3rd Sunday after Pentecost
June 25, 2006
Rev. Dr. Kenneth W. Wieting
Text: Mark 4:35-41
TEACHER, DON’T YOU CARE THAT WE ARE PERISHING?
A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Dear storm-tossed children of God; who really knows the pressures and threats you face? Who actually understands the daily struggles of your vocation, the unique strain of your responsibilities? Who truly realizes the sometimes overwhelming expectations and deep disappointments that threaten to swamp your life? Who in fact appreciates that there are times when your heart cries out akin to the cry of the disciples – JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE, fellow Christians, don’t you see – doesn’t anybody get it enough to help?
An article in yesterday’s Milwaukee Journal (Sat., June 24, 2006, p. 7A) was titled, Americans lack confidants. Its assertion was that Americans are far more socially isolated today than just two decades ago. One fourth of Americans say they have not one person with whom they can discuss personal troubles. This is double the number from 20 years ago. Possible causes for the fragmentation of close ties were noted as increasing work hours, the influence of the internet, and sitting in front of a TV. In bad times, far more people appear to suffer alone. In the fifteen years that I have been your pastor more social causes are believed present for the generalized cry, “doesn’t anybody care’?
This was also a prominent dry during the prolonged economic storm called the Great Depression. One Christian man lost his job in those years, exhausted his savings, and then lost his house. He was disheartened, dependent on others, and sure that things could not possibly be worse. But tragically they got much worse. The sudden death of his wife subsequently intensified the anguish of this penniless, unemployed man. He questioned everything. His faith in Jesus Christ was fading.
One day he went to one of the few work sites in the neighborhood and watched stonecutters working on a church building. One of the men was skillfully chiseling a triangular piece of rock. Not seeing the spot where it would fit, the onlooker asked, “Where are you going to put that piece?” The worker pointed to the top of the building near the spire. “See that opening…? I’m shaping it down here so that it will fit up there.”
In light of the Scriptures, that thought helped this man in his stormy and sorrowful life - “Shaping it down here so that it will fit up there.” It is a thought similar to the Psalm, “It was good for me to be afflicted that I might learn your decrees.” (Psalm 119:71) It the opposite of the thought expressed by the disciples in their storm-tossed boat, JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE?
Dear Christian friends, when confronted with a storm, with intense suffering or overwhelming disappointment our first thought is not always, “Thank You heavenly Father, for I know that you are at work to shape my life.” More in tune with our natural inclination would be the cry, JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE?
The young adult may ache over time alone and the loneliness it brings. A weekend alone may seem like two months. There are pressures to seek companionship by going with the crowd, even if the crowd isn’t going with Jesus. It may seem as if life is passing one by while others are grabbing for and gaining the good stuff. In school, in the work place, in unsettled times of transition the anxious thought can be there, JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE?
On the other hand, the young mother may ache over no time alone. She is depended upon from the moment she wakes up to the moment she falls asleep. There are meals to prepare and dishes to do and messes to clean up. There are quarrels to mediate, phone calls to make and appointments to keep. There are husband’s needs and school activities and so many, many expectations. Rather than aching over uncommitted, alone time, she may crave just a few hours to be alone. Others don’t seem to sense the wind and waves crashing in and the nagging thought can be there, JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE – doesn’t anyone care?
The parents of older children have their own storms to weather. The safety you were able to provide little children in those hectic earlier years has run its course. The influences of worldly philosophies and temporary pleasures and seductive spiritualities beckon young adults to follow. There are lots of cool people to follow. Others who have made or are making bad decisions chasing freedom and fulfillment somehow seem wiser and freer and more fulfilled than dull old parents. You pray for them and try to help them. You know how life-determining their present actions can be, here on earth and eternally. You wish you could change the wind and waves that threaten them that they might not even recognize. You might long to go back to when they were little and do a few things differently. The lack of control can be overwhelming and the accusing thought can be there, JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE?
Or take the older person whose eyesight is dimming, whose step is shortening, whose activity is declining, whose daily pill count is mounting, whose friends are growing fewer and fewer and whose independence is threatened. The question can be there, Jesus, don’t you see what’s happening; don’t you see the winds and waves beating into this weathered old boat? I think I’m sinking! JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE?
