"
Ministry is at the moments when the believers are stumbling --- or struggling the most. Before love we have to stop yelling Before love we have to hear each other. Before love we have to find our own faith.
I want to believe that if David had been touched by the spirit given us when the son left us he would set down his sling and stone and would find a way to end the conflict peacefully. i would like to suggest that David had other options but did not choose them and thet maybe what paul suggests to the church in Corinth is a love that brings together God's children and takes away the conflict that puts people at odds.
Oh well these are intoductory notes on a sermon that needs much more development! Thanks for listening! Terry (tatat298@ hotmail.com)
Date: 20 Jun 2000
Time: 21:39:16
Friends, I was once given a poem for use at funerals. I've always thought it was a bit trite for such an intense time, but I like the point it makes, especially in the repeated verse that makes me think it might actually be a song (I wasn't told who wrote it, either). That verse says, "Sometimes He calms the storm with a whispered, "Peace, be still." He can settle any sea, but it doesn't mean He will. Sometimes He holds us close and lets the wind and waves go wild, Sometimes He calms the storm, and other times He calms His child." Peace in the storm, Rebecca in MD, USA
Date: 20 Jun 2000
Time: 23:15:06
In my reflections, I have been thinking of myself as the "vessel" and that often the Christ within me needs to be awakened in the midst of the storms of life. I need to be reminded of the power to calm the storms that is available to me and in me for the purposes of God. Jesus reminded us that we would do even greater things than He did. Sometimes I'm waiting for the power to come from on high to quell the storms when all the time it is "sleeping" within.
Date: 20 Jun 2000
Time: 23:35:39
This is how I see this story:
Jesus is asleep (a sound sleeper) when the storm kicks up, so the disciples wake him and ask him if he gives a rip. Jesus then assures them that indeed he does give a rip; he rebukes the wind and there is peace. *Then* he asks them why they are afraid and if they still have faith (as if they might still be holding onto the storm or crisis even though Jesus has calmed the storm and provided peace). They, at this point are filled with awe and, who knows, perhaps humbled a bit.
It may not be a case of wondering if Jesus cares (esp. if God seems silent at times) as much as a case of holding on to the crisis once Jesus has given us peace. Maybe it wasn't just the wind that was rebuked, but his words were for the disciples, too: "Peace! Be still!"
Letting the imagination wander a bit...
ml in pa
Date: 21 Jun 2000
Time: 03:50:55
I am a lay speaker who fills in occasionally for absent pastors, so I very much appreciate the insight from your comments. I hope to use some of your wisdom this Sunday. Full-time I am a psychologist working with prisoners who are not involved in my church. One of the female inmates I saw last Thursday was horribly abused as a child. In her teens she ran away, found an older man to whom she became happily married. He protected as well as controlled her and gave her a sense of peace. They had 2 children and lived on an enlisted mans pay. Two years ago his cancer worsened and they ran out of money. She developed an illegal scheme which first supported the family for 2 years then landed her in prison. He died in March, she was not allowed to go to the funeral and is now grieving.
I believe the storms that Mark described are real ones and our boats are sometimes swamped. We do suffer and perish in this world. I believe Jesus’ confident calmness allowed him to both sleep in the storm and to stop the storm. He was there both when the waves washed over the boat and when the waves settled around the boat.
Many of our church members have been hurt in life. Possibly as many as 1 in 4 of women in our churches were abused as children. Their boats are swamped. How can I tell them that His confident calmness will save them and comfort them? Should I raise the issue of abuse from the pulpit?
Leon in NC
Date: 21 Jun 2000
Time: 13:55:18
Dear friends in Christ,
I think we need to be careful not to "over-preach" this passage. I would guess that just reading the lesson will evoke interpretation on the part of the hearer; whether individual (we all have storms in which we turn to God and say "DO SOMETHING!") or corporate (these are indeed turbulent times for the Body of Christ, the church). As always,care must be taken to preach the passage, not a single interpretation of it.
That said, I see an implicit humor in the story itself. The storm-lashed disciples run around like Keystone cops, bailing and tying down, while Jesus sleeps. And when in exasperation they finally wake him up, he says with arched eyebrow "What??? No faith?? Oh, well..." Then to the storm, "Shut up already." And while the disciples stand there in the silence that follows dumbfounded, buckets in hand, Jesus goes on back to sleep.
"Who is this guy??" is the question of the hour, a question that begs an answer from those who hear our sermons. A question that is answered with our faith, with our stewardship, with our lives. Shalom, Bo in KY
P.S. Does anyone know the source of the poem/song that Rebecca in MD submitted? I really like it for the sermon (I agree that it doesn't work as well for a funeral) and would like to use it with attestation. Thanks!
Date: 21 Jun 2000
Time: 14:18:30
I am challenged by the tension of the whole passage. Jesus is asleep. The disciples awaken him with the lament, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"
Jesus wakes up, rebukes the wind, tells the sea to be still and then asks the disciples why were they afraid with a follow-on question concerning their apparent lack of faith.
Their response is to be awed at him and wonder who he is.
My questions to the text are:
What did the disciples expect Jesus to do?
