[Mark 4:35-41] On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”
Jesus Calms the Storm
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?!”
The disciples got into the boat with Jesus. They set out on the water. And a great windstorm arose, so that the waves were crashing over the boat and filling it.
The disciples are about to sink into the abyss. Jesus is asleep on a cushion. They wake Him and cry out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
Jesus rose. Rebuked the wind. And spoke to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” (“Be quiet”) He quieted the sea. Hushed the threatening waves. “The wind stopped, and there was a great calm.”
“Why are you afraid? Do you not yet have faith?”, Jesus said. But He didn’t wait for that stronger faith before He saved them. He cared that they were perishing.
The disciples were filled with a great and wondrous fear, “Who then is this that even wind and sea obey Him?”
Who is He? Amazingly, the One who calms wind and wave is also the very One who sends wind and wave. He is the Lord:
“For He commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away… they were at their wits' end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.” [Psalm 107:25-29]
The Lord of wind and wave can calm wind and wave – just as He can also calm the greater storm against us.
The greater storm that threatens you and me is God’s anger against our sins. We don’t believe God is angry with our sins because we “think of sin but lightly” [LSB 451].
But, in truth, our sins stir up a right and just storm against us, by which we would perish eternally. “On account of these – our many sins – the wrath of God is coming” [Colossians 3:6].
The Lord is Judge. Nevertheless, as with the storm, the same Lord who rightly lifts His wrath against us is also the One who has quieted it forever – “Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” [1 Thessalonians 1:10].
Jesus, the Lord, has already suffered that storm-of-God’s-wrath to fall upon Himself. Jesus, who alone is righteous and holy, willingly let Himself be counted the Sinner – counted guilty of all man’s sin, in man’s place, and nailed to a cross.
This is what we read in today’s Epistle reading: “For our sake He made Him who knew no sin to be sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” [2 Corinthians 5:21].
Also, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” [Galatians 3:13].
Jesus took your place so that your sin is His and His righteousness is yours. He, though righteous, is counted the sinner. You, though a sinner, are counted righteous.
In Jesus, therefore, there is now, for you, a great calm – peace. Forgiveness. The storm is quieted. You no longer live under God’s wrath. The wind and waves are done.
So, now what? How is this a sermon for a tenth anniversary of a pastor’s ordination? Do today’s appointed readings have any connection?
It was a word spoken that calmed the wind and sea in our Gospel. And it is a Word spoken that calms the storm for you.
Our flesh still sees wind and waves against us. But through the ministry of the Word, the Gospel ministry, a spoken Word from God – “Your sins are forgiven” – delivers the calm quiet of redemption to a troubled conscience.
Our reading today says that those in the preaching ministry are God’s ambassadors for your sake – that, week after week, God is making His appeal through your pastor, urging you: “Be reconciled to God”, because He has reconciled you to Himself in Jesus.
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” [2 Corinthians 5:18-20]
This is the pastoral ministry. (And pastors have had and have pastors for themselves too.) The pastoral ministry is worth giving thanks for, for all of us.
And this ambassadorship of the pastor, speaking the Gospel on behalf of Christ, does not make your pastor special or higher or greater than any of you. There is no throne on earth for pastors.
Why? Because this is your calling as well. In a different capacity; in different ways. But speaking and spreading the message that God has reconciled sinners unto Himself – that sins are forgiven in Jesus – that there is new life in Jesus --
-- you also, because you are disciples of Jesus by your baptism, have this ambassadorship-calling of the Gospel.
Through word and example — Individually, to those in your arm’s reach — And as a whole, as His church in this world — God is making His appeal through you to your neighbor: “Now is the favorable time; now is the day of salvation” [2 Corinthians 6:2] – “be reconciled to God.”
This message is the only thing that matters forever, and, therefore, is the thing that matters most. It’s worth everything; and it’s worth everything we give up.
For ten years, for forty – for all the years of your life – remember your calling, that you are ambassadors in this world for the Gospel of Christ who has calmed the storm for sinners tossed by the waves. Amen.
[Read Mark 4:26-29]
“…he knows not how”
Jesus said: “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.”
The farmer doesn’t know how it happens. He plants, and he waits in faith, trusting that those seeds, so small and buried out of sight, will do what seeds do and become a harvest.
“The earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.”
The farmer can only plant the seed. He can’t build the stalk or assemble the grains. He plants and then must trust in those internal processes God Himself has created within the seed.
This is how the kingdom of God grows. “The kingdom of God is as if…”, Jesus said. In God’s kingdom, the seed is God’s Word [Luke 8:11]. God’s Word is planted, then it grows itself into a harvest.
