The Storms of Life

June 21, 2015                            

Mark 4:35-41

Prayer

Our story in Mark is much more than a weather event Jesus’ friends are experiencing. To be sure… their boat is being so swamped with water they are fearful for their very lives. In fact… I think they’re positively P.O.’d at Jesus and are screaming at him to do something. They’ve seen him do miraculous things after-all. But… Jesus is just laying in the back of the boat resting his eyes.

But They’re screaming… “Teacher don’t you care?”…. Jesus Don’t You Care?

I remember being out on Saginaw Bay one summer day on a buddies sailboat. The weather was fine when we left the dock, but quickly turned cloudy and very windy turning the 1-2 ft waves into 4-6 ft waves. The boat was being battered by the waves and the wind and I was more than a bit anxious… truth be told… I was very afraid we wouldn’t make it back. We did, but next time I checked the weather reports more intentionally after that.

For Jesus’ friends… they wake him… Jesus see’s their fear and quiets the storm. And now… I think they’re more fearful seeing Jesus do this than they are of the storm. I mean… how did he do that? They just witnessed Jesus doing something quite unbelievable… calming nature. No doubt… a miracle and at the very least a sign of something quite remarkable for sure. Not only were Jesus’ friends fearful of the elements of nature. Now… they’re fearful of being in the presence of the living God. And in their minds, no one else could have done what they’ve just witnessed.

Jesus’ friends just experienced something extraordinary, a miracle that left them speechless. For Mark… Jesus’ friends have seen Jesus do some remarkable things. Jesus has healed people, but they’ve seen people do this. There were faith healers in many towns… and it was not uncommon in Jesus’ day to see faith healers healing people.

However… this was much different… Jesus calmed a storm! Jesus did something that only God could do. And this is an all new experience for Jesus’ friends and they all experienced it and now it’s changed them… and that’s unsettling for them.

I share a story of when I did my clinical work at OSU. Essentially I was a chaplain for 10 weeks one summer. After a long day of being with, praying with, and offering hope to sick people. And being on call this night I received a page from the hospital that the family of a dying woman wanted a chaplain. I went to the ICU room and as the family gathered around the bed I stood at the foot of the bed as they shared their mother’s story. Nurses began disconnecting monitors and as we briefly left the room so the respirator could be removed. When we returned we gathered and I prayed.

It was the first time I had witnessed someone actually dying and as the heart monitor began its slow descent of the heart beat the family bowing their hears, some crying, some holding their mothers hands I looked up as I finished my prayer and saw what appeared to be a person standing at the head of the bead with their hands opened as to receive this woman. I looked around and said to myself… does anyone see what I am seeing? Does anybody see this?I began shaking in fear… is this Jesus or an angel, or …. I was experiencing something I had never experienced. It was a holy moment that changed my life.

The next day after we finished our rounds we (my colleagues) gathered to share what we experienced during the day with our supervisor. I dared not share what had happened the previous evening. No one would believe what I saw. They would certainly think I was crazy or nuts. I thought to myself… Lutherans don’t believe in such things. There’s no way I’m going to share this and I didn’t.

     

As I reflect on this I think I am just as fearful of what I experienced as were Jesus’ friends with their experience. This experienced changed me big time and it made a huge impact on my life. So… I have to believe it had to change Jesus’ friends too.

Leif Engler in his book “Peace Like a River” says, “Miracles bother people, like a sudden unknown pain.” He goes on to say, “People fear miracles because they fear being changed.”

Jesus asked his friends, “Why Are You Afraid?”

I don’t share my story very often. I know that may be silly but I think people will think I’m nuts. I believe that’s why Jesus’ friends are fearful as well… who’s going to believe this? And then there’s the notion that Christians aren’t suppose to be afraid of the disturbances of life because after-all we have God… right! That being Christian somehow makes us immune to such fears. If anything… there’s an extra heaping of struggle placed upon us.

Look at the incident in South Carolina this past week.

I can tell you It’s got me a bit worried…

This is why I think our story in Mark is so relevant for us today. Despite the storms in life Jesus seeks to change us. And this past week we as a nation have experienced a tragedy and something needs to change because these kinds of incidences are becoming much to frequent and devastating. The issues of racism, hate, killing, and the polarization of society need more than just be addressed. We need to do something about it. We’ve been talking about it for generations and yet we can’t talk about the issues. It seems we can’t talk to one another about anything these days. This must change. We must be changed.

The change we experience shouldn’t be in a fearful way, but in a way where we can encounter the living God. Our God is a God who cares about us and a Jesus who experiences our fearfulness and promises to calm the storms of life. Let’s not be afraid any longer.

I believe the storms of life change us for a life God is calling to.

It’s a life where we experience an amazing encounter of God.

It’s kind of like… between a reverential awe and holy terror.

I sort of felt this way during the 3 years it took to discern God’s call of my life into pastoral ministry… way cool ministry experiences and holy terror of making a mid-life change.

In Closing…

It seems to me… if our focus is on the storms surrounding us we will miss the miracle before us.

We will miss where God is at work in the world….

We will miss that God is calling us to the other side of the lake…

And we will miss what it means to imagine differently what it means to be people of faith.