In Jesus Holy Name June 24, 2012
Text: Mark 4:35,37-39 Pentecost IV Redeemer
Finding God in Unexpected Places
(read the text)
Eight top recently reviewed books about Jesus:
1) The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical Inquiry
2) Jesus after 2000 Years
3) American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon
4) Human Christ: The Search for the Historical Jesus
5) The First Messiah
6) Deconstructing Jesus
7) Jesus and the Lost Goddess
Who is Jesus? That is the question that must be answered if you have heard his name. Who is Jesus? That was the question in the first century when he lived and it is still valid today. It is the reason Mark wrote His Gospel.
Two weeks ago the question was asked: “How can a person be saved?” The answer was a choice: “self-salvation” based on what you do to earn God’s blessings now and the hereafter. Or. Knowing that your eternal address is based on faith in Jesus and his death and resurrection.
This question: Who is Jesus? is the question that the ordinary man on the street, including the disciples had to answer. The religious Jewish scholars had to answer this question. That is why in the Gospels we read about the Sadducees and Pharisees always watching and listening and questioning Jesus.
Almost 2000 years ago the land of Galilee was humming with rumors. Have you seen him? Did you see his miracles last week? Do you think he is a prophet sent from God? Maybe? You know he grew up in Nazareth. His dad was an ordinary carpenter. It’s hard to say. I hear he’s going to speak at the synagogue this Sabbath.
It didn’t take long. Soon people were traveling from every place. The streets were choked with people wanting to see the man who worked miracles. They gathered on the hillsides. They heard him speak in parables.
He told them that the kingdom was like a farmer who went out to sow seeds. He compared the Kingdom to the small mustard seed, which becomes a giant plant. He told many stories, but the day was now fast passing and it was time to depart. Jesus told his disciples that they must go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
When the evening came he asked the fishermen with him to travel by boat to the other side of the lake. He was very tired. He fell asleep. Soon the stiff winds began to blow. Clouds filled evening sky. The sky cracked and rain began to fall. Hard. A furious little storm, with waves beginning to break over the boat. The fishermen were bailing for all they were worth but the boat was about to sink.
They were afraid. They woke Jesus; all hands were needed to keep the ship afloat. Jesus got up… rebuked the wind and said to the tossing waves. “Quiet!” “Be Still” Immediately the lake was smooth as glass and the air was till.
Those in the boat were stunned. Matthew tells about the same event and records their words: “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and waves obey him?” Who would expect to find God in a boat in the person of Jesus? An unexpected place. They discovered that God was in their presence in the person of Jesus.
In the little village of Nazareth some 30 years before an angel told Joseph in a dream….that “Mary would have a son and he should be name Jesus. He will be called Emmanuel which means: God is with us. This my friends is the radical concept of Christianity. God came to the earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. No other religion in the entire world believes that the Supreme Being, the One who created all things would ever come as a person, die on the cross, and rise from death and then freely offer the gift of eternal life by faith in this same Jesus.
To the Jews, God was in heaven and he chose to dwell on earth in the “Temple” in Jerusalem. Jews would bring their offerings to the temple in Jerusalem. They would gather in Jerusalem on the Day of Atonement and the priest would take the community through “divine worship.” A spotless lamb would be sacrificed. Blood would be sprinkled on the altar and forgiveness would be pronounced.
These Jewish fishermen also expected to find God in the temple… not in the boat, not in the synagogue in Capernaum. In Matthew 14 we find the rest of the story… Another storm. They are rowing against the wind… when Jesus comes walking on the water in the darkness of the night. Peter said… Lord, if it is you let me come to you. Peter walks on the water to Jesus. But he takes his eyes off Jesus and begins to sink. Jesus reaches down, takes his hand and immediately they are in the boat.
What to do the disciples do? They worship him! They discover God, in an unexpected place….not the temple, but in their presence.
They thought the danger lie outside the boat. They would soon learn the real danger lie within the boat, within their own hearts. In a word, they lacked faith. And without faith their lives were at risk to the storms which would inevitably come. And come they did and come they will. So what can we learn from this boat ride in the storm?
First, we learn that storms can come suddenly. It had been a memorable afternoon. Surely the disciples must have questioned the decision. Why leave now? They were right on the verge of success. Here was where the people were. On the other side are only Gerasenes. They were pagans. But the disciples did as Jesus instructed. They set sail that beautiful afternoon on the Sea of Galilee. The sun was shining and Jesus, weary from the day’s activity, fell asleep. As the late afternoon faded into dusk, trouble began to loom. The white puffy clouds that dotted the sky were replaced by low hanging, bilious black clouds.
