Mark 4:35-41
Last November, a storm passed through northern California. It was not a historic storm in terms of size or power, but - at Lake Tahoe - it did create 30 mile-an-hour winds, 55 mile-an-hour gusts, and waves six to eight feet tall.
Surfers - in wetsuits that were extra-thick, I assume - travelled from coastal cities near San Francisco up to the Sierras for the opportunity to surf the waves at Lake Tahoe. We don't usually think of Lake Tahoe having waves big enough to surf, but when there's a storm, it can happen.
The Sea of Galilee is slightly smaller than Lake Tahoe. Calling it a “sea” is rather generous. But if a storm could create six to eight foot waves on Lake Tahoe, a storm could create similar conditions on the Sea of Galilee, with wind and waves and surf.
Unlike modern surfers, most people in ancient times were not good swimmers. The boats the disciples had were small fishing boats. Boats like that were not designed for conquering six-to-eight-foot waves. Such conditions would put the boat’s occupants in mortal danger. The waves hitting their boat, splashing water into their eyes so they couldn’t see. The rocking and tossing would knock them over, causing them to fall on top of each other in the boat. The boat’s occupants would always be just one wave or gust of wind away from being thrown from the boat and into the churning chaos.
Why were Jesus and his disciples out on the water in such conditions?
They were out there because Jesus had said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” Jesus had been teaching beside the lake in his home region, the region of Galilee, and this had worn him out. He was tired, and said, “Let’s go to the other side.”
Now, in the boat, in the storm, the disciples start wondering if maybe Jesus was so tired that he wasn’t thinking clearly. And just where is Jesus, anyway?
Oh, he’s in the stern of the boat, the back… asleep. The boat rocking violently… and he’s asleep. Waves crashing over him, and he’s asleep.
How can he be asleep? How can he not be terrified awake? How can his mind be at peace so that he is able to close his eyes and rest?
You already know that the next scene involves Jesus standing and commanding the wind and waves to be still. Did that really happen? Did Jesus really calm the wind and the waves by speaking to them?
Over the years, my study of scripture has taught me that stories like this one may or may not have happened exactly as they are described. I have reasons to believe that this story did happen just the way it is told, and I have reasons to believe that, perhaps, this story is more of a parable, told to illustrate a spiritual truth. My lifelong study of scripture provides no definitive answer to the question of whether this story happened exactly as described.
But my study of scripture does tell me that, in another very important and very real way, Jesus and the disciples were sailing into a very different type of storm.
Across the lake, on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, was an area that was not their home, an area where the Roman presence was even more formidable than it was on their side.
If Jesus took his message about the kingdom of God with him, and proclaimed it there, across the sea, in an area that was so heavily aligned with the kingdom of Rome, he would be sailing right into the eye of a metaphorical hurricane.
The oppressive kingdom of Rome created an inhospitable storm that threatened life and freedom for many. And Jesus took his disciples right into that storm.
In the same way, many today who are committed to the way of Jesus, and to the kingdom he proclaimed, find themselves being tossed about by the storm that has been brewing in our lives and in our society.
In our society today there is a hurricane of hatred and a hailstorm of inhospitality. There are gusts of greed and cyclones of corruption. There is a rainstorm of racism and prevailing winds of prejudice. There is a haboob of homophobia sweeping across the land and a tumult of transphobia. We’re dodging lightning bolts of lies. There is a deluge of deception, a whirlwind of white supremacy, a monsoon of me-first mentality, a cloudburst of class warfare against the poor, a tropical depression of unjust incarceration, and a tempest of political ineptitude, all of which are working together to create a catastrophe of immorality.
That’s quite a storm.
And Jesus calls the church to boldly sail right in to this storm, to not be weak or timid or afraid.
When the disciples saw the storm, they were afraid. They woke Jesus up. “Jesus, don’t you care that we are about to drown?”
Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!”
And all was calm.
Then Jesus said to the disciples: “Why were you afraid?”
No, actually, he used the present tense. “Why are you afraid?” The storm was over, but Jesus spoke in the present tense.
Maybe he was speaking of the storm yet to come; maybe this whole story is really about the storm yet to come, the storm they would encounter once they arrived on the other side, and began preaching the kingdom of God.
“Why are you afraid? Why are you frightened? Where is your faith? You cannot have a weak faith in times like these. You cannot have a timid faith in times like these. This storm is strong, and it requires you to have a faith that is strong.”
