Mark 4:35-41 (Pentecost 5B)
St. John, Galveston 6/23/24
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

“Faith (the Scriptures tells us) is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” I bring that passage to your attention this morning, because the readings for today take a little bit of a different look at the relationship between faith and hope. Two of the three readings for this morning, the Job passage and the passage from Mark 4, illustrate the tension that is often experienced by Christians between things that are seen as opposed to things that are not seen. In other words, both readings deal with those situations in life when it seems like virtually everything we see and experience around us, is working against us, even against what believe about God and His goodness.

Consider the Job passage for a moment. Job, who had lost virtually everything he had through a series of tragic events, eventually pled his case before God. For the context of the verses before us this morning, verses 1-11 of chapter 38, we need to go all the back to chapter 31, where Job offers a defense of himself to God. He tried to convince God that something was terribly amiss in regard to his situation and that he was ultimately being unfairly treated by the powers of the universe, even by God Himself. In his mind, he didn’t deserve any of the things that were happening to him.

If I may paraphrase Job. Lord, I have never mistreated the poor. I haven’t set my heart on gold or other riches. I haven’t rejoiced at the destruction of my enemies, those who hate me. Come on, God. What is up with all of this suffering in my life? What I believe about you doesn’t seem to comply with what my eyes are seeing! Essentially, Job was wondering if God was truly in control of things as He claimed to be.

In chapter 38, God spoke directly to Job. In a manner of speaking, He put Job in his place. He asked him if his understanding of things unseen is as great as he thinks it is. “Where were you (God asked him) when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

Job finally confessed his sin of pride and self-righteousness and acknowledged the majesty and the wonder of God. “I know that you can do all things (he said), and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”

The things we experience in life, sometimes even the things our eyes see, challenge our hope, even our hope in God. In the Gospel reading for this morning, the disciples were in a boat sailing across the Sea of Galilee. “A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. (Jesus) was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.” The disciples woke Him and asked Him a question. “Teacher, they said, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Considering all the miracles the disciples had witnessed Jesus perform, all the acts of love and kindness, the casting out of demons, the healing of lepers, paralytics and others who suffered from various maladies, as well as other miracles, it was a strange thing for the disciples to ask Jesus, don’t you think? 
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Beyond the miracles Jesus’  performed and still performs, He came into the world as God’s answer to that very question, as well as others like it. Ultimately, God’s care for His creation is most clearly seen in the giving of His own dear Son for the life of the world.  

For Job, the coming of the Christ into the world was a future promise, a promise that formed his faith and trust in God and in His great mercies. And so, he confessed his faith and hope in the Almighty, who promised him blessings that he could scarcely comprehend. Amidst all of his suffering, he said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”

For the disciples, Jesus called them to live in the glory of His presence. Indeed, as John wrote, “we beheld His glory, glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” The very apostle would later go on to say,  “That which was from the  beginning, which we have heard, which we  have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Jesus called His disciples to live in the glory of His presence. He also called them to ask the deeper questions regarding His having come into the world, questions that the Holy Spirit would use to bring them to a more confident trust in Him. Indeed, “who is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” Jesus is, of course, none other than God in human flesh. And yes, even the wind and the sea obey Him.

And for us, well, for us, by the miracle of new birth in the water of Holy Baptism, we are born anew to confess the faith of Job and of Jesus’ disciples, and of all others who have gone before us in the faith. We too behold the glory of God in our lives, although as the Scriptures say, “we see Him now only dimly,” though, in time, we will “see Him face to face.”

Like Jesus’ early disciples, we still ask the deeper questions regarding our faith, ultimately our trust in God. Where is He when I suffer? Why do the things I see in life sometimes cry out against what I believe regarding the goodness and mercy of God? Lord, do you not care? And yet, the most truthful and comforting answers regarding those questions do not come from speculation, or idle opinion, rather they come from the Incarnation of Jesus, the coming of God into the world.

Indeed, “who is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” He is none other than God, who gives His flesh for the life of the world. So, receive again, what the eye cannot see, the body of Jesus broken for you, and the blood of Jesus, shed for you. Receive them for the forgiveness of your sins and for the strengthening of your faith. Receive them, that amidst all of the manifold troubles of this world, you would stand with Job and confess ever more steadfastly, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +