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Out of the Blue

Delivered June 29, 2003,
by Pastor Werner De Jong

Text: Mark 4:35-41

Main Idea: When circumstances beyond our control threaten our lives with chaos and disorder, we have this assurance: Jesus is with us and Jesus has the power to rescue us from fear and danger.

Purpose: To encourage the listeners that Jesus has the power to rescue them from the storms of life, and to restore order when chaos threatens their lives. To challenge the listeners, therefore, not to give in to fear when unexpected dangers or difficulties arise, but to maintain trust in Jesus.

Introduction: Today's Bible reading from Mark tells the astounding story of Jesus stilling a raging wind as it howled across the sea. All he did was speak the word, and the storm stopped as suddenly as it had begun, and there was a great calm. This is a familiar story for many of us. If we attended Sunday School as children, we probably learned it there. When we teach the story to young children, we usually emphasize the great power that Jesus has over nature. That is a significant part of the story. But there is more to it than a brute demonstration of Jesus' strength. Sometimes over familiarity with a story can cause us to miss other meanings.

      Recently there was a series of beer commercials running on television with the slogan, "A whole lot can happen out of the blue." I don't think much of beer commercials, but the slogan is true. It basically means that many unexpected events and circumstances can break in to our every day routines. As much as we try, we cannot order the world just the way we want, for we never know what circumstances beyond our control will suddenly happen to us "out of the blue." That is one of the main lessons we learn in this account, that the followers of Jesus are not immune to sudden changes in their circumstances.

      Sometimes these unexpected occasions will be positive, and create interesting diversions, like in the beer commercials. But at other times unexpected events can threaten us with chaos and confusion, and cause us to feel afraid, like the storm that arose when the disciples were rowing across the Sea of Galilee with Jesus.

Life is unpredictable: It is these kind of unforeseen circumstances, the ones that threaten us, that I would like to address this morning. The world is not a predictable place, and when we leave the church every week none of us can know what will happen in the week to come. Just this week the outside doors of the church were painted blue (by some pastor's father!), and so now we can even say quite literally, "A whole lot can happen out of the blue!"

      There are periods of time, of course, when everything in life goes along quite comfortably and predictably. Most of us have had such stretches of smooth sailing, when the sun is shining and things are well and we are enjoying life to the fullest. At such times it is a little hard to believe that at any moment our lives can be unexpectedly disrupted. On TV or the radio, for example, you often hear interviews with people who have had something traumatic happen to them, and they often say, "I never thought it could happen to me: I never thought I would lose my job, I never thought I would suddenly get seriously sick, I never thought we would have a house fire or a burglary, I never thought my child would get involved in such trouble, etc...". One of the reasons for this is that when things are going well we have a tendency to give most of the credit to ourselves, and begin to buy into the illusion that we are in complete control of our lives, and can order them any way we want to.

      But our Bible reading tells a very different story. One of its main lessons is that life is unpredictable. It teaches us that even when we are following Jesus, and obeying him, unexpected storms can arise. There is a significant detail in today's Bible reading that is often overlooked. That is the fact that the trip at night across the sea was Jesus' idea. Listen to verse 35: "As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let's cross to the other side of the lake.'" A good number of the disciples were experienced fishermen, and they knew the Sea of Galilee could be a very treacherous place, yet because Jesus asked they didn't argue, but started out, and soon left the crowds behind on the shore. They obeyed Jesus, and what was the result? They suddenly found themselves caught in a furious squall. Yet they were going where Jesus wanted them to go. They were doing what Jesus wanted them to do. They were following Jesus' will.

      I once heard George Verwer preach, and he used a different text to convey the same lesson. He told the story of Joseph, who as a young man was working in Potiphar's house. He was a meticulous manager who ordered his master's affairs well. All was going great until Potiphar's wife began inviting Joseph to sleep with her. But Joseph replied, "How could I betray your husband, my master, who has put me in charge of his entire household? How could I ever do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God." But she kept pressuring him, until one day, when she grabbed him, he literally had to run from the house, and she was left holding his shirt. At this point Verwer said, "What do you think happened to Joseph? Did God reward him with a gorgeous wife for his obedience? As he fled the house did he run into the girl of his dreams and become engaged?" No. Potiphar's wife began to scream rape and Joseph was thrown into prison where, as a consequence of his obedience, he languished for many long years. Once again we see that even obedience to God does not guarantee us immunity from life's unexpected storms. At any time chaos may break into our well ordered worlds.

