+ 10th Sunday after Pentecost - July 29th, 2018 +
Series B: Mark 6:45-52
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
St. Mark’s account of Jesus walking on water is familiar, famous even. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Basilisk reptile in South America that runs across the water, also known as “the Jesus Lizard.”
Familiar though this story is, St. Mark records Jesus doing a few strange things today’s Gospel reading.
As the story begins, we’re told Jesus made, compelled his disciples to get into the boat and get a head start across the sea of Galilee while Jesus dismissed the crowds. Why does he send them off in such a hurry?
Later, Jesus catches up with his disciples by walking upon the water as easily as we would walk the trail at Five Mile Lake Park.
And if that wasn’t remarkable enough, St. Mark tells us that when Jesus walked on the water to his disciples, he would have passed them by. Only then, when the disciples saw Jesus, were they afraid.They were probably asking the same kinds questions we are: what’s going on here? What are we to make of all this? Or the good Lutheran question, what does this mean?
To answer our questions, St. Mark tells us this story. But what kind of story is this?
Is it an allegory about how Jesus comes to us in the storms of life and calms the troubled waters? It’s tempting to go that way. And while it’s true, Jesus is with us in all of life’s troubles as he promises, our Lord never promises that all of life’s troubles will end in this life just like the wind ceased once Jesus got in the boat. The promise is that Jesus is with us, comes to us as God in human flesh to save us, and that promise holds you no matter what is going on around.
So, if it’s not an allegory, perhaps it’s a fable? You know... the moral of the story is…if we just had more faith, unlike those hard-headed, hard-hearted disciples, we wouldn’t be afraid when the winds of life blow adversity in our face. Problem is, if this was the right way to read this story, Jesus would never have gone to his disciples to comfort them in their fear; in fact, they wouldn’t have needed Jesus at all if they had everything figured out.
So, what kind of story is this? It’s not an allegory that trivializes our pain and suffering. it’s not a moral story with a guilt trip the size of the Puget Sound. it’s a remarkable, yet historical narrative. A story where Jesus reveals who he is, what he has come to do for us, and how he is going to save us, just as he did the disciples.
Jesus is in control of this whole scene from the beginning. He compels the disciples to go ahead of him. And then notice how he caringly, lovingly, like a Shepherd, dismisses the crowds. St. Mark depicts him like Moses caring for Israel in the wilderness. Here is the bread of life come down from heaven for you.
Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.
After the crowds are gone, Jesus heads up the mountain to pray, just as Moses once ascended Mt. Sinai to meet with YHWH. Only here, YHWH in human flesh prays. Prays in grief over his cousin, John the Baptist’s death. Prays for the crowds to hear and receive him as the Messiah. Prays for his disciples to understand and believe. Prays for you, though no longer on a mountain, but as your great high priest in the heavenly sanctuary.
And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.
St. Mark makes a subtle point here. There’s a separation between Jesus and his disciples. They were half way across the lake while Jesus was alone on the land. A physical separation, and a spiritual separation. God is God and we are not. God is holy and we are not.
And yet, as we heard last week in the feeding of the 5,000, there’s something peculiar about this God-man Jesus, something unexpected, and even a little fearful, as the disciples quickly discover.
Imagine the situation from the disciples perspective. There they were on the sea of Galilee; and for Israelites, the sea was always the place of chaos and danger, the home of Leviathan and the deep. It was somewhere between 3-6 AM (the 4th watch of the night). It was pitch black. The wind was howling. The boat tossing to and fro. The disciples were probably exhausted from fighting the headwind. And then they see something. Now every sailor I’ve known has at least one story to tell. But they all saw something. Only, it wasn’t a something. Someone. A man. Their master. The man Jesus. Walking on the water towards them.
To make this scene even stranger, Mark uses that curious phrase “He meant to pass by them”. Is Jesus trying to play hide and seek? No. This is Mark’s way of telling us that YHWH has come to visit his own people. God reveals himself to us and for us. The Lord who passed by Moses in the cleft of the rock in Exodus, who allowed his glory to pass by Elijah in a cave now passes by his disciples on the sea.
Mark wants us to know what the disciples didn’t understand on that boat: Jesus the man is the all-powerful God, the master of his own creation. And yet he comes to his creation with comfort, love, and mercy for us.
Still, the disciples didn’t get it right away. They were afraid. They thought Jesus was a ghost. Sounds silly to us. It’s easy to point the finger at the disciples’ ignorance and foolishness, that is, until we realize we’re no different. We have fears, doubts, and failures just as they did.
Mark tells us at the end of the reading that the disciples were utterly astounded and that their hearts were hardened, hearts of stone to use OT language. That’s our problem too. Like Israel of old we are a stubborn and stiff-necked people. We prefer to make God in our own image. To have a tame God we can control, or better yet, to put God on trial, to define God on our terms. There’s a word for that in Scripture. Pride. Idolatry. Sin.
In the culture we live in, Jesus walking on water is a good reminder that he didn’t come to be our buddy, BFF, or our Bro. He’s the Lord of heaven and earth. The very Word of God made flesh, the visible image of God, and radiance of the glory of God.
And most unexpectedly, and graciously, the Creator comes to his creation. The God of infinite cosmic power chooses the itty-bitty living space of Mary’s womb, and is born in a feeding trough for you. The God who told Job that He alone stretched out the heavens and treads on the sea as on a bed, walked on water revealing himself to the disciples. And with those same feet he walked to the cross bearing our fear, doubt, pride, sin, and death. The God who made a pathway through the waters for Israel makes a new exodus for us through the waters of Holy Baptism. The Lord who made a covenant with Noah and all creation pours out a lavish flood of forgiveness over us here in his holy Ark, the church.
You are saved through the water, just as Noah, Israel, Jonah, and the disciples were. And the truly remarkable thing is that Jesus does all of this even though the disciples didn’t deserve it and didn’t get it. Just like us...by God’s undeserved, unmerited, unconditional grace. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good and his steadfast love endures forever.
Take heart. Be of good cheer. It is I, Jesus said. Do not be afraid.
Jesus got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. Jesus didn’t abandon his disciples, and neither will he abandon you. He is the King of creation, but also the crucified king for you.
And even though the disciples didn’t get it then, they would. They saw Jesus crush the head of the great Leviathan on the cross. They saw the blood and water pour forth from his pierced side. They saw Jesus alive again, not as a ghost, but with nail marks in his hands and side, for them and for you.
Do not be afraid. Peace be with you.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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