Or take the host of other storms that come in this passing life. There are emotional storms and physical storms and medical storms, storms so fierce that there seems no place of refuge or safety. All across the spectrum of the years, in almost every circumstance of life, it may seem at times as if we alone are keeping things afloat and as if we are about to sink.
And like the disciples, these storms may come even as we’re doing what Jesus tells us to do. It was, after all, Christ who had told them to travel across the lake. When evening had come, Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” It was His voice they were obeying as the storm swept in.
The word translated as windstorm in our text is an old word for a cyclonic-type storm, a tempest of fierce and raging waves. Evening had come before they began, so darkness was upon them. They had no life preservers, no Coast Guard. In the dark with the boat already filling with water they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
Fellow-Redeemed, the action of the disciples demonstrates two sinful tendencies in our selves. First there is the tendency to take Jesus along for the ride, thinking we’ve got things managed quite well. Sometimes we would prefer it if He would sleep and let us run the show. When the sailing is smooth, daily prayer and weekly worship are easily taken for granted. Secondly, there is the tendency to blame Jesus when the ride gets out of control. The disciples words of accusation came from their fearful hearts and our hearts are no strangers to fear and worry.
And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Beloved this text is what one of our Pentecost banners pictures. What a marvelous scriptural scene it is! A weary Jesus is stronger than the mighty winds. Awakened from sleep, greeted with a question of human rebuke, he rebuked the wind. To the sea, He literally said, “put a muzzle on it and keep it on”. And there was a great calm! Filled with great fear the disciples said to one another, “Who is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”
Who is this? Who is this Jesus? That’s the right question for us storm tossed sinners. Remember God’s question to Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” It was Christ who asked that question. It was Christ who laid that foundation (John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1). It was also Christ who asked Job, “Who shut in the sea with doors…and prescribed limits for it…and said, ‘Thus far shall you come and no farther…here shall your proud waves be stayed.” It was Christ, God the Son, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit never slumbers never sleeps. But now He is asleep on a cushion in the stern of a boat, weary just like us.
That’s what makes the question of the disciples and of our anxious hearts so tragic! “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” The very reason He partook of our flesh and blood was to keep us from perishing. When the Son of God said to the waves “Be muzzled,” He was only doing what He had done from eternity. But even nature bowing to its Maker did not work faith in the disciples. “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” He asked.
Beloved, there is ultimately only one storm-stilling that works faith in Him. It was a tempest so severe that the one whose voice stilled this storm, Himself asked the question “Don’t you care?” It was phrased a bit differently and asked of God the Father, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” FATHER, DON’T YOU CARE? Don’t you see I am innocent? Don’t you feel my pain? My hands and feet are torn through! I cannot breathe! Where are you in this damning darkness? I am about to sink into death and the grave. Winds of punishment and waves of wrath are crashing over me. FATHER, DON’T YOU CARE?
You see, Jesus understands that question. When our heart cries out from loneliness or illness or disappointment, when our heart cries out from dark depression or even the storm of approaching death, JESUS, DON’T’ YOU CARE, Jesus understands that question. His own cry on the cross shouts back, “Yes, I care”. I care so much that the storm of God’s wrath has broken out against me and will never beat down on you! There will be some rough weather in this world, some violent storms. As the Vacation Bible School students studied this past week, you will have to carry a cross for following Jesus’ words. But finally, all the restless storms of this life will subside and there will be a great calm. Be assured that I love you and that I am at work shaping your life down here and that it will fit perfectly up there.
Concerning the rough weather we may encounter in the boat with Jesus consider Paul’s words to the Church at Corinth. “Now is the day of Salvation,” He wrote. Yet in the service of the ministry he lists afflictions, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, and hunger. Not a smooth ride for God’s great missionary Paul in this Day of Salvation.
Concerning the rough weather we may encounter in the boat with Christ, consider also the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. On this very date, June 25, 1530 the Lutherans were asked to give an account of their teaching to Emperor Charles V. Luther stood excommunicated by the Pope and under his death sentence. Because the threats against his life were so real and immediate, he couldn’t attend the diet at Augsburg in person. Those who confessed the scriptural faith Luther was restoring put their livelihood and their land and their loved ones and their very lives on the line.
