Pentecost 3 Year B

Pentecost 3 Year B June 21, 2009 Mark 4:35-41 The Rev. Benton Quest

I find verse 38 in today’s gospel reading to be really interesting.
The disciples are being tossed by a storm, a storm that is threatening to swamp their boat. Through all of this tossing, Jesus is asleep. The storm becomes worse and worse, and finally the disciples get so frustrated that Jesus is not waking up and doing something that THEY wake Jesus and demand that he do something!
If we pay attention to the words the disciples use to wake Jesus, they are also pretty interesting. The disciples don’t gently shake Jesus to wake him, no! They rush in and ask/demand of him, “Do you not care that we are perishing?”
The sense that I get is that the disciples felt Jesus should be doing something! Jesus should right there making everything all right. And when Jesus was not right there, taking care of the storm, the disciples thought that Jesus didn’t care. The storm did not seem to bother Jesus; he just kept sleeping. But it was this apparent lack of bother that seemed to make the disciples upset.
Do we feel the same way? Do we wonder why Jesus is not jumping in and making things better? Do we wonder why Jesus is not jumping out of the hold of the ship, taking care of the storm we experience in life before the storm can even rocks us? Do we feel that if Jesus really loved us, he would protect us so that we would not have to deal with any storms in our lives? Do we want to scream, “Do you not care that we are perishing?”
Somehow, it seems we get the idea that we should never have to weather any storms in our lives. Maybe we think that if we just believe in Jesus, nothing bad will ever happen. We may want to think nothing bad will happen. But unfortunately, in our lives, there will be rain and there will even be storms. Storms are part of the human condition. We cannot get away from them. And if we know anything about Jesus, he never takes us away from the human condition. However, even if Jesus will not pull us out of the human condition, he does help us through our human condition.
So the disciples are riding out the storm and they are convinced that they are about to die. Everybody is running around screaming and Jesus is just lying there sleeping. Why isn’t Jesus upset? Shouldn’t Jesus be worried that the boat was going to sink and his mission on earth was going to be sunk? Jesus shouldn’t be sleeping! He should be up and concerned like everyone else! But he is not up; he is quietly sleeping.
Sometimes I think we get upset for no apparent reason. We worry about things that we have no control over. We fret over the future even though we cannot control the future.
The disciples were worried over the weather. They were worried about something over which they had no control. We can assume, being good fisherpeople, they did all the things any good fisherperson would do to protect their boat and crew. But after all of that, there was not much else they could do. After they did what they could, then it was up to the forces of nature. After they did all that they could do, all that was left to do was to trust in the one asleep in the hold.
Trusting the one asleep in the hold is hard! If Jesus is asleep, can he really know what is going on? Can we be sure that Jesus has our best interest at heart if he is snoring away? Maybe Jesus can only intervene when he is awake?
We, like the disciples, often get so caught up in the things of the world that we lose our bearing; we get so caught up in the things of the world that we forget that we can place our entire lives into the care of the Lord.
So, what did the disciples do when they were so caught up in the problems of the world that they forgot to have faith? Well, they did what any good Christian should do! They yelled for Jesus to help them! They actually prayed to Jesus! Granted, Jesus was right there with them, but in their distress they called out to Jesus.
And when Jesus heard their call, what was his response? Well, Jesus probably woke up, rubbed his eyes, stretched, and then he rebuked the storm. He said, “Peace! Be still!” And with that, the storm quieted and there was dead calm.
Now the next thing Jesus said we really don’t have too much information on. If we read it one way, Jesus sounds angry and frustrated. But if we read it another way, Jesus sounds more like a bemused parent. I tend to believe that Jesus said it more as the bemused parent. I believe this because we are told that the disciples were filled with awe, not embarrassment or shame.
As the bemused parent, Jesus rebukes the storm but does not rebuke the disciples. Jesus hears their
plea and then calms the storm. Jesus does not become angry with the disciples or chide them for their lack of faith; he just calms the storm.
We could guess that the storm was not going to sink the boat. We are led to this because the storm was not something that was even worthy of Jesus’ attention. But we can also see that when the disciples brought their troubles to Jesus, he respected their fear and doubt and helped them through.
When we encounter storms in our lives, I would hope that we could just know, in the core of our being, that Jesus will be there to help us. When problems seem so unconquerable that we panic, I would pray that we could sit quietly, knowing that God was present. When we have done all we can do and it still appears that a wave is about to break us apart, I would hope that we could look at the storm and know that God is bigger than all of it.
However, if we are not “Super Christians;” if we begin to worry and panic; we can rest assured that Jesus is not asleep. We can be assured that Jesus is aware of our problems and that our problems are not too big for him. We can bring our cares and concerns; we can even yell, “Do you not care that we are perishing,” to Jesus knowing that Jesus may rebuke the storm, but Jesus will not rebuke us for our lack of faith.
The one who died for us will either calm the storm outside or calm the storm within. But no matter if the storm ceases or the waves destroy the boat, our safety as Children of God has already been established. The death of Jesus removes our need to fear death. And Christ’s resurrection assures us of eternal life.
We can hope that in our lives the storms would cease, but you know, the storms will always be there. We can hope that we would always be safe in our ship, but sometimes our ships may sink. We can hope that the storms would be calmed, but sometimes the storm continues to rage and it is us who need to be calmed. But no matter what happens in the storm, our Savior is always with us. With Jesus, we can trust that no matter what happens here and now, God’s perfect love will prevail.

