A sermon on Mark 4: 35-41
The One who was there as the world was created, there at the moment we were born, there at every moment of our lives, this one so beyond who we are cares. And yes, God cares when we are perishing, and when it only seems like we are in danger. God cares when we are tired, and afraid, and overwhelmed.
Which it turns out is pretty amazing news. God cares. God will do whatever it takes to save us. Who is this then who even controls the wind and the sea? The one who cares for us – the one who will do whatever it takes to save us. No wonder the disciples were in awe.
Now I get that this is hard to believe when the seas get rough and our fear tries to make the whole notion of a God who cares about us sound like fantasy.
It does not take a saint to look out over the world and see that we are broken and we are dying. And I believe in a God who could snap his fingers and put down the waves and the wind that are battering the broken edges further and further apart. “For Goodness’ sake, God,” we want to cry out, “don’t you care that we are perishing?” And for whatever unfathomable reason that I cannot begin to understand, it seems like God stays in the back of the boat asleep while the world goes to hell in a handbasket.
At least that’s how we see it – like the disciples saw it. Doesn’t God care?
And somehow, Jesus is telling us through the years and the storms that the answer, even as we think God is sleeping, is “Yes! I care.
And I think there is more to the story. We think God is sleeping, but in fact God is working to make all things right. Not in our way. Not in our time. But God’s way, in God’s time. “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith? Come on, people, I’ve even given you the end of the story! We all make it safely to the other side.”
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