I can understand the text better if it was that they were expecting Jesus to assist in bailing out the boat or some other enterprise a normal person would pursue to assist in their collective self-preservation.
Yet, another expectation would be that the disciples were wanting some sort of divine intervention. If that was the case, then why the rebuke and why were the disciples in awe at the turn of events?
Date: 21 Jun 2000
Time: 14:19:54
It occurs to me that I failed to identify myself on the above comment.
Rev. Joe in Tulsa
Date: 21 Jun 2000
Time: 15:16:48
The poem/song comes from Scott Krippayne:
All who sail the sea of faith Find out before too long How quickly blue skies can grow dark And gentle winds grow strong Suddenly fear is like white water Pounding on the soul Still we sail on knowing That our Lord is in control.
Sometimes He calms the storm with a whispered "Peace be still" He can settle any sea But it doesn't mean He will Sometimes He holds us close And lets the wind and waves go wild Sometimes he calms the storm and other times He calms His child
He has a reason for each trial that we pass through in life and though we're shaken we cannot be pulled apart from Christ no matter how the driving rain beats down on those who hold to faith a heart of trust will always be a quiet peaceful place
repeat chorus
I am intending on using this in my sermon, because as was said earlier the storms of life are inevitable and yes one day will overcome us. But God never promised a safe journey - only a safe landing.
Shalom - DM in OK
Date: 21 Jun 2000
Time: 20:24:29
What about the other boats that were with him? How many of us are manning the other boats? We love Jesus, and want to trust him to take care of us, but would rather not relinquish total control. We'll be grateful for the calming of the sea, but take the credit for keeping our own boats afloat, thank you.
Jude in Wash
Date: 21 Jun 2000
Time: 20:28:50
An observation I don't know what to do with, but it popped into my head. The disciple's words echo Martha's words: "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work?" The disciples ask "Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?" What is it we want from Jesus? I know, different Gospels, but still... - first time contributor in Packerland
Date: 21 Jun 2000
Time: 20:44:40
anytime we are willing to go with Jesus and follow him there will be some type of turmoil from someone somewhere. Through each event Jesus guides us and protects us and after each experience we see him for more than what we did before the experience. Our faith is to be constantly challenged and stretched in order for us to mature in our Christian experience.
Date: 21 Jun 2000
Time: 22:44:37
To Leon in NC, I would say yes to mentioning abuse from the pulpit.Given the statistics, there will be women there who have not yet sought help. If the congregation knows of your prison ministry, they won't be shocked at the story. I do think it's a pastoral preaching response to give people permission to seek help they might need. You don't mention names of course, but stats are useful. RevMom
Date: 22 Jun 2000
Time: 02:26:00
Leon, When we raise the subject of abuse from the pulpit and condemn it, we teach that it is wrong. THAT is good. Making a whole sermon of it (and many of us do) might require advance warning and preparation. Also, have you talked to the pastor? He/she might be about to set up a system of counseling (or not) and launching a serious ministry against violence and abuse is worth more than a mention from the pulpit. The subject is part of a major ministry in my church,,,but I have eased into it,, starting with small-group education and action. Did some jail chaplaincy myself. It is very much not the same as church on the "outside". Preach from your heart, and you'll do fine!!! Stay strong in Christ,,,,Pastor Rene.
Date: 22 Jun 2000
Time: 05:16:20
I'm toying with taking a different approach to this text this year: to look at our expectations rather than Jesus' actions. There is often a naïve attitude that because we are Christians no storms should ever arise. Often when they do they are put down to either we have sinned or we lack faith. But as one commentator I read reminds us that in Mark's Gospel Jesus is at the center of a storm of some kind or at almost every page. We are called to get into the boat and journey with him in ministry and mission, so we too should expect to face storms. A comment I found that I liked reads: "Jesus doesn't call us to just live within our limits. Jesus calls us to live into our limits." (Beverly Wildung Harrison) Another comment that has got me thinking was "The storm doesn't blow around their boat just because Jesus is on board. It hits them full force. Nowhere does Jesus promise his followers anything different. … Jesus Christ's promise is not to sail us around every storm but is to bring us through all storms". It is interesting that the disciples are not free of the "storm" at the end of the text. The source of their fear has just changed from the storm to Jesus' action! The word translated "awe" is actually "phobos" = fear. They ended up filled with terror.The very presence of Jesus with them actually creates a storm of a different kind. Is that not the same for us today when we look at the storms that arise for us because we are Jesus' disciples ( as well as all the other storms that non-disciples also face).
Still some early ramblings. Outback Aussie
Date: 22 Jun 2000
Time: 13:42:55
Dear friends.
Some really great postings already this week.
I have been in boats on a number of occasions when the seas are rough and I can assure you, it is not a place for the fainthearted. A boat is a flimsy and fragile vessel against the might of the sea.
I see the boat as the church encountering the winds of change and the sea of life in all its turmoil. In that environment, only one person can command those seas and those winds, and that is God. I don't believe the disciples were stupid. They knew exactly what they were witnessing in this event. Jesus was God! They simply had trouble articulating it. Who is this? Can we say it and be believed. Can we say it and believe it ourselves!!