Fear and Anxiety: When this happens, fear and confusion are often the result. We feel safe as long we feel in control of our lives, but when we lose control it can frighten us, or discourage us, or depress us. The disciples certainly grew afraid when they could no longer control the boat on the choppy waters. Their anguish was very real, as the waves relentlessly kept splashing into their boat, quicker than they could bail, and as it filled higher and higher with water, until it was on the verge of being swamped. It must have been a terrible feeling.

      In the same way, it is a terrible feeling for us when unexpected events cause us to feel that our lives are out of control. It can feel very much like we are sinking. Anxiety can easily set in. In the case of the disciples, they were not overreacting when they awakened Jesus with the frantic cry, "Master, don't you even care that we are going to drown?" That cry may also cross our lips when unexpected storms arise, "God, don't you care? Can't you see how scared and confused I am?" Perhaps some of us even feel that way this morning.

Jesus is more powerful than chaos: If we ever catch ourselves feeling desperate like that, it is good to remember what happened next out on the lake. After Jesus was awakened by his distraught disciples he rebuked the wind and said to the water, "Quiet! Be still!" Suddenly there was no more wind, and Mark records that there was "a great calm." Those who find their lives suddenly caught up in a whirlwind yearn for such a thing. Nothing sounds better than "a great calm," when we are anxious and fearful, but we wonder how and if it can ever be achieved. For those who yearn for calm in the midst of life's tempests, this text holds out a simple promise of salvation: storms are no match for the power of God. This story presents us not just with the presence of Jesus, who shares our predicament amid the storms of life, but with the power of Jesus, who can do something about the storms.

      Jesus' power doesn't only extend over physical storms like sudden squalls on a large lake, although that in itself is magnificent, and a reason to worship our Lord with great awe. But this account symbolizes so much more than Jesus' sheer strength over the sea. Those of us who have been studying the book of Revelation together in Sunday School have come to learn that "the sea" had a very symbolic function for the Hebrew people. This is very apparent in Revelation chapter 21, where John sees his magnificent vision of a new heaven and a new earth. We are probably familiar with parts of the vision, when John talks about a city with streets of gold, and walls made out of jewels, with the River of Life running down Main Street, and the tree of life planted by it, a tree which bears a different kind of fruit every month, and whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Those are all symbols of what life in the fullness of God's presence will be like. But do you know the very first thing John says about this picture? He says that "the sea was no more" (v. 1). In John's vision of the new heaven and the new earth, there is no longer any ocean. This may not sound like a good thing, for those of us who enjoy living in the Maritimes, for those of us who appreciate summer visits to places like the Bay of Fundy or the Northumberland Strait. Many people would never want to imagine life, whether present or in God's future, without the sea. But we need not worry, for the one thing any serious student of Revelation quickly learns is that it often speaks in symbols.

      What does the sea symbolize? Not only in Revelation, but throughout the Bible, the sea is often used as a symbol of chaos and disorder, it is a symbol of the unknown that can unexpectedly bring fear and confusion to our lives. In his Herald Press Anabaptist commentary on Mark, Timothy Geddert writes: "Both the OT and the NT reveal that in the ancient world the sea was considered a place of terror, the unknown, insecurity and disaster, evil beasts and demonic powers. OT writers often picture God slaying the monster of the deep waters to create a place of security. For example, the psalmist speaks of God's salvation in the following terms (Ps. 74:13-14a): ‘You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan.' This is very useful background information, for it provides greater depth to Mark's account of Jesus stilling the sea. When the initial readers of Mark's gospel read this story, they certainly would have marvelled at Jesus' power over nature. But at the same time they undoubtedly would have heard that Jesus has power to rescue any of his disciples from the fear and disorder that unpredictably and suddenly crash into their lives from time to time. One of the main messages of this Bible reading is therefore this: when circumstances beyond our control threaten our lives with chaos and disorder, Jesus has the power to rescue us and restore order, great calm and peace.