In that stormy, threatening time, Dr. Christian Beyer, a layman, read the 28 articles summarizing the Lutheran Confession to the Emperor in German. He read it so loudly and distinctly that those gathered outside in the courtyard of the palace could hear every word. “It is taught among us that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin or righteousness before God by our own merits, works or satisfaction, but that we receive forgiveness of sin become righteous before God by grace for Christ’s sake through faith when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for His sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us.”
What a storm-stilling confession! What a storm-stilling Lord who suffered for us! Anyone who trusts in Him will not be put to shame. He who says to the sea, “This far you may come and no farther,” is among you to say the same thing about the guilt of your sin and the accusations of Satan. “Here is where the accusing, damning power of sin halts – in the sacrifice of my body and blood”. It may come no farther.
He will soon say the same thing to all the storms of your life. In His eternal presence there will be a great calm and peace at the last. Jesus who slept on the cushion in the boat has also slept the sleep of death in the garden tomb. The waves of death appeared to have sunk Him. But you know the rest of the story. It was His care for you that took Him down to the grave. On Easter morning and on this morning He comes to his Church with this word, “Peace be with you.” And there was and is between God and man, a great calm. In His eternal presence there will be a great calm and peace at the last.
In the meantime God grant you courage in the present storms you face. There are no easy answers to many of the struggles and sufferings of life. But Jesus bids you to trust in Him. He is not along just for the ride. He is along to see you safely to the other shore. He is present with you today to shape your life down here so that it will fit perfectly up there.
In the meantime, God also grant us compassion for others in this fragmented world of troubled and isolated people. In our families, in our neighborhoods, in our places of work, in our circle of friends, God grant us to bear witness to the hope that we have with gentleness and respect. God grant us ears that hear, love that invites, generosity that gives, kindness that helps, and faith that prays for our neighbors. We’re all in the same boat in this cursed world, and the boat of the world is sinking. But you are gathered in the nave of another boat, a baptismal boat, Christ’s Church. The boat that He captains will never sink. He has promised that not even the gates of hell will prevail against it. In Jesus’ Name - Amen.
Rev. Dr. Kenneth W. Wieting
Text: Mark 4:35-41
TEACHER, DON’T YOU CARE THAT WE ARE PERISHING?
A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Dear storm-tossed children of God; who really knows the pressures and threats you face? Who actually understands the daily struggles of your vocation, the unique strain of your responsibilities? Who truly realizes the sometimes overwhelming expectations and deep disappointments that threaten to swamp your life? Who in fact appreciates that there are times when your heart cries out akin to the cry of the disciples – JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE, fellow Christians, don’t you see – doesn’t anybody get it enough to help?
An article in yesterday’s Milwaukee Journal (Sat., June 24, 2006, p. 7A) was titled, Americans lack confidants. Its assertion was that Americans are far more socially isolated today than just two decades ago. One fourth of Americans say they have not one person with whom they can discuss personal troubles. This is double the number from 20 years ago. Possible causes for the fragmentation of close ties were noted as increasing work hours, the influence of the internet, and sitting in front of a TV. In bad times, far more people appear to suffer alone. In the fifteen years that I have been your pastor more social causes are believed present for the generalized cry, “doesn’t anybody care’?
This was also a prominent dry during the prolonged economic storm called the Great Depression. One Christian man lost his job in those years, exhausted his savings, and then lost his house. He was disheartened, dependent on others, and sure that things could not possibly be worse. But tragically they got much worse. The sudden death of his wife subsequently intensified the anguish of this penniless, unemployed man. He questioned everything. His faith in Jesus Christ was fading.
One day he went to one of the few work sites in the neighborhood and watched stonecutters working on a church building. One of the men was skillfully chiseling a triangular piece of rock. Not seeing the spot where it would fit, the onlooker asked, “Where are you going to put that piece?” The worker pointed to the top of the building near the spire. “See that opening…? I’m shaping it down here so that it will fit up there.”
In light of the Scriptures, that thought helped this man in his stormy and sorrowful life - “Shaping it down here so that it will fit up there.” It is a thought similar to the Psalm, “It was good for me to be afflicted that I might learn your decrees.” (Psalm 119:71) It the opposite of the thought expressed by the disciples in their storm-tossed boat, JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE?