And the method of conveying his remarkable power, is worthy of mention in itself. Once again, God speaks and his creation obeys. "Peace. Be still!" How powerful are words? How powerful are those words that bring peace and stillness to a chaotic life. How powerful are words! For my work as a priest, I rely on their power everyday.
The greatest tragedy, is that the disciples do not realise that they also have this power. Their fear erodes their faith. They are helpless in its grip. Faith and fear are closely connected for me. Faith is the ability to move through our fear into an inner peace, which is not affected by surface activities. And yet, what I find in my church is people constantly effected by the environment around them. Even just a slight change and they panic. Even just the hint of a difficulty and they scamper away in fear. In order for me to minister effectively in my ministry, I am constantly having to push through my fear, so that faith is allowed to work its power. Everytime I enter a death situation, I encounter the grip of fear. But if I allow it to take control, peace is lost. Stillness is not brought to the situation.
We are flimsy fragile vessels that God has poured His Spirit into, and faith calls us to recognise and believe that we carry aboard, God himself. That makes all the difference.
I find myself saying again and again about Christ, when I encounter his power at work amongst my people and in my life. Who is this man? Who is this man? Could it be God?
Great stuff guys. Keep it up.
Regards,
KGB.
Date: 22 Jun 2000
Time: 14:55:53
The bright neon lights glared through the sterile hallways, assaulting his very tired and emotionally drained body. On other days and at other times it would not have been so, but after the emotional hurricane of the last twenty-four hours, even the caress of a cool sea breeze and the soothing music of gently breaking waves might have gone unwelcomed by his very overloaded senses. Even that may have been too much. So, here he sat, bathed in the unnatural light, listening to the sounds of plastic voices squawking from metal boxes imbedded in tile ceilings, squawking in a cryptic language meant only for those with, as they say, a need to know.
It was not that he did not appreciate this place, this place of hope, this place of healing. It was not that he did not understand the absolute miracles taking place all about him, but now, he was just too broken and too lost to feel the wonder of it all. "After all," he thought, as he watched yet another blue clad figure scurry through the swinging doors at the end of the hall, "it is such a horrendous occurrence, a nightmarish event." Yet, it wasn't a dream. It was reality, a brutal and awful reality, one which he would have done almost anything, given almost anything to change. But of course, just as one cannot turn back the tide of time, neither can one undo the past.
So now, here he sat, attempting to do the impossible, seeking to accomplish that which can never be fully accomplished. Here is sat, seeking to offer comfort where there can be no comfort, at least not in a way which precludes the monstrous pain, at least not in a way which brings even the smallest sense of relief. Here he sat, enmeshed in the overwhelming sorrow of a family as they tried to somehow bring life out of ultimate tragedy, as they bravely offered up the gift of life through the gift of organ donation, through the gift of the body of their teenage daughter. "Perhaps," they prayed, "something of worth will come from this. Perhaps, someone might have life from this moment of death." And so, he sat there with them, his friends - father and mother, sisters and aunts and uncles and cousins, in the midst of the chaos, in the midst of the raging tumult.
The young girl's mother was his co-worker … no, she was much more than a co-worker, she was his friend, someone who truly cared for him and someone with whom he served. She was a remarkably passionate servant, a giver of life to those with little life, a servant of the God who loves. And now she was completely devastated. He so desperately wanted to console her. But then, how does one say peace in the midst of suicide? How does one not fear in the middle of the storm?
As the sat huddled together, one hour rolled into the next. They were an island of life engulfed by the antiseptic surroundings, battered by winds of chaos. Conversation ebbed and flowed. They spoke in the hushed tones that families share when assaulted by the circumstance of death, sometimes coupled with soft sobs, and even, every now and again, a small laugh would burst to the surface, a small remembrance of joy in an ocean of pain. After a time, his friend, his fellow servant looked at him and said, "You will do the eulogy, won't you? We don't want death to be the final word. You will do the eulogy?"
He was stunned. His mouth worked for a moment but where words should have formed, there was only silence. He was overwhelmed by the request. He had never, not in the 43 years of his existence, ever been so completely honored. And he had never been so completely frightened. How could he possible do this?! After all, he was not the pastor, he was simply a friend and fellow sojourner. After all, he had not been formally trained for this. After all, he had seen his friend's daughter almost every day. How could he possibly do this? Even now, he could still feel her unbridled enthusiasm, the enthusiasm that only a teenager can muster. He could still hear the footfalls of her tennis shoes as she bounded up the stairs of that place of miracles where they served, as she danced through the hallways, coming to tell her mom about this school event or about that daily occurrence. He could still see her easy smile which seemed to welcome everyone. He could still hear the laughter of her voice as she dropped by his office, just to see how he was doing. How could he give her eulogy? But then again, as he sat their embracing her mother and father, how could he not. His mouth again moved and he heard the words spilling from his mouth, "Of course I will do it. Of course." The waves crashed over his head. He knew that he was drowning.
