A sermon delivered on June 23, 2024, by the Rev. Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

Turn in your Bible to Mark’s gospel and we are going to be reading chapter 4, verses 35-41. While you’re finding the page, let me give some context. Jesus thus far has been healing the people, choosing the twelve disciples, gathering a large following, and already having confrontations with the religious establishment. The first part of chapter four, thus far, is a large section of teaching by Jesus through parables. The crowds were so large that Jesus had to get in a boat just offshore just to be heard by his growing audience. It’s at the end of this very long day when Jesus and a small armada of boats push off to travel to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. This is where we pick up in the Story. As you listen, see if you hear echoes of Psalm 107 we heard a few minutes ago. Listen to the Word of the Lord.

Mark 4.35-41

³⁵On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. ³⁷A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”³⁹He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. ⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” ^[i]

Have you ever felt that as a result of the events in your life that at times your life was careening out of control?  

You walk in one day and your boss lets you know your services are no longer needed in the company after 32 years.

You get a routine physical and discover certain levels within your body are all askew and more tests need to be taken.

You arrive home one afternoon to discover that your spouse has had a heart attack out back in the garden.

Your retirement funds have been absconded and lost in a Ponzi scheme.

You feel life is spinning out of control. You feel as though wave after wave of trouble and problems are breaking upon you one after the other like the waves across the disciples’ boat. Like the disciples, you look heavenward and desperately cry out, “Jesus, don’t you care that I’m dying down here! Don’t you see what’s going on here?” 

The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by mountainous regions that rise on its eastern, northern, and western sides. The hot air from the deserts comes up and over the hills and mixes with the colder air from the high mountainous regions of the north and nasty squalls come out of nowhere. We’ve seen these on Lake George or at beaches at the shore. One minute we are playing in the water on the lake and the next minute a thunderstorm develops, and lightning knocks a child unconscious. In the blink of an eye, worlds get turned upside down and inside out. And in that moment, we cry out to God, “Don’t you care about what’s going on down here?”

If you read the scriptures long enough, you begin to notice two realities in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. First, momma was right in that no good things happen at night.  For our ancient brothers and sisters, night was a time of shadows and unseen danger lurking and skulking about. Second, the waters of the sea or ocean are perceived as dangerous and chaotic; it is the place where evil lies waiting. And so our poor disciples already have two strikes against them! There they all were in the chaotic and unpredictable waters of the Sea of Galilee at night. Mark has painted a verbal picture setting up the first-century perfect storm!

Like a Greek chorus that shouts instructions to the actors on the stage, we want to yell, “Wait till morning Jesus! There is no rush to cross the sea at night! We have heard of the potential weather forecasts, and we are telling you to please wait ‘till morning!”  But Jesus is tired. He has had a full day, and he feels the need to be alone and quiet. He needs to get going. He needs rest and hops in the boat and off he goes.

Now at this point, I want us to notice where Jesus was on the boat. For those of you who were in the Navy, you need to know that not everyone understands nautical terms. “Yonder, Captain, is the great whale who is swimming aft to fore leeward to starboard.”  I don’t know why you just can’t say the whale is moving from the back to the front, first on the right and then on the left but then a sailor will correct you and say, “But sometimes the leeward side is on the right and sometimes on the left depending upon which way you’re headed!”

Huh?

I still like front and back, left, and right better than bow and stern, port, lee, starboard, amidships…oh bother. But for sailors, nautical terms are important. So, for those of you who are nautical types, what typically happens in the stern of the ship? This is not only where the rudder is located but it is also where the one steering, the helmsman, would be. So where is it we find Jesus in our Story this morning? We catch Jesus fast asleep at the wheel while the boat is sinking! The storm is brewing, and water is slamming into and over the sides! This story of Jesus on the water, with shades of the Jonah Story all along the edges, looks as though the boat is going down. Things are spinning out of control. All seems desperate and lost. During the watery chaos, the disciples collapse into a full-blown panic and start yelling at Jesus to wake up and do something!

