Jesus In My Boat!

Text: Mark 4:35-41

Focus: Faith

Function: To comfort people during this hard time

Form: Musings

Intro: Well, I am glad I waited on this sermon, because I had it down, but then, I needed to change it due to the terrorist attack in Charleston, SC.

I had one of those days Thursday, with no social media. A day where I just disconnected so that I could spend time with God.

There was an heaviness in my spirit that began about 2 in the afternoon. I thought it was the weather, but as I ponder it, I think it was the collective groans of everyone that I love, everyone with whom my spirit is somehow connected as the news began to dawn on them.

I didn't check news or anything until 5:30 and then, it was straight to the Church to get on my face before God here in the sanctuary and cry out for God to heal this land of its racism.

Do we not all wonder why God doesn't just stop these people from this kind of evil?

There is so much angst in our hearts. It is a call for us to redouble our efforts to preach the love and peace of Jesus Christ to this tired old world.

We ask ourselves if God cares at times like this.

And strangely enough, the same question was raised in our text this morning.

When the apostles looked at the storm, they were afraid.

Jesus was with them, and Jesus was not afraid.

Hmmm. (pause)

Verse 7b: “The disciples woke him up and said, `Teacher, don't you care that we are about to die?'”

Don't you care?

Don't raise your hands, but that is a common question asked by people during times of tragedy.

“God, don't you see that?”

“God, didn't you see that?”

“Do you care?”

How, does God care.

There was this young man, a friend of my daughter during High School.

He was a self-described atheist.

And he was really gifted.

He wrote an underground newspaper at the High School.

And he was angry. Not violent, like Wednesday night, but angry.

His writing was profound. It was brilliant, it reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. However, it was also full of colorful metaphors and because of that, the school wanted to expel him.

My daughter showed me what he wrote and asked me if it was worthy of expelling.

I saw the potential in the young man. We had another Ordained preacher in the congregation, a professor at Anderson University and heavily involved in Republican politics in the county.

Jerry, the preacher and I went to the school board and defended the child because of his giftedness.

That summer, our youth pastor did a youth event that was pretty edgy.

And because people from our church supported the young man, he came and listened to the gospel message.

In the early spring he ran a stop sign and was killed.

I did the funeral.

Funerals for children are really hard.

The same question is there, and everyone, everyone is asking it, “Where is God in all this?”

And also, to me: “How can YOUR GOD let this happen? Isn't God supposed to be all-powerful? Isn't YOUR GOD supposed to love and care for us?”

And, those times when preachers speak for God in tragedy are the best and the worse of our times as preachers.

The funeral went well.

4 weeks later the father of the young man walked into my office.

He was angry and grieving and he said this to me: “Pastor, I have just one question for you. I am not a religious man. I am a good man, but I don't have much time for religion. I don't pray much. As a matter of fact, I really only have ever had one prayer my whole life. One prayer. (his voice raised) Do you want to know what that is?”

I saw the man trembling, on the brink of tears, he was emotionally exhausted and completely broken. Although I feared his answer, I asked him to tell me.

“God! I prayed...” said the man. “Keep my kids safe! Why, pastor, did God not answer the only prayer I have ever repeated to him time and time again?”

I might as well of babbled my lips like this (flip lips with finger).

I had no excuse for God. And, God doesn't need an excuse for what God does.

And yes, I believe that God is love and God can, could have, saved that man's son. And I didn't know why God didn't do that.

I felt the same way as the father did.

Now I know that God loves that man and his son.

My only salient answer, after I stumbled around in his grief for a while was this: “I am convinced that Jesus is weeping with you also.”

I am convinced of that. And, I believe that I was able to convince the man of that.

I wish I could understand the mysteries of faith.

I have seen God heal the sick, I have seen the blind receive their sight and the lame walk again at the prayer ministry that I have seen God do.

God is able and sometimes God chooses not to.

And again that question the disciples asked Jesus comes to mind: “don't you care?”

And of course, the answer is, was and will always be a resounding: YES!

God didn't kill that man's son to get his attention. God didn't kill that man's son because he was angry, rebellious or even that he described himself as an atheist.

God didn't kill that man's son.

In the midst of death and tragedy, God cares. God does.

Jesus was in the boat.

And for a moment, one could infer from the story that God has placed God's success in the same boat as us.

Of course Jesus cared, He was in the boat!

The question, because Jesus was in the boat, might seem inane.

But here is the thing, Jesus, is in our boat.

As we heard the story, we sighed in sorrow, anguish, anger, pain and brokenness. We care. Almost everyone cares. God cares more and I am sure that God is not defeated by this.

Alone, the stories of love and forgiveness coming from the families is one of the greatest witnesses to Christ I can see.

I can see God's loving hand in that. Praise God's name! Amen?

God cares.

And today's lesson tells us that if God so chooses, God can change the circumstance.

And thank God that I do not have to justify why God does and doesn't change the circumstance.

I don't think God ever causes bad things to happen as a form of warning, but at times like this, just like at a funeral, we take time to ponder, to listen and to seek God's face.

If there is one lesson we can learn it is this, racism is still not over.

Jim Wallis posted this on Friday: “...The deep wounds of racism, America's original sin, still linger in our society, our institutions, and in our minds and hearts — sometimes explicitly, but far more pervasively through unconscious bias. Wednesday's terrorist act is the latest manifestation of this lingering sin....”

The change must come from the grass roots up. This is time for the Church to speak up more and more on behalf of everyone who is marginalized by our society.

God cares. God could have changed this. God changes things on behalf of the prayers of God's people.

(look up) God help us!