Life as a Passenger


By Rev Steven R Mitchell

Mountain View United, Aurora, CO 6/24/2012

Based on Mark 4:35-41 & I Samuel 17



Mark 4: 40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” These were the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples after he had calmed the raging storm waters that had threatened to capsize the boat they were sailing in. These words seem almost harsh to me. If we were to place ourselves on this boat, as experienced fishermen, who would have been knowledgeable in handling a boat, especially in a storm, it would have been a natural human response to become fearful for our lives, when we realize that this storm has the capability to capsize our craft. Yet Jesus was down in the interior sound asleep, unshaken by the tossing of the boat and the amount of water that the boat must have been taking on.

When some of the men had gone down to where Jesus was sleeping and wakened him, I suspect Jesus had that unhappy look that comes when rudely interrupted from a deep sleep. In a cry of fear the disciples say to Jesus: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” This is a perfectly natural reaction on the part of the disciples, after all, the boat is caught up in this massive storm, taking on water as enormous wave’s crash over the boat, and here is their teacher, seemingly totally unaware of the danger they were in.

To understand Jesus’ response, it would help to go back one chapter and recall the events of the day. In chapter 3, Jesus had gone into the synagogue, and while there healed a man with a shriveled hand, that’s right, Jesus actually broke the law of ‘working on the Sabbath’. Next we read that he goes into a private home and is doing healing and teaching, creating a huge disturbance, so much so that his mother and family comes trying to take him home, because Jesus is emotionally disturbed. Jesus ignoring his mother’s request, then goes out of town near the Sea of Galilee, telling his friends to have a boat ready just in case the crowds become too large. It is at this point when Jesus, pulls a group of twelve men aside and chooses them to become his disciples. By evening Jesus is totally exhausted from all of the healing and teaching that he had done and tells his disciples to put out to sea, for he was going to cross over to the other side.

To Jesus’ amazement, after all of the day’s events of healing and teaching, the disciples seemed to not understand who Jesus was, and I think more importantly, their lack of understanding of his concern for them. For if what had been happening that day showed anything, it showed the love and the outreach that Jesus has for even those that were strangers to him. So as disciples, with all that they had seen, why wouldn’t they have understood that Jesus would also have concern about their safety; where was their faith?

Compare the Gospel story to that of the Hebrew story of young David as he is appalled by what he sees on the battle field, of the disrespect by Goliath and the Philistines toward the God of Israel, and of the fear the Israelite army seemed to have of this mighty giant.

This is the beauty of youth, of how in their innocence, youth can see the injustice and from outrage impulsively act to correct that injustice. This is something that maturity often seems to lose. The older we become, the less likely we are to speak out about injustices that we see. Is it because we are afraid to rock the boat, or maybe we feel we have too much to lose, or we just don’t have the energy to deal with it, or possibly it is just apathy; or maybe, just maybe we don’t believe, no faith, that by doing something it would truly make a difference.

King Saul was so overwhelmed by the threats of Goliath that he wouldn’t take up the challenge of sending out one man to fight Goliath, because he believed that no one could defeat this seasoned giant. In comes David, just a boy, asking permission to stand up to Goliath. Saul, sizes David up as inexperienced and too small to beat Goliath. We read in this story, a young man who in his years of tending sheep sees how God has been by his side in times of grave danger. We see a young man who has faith that God not only has the capacity to help him when in need, but wants to help when needed.

We see in these two stories, the difference in how people respond to dangerous situations depending on the level of faith they have. This faith may be in God’s power, or this faith may be in something else. People react to correct an issue whether they call themselves Christians or not. For those who label themselves as having faith in God, their faith comes out of past experiences of seeing God’s hand at work. If a person doesn’t believe in God, this faith might be in pure justice, knowing that justice ultimately wins out. Either way, it is ‘faith’ that prompts a person to act or react.

I consider myself most lucky to know a woman who is a refugee from the 1930-40’s Nazi Germany, whose family was able to escape arrest and make it safely to this country. The family lived in Germany and faced with the rise in fascism, the father sent his two daughters out of the country to Holland, to a town where the father’s college friend lived. While Liesel’s family eventually was able to immigrate to the USA, the family who was her father’s college friend were unable to gain visa’s and were eventually discovered and sent off to concentration camps, with only a diary remaining to let the world know of their existence, the diary of Anne Frank. I want to share with you a short clip that was sent to me on Thurs by another friend that puts meat to this morning’s scripture lessons. www.mjhnyc.org/faspe/

There are many giants in our world. They may be labeled with corporate names such as Enron, Exxon, or general labels such as Wall Street. These giants might be labeled as various dictators, terrorist leaders, governments that support such groups, or even our own government when it acts in the name of special interest groups, which harm our environment, our poor or citizens of other countries. Another one of these giants comes with losing independence through aging or failing health, or when we are faced with loneliness because of the death of a significant person in our lives or through separation or divorce, or of our children growing up and leaving home. There are many giants that make us fearful.

When I hear Christians tell me that they don’t think it is right to hear about political issues from the pulpit, such as: immigration reform, universal health care for all, when our government calls for war, or standing up to Wall Street, I have to respond by asking them what they think Jesus was involved in. Jesus was very political. That is the reason why he upset so many people. He was involved in civil disobedience when he broke the Sabbath law of healing those who asked for help. He broke the temple laws that allowed for merchants in the temple. He challenged the religious system that took advantage of the poor and sick.

As people who call themselves disciples of Christ, we are obligated by Jesus’ teachings and by his actions to speak up for social justice and to speak out against injustices, giving voice to those with no voice. We need to work at changing our laws that penalize the poor; we need to speak out when financial institutions and our elected representatives put their greed ahead of their fiduciary responsibilities.

I find the last sentence in today’s Gospel most intriguing. 41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? You would think that after Jesus had calmed the wind that they would be at peace, but no, now they went from fear of dying in the storm, to being “terrified” by Jesus’ power to command even nature. Who is it that we have been following? Is this the reason why the church that labels itself “progressive” seems to be afraid to involve itself in activities that we call “activism” because, like the disciples we are terrified of what Jesus might ask of us? What if we allow the “truth” of Jesus to enter into the depths of our hearts? Will we too find ourselves having to act as did the young shepherd boy David and actually have to put ourselves out in harm’s way to stand up for injustices that we see in our community? Today’s stories speak to us about fear and faith. Both are non-tangible and unquantifiable words, both are emotional and feeling terms that deal with the heart, not the brain.

As we come together at our August retreat to discuss in depth who we are and discern what we as Mountain View want to focus on in our long range ministries, today’s story’s of David and Goliath, and the disciples terror of who they are following, will be very much at the heart of our discussions and how we envision our future ministries and outreach, will depend on our relationship with Jesus and the depth of our faith in God. Amen