Sermon Library
“Jesus, Fathers and Boats”
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
June 21, 2009
Service Theme: Pentecost III-2009
Source: Mark 4: 35 – 41
Pentecost III-2009 June 21, 2009
Jesus, Fathers and Boats
Mark 4: 35 – 41
By Gregg Anderson
Jesus Calms the Storm
Today’s story from the gospel of Mark is a favorite for many. We all want to know someone who can control the weather. I know I receive that request from a lot of brides who are planning a wedding at an outdoor setting. A lot of times I can provide a sunny day for their wedding, but not every time. Dr. Leonard Sweet, professor at Drew Theological Seminary imagines for a moment what it would be like to actually witness a person who can have, as the disciples exclaimed, the wind and sea obey him. One thing for sure, we would be paying a lot more attention to what he said. And that actually is probably why the story is told as it is.
I strongly suspect that the story is told to establish the fact that Jesus was a very special person and the storm that he really stilled was in their own heart and mind. The story does not end with Jesus just saying “peace be still” and the wind ceasing. Jesus turns it to the disciples right away and says, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
Somehow, Jesus is teaching us that whatever challenge we have before us, we can still have faith and show a little trust that whatever storm we are experiencing, there will eventually be a calm and a peace that follows every storm. That peace may not be the same as we would imagine and design, but through an essential faith in the big picture of our creator, we can relax a little more within. Jesus is asking the disciples to be at peace within their own hearts and minds and souls. This is not an easy thing to do when we are experiencing a storm and the waves are rocking us all about, but we can still project a faith that will help us get through.
We can make choices to be in a state of peace and silence within ourselves even when the storm surrounds us. Perhaps it is like living within the eye of the storm. It does, however, take a little faith. But Jesus also said even if you have the faith of a mustard seed it will mature into the greatest of all shrubs and put forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. In fact, Jesus said this just before he got in the boat with his disciples. The writer of Mark is placing this story in context. Have faith.
The Meaning of Faith
I was asked what the meaning of faith is last week by a writer for a local magazine called the Sojourner. I am not sure where my answer came from, but ended up saying that faith is what we have when we have nothing else. I also said that faith should fill up our lives before we fill ourselves up with a lot of other stuff. We often try to fill ourselves up with a lot of things we think will give us safety and security, but they can fall short when we really need to be at peace in our soul. Ultimately it is faith in God and in life itself which will hold us together. Faith is the very heart of being human.
Greece
Personally, I can remember being in a storm on a sailboat off the coast of Mykonos in Greece. It was a large sailboat that functioned best with all the sails up along with the motor. We were experiencing extra strong winds and very high seas with swales that were literally 10 to 15 feet high. Then all of sudden the engine stopped and could not be restarted. All we could do was tack back and forth, but never made any progress. We could not turn around and go down with the wind because we would fall out of the lee side of the island and face even stronger winds and higher swales. We just had to keep headed toward our destination and hope that the swales would diminish so we could make some progress forward rather than just going up and down. A journey that would normally only take four hours, took thirty-four hours. A little perseverance and a little faith was needed.
Bay Lake
This is Fathers Day. I have some good memories of sailing with my father when I was very young. The boat was called a C Skow and rather than a center board and it had two side boards. It was a shallow boat with long sails and deep side rails so one could be sailing on its side often. When I was very young, my father would tighten up the sail and it would heel on its side exposing one of the side boards. I would then crawl over one side and stand on the side board while my father would guide the tiller and the sail taught to keep it on end. The goal was to keep it tilted as long as he could while I tried to stand on the side board as long as I could. I can remember as a child having faith and confidence in my father’s ability to hold course with the sailboat on its side and to give me warning to come back in before I would be swept away when the boat subsided. I learned to trust my father as a good sailor.
I learned a few others things from my father and boats. I learned to be economical. I remember my father coming into my room and starting to turn off the too-many lights that I had on along with the TV and other things when I was supposed to be studying. The next day he came home with a new boat being trailed behind his car. I asked why he was so concerned about a few extra lights on when he could buy a new boat the next day. I can hear his answer like it was yesterday. He said of course, “That’s how we can buy a new boat.” To this day I turn off unnecessary lights and heat at home and the chapel.
