Calming the Storm

Mark 4:35-41 New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Calms the Storm

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

I saw a post on Facebook this past week that read, “If your pastor did not preach about the separation of families at the border then you should leave your church.”  At first, I was in awe. I was in awe of the fact that someone would have the audacity to say something like that and then several hundred others dare to share something like that.  After I came down from the initial shock, I was fearful. I was afraid that, perhaps, they were right. At that moment I felt like I had to make a choice. I had to pick a side. Thoughts of which side I should be on ran rampant through my mind.  I felt forced to choose, right there, at that moment. I was able to shake the thoughts and lessen the pressure to fall asleep that night, but those thoughts consumed me in the days following. As you can tell, they still are haunting me. At this very moment, I feel like I have to make a choice.  I have to fall on one side or the other. If I don’t, then I think this pressure of idleness will be disliked by both sides. If I choose as to where I fall on such a topic, and many other issues with similar political weight, then only half the people I know will berate me for it instead of all of them for not making a choice.  It seems that there is no room or time for thought or discussion. There is this pressure that I should know immediately where I stand on such topics.

Part of me feels like I should say something... Anything.  Part of me feels like I can’t because of the possible divisions that may take place.  I keep going back and forth. I have to say something, right? No, I can’t. I have to speak about the injustices taking place down there or that this administration is just enforcing a “zero-tolerance” policy on other policies that were enacted under previous administrations.  I could come up with a similar statement regarding school safety, abortion, racism or gun laws which are all things that I think about on a nearly daily basis. There is this sense of duty to make such a statement regarding such things. But I wonder, what good would that do? I will justify some of your beliefs because I may agree with you and it will justify some of your beliefs because I disagree with you due to the Backfire Effect.  In situations like this one, and the many others I have come across in my time at the pulpit, I feel the urge to resist all of that and paint this beautiful and simple picture of hope and peace, to ignore all of the discourse and tell you everything is going to be alright. “Pray, and God will fix it” is what I often think to myself. No matter what, there is this double-sided fear that keeps me trapped. On the one hand, I feel pressured to say something, and on the other, I feel  this pressure not to say something.

For some of you this personal, internal conflict does not exist because you know right away where you stand.  For those of you that feel that way, I encourage you to be careful of being so wrapped up in a cause or anti-cause that you fail to see the other perspectives.  For those of you that feel like I do, I also encourage you to be careful of getting caught up in such turmoil that you forget about the issue at hand. You see, there are very few things in this life that are cut and dry.  Take our scripture for this morning as an example, after calming the storm Jesus asks those in the boat with him two questions. “Why are you so afraid? Are you still without faith?” The disciples were fearful of the impending storm as Jesus slept in the boat as waves crashed alongside.  But what I find just as interesting is their reaction to Jesus calming the storm. Verse 41 says, “They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’” So... let’s get this straight they were fearful of the storm, and they were terrified when Jesus calmed it.  That is kind of funny when you think about it.

I mean, what did they expect when they woke Jesus up?  What were they hoping he would do? They were scared of the storm enough to wake him, but it was almost like they were more terrified by the result than the actual storm.  If we call on Jesus to help us in a situation that arises fear in us are we to going to be terrified by the results? What are we hoping for in such a case? What do we expect when we “wake” Jesus up?  These are all questions to consider when picking sides in an argument. If we want Jesus involved, then all we have to do is wake him up... But we also should be ready for the results. We often invite Jesus into our lives through emotional situations and then we get to the point where he is no longer welcome due to the changes he wants us to make.  At certain times, we “wake” him up and invite him to help not certain of what he will choose to do. In short time, we soon realize that the results of such an invitation are not really welcome, or even terrifying, just like the disciples on the boat. Then we are left to ask ourselves a couple of questions, “Why are we so afraid? Are we still without faith?”

Allow me to ask it this way, have you ever asked a friend or family member for help on something and regretted it later on?  For example, have you ever asked someone to help you move or for advice or for help on some project you were working on and kindly regretted it after the fact?  That question can be challenging, to be honest about... We are thankful that they have volunteered and most likely no one else did. So we can’t fire them because there is no one else.  My Mom, bless her heart, helped Cheyanne and I paint our bathroom in our first house. It wasn’t a large bathroom, three people in there were crowded for sure, but she offered, and we took her up on it.  We are painting along and all of sudden I see my wonderful mother painting the ceiling. We did not have any intention of painting the ceiling the same color as the rest of the walls. I believe the story goes that she may have touched the ceiling with the roller or brush she was using, and then we just went with it.  I do also believe she did offer to fix it rather than paint the ceiling but we just kind of rolled with it. It turned out fine, but I remember looking at it often and laughing that it was not our initial intent to paint the ceiling.

Perhaps, on a much larger scale, this is similar to the feelings that the disciples felt that day in the boat.  They wake Jesus up from a dead sleep, ask for his help, and immediately regret the results. In the most challenging situations we face in life, we invite Jesus in, and then we almost immediately regret doing so because we do not like the direction he wants to take us.  This causes us to go about it in our way and scrap the initial invitation. Inviting Jesus in, or waking him up if you will, is only the first step in a long process. We also have to be willing to accept his continued support and direction, even if we do not like what it brings out about ourselves.  I believe this be true for the many politically charged conversations that are going on around us. We may find strength in inviting Jesus into the conversation initially, but it seems like we quickly abandon ship because he tells us what we do not want to hear. Moving forward, I am going to do my best to invite Jesus into those problematic situations continually and just as important is implementing the changes he is proposing despite the difficulties that may arise.  I encourage you to do the same. Do not succumb to the pressure of deciding where you fall. Instead, think about it, pray about it, invite Christ into the conversation and listen to what he is saying. If you are one that wants me to address such topics that I mentioned earlier, I apologize because I won’t. In doing so, I feel like it will only create more division and God knows we do not need any more of that. Stand assured that Jesus will weed out the ugly aspects of us if we allow him to, but we have to be willing to answer a couple of questions first... Why are we so afraid?  Are we still without faith?