Pentecost 4 [Mark 4:35-41]

This sermon was preached at St John's Lutheran Church, Karoonda (9 am) and Trinity Lutheran Church, Tailem Bend (11 am).

Intro: Verbal question marks are neat. English has question words, but you can ask a question without them ("It's my turn." vs "It's my turn?"). The apostles here ask Jesus a question: “Teacher, don't you care that we are perishing?” But after his death and resurrection, they and we “tell out the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness and into his marvellous light”, which is not a question, but a statement. For,

Jesus does what no one can do, so the only way the Church can say that for sure is by faith in him.

Transition: How can we say for sure that Jesus calmed a storm immediately, completely, and simply by saying “Be quiet!” (basically)? No one does that. It doesn't happen. But it did. So the only way we can say something so impossible happened is that these words come from a heart made sure by his words. And his words make sure of who he is, and what he has done. For,

Jesus does what no one can do. See, we call someone a great person if they can safely ride out the wind and waves. We call them pretty full of themselves if they think they are in control of the winds and waves. And someone stopping the wind and waves completely and in an instant? That doesn't happen. Except it did. If no one can do such a thing, who can? Here's how Psalm 107 describes those in danger on the sea: “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. ²⁹ He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. ” And what about today's Gospel reading: were there people crying to Jesus, did Jesus still the storm and calm the waves? Did this cause his disciples to say, “Who is this?” That's because he is God – true God and true man.

And everything else in Mark's Gospel (in the whole Bible too) only confirms this. He heals with a touch or a word. He casts out demons. In the next chapter he casts out the demons from a man who could not be bound and lived in the tombs – he does what no one else can do because that man Jesus is God. That demon-possessed man couldn't be bound, but Jesus released him. And Jesus in last week's Gospel told the parable that spoke of the strong man being bound, who is Satan. Jesus binds Satan because he does what no one else can do – in order to deliver you from your distress (of sin, death, and the devil).

And because Jesus is God who rules over all his creation, he takes it upon himself to deliver his creation which is fallen in sin. That's the promise given to Adam and Eve on the very day of the fall, that One born of woman would do the work needed to deliver all flesh. Christ makes this his own responsibility to make right what sinful humanity has made wrong, even as he has this charge from his Father. So don't go up to God in what you say and do telling him how you're such a good person. That won't clear you of any sin. For Jesus can do what no one else can do – your salvation, the forgiveness of your sins.

And remember that when it often doesn't seem like Jesus cares. For the fact that he does what no one else can do is actually proof of how much he cares. By virtue of his birth and his cross and by virtue of his gift of your Baptism, despite how it seems for you right now, Jesus cares and saves and relieves with a good conscience and the victory over all that would afflict you; and this victory is where he forgives by the sacraments. And these sacraments comfort and reassure you that he does care, because Baptism and the Lord's Supper aren't empty things because Jesus does what no one can do.

Transition: But here's what we can do: be timid and fearful and display great lack of faith. That's what we have the power to do. The disciples said to Jesus, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”. And after stilling the storm, Jesus says to the disciples “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”.

The only way the Church can assert what is true and real is by faith in Christ. When the disciples said, “Teacher, do you not care?”, they expected a positive answer. “Teacher, you care that we are perishing, don't you?” But they put it in the form of a question. But faith makes rock solid statements that are sure. Keep in mind that even the psalms writers who say, “How long, O Lord?” they're not asking a question of doubt. They direct their prayer to the Lord because they will proceed to make strong declarations: “The Lord has heard my plea”.

And so we don't bless doubt. We don't bless saying, “here's what we believe, but maybe we don't believe that” or “here's what we believe, but it's probably not important.” Asking questions is great – doing nothing more than asking questions, not so much. Eventually we realize the Apostles Creed has no question marks; the Lord's Prayer has no question marks; when we sing “O Christ, Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world”, there are no question marks. [And keep this in mind when you hear talk of the Bible in the Church as 'being in coversation with the text in community', because that type of thinking never finally arrives at the strong conclusion of “We believe, teach, and confess”. But we do, and that's what we'll hear next week as we celebrate the Presenation of the Augsburg Confession.]

Transition: We believe all this knowing that, just like for the disciples, it's outside of our power to understand who Jesus is. But Jesus does what no one else can do. Indeed, it is the work of the Holy Spirit that -

Faith makes statements. Faith says, “Lord Jesus, you do care if we are perishing, and by your redemption we shall never perish. Amen.” And that's not a question. [Amen itself is a confident assertion, not in ourselves, our prayers or our faith, but in Christ and in his Word. To do this isn't to be full of ourselves but in fact to be humble before Christ. And to be humble before Christ makes us humble before the neighbor. We say “Lord have mercy” to the Lord, and turn to our neighbor believing what we've just said. saying “I stand here only because the Lord has had mercy on me. That makes me your servant, good neighbor.”]

But, keep in mind, the Lord doesn't send away the disciples with their questions, he keeps them where the answers are: where Christ is and speaks. (In the same way, we don't bless doubt, but bless the Lord who gives the Scriptures. And we point to the Scriptures, where they are read and preached and taught. God is able to make it so that the Scriptures are understood. He's in the business of doing things that are impossible, like calming wind and wave. He's in the business of joining water to his Word to work the forgiveness of sins. He's in the business of joining bread and wine to his Word so that what is put in your mouth is the body and blood of our risen Savior – that this gift is “for you, for the forgiveness of sins”. There we may doubt ourselves, but not Christ's words; for Christ gives sure words: “for you”.)

But the heart that doesn't fear, love, and trust in God above all things may indeed use questions but in reality: What unbelief knows is the opposite of what faith knows on the basis of Scripture (Faith confesses with the psalm writer: “But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” [Psalm 86:15]. But unbelief says there is no God and if there was he would be unmerciful] . Unbelief says the Holy Scripture can't be the Word of God in all its parts. And guess what lurks in our hearts. Unbelief is always lurking in our hearts [why do I complain? Why do I not praise? I am just like those disciples.].

But for the Christian unbelief is always fighting against faith. So faith looks to something stronger than our hearts, and that is Christ and all of his words [Why am I content? [use Paul's answer – Philippians 4:11-13 “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”; or the author of Hebrews' answer – Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Heb 13:5 ESV)”] Why do I praise? [Isaiah 25:1 “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.”; and because Jesus is the sacrifice for your sin, the author to the Hebrews writes in 13:15 “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. ”] ].

Conclusion: There is only one reason why Jesus could still the storm: he is God. And that's the very reason why the disciples didn't need to ask him if he cared – if he didn't care, he wouldn't have been born that he may die on the cross for your sin. So you can go to him with doubts, but the work of the Holy Spirit is to give the confession of faith: not “I believe in one God?” but “I believe in one God . . .”. Amen.