I can remember taking the new boat out a couple of years later with a friend I was trying to impress. I was going fast and making sharp turns. I turned too fast once and the boat spun around flipped up on its side and took on a lot of water. I drove slowly back with the boat half sunk. I thought I was certainly going to be sunk as well. Somehow my father was understanding and just glad I was alright and didn’t go down with the boat. It took me a long time to bail out the boat, but I learned about kindness and forgiveness from my father on that day.
Some years later everyone on the lake was replacing their wooden boats with the new fiberglass boats. My dad was the last hold-out. He kept saying that heavier wooden boats slice through the water more steadily than the lighter weight fiberglass boats. He finally yielded when the old boat was not economical to maintain. Today, of course, I would love to have the old wooden boat.
Smith Mountain Lake
A few weeks ago Carolyn and I were at her family lake home in Virginia. We went out in the boat in a busy part of the lake on a Saturday. There were many different kinds of boats buzzing about, big ones and little ones. There were a lot of waves, mostly from all the other boats. We were bouncing around quite a bit in a nice fiberglass boat built by a very old boat company called Chris Craft. So here we are bouncing around in a busy bay, more of a channel actually, and about the time I said something about needing a bigger boat to go through these waves made by other big boats, an old wooden Chris Craft went right by us slicing through the waves as smooth and steady as could be. I learned that sometimes a father can be right when it comes to wooden boats and other things as well. Sometimes one just needs to listen to the father in order to have a smoother ride through the waves. Jesus told us to have faith in God as father.
Jesus Taught Us About God as Father
There is something I just realized or re-realized last week in preparation for this morning. God as father is recognized in the old testament, but very slightly compared to the magnanimous references to God as father by Jesus. The metaphor of God as father is significantly furthered by Jesus. I suspect this is logical within the texts because Jesus is considered to be the “Son of God.” It is interesting because even though Jesus is referred to as the Son of God a few times in the gospels and epistles, he is much more referred to as the “Son of Man.” In any case, God as father is furthered by Jesus.
God as Father is a good image. Our fathers bring us into existence, give us sustenance, influence us, teach us, provide for us, but also need to step back as we become adults to make our own decisions. Our fathers are around in case we really need them, but encourage us to be our own person. The analogy of God as father or mother is appropriate. How we generally relate to our father or mother is quite similar as to how we might relate to God. This metaphor, of course, is dependant on having a good father and mother. The metaphor breaks down if this is not the case. Jesus teaches us about God as a loving and gracious father who will be there for us through any storm. Jesus teaches us to look inward at our own inner faith and be at peace, even when it is sometimes a leap of faith.
Last Time in a Boat with My Father
I was having a tough time, a bit of a storm you might say, in between my sophomore and junior year of college. I was feeling a particular pressure to succeed in college in a number of ways. Much of this expectation, as I received or perceived, came from my father. It was in the boat with my father during the summer as we were slowly cruising that I told my father about the tough time I was going through and the pressure I was feeling. In many ways I expected him to say something like he had said in the past which would have been something like, just keep working harder, you can do it, buckle down, apply yourself, your can do better, etc., etc. But this time he said something much different. In a calm and relaxed manner, my father simply said to me “don’t worry about it, just do your best and take a day at a time. You’ll be all right.” At that particular time in my life, I needed to hear this different message from my father. It was significant for me because I can remember this seemingly insignificant conversation which made it significant. I kept remembering his words as I went back to school. My junior and senior years at college went very well for me and I attribute that to this slice of life conversation with my father. As I truly did relax and regain a little faith in myself and God, life went better for me.
Jesus told his disciples in the boat to not be afraid and have a little more faith in life, themselves and God. Relax and the storm will be over soon. Look at the big picture. See yourself in the big picture. God is present. There is always a calm after any storm. Have faith, don’t worry about it. Just do your best, take a day at a time. You’ll be all right.” Thanks Dad. Thanks Jesus. Thanks God. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
Aspen Chapel
0077 Meadowood Drive
Aspen, CO 81611
http://www.aspenchapel.org