Trust Your Storm-Stilling Savior

“Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there.” Whoever composed that word picture understood the ongoing tension that believers face between fear and faith. Fear knocks on the door of our hearts every day, doesn’t it? And it is true that when faith answers, fear cannot stick around. But is our faith always there to answer the fears we face? Honestly, we must confess that at times our faith does not answer fear’s knock and so our fears remain.

We might compare ourselves to Peter walking toward Jesus on the Sea of Galilee, when we take our eyes off the object of our faith our fears pull us down. But as our Savior Jesus was there to catch Peter, he is with us to catch us when our faith falters. He is here this morning to lift us up and strengthen our faith so that it will answer the door when fear knocks.

One encouragement that we find literally hundreds of times in the Scriptures is to not fear. To Abraham God said, “Do not be afraid.” God told Moses and the Israelites not to fear the Egyptians who were pursuing them. Throughout the history of the Old Testament God again and again said to his prophets and through his prophets, “Do not be afraid.” When God spoke directly to people through the vocal cords of His Son he repeated the same encouragement. Remember that Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27) Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit many of the New Testament writers repeated God’s invitation to live fearless lives. When God calls for faith, he points us to the fact that he is with us always. He directs us to his total power over everything and his unlimited love for us as evidence that we have nothing to fear.

In our Gospel Lesson for this Sunday, we are given encouragement to let faith answer when fear knocks on the door of our heart. The One who quieted the wind and stilled the waves has demonstrated his ability to care for us. And through his suffering and death we know he has unlimited love for us. Now through his Word and Sacraments he works in our hearts and minds trust in his power and confidence in his care. Brothers and sisters in the faith I encourage you to always:

TRUST YOUR STORM-STILLING SAVIOR

I. He stills our fears in the storms around us

II. He stills our fears in the storms within us

As we consider what Jesus did in our gospel lesson for this Sunday, we might first ask why Jesus performed miracles—so many miracles. We know from the Bible that the chief reason Jesus did miracles was to confirm his identity. All of his miracles proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he is the almighty Son of God. And we can he also point out that Jesus did miracles to help people, to free souls from Satan’s power, and to teach spiritual lessons. Although miracles didn’t create faith in people, they did cause people to listen to what Jesus had to say. Jesus’ words then could create saving faith in those who listened. And although we must witness Jesus’ miracles by faith and not by sight they do the same for us. The miracles of our Lord remind us of his identity and point us to his loving care.

I.

With the purposes of Jesus’ miracles and the power of his Word in mind let’s consider the verses of our gospel lesson. “That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’” Jesus had had a long day. He had healed a leper, a centurion’s servant, and Peter’s mother-in-law. In addition to those specific miracles we are told he healed many other sick and demon-possessed people. As usual crowds of people had gathered to see Jesus, hear him speak, and be healed by him. Mark goes on to tell us, “Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.” Although at first we might miss this important point I want you to think about what I just read. Why does Mark tell us, “they [the disciples] took him [Jesus] along”? Wasn’t Jesus the teacher and leader of the disciples? How come they were “taking him along”? Remember that at least four of the disciples had been professional fishermen before being called to be disciples. It appears that once Jesus was finished with another day of preaching, teaching, and healing they wanted to take over the work of sailing. We can imagine them saying, “Jesus, you relax. We’ll take things from here. We know what we are doing. In fact, why don’t you lay down and get some rest?”