2425AFC062124 – Lock Down That Storm! ← 😊 PODCAST LINK
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Job 38:1, 10-11 (GNT)[1] – 1 Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job.
10 “I marked a boundary for the sea
and kept it behind bolted gates.
11 I told it, “So far and no farther!
Here your powerful waves must stop.” (See above link for full context)
Psalm 107:28-29 –
28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out from their distress;
29 he made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
2 Corinthians 5:17 – 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
Mark 4:36 – Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. After sailing through Lent and Eastertide we have “suddenly arrived” at the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time. When we look at the Gospel, we might think this is a familiar story; it is, in a way familiar, but probably not the story we think it is. This is not the account of The Apostle Peter stepping out of the boat to walk across the water to Jesus who has walked at least halfway across the Sea of Galilee – walking across the water! – to catch up with his Disciples.
As you can see, every Key Verse for today has something to do with the sea – even 
the reading from 1 Corinthians because walking on the water was certainly something new! Here’s a little illustration about walking on water. In the Bible only Jesus and The Apostle Peter walked on the water, but this image (↔ Click Link) sorta-kinda makes it look like there might be a third. “Skin for skin! A man will give all he has for his own life.” – Satan. Job 2:4
Moral of the story: When the situation calls for it, we will walk on water.
The third was … Ivan Givaldo.
Well, yes, of course I’m being silly. This Great Escape happened in that strange and chaotic event in Pamplona – the running of the bulls. Some folks (mostly guys) try to escape by jumping into the water. As you can see here, that may have limited success, because the chaos is following close behind. In fact, one of the things most of us can agree upon when considering the effects of chaos is that chaos seems to be just half-a-step away most of the time. Believe it or not – and this is absolutely true – less than a second after I hit the period in the previous sentence, the electricity went off! Talk about great (sic) timing! All of us have chaotic moments in our lives. Mostly they stir up fear because they are unexpected and unpredictable – which is why chaos is chaotic. Sometimes the chaos in our lives pushes us into grief and sorrow, sometimes anger, or worry, or doubt. Scary stuff that – doubt. The doubt caused by chaos urges us to let loose the sea-anchor and ride out the storm facing into the wind, like this:
“Facing into the wind? That doesn’t make any sense.” The purpose is to keep the bow facing into the wind and waves so that the boat will not capsize. Why would I put something in this essay about a sea anchor? Because often times the best way to deal with chaos is to face it head-on. Curling up in a corner like a whimpering child is probably a close antithesis to that. There’s another aspect of this that we could attribute to the Captain of our ship –
He can master chaos better than anyone and we are never alone in facing the dangers of chaos because HE is always with us. Take a look at that first Key Verse. What does it tell us? Hopefully you have used that link to see all 11 verses in this passage. God and his servant, Job, are speaking to each other. Job’s friend, Elihu, has been extolling God’s majesty and power. Elihu then asks Job if he can do any of the things that God can do. (See Job 36-37, fascinating stuff!) Next, the Lord himself speaks to Job from within a whirlwind and asks him the kinds of questions we saw last week – can you make a flower, can you lay out the foundations of the Earth, can you put the Sea where it belongs and hold it there by your own authority? I can!” Now, let’s think about that last bit which is our Key Verse from Job for today. God Most High – El Elyon, Almighty God – El Shaddai, the Eternal Everliving God – El Olam, the God of The Fathers, stopped chaos with a Word: BECOME! The Lord commands it, and it is. God controls the weather from the first command of Creation – “Let there BE …!” And immediately, chaos is vanquished! Now, put a pin in that thought and hold it in place as we turn to the Key Verses from Psalm 107. This Psalm begins “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so …” In the Key Verses above we have something that sounds a lot like this account in the Gospel of Mark.