The stilled waters began to churn with white caps and then large waves that slammed the side of the tiny boat. The Sea of Galilee was notorious for these sudden and violent squalls. The disciples must have thought that in telling them to cross over, Jesus had led them to their destruction, not their salvation.
Let me tell you something. Trouble can come just that fast in your life. Everything can be going beautifully, people can be congratulating you; things can be going your way. Then all of a sudden the telephone can ring and everything in your life can be turned upside down. Your medical test results can come back, and all of a sudden you find yourself in the midst of a storm. It doesn’t take long for the storms to come.
Storms can come suddenly and they can make you lose direction. Many of the disciples were experienced fisherman. They had charted those waters hundreds of times before. They had been caught in storms before: so, why all the fear in this storm? I think this storm was like any other.
They knew how to deal with. What I think is this: They are chastising Jesus for not pulling his wait. The disciples find Jesus asleep and they say, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” In other words, are you just going to sleep there or you going to get up and help? Get up and grab an oar Jesus; we need all hands on deck.
Jesus rebukes the storm, “Quiet! Be still!” The disciples are stunned. They were looking for human help. What they got was divine authority. They were looking for a hand. What they got was God. They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
The Scriptures include a significant number of life-and-death questions about meaning, purpose and value in life. Consider some of the questions posed by Scripture:
What will it profit us if we gain the whole world but forfeit our life? (Matthew 16:26)
Who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16:15)
Who is my neighbor? (Like 10:29)
What must I do to inherit eternal life? (Mark 10:17)
Which commandment is the first of all? (Mark 12:28)
What is truth? (John 18:38)
Who is Jesus?
Who is this Jesus, the one who speaks with a new level of authority, the one who is able to bring calm into the storms of life, the one who comes among us as prince of peace, suffering servant, fount of compassion and grace?
I want you to realize we live in an age where many people have fallen victim to an inaccurate, albeit a politically correct position which says all gods, if there is a god, are created equal; which says all divinities, if there is a divinity, are ultimately the same, and heaven, if there is a heaven, will be the final destination of every individual who has believed in... well, believed in something.
Now I am not surprised that this position is so popular. Why shouldn't it be? It fits our age which hates anything judgmental and embraces everything which is tolerant. Such thinking not only sounds sophisticated and it is in tune with what our 21st century ears want to hear. It is also politically correct in that it makes every belief system, every divinity equal.
Yes, these beliefs are both popular and politically correct; but the reality is this: they have little to do with the truth... and it is truth which shall ultimately and finally and completely have the last word in our eternal destination.
There is a difference between the real thing and a counterfeit of that thing; there is a difference between a real friend and an acquaintance who feels no loyalty toward you; there is a difference between a spouse who lives and would die for you and a bed companion who continuously takes from you without a second thought. And there is a difference between Christianity and every other religion of the world. That difference, my friend, is the difference between truth and falsehood.
Christianity is special because, amongst all the world's religions, only Christianity tells sinners that they will absolutely, positively be saved, but that that salvation will happen not because of what they have done, but because of God's grace as given to them in the sacrifices Jesus made to win their forgiveness and salvation.
I encourage you, talk to a Buddhist and ask him, "Exactly how are you going to reach the state of enlightenment?" Well, Buddhism has all kinds of suggestions on how to get there... but when all is said and done, they're not quite sure. Please, go to someone of the fellowship of Islam. Most certainly they believe their faith is the only right one. Ask them, short of dying in a battle or as a martyr, precisely what they have to do to be accepted by god. No doubt they will refer you to the Five Pillars of Islam. Still, ultimately they must admit, "No matter what we do, god is god and and he can do whatever he wants."
The truth is this: the religions of the world are all centered on what a man must do to make up for his sins; they all try to list the spiritual hoops an individual must jump through to appease a deity who is not very pleased with sinners. The religions of the world are pretty sure you have to do something, but they're not quite sure about how much you have to do or how long you have to do it. In short there is, and there always will be a great frustration and a greater uncertainty for those folks who follow those plans of salvation.
But Christianity is uniquely different. Christianity admits what other religions are afraid to say. Christianity confesses we can try to be good and we can try to make God happy, but we can never be good enough to meet the standards of a holy Lord. We acknowledge that when it comes to getting rid of our sins, on our own we will always be failures. Christianity is different. It is unique because it says the Triune God, seeing our helplessness, seeing the punishment which awaited us, decided to do something, something beyond human comprehension. With a love that exceeded anything this world had ever seen before and will, outside of Jesus, never see again, the Lord promised to send His Son to take our place under the law.