A faith like that finds its confidence in God. A faith like that knows that the storm is strong, but it also knows that as long as you follow God’s will, all will be well. All will be well.
That does not mean that life will be easy and free of struggle. It does not mean that life will be free of pain or hardship.
“All will be well” means that people may hate you and revile you, but even so, all will be well. It means that people may persecute you, but even so, all will be well. It means they may arrest you, but even so, all will be well. It means they may imprison you, but even so, all will be well. It means they may whip you, beat you, even crucify you… but even so, all will be well.
That is a bold, courageous faith. It allows you to find peace even in the midst of the storm.
This is why we practice faith. This is why we pray. This is why we worship. This is why we train ourselves in the way of love.
It’s not easy to develop this kind of faith. The disciples tried, and they were close, but they weren’t quite there yet. They had mixed feelings about sailing into the storm, proclaiming the kingdom of God in the very heart of the kingdom of Rome. They had doubts and fears.
A faith that is at peace in the midst of the storm is not something we can build or construct. It is a gift from God. It is a gift of God’s grace. But we need to open ourselves up to that gift. We need to accept it and claim it.
Commanding the wind and the waves to be still - is that really the miracle that happened? You may ask that, but I don’t think it’s what we should be paying attention to. Because the real miracle isn’t whether or not one can control and command meteorological phenomena.
The real miracle is finding the faith that allows you to be at peace even in the midst of the storm.
The real miracle isn’t saying to the wind and waves, “Peace! Be still!” The real miracle is allowing your faith to grow so that your heart and mind can be at peace even when there is no peace in the world around you.
Jesus found that calm peace. The storm raged, but he was able to sleep. Jesus had that assurance.
And I suspect these gifts of peace and assurance from God came to him all those years he was growing up, listening and learning and studying the ways of God. I suspect they came to him during the forty days he spent in the wilderness at the start of his ministry. I suspect they came to him in his times of prayer, his times of silence, the times he spent alone with his own thoughts, trying to discern the will of God - those times apart that he was always seeking.
He had to find that peace and that calm within before he could work to bring peace and calm to the world.
You may know that I share my home with two dogs. And one of the things dogs do is bark. They bark at the mail carrier, especially, but sometimes they bark at other people walking down the street.
Sometimes I’m the one walking down the street, passing by a house, and that neighbor’s dog starts barking at me. Woof! Woof! Woof!
And 9 times out of ten, my human neighbor then starts yelling at the dog. “Fido! Cut it out! Stop barking! Just… shut up!”
The dog doesn’t understand the words. The dog just thinks, “Oh, good; they’re barking too! I must be doing something right!” And the dog keeps barking.
If the human is not speaking calmly, the dog is not going to calm down. If the human is speaking in an agitated tone, it’s only going to rile the dog up even more...
If the world is in chaos; if we’re living in the midst of a storm; if the voices of hate and intolerance are barking nonstop… and we start barking at them… we’re only going to rile things up.
And no one will find peace.
How I wish people would understand this!
Usually, when the voices of hate say something offensive, those who try to be on the side of love only start barking. When the agitators proclaim or tweet a message of intolerance, the barking starts, which only encourages them.
This is why we need to ground ourselves in faith, in the assurance that all will be well. With faith that is strong, and with confidence in God, we will find a way to speak that will be bold and confident, yet also calm and level-headed; a way to speak that leads to peace.
In any emergency, we know that we’re supposed to be calm. A calm mind will help us react to any emergency appropriately.
The disciples were not calm. They were freaking out. They were panicking. Things were out of control, and they could not handle the storm they were facing.
But Jesus was calm. And that calmness allowed him to control the storm, rather than have the storm control him.
I know these are difficult times. When our own government is separating children from their families and putting them in cages, and sending them thousands of miles away from their parents - my God! Of course we, as Christians, have the responsibility to speak out, to be bold, to be courageous, to be public, to contact our lawmakers, and to vote out any leader who does not act to immediately end such a morally offensive practice.
But if we just bark and yell - if all we do is make noise - if we panic and lose control of our emotions - then we lose control of the situation. The storm takes control, when what we really need is for love to take control.
If we do not search within for love, and for how love would respond, then all our noise is gibberish - a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.
I know. There are so many situations - some that affect us directly, some that do not - that make us want to yell, cuss, rant, and lose control.
But we can’t let the storm control us. We need to remember that by allowing God to work through us, God can control the storm. God can bring light out of darkness.
And all will be well.
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