Pentecost 2 Year B

Pentecost 2 Year B Mark 4:26-34 June 14, 2009 The Rev. Benton Quest

One of the really cool things about scripture is just when you think you have it all figured out, a new and exciting interpretation suddenly appears.

I think I may have said this before: Often as I look at a reading for Sunday, my thought is, “Oh, this is the ‘Good Samaritan’ story,” or “This is the ‘Turn the other cheek’ reading.” And this Sunday, my thought was, “Oh! It is the Mustard Seed reading!” And for those of you who know how I feel about mustard, you know that I had to wrinkle my nose a little bit. But then I began to read the story; and also read what some of the commentators had to say about the reading. It was then that I realized that I had overlooked something in the reading. Well, maybe not overlooked, but I found a new understanding of the reading that I had not considered before. I am always impressed that there always to be something new hiding in the scriptures.

In the past, I had looked upon this reading as having something to do with my faith. It was my and my interactions with God that were important. You know, “If I just plant my faith in God, it will grow into a really, really big faith.” It was about me doing things and then having God make them grow. And, all in all, I think we could look at this reading with this understanding and not be too far off. I think it is a good thing to place our trust in God, and it is my belief that God will make our faith grow and flourish. But this time when I looked at the reading, I began to understand more.

Let’s think about this whole growing process. The first thing that must happen is the seed must end up in the dirt somehow. The seed needs to get planted. In some cases, this planting is intentional. Growing up in Iowa, I was well aware of the large planters that were drub through the fields to plant corn. Another intentional method is planting gardens. We go through the work of digging holes and placing the seeds into the holes. Then we carefully place the dirt on top. These are very intentional ways of planting. We place the seeds exactly where we want them.

But there are also other ways to plant seeds. Squirrels hide their acorns underground. Now many of the nuts that are hidden underground are forgotten by the squirrels and begin to grow. The burying of the acorn was not for the purpose of planting a tree, but a tree is the end result. These seeds are not planted in any particular manner. And they are not planted with any particular intent. But even so, they do produce trees. There are some other types of seeds that don’t even get planted. The “helicopter” that fall from some trees just need a patch of fertile land to alight upon. No particular plan, just a lot of seeds and the hope that one will find a hospitable place to land.

Now the second step in growing something may seem almost too stupid to mention, but it is the place that many people get tripped up. Not only does the seed need to be planted, but the seed needs time to grow! This whole growing and changing process needs time! There is really nothing that we can do to speed this process along. All we can do is provide the optimum conditions. The optimum conditions help the seed to grow quickly. But even with conditions that are not optimal, the seed can still grow.

