July 28, 2024 Sermon
Dear Heavenly Father, You sent Your Son to reveal Your will and grace, and to restore us to a meaningful relationship with You. By the power of Your Holy Spirit, please open our hearts and minds to receive His word, to focus our lives around His redeeming grace, and empower us for witness. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
A common theme in holy scripture is the assurance that with the Lord there is no need to fear. Even as we are confronted with things that give us heartache and pain, separation and sorrow, our Lord comes to us amid the chaos to calm our fears and give us hope. Today’s Gospel is a case in point.
I don’t think we can really comprehend what the disciples were truly going through as they journeyed with Jesus—listening to Him teach and seeing the things He did.
Granted, there were many teachable moments, but some of them were not all that flattering.
This text from Mark’s Gospel centers on how they didn’t know it was Jesus walking on the water. It was just a few weeks ago when we heard that Jesus was sleeping soundly on a cushion in a boat and a great storm arose. How could they have forgotten that event so quickly?
And today, as Jesus climbs into the boat with them, scripture tells us that the disciples were utterly astounded because they had already forgotten about the miracle in the feeding of the 5000 which had just happened–and actually thought Jesus was a ghost.
We might tend to think that all these events should have been obvious to the disciples because we already know the end result– hindsight is always 20/20. But when the disciples were literally in the middle of the storm, they could only go by what they thought they were seeing . . . and they didn’t get it. Eventually they will.
This Gospel clearly shows us the strains and pains God’s people were experiencing, both the disciples and the crowds on Gennesaret’s shore.
As the disciples were on the sea, the text says, they were straining against the heavy winds making very little headway. It was late, they were tired, and there was a real fear that they would not make it across safely. These disciples strained to make any headway at all.
With Jesus’ help, the disciples land on the other side of the sea, where Jesus encounters the second group of people. Jesus’s fame had spread throughout the region, so they brought to him their sick and lame–and Jesus healed them, even if all they were able to do was touch his clothing. There was only one thing that could help them deal with the pains of this mortal life: the presence of Jesus. It was true then; it is true now.
If each one of us honestly look at our lives, we would probably agree that we are truly blessed by God. We have family and friends to share our lives; we are blessed with jobs and opportunities to use our gifts in service to our neighbor; we have a place to live and food to eat and many other blessings from our Creator allowing us to enjoy all that God provides.
However, there are moments where the wind picks up: we fight with someone we love, our job is stressful, or even taken away from us; the responsibilities of homeownership overwhelm us, our life or someone we love is in jeopardy. Like the disciples, we find that the days become long, and we are tired and making any headway in life is painful.
As people of God, we know we can turn to Him for help. But as sinful people, we often think that we can do it ourselves, and even knowing Jesus, we may see him as the disciples did: like a ghost and not really there.
When life is a struggle, when hardship happens, when suffering is up close and personal, we tend to close up, to isolate ourselves, to bear the strains and pains of our misery alone. As people of faith, we ought to know this is not the way things are intended to be; we know where we can turn to find divine help, and yet we choose not to.
An outsider looking at our life might sometimes think, “How come you don’t get it? Haven’t you learned by now that Jesus is always with you?”
It was the presence of Jesus that brought calm amid wind and waves. It was the presence of Jesus that brought healing to the sick and frail. It is the presence of Jesus that comforts us bringing help, healing and life through forgiveness and grace.
From the moment of our Baptism, the Lord’s promise is that he will never leave us or forsake us.
He continues to make his presence known through His Holy Word. We have his very life given to us in the Lord’s Supper. His presence is demonstrated to us as we receive his daily provision in all times and in every circumstance, all because Jesus is present with us.
In fact, Jesus knows the heartache and hurt that we experience. He is the one who died for us on the cross and has risen from the grave to give us the eternal gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation.
“Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid”. These are powerful, comforting words right from our Lord and Savior.
Look to Jesus, as He steps into the boat with us to bring an end to our strains; he brings his healing touch to us for all our pains of body and soul; he has gained for us the kingdom and promises us life with him eternally. Just as He promised, Jesus is always with us.
Your health and life are forever preserved by the presence of Jesus, so whatever may come for you, you can confidently pray to the Lord:
Our hands and feet, Lord, strengthen; With joy our spirits bless Until we see the ending, Of all our life’s distress, and so throughout our lifetime, Keep us within Your care and at our end then bring us, to heav’n to praise You there. Amen
