I. Theme – God’s control over creation
"Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee" – Ludolf Backhuysen, 1695
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – Job 38:1-11
Psalm – Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32 Page 746, BCP
Epistle –2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Gospel – Mark 4:35-41
Today’s readings remind and reaffirm God’s complete command over all creation. God’s reply to Job asserts the majesty of God as the Creator and Ruler of the world. Paul commends the ministry of reconciliation to all Christians. In the gospel, Jesus stills a storm at sea, revealing that he shares God’s power over creation.
Much as we would like to think otherwise, “the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom.” And how much better to fear God who saves than to fear the things that threaten to destroy us!
Unlike the world of ancient myth where the chaos waters rage and threaten the order that makes life possible — threatening — chaos, in our texts, has been or is being tamed by a benign God who, in the end, means all God’s creatures well. In the process, capital-C Chaos becomes merely "chaos" — a real power that retains a place in God’s world, but one now "fenced in," become part of God’s ordered creation.
A word of hope in the Gospel (and Job and the Psalm) is that God has the power to control the chaos. God may not always do it according to our schedule. Sometimes God may appear to be sleeping in the boat while our world is falling apart, but that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have the power to calm the storm.
This theme can also lead to the idea that sometimes the storms in our lives are beyond our control. The chaos in our lives may be caused by people or situations or evil powers which we can do nothing about. Sometimes it is not our fault. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes even the world of faithful Christians comes crashing down.
When the lord answers Job out of the whirlwind giving an awesome view of creative power and might, Job’s heart trembles before the one with whom he had contended so ignorantly and reproachfully. His fear is not only the beginning of wisdom, but also the beginning of real faith, as his ensuing humility leads to confession and acceptance by the lord. Job makes one of the greatest confessions of faith in the Bible: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God” (Job. 19:25-26).
Job’s spiritual experience is repeated by the disciples’ experience on the Sea of Galilee. Putting out to sea in the evenings was a grave risk, since the sudden storms that come up on the sea often occur at sundown. In this scene, the disciples were obeying the lord’s command against the odds for security. We tend to think that having Jesus in the boat would have spared them any trouble.
The disciples are not prepared for the action Jesus takes. He stills the storm at sea in an exhibition of God’s power and control over creation. His question: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” is meant to convey to the disciples that their security lay in a different realm. When God is in control, no forces of destruction can touch them. Not a bad lesson to learn, even if fear is the teacher.
II. Summary
First Reading – Job 38:1-11
The book of Job struggles with the mystery of why good people suffer when they ought to be rewarded for their good. The book was composed by adding poetic dialogue to a familiar folk legend.
The basic story found in the prose sections that begin and end the book (1:1–2:13, 42:7-17) tells of the righteous sufferer, the proverbial ‘patient Job’ (Ezekiel 14:14, 20; James 5:11). This story may have been set down in writing as early as the time of David and Solomon (1000–800 BCE). The poetic sections that have been inserted into the prose story—the dialogues of Job and his three comforters about God’s ways of justice and the final response of the lord to Job—are post-exilic and date from between 600–300 BCE.
Speaking out of profound faith, Job has asserted his innocence and challenged God to answer him (31:35-40) and account for his suffering. In today’s reading, the lord speaks from the whirlwind in fulfillment of Job’s longing (13:22, 23:5, 30:20). Although God vindicates Job’s innocence and denounces the dogmatism of his friends (42:7-17), God’s ways are not to be comprehended. The result is a kind of stand off. God does not give Job the explanation he wants, and Job does not surrender his own integrity. Rather, Job yields to the lord and is transformed by his experience of confrontation (42:5).
The resolution of the problem of the just person who suffers is hidden in the mystery of the person of God. God is truly free of all human restraints, even beyond the highest human standards of justice and mercy (Exodus 33:19; Romans 9:15). At the furthest extreme, God remains a “hidden God” (Isaiah 45:15) shrouded in unfathomable mystery.
Psalm – Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32 Page 746, BCP
This psalm encourages those whom God has rescued to give praise. Today’s selection describes the fourth in a series of descriptions of divine rescues. Verses 23-32 portray divine rescues from the catastrophes of sea travel. God’s action prompts a response of thanksgiving by the rescued.
Epistle – 2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Paul continues his explanation of how God’s reconciling action is made manifest in his own mission and activity. Paul appeals to the Corinthians to “work together with him” (v. 1) so that God’s merciful gift of salvation will not be “in vain.” Now is the moment when God’s saving love becomes a reality in their lives.
But Paul is realistic when he notes that participating in God’s reconciling activity requires a cost for the disciple. In fact, in a curious reversal of the usual practice, Paul recommends himself as an authentic Christian missionary by boasting not in his successes but in his apparent failures and sufferings. He catalogs his own hardships in the ministry (vv. 4-8) as an indicator of the type of things a Christian will face. To those outside, the external appearances never coincide with the internal reality. Contradictions abound because results come not from the minister but from God working in all for salvation
Gospel – Mark 4:35-41
Today’s story of the stilling of the storm comes at the end of Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom in parables (4:1-34) and serves as a transition as Jesus and the disciples cross the Sea of Galilee to inaugurate the kingdom ministry for the Gentiles with a massive exorcism of a “legion” of demons. In chapters 5–8 they will crisscross the Lake performing similar signs and wonders on both the Jewish and Gentile sides of the Sea.
The movement of Jesus and his message across major geographic, cultural, and religious boundaries. The trip across the lake represents the Gentile mission for Mark. The storm at sea represents the storms in the early church as they sought to carry out Jesus’ command "to go to the other side" or "to make disciples of all nations." It may be noted that the area where the congregation is sitting is properly called the "nave," from the Latin "navis" = ship. ("Navy" comes from the same root.)
The storm on the sea not only illustrates the situation of the disciples but also that of Mark’s community—tossed about by the chaos around them with Jesus apparently asleep at the steering rudder (v. 38). In their panic, the disciples awaken Jesus, who calms the storm with a word. Then Jesus issues the first of a set of challenges to them (7:18, 8:17, 21, 9:19) to come to faith in the rule of God as shown in him (4:40).
The great storm is a test of what the disciples have learned from Jesus’ teaching (4:34). But as always in Mark’s gospel, the disciples fail to demonstrate that they have understood. Jesus’ demonstration of power over nature is another indication that Jesus’ ministry participates in God’s power. God alone has power over the seas (Psalm 65:7; Job 12:15), even over the primeval waters of chaos (Isaiah 51:10; Jeremiah 5:22). Jesus “rebuked the wind” (v. 39), the same Greek word used to describe Jesus’ power to drive out demons (1:25, 9:25), saying to the sea literally ‘be muzzled’ (as in 1:25).
III. Articles for this week in WorkingPreacher:
Old Testament – Job 38:1-11
Psalm – Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32
Epistle – 2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Gospel – Mark 4:35-41