Dear Christian friends, when confronted with a storm, with intense suffering or overwhelming disappointment our first thought is not always, “Thank You heavenly Father, for I know that you are at work to shape my life.” More in tune with our natural inclination would be the cry, JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE?
The young adult may ache over time alone and the loneliness it brings. A weekend alone may seem like two months. There are pressures to seek companionship by going with the crowd, even if the crowd isn’t going with Jesus. It may seem as if life is passing one by while others are grabbing for and gaining the good stuff. In school, in the work place, in unsettled times of transition the anxious thought can be there, JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE?
On the other hand, the young mother may ache over no time alone. She is depended upon from the moment she wakes up to the moment she falls asleep. There are meals to prepare and dishes to do and messes to clean up. There are quarrels to mediate, phone calls to make and appointments to keep. There are husband’s needs and school activities and so many, many expectations. Rather than aching over uncommitted, alone time, she may crave just a few hours to be alone. Others don’t seem to sense the wind and waves crashing in and the nagging thought can be there, JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE – doesn’t anyone care?
The parents of older children have their own storms to weather. The safety you were able to provide little children in those hectic earlier years has run its course. The influences of worldly philosophies and temporary pleasures and seductive spiritualities beckon young adults to follow. There are lots of cool people to follow. Others who have made or are making bad decisions chasing freedom and fulfillment somehow seem wiser and freer and more fulfilled than dull old parents. You pray for them and try to help them. You know how life-determining their present actions can be, here on earth and eternally. You wish you could change the wind and waves that threaten them that they might not even recognize. You might long to go back to when they were little and do a few things differently. The lack of control can be overwhelming and the accusing thought can be there, JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE?
Or take the older person whose eyesight is dimming, whose step is shortening, whose activity is declining, whose daily pill count is mounting, whose friends are growing fewer and fewer and whose independence is threatened. The question can be there, Jesus, don’t you see what’s happening; don’t you see the winds and waves beating into this weathered old boat? I think I’m sinking! JESUS, DON’T YOU CARE?
Or take the host of other storms that come in this passing life. There are emotional storms and physical storms and medical storms, storms so fierce that there seems no place of refuge or safety. All across the spectrum of the years, in almost every circumstance of life, it may seem at times as if we alone are keeping things afloat and as if we are about to sink.
And like the disciples, these storms may come even as we’re doing what Jesus tells us to do. It was, after all, Christ who had told them to travel across the lake. When evening had come, Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” It was His voice they were obeying as the storm swept in.
The word translated as windstorm in our text is an old word for a cyclonic-type storm, a tempest of fierce and raging waves. Evening had come before they began, so darkness was upon them. They had no life preservers, no Coast Guard. In the dark with the boat already filling with water they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
Fellow-Redeemed, the action of the disciples demonstrates two sinful tendencies in our selves. First there is the tendency to take Jesus along for the ride, thinking we’ve got things managed quite well. Sometimes we would prefer it if He would sleep and let us run the show. When the sailing is smooth, daily prayer and weekly worship are easily taken for granted. Secondly, there is the tendency to blame Jesus when the ride gets out of control. The disciples words of accusation came from their fearful hearts and our hearts are no strangers to fear and worry.
And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Beloved this text is what one of our Pentecost banners pictures. What a marvelous scriptural scene it is! A weary Jesus is stronger than the mighty winds. Awakened from sleep, greeted with a question of human rebuke, he rebuked the wind. To the sea, He literally said, “put a muzzle on it and keep it on”. And there was a great calm! Filled with great fear the disciples said to one another, “Who is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”
Who is this? Who is this Jesus? That’s the right question for us storm tossed sinners. Remember God’s question to Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” It was Christ who asked that question. It was Christ who laid that foundation (John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1). It was also Christ who asked Job, “Who shut in the sea with doors…and prescribed limits for it…and said, ‘Thus far shall you come and no farther…here shall your proud waves be stayed.” It was Christ, God the Son, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit never slumbers never sleeps. But now He is asleep on a cushion in the stern of a boat, weary just like us.