Sleep didn't come that night, or the next. The grief and shock pressed down on them all like a smothering blanket, a black mass of futility suppressing the promise of life, overcoming, bit by bit, the voice of hope. In his soul, the panic had begun to grow. Larger and larger it loomed as the reality of his "yes" approached. Hundreds of people would be sitting before him, hundreds of people who in some way expected some sense of promise from this terrible loss. Hundreds of people would hang on his words, with the hope that somehow he might profess some measure of truth to set aside this claim of death. Hundreds of people would sit before him, and as he sought to uplift the joy of her life, all of them, each and every one of them, would be thinking of the horror of her death. Suicide. It was a suicide. Those voices of our souls which find delight in such darkness, whispered to him, growing ever louder by the passing hour. "Be afraid," they told him. Be very afraid.
He struggled to find the proper words but all he could hear were the dark whispers, the voices of demons, the glee of ultimate evil. All he could see was the blasting tempest. And finally, when the storm was about to completely destroy the last ounce of his will, when the voices seemed like screams of the banshee, strong hands reached out and touched him, the gentle and loving hands of connectedness, the gentle and sure hands of his loving community. A few hours before he was to speak, just before he was too proclaim hope in the midst of utter despair, he received a word from one of his true friends, the kind of friend that one calls in the middle of the night when one has nowhere else to turn. Her message to him was simple, "Don't be afraid. God is with you. God is with you."
They say his words were most healing, at least, as healing as is possible in the face of such tragedy, as if one can ever truly be healed. Several even came to him and offered up comments like "…remarkable, amazing, courageous …" Even the pastor was moved. But he knows the remarks were not for him. For he knows the paralyzing fear of the tempest. For he knows that there would be no courage apart from his community, that there would be no faith apart from their faith, that there would no life apart from the life of the one who stills the storm.
Shalom my friends,
Nail-Bender in NC
Date: 22 Jun 2000
Time: 19:53:38
Wow!
So many great insights, so little time. I am disappointed it has taken me so long to log on this week.
For what it is worth, here is my take on this text. A am looking at storms, not in life, but in the church. The painful disagreements and personality clashes that come with any congregation. When church members disagree about something it can feel like a storm.
I find it interesting that Jesus was asleep. Did he care? Did it bother him? Was he just waiting to be asked? Did he want to have the disciples work it out themselves? There are a lot of questions.
I tend to think that it is alright to assume the boat was never in real danger. It sure seemed like it to the disciples, but if Jesus life was in jepordy at that point, I doubt he'd been sleeping. When they did wake him and he calmed the storm, Jesus rebuked them for lacking in faith. The storm was not the issue. It was how they handled it.
Jesus was with them during the storm so by his presence, there was never any real danger. All the danger was believed, but not real. As a church begins to wrestle over difficult issues within the congregation, emotions raise, sementalities and expectations clash, the storms can raise. If Jesus is still in the church, these storms are not going to sink the church although they may scare it pretty badly. Then, when the disciples stopped trying to bail out the church themeslves called upon the sleeping Christ, things happened. The storm was calmed. The storm was a part of the process. They had to go through it to cross to the other side. By loosing faith in the midst of the storm, they were repremanded by Jesus.
Here's the point of the sermon. When we go through difficult times in church life we should know that Jesus is in the same boat with us. Is he concerned or is he sleeping? If he is sleeping we can trust that the storm will not be fatal and then go about the difficlut job of getting through it.
Peace,
DWR
Date: 22 Jun 2000
Time: 22:38:20
Another thing to keep in mind about this text is its function in the Markan narrative. It comes early in the story, and the event and the disciples' question at the end serve to stir up in the hearer/reader the question, "What is God up to?" That question would make a great sermon starter! Ken in WV.
Date: 23 Jun 2000
Time: 00:00:45
A getting-later thought: for Presbyterians out there, we are entering our General ASsembly week. We know the boat as a symbol for the church- Jesus called the disciples to enter the boat and GO TO THE OTHER SIDE- not where they would normally land. In that process, stroms are encountered. We are in a stormy time in many of our denominations- yet must still cross to the other side and have the conversation, attempt to reconcile- and it ain't easy or always pleasant! Is this stretching the text?? RevGrandma
Date: 23 Jun 2000
Time: 01:17:09
For Leon,
One of the tough things for preachers is to separate our agenda from God's. By which I do not mean to imply that God does not care about the abused, Quite the opposite. One other thought -- sometimes it is good to wait awhile after an emotional experience, before we preach it. Give ourselves time to reflect and see God present, somehow, even in our pain. But what is God calling you to say? That's the real question, I think. If we know what God is calling us to preach, the rest follows. I don't always know, but the only time I wander far from the scriptures for the day is when i am sure God wants something said.....
Hope that helps a bit!
HW in HI
Date: 23 Jun 2000
Time: 02:27:38
For those of you who are members of Ecunet, I suggest you read the meeting GOSPEL NOTES FOR NEXT SUNDAY. Brian Stoffregen does a wonderful job outlining the thoughts on a passage. For those not on Ecunet, I am reposting the material here this week because I think it's pretty useful, and I've been meaning to port his material here for a while.
