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.