Epistle: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Gospel: Mark 4:35-41
Grace and Peace to you from God our Loving Creator, and our Peace when our world is anything but peaceful, Jesus the Christ, Amen
Out and about in a boat, Jesus and his friends crossed the sea of Galilee after “throwing around” parables for a while. They left in the evening, and Jesus had decided to take a nap. This guy never gets a rest for long, because soon into their journey, the disciples are scared for their lives and wake him up. Now, I’ve maybe been in a boat at night once. I don’t think I’d like to repeat that practice, but I can assume by the text that these disciples were rightfully scared. Jesus wakes up from his nap, yells to the storm, “Peace, be Still!”, and the winds cease. Right then and there, done. No more storm. Then he asks why they were afraid, and questions their faith. Why? Because immediately afterward, the disciples then wonder aloud to each other… ‘who is this wise guy that can suddenly calm storms?’ Yeah, Jesus. Where was their faith?
Where was their faith when Jesus told them about the reign of God just hours earlier? Where is our faith in a Christ that can save us from the turmoils of this world? Because these days, it seems like one of those times when we need a Savior to just yell to the world, “Peace, Be Still!”. When children are taken away and put into cages, and now their families along with them… Like some dystopian allusion to days we thought were behind us, the world’s realities of yesteryear seem ever present.
And speaking of yesterday’s problems seeming ever present, the last time I was up in this pulpit, I casually mentioned something about a supposed peace talk between North Korea and the United States, and how I had thought that it had somehow vanished from the news. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize and say that I was absolutely wrong in that thought, thinking that it was just something the President said offhand. Well… as it turns out, it seems I should be paying more attention to this idea of a Space Force.
Because it’s storm season, both literally and figuratively. Random little trickles that don’t seem all that important, sometimes turn into boat-rocking fury overnight. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus starts his ministry right away, there is no birth narrative in this Gospel. He hits the ground running after his baptism. Jesus gets into the boat with his disciples because for the last few chapters, he’s been preaching and teaching and ministering to the people almost non-stop. He got into the boat at night, because he wanted to rest. How convenient that these texts of Jesus being overworked and seeking out rest - happen in the summer, when full-time preachers are seeking rest from the work of Lent and Easter and the end of the school year, and when students and teachers take their summer breaks.
What started out as a trickle, of calling the first disciples and asking people to “follow me”, slowly turned into more and more people following him. If you notice in the text, the Gospel writer points out that Jesus’ boat was not the only boat. What started out as a trickle was now a crowd - and that crowd had joined them out in the water. What seemed like a storm for just the disciples, was a storm for the entire crowd, so taking that into account - the disciples waking Jesus - becomes that much more urgent.
The first amount of rest this man gets, and he wakes up with the storm beating down on him and all he has to do is speak to the storm, and the storm goes away. Who is this man that can control the storms… Who is this man that talks about the reign of God, who is this man who casts out demons, heals the sick, mends the broken, feeds the hungry… all with a few words? He is Jesus the Christ, the Messiah who lives in and through us all.
But what began as a trickle, as a man who taught and preached to the people and had people following him, started doing so on the wrong day, with the wrong people, in the wrong place, and people started to notice. Those that knew the laws, started taking issue with Jesus bending the laws, and breaking the laws. Jesus started breaking laws, and the storm of his destiny started to brew. And as he came closer to Jerusalem, the closer he came to his death. And then Jesus the Christ, who was teaching, preaching, feeding, healing, curing, comforting, loving and listening to all the wrong people at the wrong time on the wrong side of the street, was placed on the wrong side of a tree, and died for you and me.
What started out as a trickle, became the storm that rivaled all storms, and God Godself, said “Peace, be still”.
And Jesus the Christ, who died on that tree for us all, was still for one night, and then another night, and then rose again the next morning. The broken humanity, our broken humanity, that put him on that tree, is forgiven. Our brokenness is mended through God’s faithfulness, through the God-given Grace, Love and Mercy that is bestowed for you, for me, for us all.
And it is that Grace, Love and Mercy, that God gives us and Christ showed for us, that we must be open to - open to the Spirit flowing through us, to show and live out to and through one another. That we share that Grace, Love and Mercy to our neighbors. Our Native neighbors, our Latino neighbors, our neighbors of color, and our queer and trans neighbors. For we are called to build bridges between people, not walls or cages.
Because all of us are beloved children of God. We were all children once, and some of us have children or even grandchildren of our own. One of the many things childhood teaches us is that the world is so much bigger than we can ever imagine, but when that world is squashed by someone far away making a far-reaching decision… how small that world begins to feel. That’s one heck of a life-altering storm.
“Peace, be still!” our Savior cried out to the storm, and the storm ceased. Our prayers can ask for peace in the region, and in our region, and for whatever storm is in our way. That’s the funny thing about peace. We can do all things through Christ, even create peace in our world. When we work together, with the Spirit to guide us, peace and justice will prevail.
The Apostle Paul wrote in our Epistle for today, “...as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” (2 Corinthians 4-10 NRSV)
With Christ guiding us through the storms of our lives, the Peace that we seek will form out of our willingness to work together, embracing our differences to spread God’s Grace, Love and Mercy to our neighbors.
Beyond all else, let Peace and Love shine through.
Amen.
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