Bruce Brown in PA bbrown@sgi.net for questions on Ecunet
Proper 7 B: Mark 4:35-41 Exegetical notes
CONTEXTUAL COMMENTS
In 4:1-34 Jesus teaches in parables, which keeps those "outside" from understanding (4:11-12), but Jesus "explains everything in private to his disciples" (4:34). However, we will see that even with the special instructions, the disciples don't get it.
In 4:35-5:43 Jesus teaches with miracles -- stilling the storm (4:35-41); the demonic legion (5:1-20); raising Jairus' daughter and healing the woman with a flow of blood (5:21-43 -- the text for next week). However, following these displays of Jesus' power, the responses are not positive:
Jesus' power over wind and wave -- the disciples have no faith (4:40).
Jesus' power over demons -- the town's people beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood (5:17).
Jesus' power over over sickness, and death -- the woman is praised for her faith after the healing (5:34), Jairus is asked to have faith (5:36), but at the end the people are amazed, but there is no mention of faith (5:42).
Following these powerful miracles, Jesus enters his hometown where the people "take offense" at him and he is unable to any "deeds of power" except a few healings. Jesus is amazed at their unbelief (6:1-6a).
One simple message conveyed by Mark's narrative is that the miracles do not produce faith, but faith sometimes has a role in the miracles.
Our text has many possible themes and approaches, I will briefly highlight a few that I find preachable.
THE STORMS OF REACHING THE UNCHURCHED
Why do the disciples cross the lake? Answer 1 (based on a chicken joke): To get to the other side. Answer 2 (based on the text): Jesus told them to
Expanding on the chicken joke: What's on the other side? Gentile (unclean) territory indicated by "unclean spirits," "swine," and "Decapolis"
I believe that the trip across the lake represents the Gentile mission for Mark. The storm at sea represents the storms in the early church as they sought to carry out Jesus' command "to go to the other side" or "to make disciples of all nations." It may be noted that the area where the congregation is sitting is properly called the "nave," from the Latin "navis" = ship. ("Navy" comes from the same root.)
For most of our congregations, we don't have to go anywhere to "get to the other side." The "Gentiles" have moved into our neighborhoods -- but what a storm it usually creates when a congregation makes an intentional effort to reach out to the unchurched -- to the people who are "different" than they.
Following the exorcism (5:1-20), they cross back over the lake to the Jewish side (5:21) and the Jewishness of the next miracle his highlighted with the character of a synagogue leader.
The next time Jesus makes his disciples get into a boat to cross over the lake to Bethsaida, which is in Gentile territory; there is another storm and the disciples are unable to go anywhere by themselves.
Both stormy crossing are commanded by Jesus. Crossing to the other side is not an option for those who want to obey/follow Jesus. The only safe way to "cross over to the other side" is to trust Jesus to calm the storms that will arise because of the missionary effort to "Gentiles".
Often, the alternative to risking the dangerous, stormy crossing, is to stay tied up on the shore. Unfortunately, that is the picture of many churches -- a peaceful, restful club house on the shore rather than a boat following Jesus' command to take the fearful risk to cross the lake. We are often more willing to be safe than to answer Jesus' call to go to the other side.
A quote that is in my notes from many years ago ties in with this image: "The church is 'not a luxury liner, granting passage and comfort to all who qualify and clamber aboard' but rather 'like a rescuing lifeboat, sometimes listing, or even leaking, but always guided by the captain, Jesus, at the helm.'" (Bishop Lyle G. Miller in opening worship at the Sierra Pacific Synod assembly, 1991, quoted in "The Lutheran," June 19, 1991, page 38)
THE CHURCH AND HER MISSION
The following story remotely relates to the above theme. I've had it in the book listed below, but I've also seen in posted in ecunet.
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their life and money and effort for the support of the work. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little lifesaving station grew.
Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely because they used it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in the club's decoration, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick and some of them and black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.
At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did.
As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.
Adapted by James A. Moak for Commission on Brotherhood Restructure of the Christian Church. Included by James L. Christensen in Creative Ways to Worship, 1974
WHO IS THIS MAN?
In many ancient myths, the god of the sea is the god of chaos. Most bodies of water can almost instantly turn from calm waters into deadly waves. We cannot control the water.
A hint of this ancient myth of the chaotic sea is indicated in the RCL's thematic First Lesson, Job 38:1-11. God's creative power is pictured as controlling the sea with doors and boundaries. This same power to control the sea is in the thematic Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32, (see also Ps 74:13-14).
The word used of Jesus "rebuking" the wind is commonly used of "rebuking" demonic spirits (1:25; 3:12; 9:25; and of Peter when he became "satanic" 8:33).
The background of these myths provides the answer to the disciples' closing question: "Who then is this?" This can be no other than God who has the power to tame the chaotic waters. Once again the readers know that Jesus is more than just a human being. He is Son of God (1:1, 11, 24), yet the disciples are unable to decipher the significance of Jesus' identity.