In our Gospel, we see persons who are redeemed, saved from the storm, by a single word: BECOME. Jesus was, incredibly, asleep on a cushion in the stern of the boat as it is tossed about in the waves and filling with water. The panicking Disciples cried out to him, “MASTER! WE’RE GONNA DIE!!” Jesus woke up and REBUKED the Sea and said Siōpa – Silence! Pephimōso Put a muzzle on it! Look what the Psalm says: Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out from their distress; he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. He put the Sea in its place … just as God his Father had done when he said “Let there be!” Chaos was Mastered by the Master of Peace – God, made flesh, still all the same El Shaddai-Olam. Now we begin to understand that this is not only an account of an amazing miracle by Jesus, but also a parable about the absolute Truth: Jesus is the Lord God, the master of all Creation!! Belovéd, he chastised the Disciples for their lack of faith, for failing to understand that he held God’s authority because he is God. Now, look at this:
There is a similar meme that asks, “Lord, why are you taking me through troubled 
water?” He replied, “Because your enemies can’t swim.” Same-same, yes? We’ve all heard the adage, “If God will bring you to it, God will take you through it.” Do we really believe that, I mean, really-really? I DO! Because it has happened to me. You have probably experienced that in your life as well, que no? And what happens when El Shaddai-Olam saves our skin? You know the answer! EVERYTHING CHANGES! So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! When we are in Christ, we share in his victory; we are more than conquerors; (↔ Music Link) we are his chosen ones. We are his Disciples, as were the other men in the boat with him. There were other Disciples in other boats during that squall, and they too were fearful of the chaos that threatened to cost them their lives. We don’t know who, or how many, or why they were with the boat from which Jesus commanded the wind and waves.
Everyone who had been in that storm which came up so suddenly was as dumbfounded as Jesus’ Disciples when – just as suddenly as the storm came up – a dead calm settled across the entire expanse of the water! No sign of the storm remained! In its place were only wonder and awe. Jesus looked out over the water and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” These are words of command. Click HERE (↔ Music Link) to hear a Hymn about this. I sang this often in Sunday School at Corona Presbyterian Church in Denver. Let’s fire up that little movie screen we all have on the inside of our forehead and watch as the people in the other boats – you know, the ones that did not hear Jesus’ command against the chaos – and let’s try to imagine which would be more terrifying: Being caught in a terrible storm and in imminent danger of drowning, or being suddenly sailing on calm waters in a gentle breeze. Jesus’ Disciples asked each other, “Who is this guy?!?!” The folks in the other boats might have asked, “Wha-a-a-a-t just happened?” I confess it reminded me of the Israelite’s first reaction to the manna. Remember? “Manna” means “What’s this?” Well, another question we should probably be asking is, “What do we do when suddenly plunged into chaos?”
How about turning to The Word in Isaiah 30:15 c – in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. Do we ever feel like the Poor Wayfaring Stranger (↔ Music Link)? Could we Trust God enough to allow him to be the Healer of My Soul (↔ Music Link)? On that movie screen we used a moment ago, see a baby bird hatched the morning after that storm. A baby bird eats only what it is given. It refuses nothing because all that is given to it is given for its good. The baby bird eats and grows without concern for the taste, texture, or value of the food it is given; and, it does all this without having to know why its parents feed it only that which is good. I cannot recall ever seeing a baby bird spit out what it was given, can you? Isn’t God a bit like that Papa Bird who gives us only what is good for us? Isn’t God a bit like that Mama Bird who covers the baby during the storm and protects it from the chaos? And at times, Adelphos, are we a bit like a baby bird that spits out what God provides and then says to him, “Get offa me! I feel trapped and smothered!”?
They took Jesus in the boat just as he was, tired, probably hungry, exhausted after teaching all day; so tired, in fact, that in the midst of chaos (which he knew in advance), he fell asleep in the back of the boat. The Disciples asked, “Master, don’t you care that we’re about to die here?” Belovéd, have we the F.A.I.T.H. to believe that God – HE who made the seas full, but only just full enough – really does care if we are terrified of the chaos we see in the evening news every day? Do we have the courage to know that in Christ all things are made new? Can God really calm the storm in my life, in your life, in our lives, and in the lives of those who don’t even know God is working RIGHT NOW to save them? “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” Believe it or else, (↔ Learning Link) ʻŌmea. When trouble comes knocking at your door, just say, “Jesus, can you get that for me?” When the storm of chaos whipped up around us by the Foe threatens to pull us under, just say, “Jesus, please Lock Down That Storm!” Isn’t it True, Belovéd, that God always has and always will be (↔ Music Link) our Help, our Hope, our Home, our Peace, and our Joy? Joy is always the first product of Love, and God IS Love. Be calmed and Trust God.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 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.
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[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible
