Genesis 2. 4b – 9, 15 – end
Luke 8. 22 – 25
Fr Alex
We have a tiny little Gospel reading this morning, but a very dramatic one. A gale of wind, raging waves, a sinking boat, and terrified disciples.
In the Hebrew scriptures and the ancient Jewish mind the sea was a deeply dangerous and suspicious thing – a symbol of chaos and disorder. It goes all the way back to the beginning of creation, the very first words of Genesis: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” Our first reading this morning is the second vision of creation in Genesis, but the same idea: water over “the whole face of the ground.”
Those who can join us for dear Colin’s funeral on Thursday will hear this danger expressed in Psalm 107: “They that go down to the sea in ships … these men see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. For at his word the stormy wind ariseth which lifteth up the waves thereof. They are carried up to the heaven, and down again to the deep; their soul melteth away because of the trouble.”
The sea is a dark and dangerous place. But there is hope. The psalm goes on: “When they cry unto the Lord in their trouble he delivereth them out of their distress. For he maketh the storm to cease so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they are at rest, and so he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be.”
It's almost an exact retelling of our Gospel reading today, except for one very interesting point. In the psalm, they cry to the Lord, he helps them, and they are glad.
But in our Gospel reading, the disciples cry to the Lord, he helps them, and they are still afraid.
St Luke tells us that “They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?’” Being afraid of a bad storm is one thing; but how frightening is this guy, who can control the wind and the waves?
We heard a similar thing two weeks ago, when Jesus called the disciples and showed his power with the miraculous catch of fish. Peter’s response to this amazing miracle was to fall down on his knees, and say, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
And it carries on right through this chapter of Luke’s Gospel, whenever Jesus reveals his power. In today’s story, we see Jesus’ power over creation, and the fear that it provokes in the disciples.
In the very next verses, we see his power over evil, as he heals the man possessed by demons. But those who see the demons come out of the man are terrified and ask Jesus to leave them.
Then straight after that, Jesus heals a haemorrhaging woman, showing his power over sickness; but like Peter, she comes to him trembling in fear, and falls down before him.
Then Jesus brings the young daughter of Jairus back to life, showing even his power over death. But when he tells the mourners they no longer need to weep, they laugh at him.
So what’s going wrong? Why is everyone so afraid? And what does Jesus mean when he asks, “Where is your faith?”
They are afraid because Jesus is revealing in this miraculous sequence that he is not just a wise teacher; he’s not just a gifted healer; he’s not even just a prophet. There were plenty of those people around.
He is so much more than that. He is the Messiah; but he’s even more than the Messiah they had expected, God’s chosen one who would lead them to prosperity.
He is the Son of God; God in human form. What the Psalmist wrote about God’s power over the wind and waves has become manifest in this man, Jesus. Only God has power over creation, to bring order where there is chaos.
And in their limited understanding of God, they believe that God coming down to earth can only mean one thing: judgement, and punishment for the ways in which they have fallen away from him.
But Jesus comes not to punish, but to forgive. Not to cut us off as a hopeless cause, but to bring us closer to God, and to show us how precious we are to him. As Jesus himself tells us in St John’s Gospel: “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
The Gospels show us how the disciples slowly came to realise this. We read of their misunderstandings and preconceptions; their faltering faith and doubtful courage.
But as they begin to realise exactly who Jesus is, and the magnitude of what he had come to achieve on earth, they move from a place of fear, to trust; their faith brings them into the “fullness of life” that Jesus came to give us, and enables them to achieve more than they ever dreamed was possible.
“Where is your faith?” Jesus asks, in the midst of the storm. Because faith in Jesus, as the disciples eventually discover, is not just a temporary fix; Jesus is not a solution to a problem, a faith of last resort when we’ve tried everything else to help ourselves.
Faith in Jesus enables us to share in his great power over creation. With the transformation of Easter, and the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost, we are enabled through faith to share Jesus’ triumph over fear and suffering, and ultimately even death.
And the fruit of the disciples’ faith is seen in the billions of every race and language around the world who acknowledge Jesus as Lord today.
Like those disciples, for us to discover that kind of faith is a journey, one that may take a long time. But Jesus does not leave us to seek him alone, adrift on the waves. There will be storms in life, there will be moments when we feel we are about to sink. But Jesus came down to earth to be with us in the boat, and to lead us to the true peace and calm of life in God; to “the haven where we would be.”
May we put our faith and our trust in him, now and always. Amen.