This theme can also lead to the idea that sometimes the storms in our lives are beyond our control. The chaos in our lives may be caused by people or situations or evil powers which we can do nothing about. Sometimes it is not our fault. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes even the world of faithful Christians comes crashing down. (Job might be brought in as an illustration that sometimes good people suffer unjustly.)
A contrast to the storms of life that are out of our control, one could also indicate that the reason the disciples are in such a mess is because they did what Jesus asked them to do: "Let's cross the lake"!
A word of hope in this text (and Job and the Psalm) is that God has the power to control the chaos. God may not always do it according to our schedule. Sometimes God may appear to be sleeping in the boat while our world is falling apart, but that doesn't mean that God doesn't have the power to calm the storm.
DON'T YOU CARE?
The disciples' question of Jesus is interesting. They do not ask for a miracle. It appears that they wake him up to tell him that they are all going to die. Literally their question reads: "Teacher, is it not a care (or concern) to you that we are dying?" (v. 38). (The verb, "melei," can also carry the idea of "to be anxious about.")
The disciples' question can lead to a number of themes.
Do we ever accuse God of not caring for us? What does it do to our faith and trust when we think that God no longer cares? How does God show that he cares for us? Must God always perform miracles -- remove us from dangerous storms for us to believe that God cares for us?
Using another definition of "melei," and Edwin Friedman's phrase ("Generation to Generation"), could Jesus become an example of a "non-anxious presence?" To paraphrase the disciples' question: "Why aren't you as anxious about dying as we are?" Pheme Perkins in "Mark" (New Interpreters' Bible) writes: "On the human level, we often act like the disciples. We expect others to share our panic or distress. If they seem detached from the situation, we accuse them of not caring about our suffering. Panic reactions can divide us from others who might help just as they can cause us to doubt God's love for us" [p. 581]
While we are more likely to picture ourselves as the scared disciples, I also think that we need to consider ourselves -- perhaps not individually, but as the church -- to be Christ. When does the church in the midst of chaotic times need to curl up and take a nap, be non-anxious, exhibit supreme trust in God -- which others are likely to interpreted as not caring? Some of the radical Christian stuff I receive in the mail comes from people who can't seem to "rest" until they have converted the whole nation to their way of thinking/believing.
The following is part of a short article called "Why Worry?" from a business (not church) resource.
Stress management experts say that only two percent of our "worrying time" is spent on things that might actually be helped by worrying. The figures below illustrate how the other 98 percent of this time is spent: ** 40% on things that never happen ** 35% on things that can't be changed ** 15% on things that turn out better than expected ** 8% on useless, petty worries
They are times in our lives where trusting God means that we can take naps in a stormy boat. Sometimes we may need to convey the fact that we don't have to worry about driving out the evil that is all around me. We can act like little children resting comfortably in their parent's protective arms.
Another approach related to this theme could be the question: How do we show that we care for others? Sometimes it can be speaking an authoritative word to bring stability to chaos. Sometimes it can be doing nothing, hoping that the other will find the power within themselves to defeat the storms around them.
FAITH AND FEAR
What does Jesus sleeping in the back of the boat indicate? The disciples read it as if Jesus' doesn't care that they are all going to die. Could Jesus' sleep be a sign of his complete trust in God?
The fact that at least four of Jesus' disciples were professional fishermen hightens the severity of the storm. We might easily understand the fear of a tax collector (or accountant) at sea; but the fishermen! It was a bad storm.
Jesus responds to the disciples: "Why are you cowardly (or fearful or timid)? Do you not yet have faith?"
The disciples response to Jesus' question was to "be afraid with great fear" and to question among themselves "Who then is this one that the wind and the sea obey him?"
Two different word groups are used in these verses (40-41) that relate to "fear".
The word "deilos" is used in Jesus' question. The words "phobeo" and "phobos" are used of the disciples' state. A difference I see in the two word groups is that the "fear" depicted by "deilos" and related words generally comes as a result of inner defects. One is afraid because one lacks courage. One is cowardly or timid. Jesus indicates that there is something defective about the disciples -- they are fearful, cowardly, timid, and lacking in faith.
The "fear" depicted by "phobos" and related words generally comes as a result of external circumstances. One is concerned about impending pain, danger, evil, etc., or possibly by the illusion of such circumstances and so is fearful. The word group can have a more positive meaning of "reverence" or "awe" when one is in the presence of a deity -- but still the emotion comes from that which is external to the person.
The disciples' eyes are centered on the externals -- first the storm at sea and then what they had seen Jesus do. Both produce fear within. How often do we -- both as individuals or congregations -- look at the externals and become fearful or discouraged, e.g., our community is declining in population. Should we not also look within to see whether or not our fear stems from our own cowardice or timidity -- our inability to believe or trust God?
A slightly different application of this is presented by Arthur Boers ("Never Call them Jerks: Healthy Responses to Difficult Behavior"). He writes: "This is also my greatest learning on dealing with difficult behavior in church: Pay attention to yourself first. If you perceive and treat others as enemies, they will look more and more like enemies" [p. 39].
