This sermon was first shared at St Denys Evington on 20th June 2021. An audio recording is available here
“Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?” A question of awe, of fear, of wonder.
I invite you today to journey with me in your imagination as we explore this story from Mark’s gospel, and look for the answer to this question for ourselves. You might find it helpful to close your eyes as we take ourselves back to the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
After a day of teaching, Jesus suggested we cross the Sea, and at that point the weather seemed good and the water looked calm. He wasn’t wearing sea-clothes, and for some reason he was carrying a cushion, but it didn’t seem like that would be a problem, so we took him along, just as He was. But winds and storm clouds roll off the hills of Galilee without warning, and the sea turns into a monster. This one was the worst I’d ever seen, we all thought we were going to die, the waves broke over the sides of the boat, knocking us over so we could hardly stand, spray stung our faces, and we were soaked through. The boat was overwhelmed, we were sure we would drown!
But somehow, Jesus slept through, in the storm. It was as if he didn’t care, he certainly wasn’t afraid! In desperation we shook him awake, and cried out to him in fear, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
Jesus got up, and said just three words, directly to the wind and the waves, “Peace! Be still!” In an instant, the wind died down, and the sea was immediately completely calm. He turned to us and asked “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”, but we could give him no answer. As silence surrounded us we simply stood and stared at Jesus, in terrified awe. We’d seen him do miracles that even the prophets of old, like Moses and Elijah hadn’t done, casting out impure spirits, healing someone with leprosy and a paralysed man, even healing on the Sabbath, but this was different. Creation and the powers of the evil sea had bowed down at the sound of His voice. Who has that authority, and that power? From somewhere behind me, I heard one of us whisper the question on all of our lips, “Who is this, that even the winds and the waves obey him?”
For those of us who are mostly land-lubbers, we rarely experience the full power and danger of literal storms, except perhaps if we are regular hill walkers, ramblers or golfers, and so it can be easy to just read this symbolically. Whilst there is certainly symbolism and metaphor for our storms of life, which I will return to, to start here can mean we miss the power and the importance of the historical story of this miracle. ‘Historical’, because Mark has given us such details as could only come from eye-witnesses. Notice the details of the timing, the other boats, Jesus asleep on a cushion, the intense fear of the disciples and the abruptness of Jesus’ question which do not leave the apostles in the light they would be likely to choose if they were making up the story! This is important, because if this story really happened, we have to ask the question that the disciples asked… “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”
I wonder if you have ever tried to influence the weather, nature, or the workings of Creation? This might sound like an odd question, for deep down we all know that we can’t! And yet, that fact hasn’t stopped humans from trying, throughout the centuries – from the legend of King Canute commanding the sea to stop coming in to prove that he did not have that power, to our modern day flood barriers, to trying to prevent coastal erosion, hail cannons, so-called ‘anti-hurricane technology’ such as lasers or even trying to change the air temperature of storm systems, it seems to be a constant feature of human society! All this, despite our weather forecasts being often far from perfect. No wonder, then, that the disciples asked… “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”
Culturally, socially and in religious belief, the Jewish people were not a seafaring nation. Their enemies and neighbours, the Phoenicians, ruled the seas. Despite the disciples being mostly Galileans, living on the shores of, or near the Sea of Galilee, they would have held to the common beliefs of the time, that the sea symbolized the dark power of evil, threatening God’s good creation, God’s people and God’s purposes. We see this throughout the Jewish Scriptures found in the Old Testament – psalms repeatedly refer to sea monsters and the threat of the deep, and in the book of Daniel, monsters opposed to God come from the sea. In the very beginning, before Creation, there was a dark primal sea, and Jewish history tells the story of a prophet who was thrown overboard into the sea as punishment for running away from God! And the ultimate story of God’s redemption in Jewish history has God blowing back the fierce waves of the Red Sea to allow Israel to cross before those same waves consumed their enemies.
After calming the wind and the waves, Jesus turns to the disciples and asks two questions,
Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
I think this can sound like, and be received as, they “shouldn’t have been afraid”, there was no reason to be afraid and how silly the disciples were for being afraid. The problem with this is that we end up applying this to our own life-storms and fears, and the storms and fears that others face. I know for myself what impact that has – for a long time I had a significant fear of watching films, and it still sounds silly for me to say it. I’m also very wary of fireworks and lightning. Whilst I can’t necessarily explain these fears adequately to someone else, and I trust in God, it doesn’t mean that these fears are ‘irrational’ or without reason. In the case of films, some of it comes from not wanting to see people hurt and empathising with others too much, with the narrative often being very vivid, and all this amplified by watching a film on a very large screen in a cinema as a very small 6 year old! With fireworks and lightning, it seems to be to do with my ability to track things above my head and process where things are in relation to me – whilst I know that it is very unlikely to hit me, it is a possibility and, if you can’t track it visually, it’s much harder to avoid! As a child golfer, I was also told that if there was thunder and lightning on the golf course, you must leave the course immediately. My fears are a combination of reasoning, perception and learnt danger. Likewise, the disciples’ fear of the sea was cultural, learnt and experiential, as fishermen on Lake Galilee – the surrounding hills cause violent storm systems to appear without warning. Many of your fears, too, will have reasons, be they learnt from family, friends or society, or from your previous experiences.
Despite all this, Jesus asks these questions! Why, and how, could he ask them? It again comes back to the question the disciples asked. “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”
Trust is founded upon relationship. Relationships are based on identity. How we answer the disciples’ question changes whether we think Jesus can ask His questions, and it changes whether we can trust Him in the literal storms of Creation and, in turn, our life-storms and fears.
In our other passage for today, Paul urges the Corinthians to “not accept the grace of God in vain”, saying “now is the acceptable time, … now is the day of salvation”, and sets out the storms of life that He and his fellow letter writers have faced in their ministry – from beatings and imprisonments, to sleepless nights and hunger. Paul and his fellow apostles could endure all that they endured only because they knew the One who calmed the wind and the waves.
Today remains the acceptable time, today remains the day of salvation! We can always return to the One who has power over Creation, the One who conquers the forces of evil, even as He slumbers on the cross and in the grave, the One who rises to say “Peace! Be still!”
Do you know him?
What is your answer to the disciples’ question, “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”
repairerofwalls 