Peace! Be Still!
Mark 4:35-41
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7)
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for the fifth Sunday after Pentecost is the Gospel reading Mark 4. In our Gospel reading for today, Mark tells us that Jesus and His disciples were on a boat. A great windstorm arose causing waves to fill the boat with water. Jesus was asleep and the disciples were terrified. They woke the Lord and cried out to him. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing”. As the disciples faced this huge storm, they started to think that the Lord did not care for them. Jesus’ disciples were veteran fishermen, and they knew all about storms on the Sea of Galilee, but they also lacked a full understanding of just who it was that was with them in their boat.
The disciples asked the question, “Lord, Do you care?” I am sure we have asked that question as well. Some of you may have had a near death experience like the disciples. Perhaps it happened because of a natural disaster or perhaps it was a serious health scare. But even if you haven’t had a near death experience you still live in this sinful world and as a result you have experienced fear. There are all sorts of things that can happen to us that cause us great fear. We can experience medical problems, financial woes, strife in our marriage and broken relationships. We face loneliness, and uncertainty. When these things happen it is hard to see the Lord in our life. We may even think the same thing that the disciples did in our text. “Lord, do you not care?”
There are so many things that can cause us to be afraid. We can certainly get fearful when we see what is happening in the world. We see wars and protests. We see political division in our country that cannot easily be solved. We see troubles in our government, educations system, and in the medical field. We see troubles in all of our institutions. We can grow fearful when we look at what is happening in the church. We see dwindling attendance, trouble with finding volunteers, and people having worldly priorities. When we look what is happening around us it is hard to see the Lord’s presence. We may even think the same thing that the disciples did. “Lord, do you not care?”
There are many things that can make us fearful. The thing that can make us the most fearful is the spiritual warfare that we experience every day. Day and night we are tempted to sin. We are tempted to be selfish. We are tempted to follow along with the corrupt world. When we succumb to sin, we experience guild. We lament our weakness. We get discouraged. We will be tempted every single day and so we struggle spiritually every day. When we have to face the spiritual struggle of being a Christian in this world it is very easy for us to cry out to the Lord and say, “Lord, do you not care?”
When the disciples faced the great windstorm, they cried out to Jesus. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Jesus stood up and calmed the storm by saying the words, “Peace! Be still!” Jesus commanded the storm to stop, and it did. Our Lord demonstrated His power over all creation. Christ Jesus is the Son of God. He is the second Person of the Trinity. All things were created through Him. Jesus is God in the flesh. That is who was sitting in the boat with the disciples. There was no reason for the disciples to be fearful because the Lord was with them. That is why Jesus said these words to them. “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” The stilling of the storm demonstrated the Lord’s tremendous power. The Lord Jesus is indeed the ruler and sustainer of the entire creation.
We sometimes forget that. We focus so much attention on what we struggle with or what makes us afraid that we forget about all the things that go right. We take many things in our life for granted. How many times have we driven our car into town safely? How many times have we arrived at our destination without a scratch? That is the Lord’s hand guiding us the entire way. When we wake up every morning, we know that the world will be there. It is the Lord who sustains the earth as it orbits the sun. Each day we are able to look out at the trees and the crops and the clouds in the sky knowing that they will be there. We breathe every moment knowing that oxygen will fill our lungs. Jesus said, “Peace! Be still!” Our Lord sustains this world and preserves our lives every day.
But what do we say about the hard times? What about all those things that happen in our life because of sin? What about those times when we are afraid? Again we turn to our Lord. The Lord Jesus came into the world to overcome all the things that would cause us to be afraid. The things that would cause us the greatest fear would be sin, death and Satan. The Lord came into the world to conquer all of those great enemies and He has done so through His death and resurrection. Through His shed blood on the cross He has wiped away our sins. We are no longer a slave to our sins, but we have been set free from them. Through the death of Jesus on the cross the power of Satan has been broken. He can no longer accuse us of our sins because we have been forgiven. And it is the Lord who has over come death for us through His resurrection. Because Jesus lives, we to shall live. Death does not have the finale word. It is the Lord Jesus who has the final word, and He is the One who has given us eternal life. And so we trust in Jesus. It is the Lord who has defeated sin, death, and the devil for us. It is the Lord who laid down His life because of His great love for us.
If the Lord has already won our salvation, then He will certainly be with us when we face the struggles in this life. As we go about our life, we know that the Lord is in the boat with us. He calmed the storm for the disciples, and He does the same thing for us. We may experience medical problems, financial woes, strife in our marriage, broken relationships, loneliness and uncertainty but the Lord is with us, and He is not asleep. Remember who is with you. It is Jesus, the Son of God. It is Jesus your Savior. He will guide you and guard you now, in the future and to eternity.
There are many things that make us afraid in this world but remember the Lord is in control of the entire creation. It is His hand that moves all things for the good of His people. It is the Lord who restrains evil and preserves the righteous. It is the Lord who will visibly return to usher in the new heavens and the new earth. When we look at the church on earth it often looks weak and feeble. We begin to worry. Yet we must remember that Jesus is the head of the church. The reality is that the church is always growing. Every person who is baptized is added to the church. Everyone who hears the Gospel and believes is added to the church. We are all part of a much larger gathering of every believer from every age all around the world. Eventually we will see all of our brothers and sisters in Christ in heaven. We are fearful because we struggle with temptation and spiritual warfare. Yet, we are reminded that the Lord remains with us. He will never leave us. He forgives us, restores us, and gives us a clean conscience.
There is nothing to fear because the Lord is with you and that is a good thing because He is gracious to you. The creator and sustainer of all things is also your Savior. He is your Lord. Peace be with you! Amen.