That’s what makes the question of the disciples and of our anxious hearts so tragic! “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” The very reason He partook of our flesh and blood was to keep us from perishing. When the Son of God said to the waves “Be muzzled,” He was only doing what He had done from eternity. But even nature bowing to its Maker did not work faith in the disciples. “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” He asked.
Beloved, there is ultimately only one storm-stilling that works faith in Him. It was a tempest so severe that the one whose voice stilled this storm, Himself asked the question “Don’t you care?” It was phrased a bit differently and asked of God the Father, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” FATHER, DON’T YOU CARE? Don’t you see I am innocent? Don’t you feel my pain? My hands and feet are torn through! I cannot breathe! Where are you in this damning darkness? I am about to sink into death and the grave. Winds of punishment and waves of wrath are crashing over me. FATHER, DON’T YOU CARE?
You see, Jesus understands that question. When our heart cries out from loneliness or illness or disappointment, when our heart cries out from dark depression or even the storm of approaching death, JESUS, DON’T’ YOU CARE, Jesus understands that question. His own cry on the cross shouts back, “Yes, I care”. I care so much that the storm of God’s wrath has broken out against me and will never beat down on you! There will be some rough weather in this world, some violent storms. As the Vacation Bible School students studied this past week, you will have to carry a cross for following Jesus’ words. But finally, all the restless storms of this life will subside and there will be a great calm. Be assured that I love you and that I am at work shaping your life down here and that it will fit perfectly up there.
Concerning the rough weather we may encounter in the boat with Jesus consider Paul’s words to the Church at Corinth. “Now is the day of Salvation,” He wrote. Yet in the service of the ministry he lists afflictions, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, and hunger. Not a smooth ride for God’s great missionary Paul in this Day of Salvation.
Concerning the rough weather we may encounter in the boat with Christ, consider also the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. On this very date, June 25, 1530 the Lutherans were asked to give an account of their teaching to Emperor Charles V. Luther stood excommunicated by the Pope and under his death sentence. Because the threats against his life were so real and immediate, he couldn’t attend the diet at Augsburg in person. Those who confessed the scriptural faith Luther was restoring put their livelihood and their land and their loved ones and their very lives on the line.
In that stormy, threatening time, Dr. Christian Beyer, a layman, read the 28 articles summarizing the Lutheran Confession to the Emperor in German. He read it so loudly and distinctly that those gathered outside in the courtyard of the palace could hear every word. “It is taught among us that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin or righteousness before God by our own merits, works or satisfaction, but that we receive forgiveness of sin become righteous before God by grace for Christ’s sake through faith when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for His sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us.”
What a storm-stilling confession! What a storm-stilling Lord who suffered for us! Anyone who trusts in Him will not be put to shame. He who says to the sea, “This far you may come and no farther,” is among you to say the same thing about the guilt of your sin and the accusations of Satan. “Here is where the accusing, damning power of sin halts – in the sacrifice of my body and blood”. It may come no farther.
He will soon say the same thing to all the storms of your life. In His eternal presence there will be a great calm and peace at the last. Jesus who slept on the cushion in the boat has also slept the sleep of death in the garden tomb. The waves of death appeared to have sunk Him. But you know the rest of the story. It was His care for you that took Him down to the grave. On Easter morning and on this morning He comes to his Church with this word, “Peace be with you.” And there was and is between God and man, a great calm. In His eternal presence there will be a great calm and peace at the last.
In the meantime God grant you courage in the present storms you face. There are no easy answers to many of the struggles and sufferings of life. But Jesus bids you to trust in Him. He is not along just for the ride. He is along to see you safely to the other shore. He is present with you today to shape your life down here so that it will fit perfectly up there.
In the meantime, God also grant us compassion for others in this fragmented world of troubled and isolated people. In our families, in our neighborhoods, in our places of work, in our circle of friends, God grant us to bear witness to the hope that we have with gentleness and respect. God grant us ears that hear, love that invites, generosity that gives, kindness that helps, and faith that prays for our neighbors. We’re all in the same boat in this cursed world, and the boat of the world is sinking. But you are gathered in the nave of another boat, a baptismal boat, Christ’s Church. The boat that He captains will never sink. He has promised that not even the gates of hell will prevail against it. In Jesus’ Name - Amen.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
6/27/2006