Application: Trust Jesus: This requires from us a response of trust. When unpredictable circumstances blow trouble into our lives, Jesus asks us to maintain our faith in him. He asks us to believe that, regardless of how external circumstances may appear, he is still in control.

      Jesus' only words to the disciples during this incident are a gentle rebuke: "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" If this were the first time the disciples had met Jesus, we might wonder why he would question their fear. Isn't it a natural reaction to feel afraid when your boat is about to sink? But Jesus has been with his disciples for quite some time now. They have witnessed other miracles, and they have heard his teaching about the Kingdom of God. Ultimately the question Jesus is asking them is this: "Why are you afraid? Do you not yet trust God, whose rule is present in me? Why do you respond with fear when danger threatens?"

      From this teaching it is apparent that our Lord sees faith and fear as opposites. It is also apparent that Jesus wants us to place our full trust in him. It is not easy to relinquish fear and exercise faith when matters are out of our own control. It is not easy to remain calm when chaos threatens us. But that is what it means to trust Jesus. That is what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It is to believe that our lives are in his hands, and that he has the power to rescue us from all danger. It is to realize that we ultimately have nothing to fear.

      The action of Jesus during the storm provides us with an excellent illustration of trust. In contrast to the disciples, who are wide awake in a state of nervous agitation and near panic, Jesus is sleeping peacefully at the back of the boat, with his head on a cushion. In one sense he is like a small infant peacefully asleep in his mother's arms. But in another sense, of course, he has full adult awareness of the dangers on the notorious Sea of Galilee, which had claimed the lives of many mariners before him. Why is he therefore able to sleep so calmly? Because he fully entrusted himself to his Father, the Creator and Ruler of all, and was therefore afraid of nothing.

      Although the disciples interpreted Jesus' sleep as a lack of concern, the lesson for us is that it is a sign of trust, which we are called to imitate. Psalm 4:8 says, "I will lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe." We can do the same thing, even when tempests blow, for the forces of chaos and confusion are no match for the reign of God present in the person of our Lord and Saviour. Psalm 121 gives a perfect reason why we can sleep in peace when it says, "The LORD will not let you stumble and fall; the one who watches over you will not sleep. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never tires and never sleeps. The LORD himself watches over you" (vv. 3-5a).

      Walking by faith means that we trust fully in God's watchful care, even when it seems like he is asleep. One man tells of the first time he crossed the Atlantic Ocean, when he was emigrating to North America. For most of the crossing the boat was shrouded by a thick, heavy fog. The little that could be seen from the deck was the relentless waves pounding the boat. Day after day, night after night, the conditions remained the same. He didn't know which direction they were going, and trusted that the captain did. Then one day the fog lifted, and there before his eyes was the skyline of New York City, the intended destination. That is what faith is like: at times waves of opposition battle us, with no change in sight. We may look all around, and it may seem like our circumstances are never going to change. Until a special day arrives, revealing that we have been moving according to plan, and that our trust was well-founded.

Conclusion: As followers of Jesus, we are not guaranteed smooth sailing for all of life's journey. But as we conclude, we can surely say this: that we are given the promise that Jesus will always be with us, and that he will help us arrive safely wherever it is he wants us to go, even if it is just to the other side of the lake. Of course, in this story, the lake is no ordinary lake, it is a sea that also symbolizes chaos and confusion. But no matter, for the lesson of this event is that we can always say with confidence that Jesus has the power to rescue us from the storms of life, and to restore order whenever something comes "out of the blue" to threaten us or make us afraid. As followers of Jesus we can sleep peacefully, even when troubles surround us, knowing that our Lord is in control. Let us, therefore, not give in to fear when unexpected dangers or difficulties arise, but let us continue to maintain our trust in Jesus. For he is faithful, and he has promised to see us safely through to our journey's end.

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