Up to this point in Mark, the only characters who have exhibited faith are those who carried the paralytic (2:5). The disciples have not been described as people having faith. Part of the sad irony in their lack of faith is the fact that just before our text, we are told that Jesus explained everything in private to his disciples. They had special catechetical classes -- and they still don't get it! In fact, the disciples are never described in Mark as having faith ("pistis")! Maybe we pastors shouldn't be too discouraged with confirmation students "drop out" of church after all of the wonderful instruction we have given them or that they don't seem to "get it".
In spite of the disciples lack of faith, the miracle still happens for them. In contrast to this, Jesus tells the woman with a flow of blood: "Daughter, your faith ("pistis") has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease" (5:34). Two verses later, Jesus tells Jairus: "Do not fear ("phobos"), only believe" ("pisteuo") (5:36). "Faith" or "believing" is involved with the healing of the demon-possessed boy (9:23-24) and the blind man (10:52) who sees and follows Jesus on the way.
I wonder, if the disciples had had "faith," what would they have done differently? Should they have gone to sleep with Jesus, trusting that God would see them through the storm? (Or trusting that if they should die, God has a room prepared for them in heaven?) Should they have rebuked the wind and waves as Jesus did, believing that if they "do not doubt and believe in their hearts" it will be done for them as they ask (Mk 11:23-24)? How should faithful people deal with inner fears and outer difficulties?
While this story gives us an illustration of the lack of faith of disciples, I'm not sure that it gives us a very clear picture of what faithful disciples would look like. Perhaps the only kind of disciples that we will be are those who are cowardly, timid, fearful, and lacking in faith -- but that doesn't mean that Jesus gives up on us.
THE MIRACLE AND HUMAN WORK
Somewhere in my past, it was pointed out to me that having the wind stop is disastrous for sail boats. It means that the sailors have to do hard, manual labor to move the boat to where it is going. Even the presence of Christ and his great miracles may still mean a lot of hard work on our part to get where Christ wants us to go. If Jesus wanted the disciples on the other side of the lake, why not just "beam them over," rather than have them go through a storm and then to row the boat to shore?
While we may pray that Jesus would work miracles in our lives and in our world and in our neighborhoods; the miracles that come probably won't let us off the hook from doing some of the hard work required to do what Jesus has called us to do.
Brian Stoffregen, Rock Springs, WY e-mail: stffrgn@sweetwater.net ICQ #18545384
Date: 23 Jun 2000
Time: 05:47:05
I'm trying to imagine how long did the disciples tyr to handle the situation themselves. How long to actually wake up the sound-asleep tillerman!? How often do we wait until we're near about swamped with trying to bail ourselves out of whatever mess/situation we're in before we think to pray?!?
Can you hear the conversation being shouted by those water-soaked disciples bailing for all they're worth?! Lashing the sails, grabbing the lines: "I'm not gonna wake him up. You wake him up!! And keep bailing! We can handle this!"
Thank you all for your insights & helpful discussions! Blessings!!
steph -- very new M.Div!!! (Thanks be to God!!)
Date: 23 Jun 2000
Time: 14:07:38
Running late and haven't had a chance to look through all of the postings, yet. Is anyone intrigued by the reversed situations in Mark. Here Jesus sleeps and the disciples are greatly distressed while in 14:32-41 the disciples sleep and Jesus is greatly distressed. What makes the difference? This question is so much on my mind that I can't get beyond it.
John Deere of the Bluegrass
Date: 23 Jun 2000
Time: 14:56:48
Thanks buckets everyone, especially Brian and Steph. I was kind of leaning toward using I Samuel because I didn't feel like the Mark story had enough "stuff", now I'm going to have to TRIM my Mark message for Sunday!!!! As a lay pulpit supply minister, I TRULY do appreciate your insights and information. I've also been promoting this site to fellow pulpit supply ministers, so please -- keep on talking. It is of tremendous help. Also -- it's good when you will include your e-mai address because sometimes we'd like to ask more about your submissions.
Janel badlandscc@yahoo.com
Date: 23 Jun 2000
Time: 15:22:28
To John Deere--What a contrast! The disciples facing death and Jesus sleeping and "do you not care?"; and Jesus facing death and the disciples sleeping, "won't pray with me one hour?". Neither do I know where to go with it, but I suppose sleeping in a storm could also be sleeping on the job rather than faith. After praying (Ch.14) Jesus found his peace in the midst of the storm that was engulfing him--and again the Disciples respond in the crises with fear. Thanks. --bc in MO
Date: 23 Jun 2000
Time: 16:57:30
Notice that the disciples begin in control--they take Jesus into their boat as he is. Jesus sleeps, and the disciples lose control to nature--the storm. They wake up Jesus, probably wanting him to pray and worry with them--who wants to suffer alone--but Jesus astonds them by wresting control from the storm and controlling nature itself. Now the disciples face a new issue--Who is this Jesus that even wind and sea obey him, who can control even nature at its wildest? How many of us are still at the control stage and have as much trouble with Jesus' power as we do with the power of seemingly random events? We ought to be able to relax because Jesus is in control, yet how many still struggle with allowing Jesus to control? How many of us tie this in with the Lord's Prayer--Thy Kingdom Come--asking Jesus to be the ruler of all? JMK in PA Dutch Country
Date: 23 Jun 2000
Time: 18:58:53
I'm glad that someone has commented on the part of the passage that has been tugging at me this week. There seems to be something very significant in the fact that they took Jesus with them "as he was." Could it be that our tendency is to invite Jesus into our boats on the terms of who we want him to be which is far less than who he is? Any other insights or comments.