And he does. In fact, he does that which only God can do: He exercises control over the perilous realms of nature. Just as God, whose Spirit hovered over Creation’s watery chaos and brought forth order and beauty, so Jesus wakes up and commands the watery chaos to be still; one scholar goes so far as to say Jesus is telling the chaos and storm to literally “Shut up!” ^[2]  And it does. And so too do the disciples.

Jesus’ command is to be still do two things that night. First, it calmed the storm and crashing waves. Second and more importantly, Jesus silenced the disciples amid their fear and helped them begin to realize how far they had to go in their faith development. Our Story has a vivid contrast between Jesus’ faith which brings him peace during a storm and the disciples’ fear. I don’t think Jesus was upset with the disciples per se when says to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” I believe Jesus’ tone was more like sad disappointment such as,  “Have you no faith in me yet?”

Jesus just showed the power that only God has – command over nature. As Episcopal priest, Mark Edington says, “Here is the conundrum: Jesus has godlike authority over the primordial chaos; he is king of the created order. Yet the immediate response to this demonstration of kingly power is not joy, not praise, not acclaim, but fear.^”[3]  Unlike the sailors in Psalm 107 who gave thanks after the Lord delivered them safety after they cried out to God, Jesus’ disciples were filled with awe. The KJV translates verse 41 the best as it says the disciples were ‘exceedingly afraid.” There were no “thank yous” uttered by the Twelve.

Friends, fear is not necessarily a bad thing as it reminds us to pay attention. The key to meeting and handling our fear is that once it gets our attention, we then must decide how we are going to relate to that which is creating the fear. Do we relate with spiritual hopelessness and cowardice as the disciples did and complain to God, “Don’t you care we are perishing?” Or do we relate like Jesus with the confidence that indeed, he has the whole, wide world in his hands? Fear is not a bad thing; how we relate to it decides how it will affect us. Is it hopeless cowardice that God has abandoned us or is it faithful confidence that indeed nothing can separate us from the love of God — not job losses, not cancer, not knee or hip replacements, divorces, strokes, nor overdue taxes and bills! We may get the feeling Jesus is asleep at the wheel and life is spinning out of control, but the reality is he is situated in the stern of our life’s ship and has the wheel firmly in hand! Let us remind ourselves, shall we?

Back in the mid-1800s, our African American brothers and sisters in slavery would sing to each other heartfelt spirituals to encourage one another. Although the author of this particular spiritual is unknown, it’s a powerful reminder that when it feels like our life is getting swamped, we are to have hope. I want you to sing back to me the refrain of this old spiritual. It’s just three words that you’ll remember once you hear it and let these words be a reminder to us when we feel fear the boat will capsize!

He’s got the whole world in His hands . . .
He’s got the whole world in His hands, He’s got the whole world in His hands, He’s got the whole wide world in His hands.

He’s got the sun and the moon in His hands, He’s got the wind and the rain in His hands, He’s got the fishes in the sea in His hands, He’s got the whole world in His hands.

He’s got you and me, brother, in His hands,
He’s got you and me, sister, in His hands, He’s got the little bitty baby in His hands,
He’s got ev’rybody here in His hands,
He’s got the whole world in His hands.^[4]

What are your fears sisters and brothers? Believe the Good News:  Jesus is not asleep at the wheel; indeed, he’s got the whole wide world in his hands! Sometimes my friends, we just need to be reminded of this when life gets a little swirly.

In the Name of the One Who Is, Was, and Is to Come. Amen.

© 2024 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, NY, 400 Glen Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved. See http://www.patrickhwrisley.com.

[i] New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[2] Joel Marcus, Mark I-VIII, from the Anchor Bible Commentary Volume 27 (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 339.

[3] Bartlett, David L. and Taylor, Barbara Brown (2011-05-31). Feasting on the Word: Year B, Volume 3, Pentecost and Season after Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16) (Feasting on the Word: Year B volume) (Kindle Locations 5887-5889). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.

[4] See this interesting article on the history of this spiritual. Accessed on June 19, 2024 at https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/history-of-hymns-hes-got-the-whole-world-in-his-hands.