Sunday June 21, 2009 Mark 4:35-41

Hello to all. I have returned from my vacation in the Bluegrass Country of Kentucky. Last week I, with some of my family, visited my brother who lives in Lexington, right in the heart of horse country. Some of those farms are so large that they go on for quite a distance. He lives close to Windstar farms which had several horses in the Kentucky Derby. There’s nothing like driving down those narrow country lanes lined with trees on either side (no ditches at all, just big old trees next to the asphalt) and meeting another car. In order to pass you have to drive off into the grass on the side of the lane. They are about as wide as our driveways. The horses in the pastures are beautiful. In the evening we sat on his porch, on wooden rocking chairs, looking over a small valley and watched lighting bugs or as my three year old nephew called them lighting up bugs. All was good.

Last week our text was the verses previous to our verses this week. It was the parables of the growing seed and the mustard seed. After teaching in parables by the Sea of Galilee for most of the day while sitting in a boat (a teacher always sat while teaching and the students stood) he instructs his disciples to go to the other side of the Sea. What he had been teaching that day were illustrations (parables) of how God’s Kingdom was entering into the world. Gods Kingdom was starting as a small seed and would grow. God’s Kingdom was like a lamp radiating light that could not be hidden. He uses the parables to encourage them (and us) to think about how God’s reign was, and still is, entering the world.

V35-36 He instructs the disciples to take him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. This would not have excited the disciples as night was approaching and he was telling them to go to Gentile territory. They despised the Gentiles and would not step foot in their areas as they raised pigs, which were forbidden and unclean to the Jewish people. Also the Gentiles were pagans and in the Old Testament they were told by God to separate themselves from them. Keep in mind though that God had also wanted them to be a nation of priests to the Gentiles in the Old Testament. So how would they accomplish that task while remaining separate?

V37 A great storm came up. Even today great storms come up on the Sea of Galilee because of the terrain surrounding the lake. These storms can be very fierce. The waves are coming over the sides of the boat and it is taking on water. Once when my son was about three my husband and I were out on a lake with him when we saw a storm approaching. Our main motor had given out and all we had other than oars (for a 17 foot speed boat) was our electric trolling motor. We sat as low in the boat as we could because it was starting to lightening while that little motor pulled us to our dock, with waves turning into white caps. I understand some of the fear they felt. The Jewish people of that time feared the sea as it was the place of chaos. In Genesis chapter, one chaos and darkness covered the waters until God spoke and then order started to come into the world. They thought storms were evil powers of the demonic at work in nature.

V38 Jesus, after a long day of teaching the crowds, had fallen asleep in the stern of the boat which usually had a pillow of some kind. They finally wake him up because of their panic and fear with a statement which almost seems like a rebuke. “Do you not care”. How can he sleep when they are about to die in this storm. Why isn’t he awake helping them? In their eyes things are terrible. They are on the sea at night, in a storm, going to gentile territory. It’s the triple whammy of bad luck for this group of Jewish men. They, as we, would probably think “we shouldn’t be doing this right now as nothing is working out. We are in trouble because we are going to a place we shouldn’t be.” We’ve all had that experience of obstacles placed in our way.

V39 Jesus woke up and scolded the wind and the sea. “Peace, be still!” Instantly the wind and sea are calm. They have gone from a raging storm to utter calmness.

V40 He asks them why they are afraid and have they no faith (trust in the power of God?). His rebuke is not gentle. (Do they still not understand who he is?)

V41 They are filled with awe. This man only has to speak and nature obeys him. Who is he? They know from the Psalms (Ps 69:7, 89:9 and 107:23-32) that God has authority over nature but who is this man that has the same authority?

So what does this parable have to say to us since we probably will never be in a boat with Jesus ….or will we? At the end of the gospel stories Jesus ascended (transformed his appearance from the visible to the invisible) while never leaving us. He didn’t go somewhere to sit on a cloud in the sky but remained here to be with each of us at all times. So….we can be in a boat with him during a raging storm and he will provide calm. Our boat may be a difficult medical diagnosis or a crisis at home or one of many things we perceive as the storms in our lives. The point is that he is with us and we can turn to him for comfort and calm if we have faith (utter trust in the power of God). We may still have to experience the wind and the waves but we will have a calming presence beside us to help see us through.

Peace Kim