The Voice that Calmed the Sea – February 25, 2024, The Second Sunday in Lent
Exodus 14:19-29, Matthew 8:18-27
February 25, 2024
Yes, we’ve jumped past the Sermon on the Mount. We’re at the point where Matthew has just finished giving us that first actual recorded speech of Jesus. As I said, it’s not the first time he spoke to the crowds, but it’s the first time we have his actual speech. And it’s his best! Now we’re going to see Jesus, not just talking about the kingdom, but demonstrating his power in that kingdom!
So, immediately after this sermon, he heals a leper. And he does so by actually touching him, which would have shocked the crowds! I think there would have been an audible gasp when he reached out to the man! Then he heals the Centurion’s servant – by remote control! From afar! And if that wasn’t shocking enough for him to be dealing with this Roman officer in the first place, he then proclaims him to be a man with a faith greater than all Israel! Imagine what the people thought about that! Then in the next story, he heals Peter’s mother-in-law. And that causes the people to bring all the sick and possessed from around the region for what I’ve described before as a “mass healing.” Maybe you remember that story!
Yes, there is something very special about this man Jesus! And the people then were just beginning to see that. And as I always like to say, try to imagine what it was like to have been there and seen these events unfold – without knowing what we already know?
That brings us to our story for today, or should I say “stories.” Because there are two stories here. And I think they are related. And as I said, I like the way Matthew tells them together. Because they’re both about how people reacted to the amazing things they were seeing in this man, Jesus.
The first story is one that’s been called “The ‘would be’ disciples.” That’s the heading in my Bible. In our modern culture, I think we would call them “wanna-be” disciples. They said they wanted to follow Jesus. And as he responded to them, it’s clear that his message was, that they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into!
The first is a scribe who said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go!” And notice, Jesus didn’t say no. He said, “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” In other words, following him would not be easy!
That reminds me of the story of when the mother of James and John came to Jesus to ask him to let her sons sit at his right and left – to give them positions of prominence – in his coming kingdom. And of course, she was thinking of the earthly kingdom everyone was hoping for! He said, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are they able to drink the cup of suffering that I must drink?” “Do they know what they’re in for?”
The second response here is even more harsh. The second man said to him, “I’ll follow, but let me first go and bury my father.” And it’s been suggested that the father may not have been dead yet. So the man was saying, “Right now in my life, I have certain responsibilities to my family. After those responsibilities end, then I can follow.” And Jesus’ response is, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
That does sound harsh, doesn’t it? But it reminds me again of James and John – the same guys whose mother asked for prominent positions. When they were first called to follow Jesus, they left their father Zebedee right there in the boat! And I wonder if they were there listening to Jesus’ answer to this man, knowing they left everything to follow him!
Again, for these wanna-be disciples, Jesus’ response is, “Do you know what you’re asking?” “Do you know what you’re in for?” And maybe that’s a good Lenten question for us, too. Do we know what we’re in for when we choose to be Jesus’ disciples? Do we know what’s ahead when we decide to follow him? And don’t forget, there’s a difference between those who believe in Jesus, and those who follow Jesus. Isn’t there? And when we follow, do we know what we’re in for?
As I said, I like these two stories back to back. Because the next story is about the disciples in the boat with Jesus when he calms the storm at sea. And here I think, like the wanna-be disciples, even those actual disciples didn’t yet realize what they were in for. “Who is this man,” they asked, “that even the wind and waves obey him?
Think about that. Water was a fearsome thing for people of old. They feared the awesome and destructive power of the sea. And that’s still the case today, although sometimes we think we’ve tamed the seas. We think that until we witness a major hurricane, and then we realize that’s not the case at all.
Think about Columbus. Despite what the world may think of him these days, he was a brave man. He sailed west – away from the land they knew. And people didn’t do that in those days. They feared the unknown, they feared the power of the sea. So when they sailed, they mostly only hugged the coastlines.
Oh, and despite what some people think, the people of Columbus’ day did not think the earth was flat. People only believe that today!! Yeah, there are “flat earthers” around here in the 21st century! (Maybe we have some here!) Well, they didn’t think that then. In fact, it’s my understanding that the Greeks had already figured out figured out the circumference of the earth fairly accurately a thousand years before Columbus. So they weren’t afraid they were going to sail off the edge. They just feared the power of the sea and the unknown.
So what about these people in the boat with Jesus? What were they thinking when they saw the wind and the waves obey him? Do you think maybe they thought about the story of Moses? The Exodus was a huge story for them. It was the salvation story of the Old Testament. And they all knew of the story of Moses stretching his hand out over the sea and parting the waters. Did they think of that story when they saw what Jesus did?
Or did they think of the creation story? In the beginning of Genesis, we read that, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep.” In other words, the waters – the seas – where there at creation. And the waters were the chaos – the fearful chaos – out of which God created. Could the disciples have been thinking of the power of God over those waters when they witnessed what Jesus just did? And in all that, like the wanna-be disciples, did they wonder what they were getting themselves into?
As I said, they were beginning to see more and more that this Jesus was somebody very special. And maybe they thought they had a pretty good idea of how special he was. But now this! And they found themselves asking, “Who is this man that even the wind and waves obey him?”
And I was thinking, do we ever get that way? Do we ever get to thinking we have a pretty good idea of how special Jesus is, how powerful he is, or even how great his Grace is, and then we find out he’s beyond what we think? Do we ever think, “what have we gotten ourselves into?” “Who is this man?”
In the disciples case, that realization came in a time of crisis! When the storm was raging, these guys knew they were going to die! “Save us, Lord. We are perishing!” They knew it! They had seen storms on the sea before. They probably knew people who had perished in those storms. They knew that the weather on the Sea of Galilee could change in an instant.
I’ll never forget the day I was on my friend’s boat in Kansas. We were out on Clinton Lake near Lawrence, and it was a pretty nice day. But then a storm came up, seemingly out of nowhere. I remember I was amazed – shocked really – how quickly the waves rose on that lake! It became really scary, really fast!
I can still picture that, and imagine what happened in this story. These men were terrified. They knew they were about to die. They looked to Jesus to save them. But did they really believe he could? Or was “Save us!” a plea of desperation. In Mark’s gospel, they ask, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38) And can you imagine what they thought here, when Jesus didn’t just rebuke the wind and the waves! He rebuked them! “Why are you so afraid, O men of little faith?” And he spoke those words while the storm was still raging!
When the storms of life are raging around us, how would we feel if someone were to call us on having so little faith? Couldn’t Jesus words have been just as affective, and maybe even more so, if he had said them after the calm, as they were sitting in the boat on the still water? I wonder.
But can you imagine the scene in the boat, in the calm waters, with these men staring at Jesus, now wondering what they had gotten themselves into?! And what about us? When we see the power of God in our lives, when we realize the depths of his love, or come to a deeper understanding of the power of his Grace, do we wonder what we’ve gotten ourselves into?
I hope we always have that wonder. I hope we never think we’ve got Jesus “all figured out.” I hope over and over, when we see his hand in our lives, we will become even more amazed by the depth of his love, the height of his power, and the wonder of his Grace! May we never stop asking, “Who is this man, that even the wind and waves obey his voice?!”
Prayer
Eternal God, we thank you for your promise to be with us at all times in our lives – when we are at peace, and even when the storms of life are raging all around us. Help us to know that in all things and at all times, we are yours. And may we always, in all times and in all circumstances, be ready to give answer for the hope that lies within us. For we pray in the name of our Lord and our Savior, and our Hope, Jesus Christ, Amen.