Then we come to the final step in the growing process; the produce must be harvested at the right time. If we harvest too early, the crop may not be edible. But if we harvest too late, the crop my rot on the vine. We want to harvest at that right time, when the crop is perfectly ripe for picking.

So we can compare God’s work in the world to the process in which plants grow from seeds into mature plants. We can also see how we are to be God’s people in the world, how we are to not only plant the seeds of our own faith, but how we can help plant seeds and help with the harvest.

We plant many seeds in many ways. We actively plant seeds by bringing our children and grand children to Sunday Worship. We actively plant seeds when we pray in our homes with our families. We also actively plant seeds when we volunteer to help, not only in church but in the community. We actively plant seeds when we invite others to join us on Sunday for worship. It is in these ways that we place seeds of God’s love into others lives. And it is in these ways God can grow the seeds to bring love and life to those we know.

Sometimes, however, seeds get planted when we don’t even realize we are planting them. I remember a letter my cousin once wrote to me. She remembered a time when I was with her as a little girl and how much that time meant to her. She said she remembered the time that I was pointing out the stars to her. I remembered that time. I thought I was just pointing out stars and I thought she was enjoying learning about the constellations. What she told me was that she had no idea what I was pointing out, she didn’t have her glasses on! She just enjoyed the fact that I was spending time with her and paying attention to her. I thought the important thing was the stars, she told me that the seeds that were planted were the seeds of time.

Sometimes we may not be called to plant the seeds but to prepare the ground. We may be called to prepare the soil so that someone else may plant the seed. How we act in the world helps to prepare the soil. When we claim to be Christian and act in the ways of love and kindness, we prepare the soil of others’ hearts to the message of the gospel. But when we claim Christianity and then act in ways that are judgmental and hateful, we help to harden the soil of others’ hearts and make it all the more difficult for the message to take root.

But I think the hardest part of this whole process is the waiting part. We want things to happen immediately. We want to see the seeds that we have planted grow and produce fruit right now! We have difficulty waiting. We may plan something and then be disheartened when there is not an immediate growth in membership or in giving. But this is not how we should look at things. We can plant seeds and we can work to make the ground fertile, but only God can make the seeds grow. We need to remember that although we may plant seeds, we may never see them grow. What we need to do is to do what we can do and then trust in God, and in God’s time, those seeds will grow into a bountiful harvest.

Another part of the process where God can use us in assisting with God’s will is in the harvest. We need to be aware that there are seeds growing all around us: seeds we may have planted and also seeds that others have planted. And these seeds are maturing to ripeness constantly. If we are too preoccupied in looking only at the seeds that we have deliberately planted, we may miss seeing the other plants that are ready for harvest. We may be too busy looking down, that we do not look around and see all the harvest that is ready to be picked. Or we may be so intent in looking at one spot that we may miss the seeds that have fallen elsewhere. When I look around, I am shocked at the places where things have grown! Just look at the cracks in the pavement. Or look at the gaps between bricks in some buildings. Things are popping out all over! The same can be said about our world. The seeds of God are being planted all over and are constantly reaching maturity. If we limit our sight to those places where we think things should be growing, we can so easily miss the places where things actually are growing!

Are we missing those seeds that are gowning in our community? Are we missing those seeds that are growing in our places of work? Are we looking for the fruit of God wherever we go?

Are we planting seeds wherever we go? Are there people who heed to hear the word? Are we reaching out to all whom God has placed before us? Are we spreading the seed of God’s love like the trees with the helicopters; spreading the love far and wide in the hopes that it will find a place to grow?

We have done a good job in planting seeds. We have given to other and we have invited others to join us. We can take joy in that. But we also need to realize that the fields to plant are immense and that the harvest is bigger than we realize. We can take joy in what we have done, but we also need to be challenged to extend our reach even further.

We need to trust and believe that in God all things are possible. In God, seeds will be planted and seeds WILL grow. We need to trust that even if we don’t see the seeds grow, others will be there to gather the harvest that we have sown. We need to trust that God will give us the eyes of faith to see the harvest that is right under our noses and the faith and courage to go out and gather the harvest. The harvest is plentiful, we just need to go out and gather it in!