The Word of God’s Law is planted like a seed. At first, that Word might frustrate the individual. But then it begins to grow roots and take hold inwardly, and it brings about, in that person, regret over sin and a new, true way of seeing things.
The Word of God’s Gospel is planted like a seed in that same person. The Gospel shows them God as their Savior who forgives their sin, receives them, and begins a new creation in them. By God’s Word, a new man, a believer in Christ, is planted and sprouts in that person and begins to grow to maturity.
As the believer in Christ grows toward maturity, the fruit, the good grain growing in them, is obedience to God’s moral commandments – willingly, out of love for God, because He has first loved us — and good works for your neighbor in need, because Christ has helped us in our needs — and the fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” [Galatians 5:22-23].
This is the “harvest of righteousness” [2 Corinthians 9:10; James 3:18] – the “full head of grain” – which results from God’s implanted Word.
Of course, that farmer, after the seed is planted, after a while of waiting to see some growth, might start to get nervous. And the bad-news weather reports might make him worry. Is there really a harvest for me?
And, in regard to God’s kingdom in this world, the church – and in regard to our families or children, and, especially, in regard to ourselves – we may have cause for concern at times that the implanted Word of God is not producing His harvest in us. We may really have cause for concern, but not for despair.
This is because God has called us to “walk by faith, not by sight” [2 Corinthians 5:7]. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” [Hebrews 11:1].
Faith is confident in results not yet seen because faith is confident in what God has promised. God’s Word will accomplish what God has promised, where and in whom it is planted.
Therefore, the kingdom’s future is never dim or in question. A week after planting, the farmer doesn’t despair over the lack of a harvest. He understands it takes a whole season – “First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.” Then, “When the grain is ripe, at once He puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
The harvest of God’s Word also has its seasons. When the world looks barren, there is the empty field for planting. Jesus only ever complained that His workers were few, never that His harvest was lacking – “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” [Matthew 9:37]
Jesus told another parable in today’s Gospel with a great promise about His kingdom: “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
Others, who do not yet believe, will believe – many will – and they will find rest in the branches of Christ’s church in this world. And there is an abundant harvest finally seen on the Last Day – “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…” [Revelation 7:9]
Parents also must labor by faith in the effectiveness of God’s Word. The hope for your children is not determined by the state of the world. “For He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” [1 John 4:4]. The seed of God’s Word, planted in their hearts, is stronger than sin, death, and the devil.
God’s Word is a light that shines in a dark place: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” [John 1:5]. God’s Word has this power in the lives of your children, but only if you are planting that Word in them.
Make sure that the Word of God’s Law, His moral commandments, is in their ear and applied in their life at home. Teach them the Bible in family devotion time. Teach them the basics of Biblical doctrine. Use the Small Catechism or other resources made for families.
And make sure, above all, that the saving and forgiving Gospel of Jesus – the knowledge of what He has done for them on the cross – is in their ears all the time, and that Christ’s forgiveness is applied to them at home. They learn life in Christ by their life with dad and mom.
No matter what is happening in the world, God’s Word has more power – so be giving them God’s Word.
And God’s Word will be effective within you. There are still a lot of weeds and a lot of stones in the soil – the more you dig, the more sin and shame you find within you, along with doubts.
By what you see in yourself, there is no hope. But your hope and trust is not in yourself but in God’s saving Word. God’s Word is doing and will do, within you, what Jesus has promised. His Word will not fail – “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” [Romans 1:16].
The work of God’s Word takes a whole season within us – a lifetime – “First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain.” “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” [Philippians 1:6]. Keep receiving God’s Word.
God’s Word has such sure and certain power – to forgive sins, to save, and to produce His fruits of righteousness within you – because the Word of God is Jesus Himself and contains within it all the saving benefits of Jesus’ death on the cross and glorious resurrection from the dead.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” [John 1:1,14].
Jesus said of Himself that He is like a seed, a grain of wheat, planted in the ground by His death to rise and produce an abundance of fruit by His resurrection: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” [John 12:24]
You are the fruit He has produced by His death and resurrection – by His completed work of redemption for you. You are His fruit, His grain of wheat, and He produces fruit within you and through you.
Within every seed and grain of God’s Word, there is, working within it, the death and resurrection of Jesus for you.
God’s Word, therefore, no matter what, has the power to save and to sanctify – to make holy – all those who receive it, and to produce in you a harvest of righteousness. A
[Read Mark 3:20-35]
Which Battle, Which Victory?
Which side, which battle? Your options are endless. Religion, or politics? Or, how about both? Influential elites, religious moralists, or militant radicals? In which should you trust? How can you save your nation? What cause matters most? What allegiances?
You are in first century Judea – the world into which Jesus enters – and it’s a mixed bag of parties and causes and conflicts.