Jim in Louisville
Date: 24 Jun 2000
Time: 02:53:37
To Bruce Brown in PA: Thanks for including Stoffregen's notes from Ecunet. I am not familiar with Ecunet, but I found Stoffregen's notes to be very helpful in giving me some ideas for this sermon. Thanks for copying them for us.
"Preach it!"
Date: 24 Jun 2000
Time: 08:12:24
Thanks for all these great contributions. Reading through all the comments on this passage and also the comments from the David and Goliath passage from Samuel, has really got the grey cells going here. <br> <br> I haven't quite developed my sermon completely yet but my outline is as follows and it is on the theme of Starting from our Own Experience.<br> In the David and Goliath story, David felt confident that he could slay Goliath (I'm not really getting into the rights and wrongs of killing apart from to say that they were in a war situation). <br>Others doubted David's confidence (his brothers and Saul). Saul allows David to "have a go" but even then he wants to equip him for the task by giving him his armour to wear but David rejects this. He has confidence because of his God-given abilities. <br>It's not that God waves a magic wand but rather that David using his God given abilities in life has gained skills in life - and he tells Saul that he doesn't come ill-prepared. Although he says that he trusts God to help him - he doesn't do it in a glib, patronising way. He acknowleges that God has in a sense prepared him for life. As a person his life experiences have taught him how to kill predatory animals in the course of his work - so he has developed skills as a person - and he attributes this not only to personal development and to God - and so he has faith in God and in his own abilities.<br> He tells Saul his armour won't fit - he can't do this with Saul's armour (someone else's life experience). I make a number of comments in my sermon here about how people expect us to use their armour (their life experiences) to cope with life and we do the same with others and get upset if they don't use our methods. It doesn't mean we should stop giving advice or taking advice - but at the same time we (and others) mustn't take offence if it is not used.<br> We all have to find our own armour and our own tactics that make the most of our own experiences of life, our relationship with God and our faith to pilgrimage through life and all the "giants" we meet.<br> In Mark, the disciples meet a "giant" in this massive storm and they begin to panic when Jesus is sleeping there. They get annoyed that he can lie there and sleep when they are rushing about desperately in a panic. (How often is this true of us - when we get so agitated and others around and even God doesn't seem to care - of course this shows that Jesus/God does care). The disciples were good fishermen. They had experience of seafaring and storms to help them in this situation and they were also close to Jesus/God but whereas David (in OT lesson) used his resourcefulness and his past experiences together with his faith in God to conquer his "giant", the disciples allowed their fear to paralyse them so that they couldn't take positive action and were allowing the storm to get the better of them. I'm sure Jesus actually trusted their ability to use their God-given gifts as seafarers to cope with the storm - hence he slept. But they didn't trust their own God-given gifts and went into a flap - and although Jesus gave them a wee bit of a rebuke - he intervened and helped them.<br><br> The message is that our life experiences together with our faith and trust in God can be dynamic and deal with "giants" and we must work on that - but even when we feel that our faith is insufficient for the task and we are in turmoil, God is always with us to help and to restore peace to our troubled lives - peace, be still.
Rev Shirls - Scotland
Date: 24 Jun 2000
Time: 12:50:28
In the midst of the storm all we really need is to hear Jesus snoring on the cushion and we will know that all is well.
tom in ga
Date: 24 Jun 2000
Time: 17:18:18
Sometimes we avoid placing ourselves in situations similar to that of the disciples by not even getting in the boat. Sometimes we avoid the attacks of the demonic by not pursuing the oppurtunities for ministry on the other side of the lake.
layspeaker mike
Date: 25 Jun 2000
Time: 03:17:32
For more info on ecunet, visit: www.ecunet.org
For Brian Stoffregren's notes on the web, visit: http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/brian.htm
Date: 11 Jul 2000
Time: 18:28:37
I recall preaching a farewell sermon as I was preparing to deploy to Saudi Arabia in Dec 1990 and this text came to mind. I found folks haven't changed much when it comes to prayer. Jesus gets into the boat, the disciples cast off, get caught in a squall, bail fast and furious, then, as the boat begins to sink, then FINALLY they turn to Jesus. Often we exhibit a "panic-button" faith. Was Jesus not in the boat in calm weather, as clouds gathered overhead, as rain poured down, and at crisis stage? Why is it that we seem to turn to Him when all OUR strength fails? When things are out of our "control"? Army Chaplain E, Fort Belvoir VA
Date: 12 Jul 2000
Time: 04:27:31
I have looked at this one from the perspective of when a person takes his focus off Jesus then fear and problems, (storms in live) come. Then when we realize that He can calm the storms we continue to focus on him.
Just for starters
Pastor Rich Kent, Wash