In the Gospel lesson today we read in Mark chapter 6 that
the disciples were out on the water in a small boat during the middle of a
great storm. And then these words
but when they saw Jesus
walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, [50] for they
all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said,
"Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." This is our text.
The miracles that Jesus performed:
walking on water, calming the stormy winds and waves, feeding the 5000, these
all show that Christ has the power to save. You can trust Him to save. He can
do it. So when you come into a life-threatening situation, when you are wrestling
with a troublesome thought, when you have the temptation to fear what’s in
store, you can know, you can believe that Christ has the power to save.
The disciples were learning this. When
Jesus calmed the storm that night, the disciples “were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves,
but their hearts were hardened” (vs. 51-52).
They were astounded by Jesus
miracles because they were still learning about what it meant to see Jesus
multiply loaves and calm the storm. Mark the Gospel writer, is a good story
teller. As we read his Gospel he has a way of taking us along – bringing us
along with the disciples to a better understanding of who Jesus is and what
great things Jesus does.
Now going back to the start of
this passage from Mark 6,
Immediately Jesus made his
disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida,
while he dismissed the crowd (Mark
6:45).
Jesus sends his disciples on to
the next place for the next thing, and in so doing, He sends them into
difficulty, into a fearful situation. The reason they were on the lake that
stormy night was because Jesus had told them to. This is a tough piece to swallow: Our Lord
sometimes sends us right into difficult things. He has the power to save. He
also ought to have the power to prevent, right? Has He never heard of the
saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? We learn with the
disciples that the Lord tests us.
It was a testing. Not a punishment.
This is not a case of chastisement for the disciples. Sometimes our Lord
disciplines those He loves. He warns of wrath and punishment for sinners, “punishing
children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of them
that hate me,” says the Lord. But that was not what He’s doing in this case.
The disciples were obediently following the Lord’s instruction, they were
headed to the other side of the lake as he ordered.
You see, you can’t always find a
simple explanation to problems in this messed up and confusing life. You feel
like saying, “Why is this happening to me? Why is the Lord giving me suffering?
Why do I have problems instead of peace?
Why do I have loss instead of prosperity? When there is no clear answer to such
questions, you just have to deal with it.
Reading further in Mark’s gospel,
there’s a little something even more troubling in verse 48,
“They were making headway
painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the
night Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them” (Mark
6:48) it wasn’t until, they in terror, cried out, did Jesus stop, come back to
them and deliver them.
This is sort of a disturbing
image. The disciples are rocking in this boat, and Jesus appears as though he
is about to pass on by.
We heard the news from Branson last week, this heart-breaking
story of families with children taking a duck-boat ride, on the lake. And a
great storm rose up and the waves broke across the sides of this amphibious
vehicle and it sank. 17 of the 31 lives on board were lost, including a whole
family wiped out in one horrible moment.
What was the Lord doing? Did He
just pass on by? What should you believe at such times? You have been taught
since you were a child that God is everywhere, and that Jesus is with you wherever
you go. But what about times like that, when He appears to just be passing on
by, not paying attention to us, not caring about our problems, our accidents,
sickness, heartbreak, loss. Again, you can’t help but ask, “Why?”
Dear friends, listen to the way
Mark tells his gospel, be brought along with the disciples to fuller faith and
greater understanding.
At first they didn’t understand
about the loaves. They saw with their own eyes, Jesus multiply the bread enough
to feed thousands, but their hearts were not yet believing. So when they were
about to drown, all they had to go on was what they saw with their eyes, the
wind, the waves, the storm, their hearts were hardened, not believing.
In each storm, for each trial, at
every loss in life, God is inviting you to believe that He loves you. He loves
you with “the love of Christ, that
surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19). He loves you even though you can’t
see it. He loves you even when you aren’t experiencing it and feeling it.
We believe that God’s constant
purpose is for our good. We experience that when He delivers. The disciples saw
that with their own eyes when the wind ceased and the waters calmed. They saw
it fully when their dead savior rose from the grave alive at Easter.
The hardships you face, the
suffering you endure builds faith, faith in what we do not see. On that boat,
all the disciples saw was the storm. The Lord showed them they that He provided
a path through the storm.
When you are going through a
crisis, all you can see is the trouble. Believe that the Lord is providing a
path through the storm.
That’s the testing that the Lord
Jesus lovingly gives to his disciples then and now, in so far as you are his disciple
and follower.
By this testing disciples grow in
understanding and faith.
In understanding – that you can
pass through pain and fear. They are experiences that only last for a time. You’ll
get through it.
And in faith – believing that you are
passing through the storms of life with the help of the Lord.
I’ve asked a couple of people
lately this question, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Because often when we
are faced with a problem its our fear that’s the worst part of the problem. Our
imagination fixates on the worst possible outcome.
So identify what’s the worst thing
that can happen. Now by saying that I don’t want to sound like I’m making light
of other people’s problems. I realize that the situations you facing are
probably more serious than I can guess. When you bang your thumb with a hammer,
you whole body is debilitated by the throbbing. You can’t think about anything
else beyond the pain. So in the middle of a storm, at sea or in life it seems
like there’s nothing beyond you can think about.
Try to answer that question, what’s
the worst thing that can happen? I suppose one could say, the worse thing is You
can die a painful death. But is that really the worst? Jesus says to you, “whoever believes in me will not perish,
but will have eternal life.” suffering and death only last for a little
bit. You’ll get over that pain in heaven.
What’s the worst thing that can
happen? God could carry out that punishment for your sins like He warned you.
He’s always right in his judgments, so your punishment would be deserved,
because you’ve sinned.
But know Jesus takes care of that,
too. He says, “I forgive you all your sins.” He has died for you, to wash you
clean of sin, free of guilt.
Believe that, and everything else
will be ok.
There’s great benefit to you when
the Lord directs you into the storms of life. With faith in the good Lord and
His power to save you, you can say with boldness, these storms, these trials,
this present suffering is right where my Lord is helping, guiding me,
delivering me.
