Sermon Chebsey & Seighford 21st June 2015
2 Corinthians 6.1-13
& Mark 4.35-41
This morning we are all at sea!
Well the Sea of Galilee. Not
a sea as such but a large lake some 13 miles long and 8 miles wide and fairly
shallow at 200 feet. This is partly why a wind barreling down the surrounding
hills could soon whip up a furious storm in the middle of the lake.
It also appears under
several others names, the Sea of Chinnereth or Sea of Tiberius or Lake of Gennesareth.
Being at sea was not good
place to be for a 1st century Israelite. The sea meant chaos and
demons. Think about the opening passages of Genesis, the water of chaos;
consider the healing of the Gaderene demoniac, with the filthy pigs and evil, unclean
spirits cast back into the sea.
Then hoping it is a
metaphor because I love the sea is that phrase in Revelation 21.1. ‘Then I saw "a new heaven and a new
earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and
there was no longer any sea.’
It is this undertone that
needs to be borne in mind when we look at this story.
Here is Jesus, we can
assume weary and tired so that as we might say, as soon his head hit the pillow
he was asleep.
I love the thought of
Jesus’ absolute trust. I remember taking our young children on a camping
holiday in France, one as young as six months.
They had little concept of what was going on as they made a long journey
and then slept under canvas. They trusted us as parents and as long we were
present then surely everything is going to be okay.
‘And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’
Matthew 28.20
Jesus was in the boat – he
had said ‘Let us go across to the other
side.’ He had not specified how they
were to go across – over the water, upon the water, over the water – they had
made an assumption, true a logically one, but an assumption none the less.
And we can make
assumptions when God asks us to do something – we quickly begin to think it
through and how we can go about it. Yet God may ask us to do something that
appears very illogical.
Isaiah 55.8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.”
Back to Lake Galilee and
the boat...
Eventually the disciples go to Jesus to wake him up. Certainly some
of these men were fisherman, and they had worked the Sea of Galilee for
generations, they had part blood and part Lake Galilee running through their
veins. Yet at this moment they turn to Jesus a carpenter for help.
Should we hear a motif
that will be played out in full as Mark writes his Gospel?
There will come a time
when Jesus will sleep, the sleep of death for three days.
There will come a
time when the disciples will be all at sea as Jesus is arrested and crucified
and laid dead in a tomb.
And remember all that I
have said about the sea being the place from where emanates all kind of evil – here,
as Jesus sleeps, the evil forces are trying to drown him and those who would
foolishly put their trust in him.
As Jesus is crucified the voices
of mockers cry out…
"He
saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now
come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. "He trusts in God; let
God rescue him now, if He delights in him, for He said, 'I am the Son of
God.'" Matthew 27.42-43
Is this not an echo we
hear in this little story?
And Jesus awakes and
rebukes the winds and the waves.
And Jesus comes out of the
tomb and rebukes death and sin and evil.
In the storm tossed boat
this is Jesus demonstrating his mastery over all the forces of nature – as an
authentic human being without sin he is living as Adam could have lived.
In the storm tossed boat
Jesus confronts all the powers of hell and with a word of command bids them be
still and silent and they obey.
Then Jesus turns to the
disciples and says, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’
Is this another echo – is
this the resurrected Jesus saying, ‘why were you afraid? Have you still no
faith?’
Little wonder however that
the disciples proclaim, ‘Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’
Do you get the drama – do
you feel the bristling tension, do you see the sea soaked disciples slacked
jawed and in utter awe.
There is so much more we
want to know about this story, and yet we are not told. Mark is a sparse Gospel
with an economy of words.
I imagine them remaining in
silence afterwards, putting the boat back to good order – each initially
wrapped in their own private thoughts. Only gradually beginning to talk about
what they had just witnessed.
Paul journeyed through
many stormy seas, quite literally, so that the Gospel of Grace might be heard
and spread and accepted.
Paul and many others
endured severe hardships to bear witness to whom this man was. The one whom the
very forces of nature could not drown, nor the might of Rome destroy. Nor could
the rejection by His own people stop the message of God’s rescue continuing to be
heard and demonstrated.
I’ve been in the same boat
as those disciples, in fear of drowning as various storms broke over my
head. But through it all I have learned
to trust in Jesus.
‘When
you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of
difficulty, you will not drown.’ Isaiah 43.2
What story can you tell
about being rescued by Jesus?
What hardships are you
willing to endure to bring to others the message of salvation?
Is Jesus in the boat with
you – or are you trying to sail through life under you own command?
Just who is Jesus for you
today?
And while you consider that, listen to this...
and should you want to know more visit here...
And while you consider that, listen to this...
and should you want to know more visit here...
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