The Pharisees defended the morals of the community, were experts in the Law of Moses and the traditions of the elders, and were loyal to Israel. They were trusted teachers of the people and taught in the local synagogues.
The Sadducees were also experts in the Law of Moses, but rejected much of the rest of Scripture – and were the wealthy, ruling elites who ran the priesthood and the temple and had allegiances to Herod and the Romans.
The Essenes were a religious sect which sought purity and holiness, above and beyond the average synagogue-goer, cloistering themselves into communities similar to what we might call monasteries.
The Hellenists went along to get along. They were greek speaking Jews who, to some degree or another, adapted their lives to Greek culture and language.
On the other hand, the Zealots were loyal to their Hebrew nationality to the extreme. They were militants who engaged in violent revolutions, following various false-Messiah figures.
Conflict between Greek culture and Hebrew culture – conflict between Roman rule or Israelite rule – groups and groups within groups – the fight for righteousness – a lot at stake.
Many groups, many causes. Jesus, the Son of God born of Mary, came into this world and joined none of them. Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots – Jesus joined none of their causes and fought none of their fights.
Jesus came to fight a very different battle to win a very different victory.
Jesus’ victory was not the victory these many groups and causes were seeking, nor could they attain it by any of their methods. But it was the victory they needed and the true answer to their many concerns.
The many parties, conflicts, and causes in the world are generally either addressing the symptoms of, or are the symptoms of, the greater underlying disease —
— like a man who spends his life in and out of the hospital, with a vast team of doctors and specialists, all in conflict about what the real solution to his problems is.
But they’re all only treating the man’s symptoms. The one doctor who can cure the cancer causing them all is the doctor he really needs.
Our world’s many conflicts, causes, and factions are a whirlwind of symptoms. Jesus came, not to join the world’s many battles, but to conquer the underlying cancer. Jesus conquers the disease of sin.
On the cross, Jesus took this underlying disease – all our sins against God, all our blasphemies, all our unrighteousness, and all our lack of goodness – upon Himself. He died for our disease as the cure. He conquered it. He made your cancer of sin His own and won the battle we couldn’t.
This is the victory God promised to the world from the beginning – victory over sin, death, and the devil for our salvation. Jesus is that promised offspring of the woman, the man whose heal was bruised as He crushed the serpent’s head – “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” [Genesis 3:15].
Jesus, in today’s Gospel, compares the devil to a strongman holding stolen goods in his house. Jesus is the Stronger Man who binds the devil and plunders his house, taking back those lost men and women who were in his grip.
That’s the real underlying conflict – that the devil has had men and women in his grip, but Jesus has delivered them back to God by forgiving the children of man “all sins… and whatever blasphemies they utter” [Mark 3:28]. When sin is forgiven, the devil no longer has anything to hold you by – he loses his grip.
The Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Essenes in first century Judea – and all the various groups, parties, conflicts, and causes in our world today – probably were all addressing, or attempting to address, some real symptoms of the brokenness of sin which they saw in their world.
But each group – and each group today – also has aspects in it that are contrary to God’s Word and actually end up perpetuating the brokenness of sin and its effects. Man’s efforts are man-focused and have their faith and trust in man.
This is the blasphemy and sin against the Holy Spirit. Man’s unbelief. And man’s faith and trust in himself and in the gods he creates. This is the sin that receives no forgiveness (as long as we keep committing it) because it’s a rejection of faith in the Savior, faith which the Holy Spirit carries into our hearts.
The world is full of causes, but rejection of the Savior is so pervasive in prideful mankind that in first century Judea – and in our world today – rejection of the Gospel of Jesus becomes a common characteristic of many otherwise conflicting groups.
The Sadducees and Pharisees, for example, were natural enemies – but they were united in their desire to destroy Jesus. Either group would have received Him if He had joined their cause, but instead – when He was of no use to them – they slandered Him. “By the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
Maybe others tried to use His name for their own cause, as is done today. But the true Christ has made His own group with its true cause. Christ’s group is the Church, which has its own cause in the world – preaching God’s Word and bringing people to the knowledge of repentance and to their Redeemer for salvation.
Which side, which battle, which group? “Who are my mother and my brothers?”, Jesus said. “And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!’ – Here’s my group in the world – “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.’”
Your group in this world is the family of Jesus. Jesus said it this way in Luke: “Those who hear the word of God and do it” [Luke 8:21].
You are His mothers, sisters, and brothers. Hear His word and then bring it out into this world by living according to it. This is your group and your cause. It will be effective. Because it’s God’s cause.
May God grant it to each of us to trust less and less in the battles of this world and to trust more and more in the battle and victory which Christ has won – the redemption of lost sinners. And may God use each one of us to bring knowledge of this victory to more and more of our neighbors who do need to know it. Amen.
