Preached at All Saints' Episcopal Mission, Linville, North Carolina
Gracious and loving God, may only your truth be spoken and only your truth be heard ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
My guess is that if you had a time machine and could talk to people of different eras, most would say that they lived through unsettling times. The first followers of Jesus dealt with proclaiming a crucified and Risen Messiah. Subsequent generations dealt with persecutions. Throughout history, there have been warring tribes and foreign invaders to disrupt lives. There have been uprisings, famines, and plagues. Going from the colonies to a new nation must have been a disruptive time. The introduction of the train, then the automobile, then the aircraft had a disorienting effect on society. In our own lifetime, the rise of the internet and computers that fit into our pockets has redefined normalcy.
Goodness knows,
the past few years will likely go down as one of the most unsettling periods in
recent history: a global pandemic, calls for racial justice, and changing norms
around gender identity. And we know there are more storm clouds on the horizon
in the form of an environmental crisis and the question of whether or not our
democratic systems can survive the dysfunction and partisanship of the last few
years. Again, it’s probably always true that people would say that they live in
unsettling times, but it seems really true right now.
To be honest, I
don’t know where people turn for solace and hope if they don’t have Jesus as their
foundation. Without knowing that God’s got the whole world in his hands, it
would really easy to give in to cynicism, despair, and hedonism. But, thanks be
to God, we do know Jesus and in him find the peace that passes all
understanding. The texts this morning from 1 Samuel and Mark help us to find
this peace in the midst of unsettling times.
Two things are
most unsettling to us. The first is when we encounter things that are bigger
than us; things that we cannot handle with a quick email or an over-the-counter
prescription. Whether it’s a medical diagnosis, a child’s addiction, or the
Israel-Palestine conflict, there are just some problems that seem to be
insurmountably large. These things stand before us as giants, which is exactly where
we find the young David standing this morning in 1 Samuel.
The way warfare
worked at that time isn’t the way it works today – it was more of a
representative duel. One warrior from each side would go into the space between
the two armies and do battle. The winner of this duel would win victory for his
entire people. The warrior chosen by the Philistines was Goliath and was
impossibly large – he makes Shaquille O’Neal look average. The numbers given to
us translate to a height of over 9 feet and his breastplate weighs more than I
do. This is a clear example of facing a problem that is insurmountably bigger
than us.
As we know, David
is victorious over Goliath and much has been written about the idea of the mighty
falling at the hands of the small. But I’m not convinced that this is a story about
not being afraid when facing unfavorable odds. No, rather this is a story about
the God who does more than we can ask or imagine. David’s confidence is not in
that he’s had some luck going up against lions and bears when he’s been tending
the flock as a shepherd. It would be easy for David to be full of himself and
say “Oh, I can do this because I’m strong, or I’m quick, or I’m not afraid.” Instead,
David says “The Lord, who saved me
from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, will save me from the hands
of this Philistine.” All our hope on God is founded.
David’s hope and
trust against this giant come not from within himself, but rather from the God
of all things. It can be so easy to give ourselves the credit for good grades,
or successful projects, or full bank accounts – but David would remind us that
if it were not for God, we would be living by a different story. David’s
confidence for the future is rooted in his gratitude for the past. It is a holy
discipline to reflect upon the past day, the past week, the past year, the past
phase of our lives and notice how God was with us and saw us through. For one,
it helps us to give glory to God instead of selfishly putting ourselves at the center
of everything thing, but it also trains us to trust that God will always be
with us when we face giants.
As David makes his
pre-battle speech, he says that “so that all the earth may know that there is a
God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear.”
In other words, God doesn’t fight fire with fire. And this might be why it’s so
easy to overlook God’s grace in our lives. If we’re facing a 9-foot giant, we’re
looking for a 10-foot giant to show up in our corner. God’s ways though are not
our ways. Sometimes a small but well-placed river stone is what we get as our
salvation when we are facing giants. Just as sure as David proclaimed that “there
is a God in Israel” our confidence is in the God who stood in the middle and
did battle with Sin and Death on our behalf and who has won for us the victory –
Jesus Christ.
If problems that
are bigger than us are the first sort of problem that makes us unsettled, the
other type of problem that we struggle with is change. In Mark, the reading
began with a change – “Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.’”
As we heard, once their boat got out into the middle of the lake, a whirlwind
arose - an unexpected change in weather unsettled them. And this must have been
quite the storm if it struck fear into the hearts of seasoned fishermen who had
likely experienced many storms on the Sea of Galilee.
What we see here
is that sometimes the unsettling that we experience is as a direct result of something
that God has asked us to do. Standing up for justice, standing with the
oppressed, standing down from places of privilege – these might be the right
things to do, but they can be unsettling. Furthermore, being with Jesus does
not exempt us from the storms of life. Too often, Christianity is seen as a way
to have a better, happier, easier, or more secure life. But just ask those Christians
who faced down lions in the amphitheaters of Rome if that’s how it works. There’s
that hymn that says “Jesus calls us o’er the tumult,” and maybe that’s
sometimes true. But sometimes Jesus calls us right into the tumult.
The disciples go
to the stern of the fishing boat where they find Jesus asleep and they ask him “Do
you not care?” So often in unsettling times, that’s a question we ask of God –
don’t you care that I have cancer, don’t you care that I’m out of work, don’t you
care that children are going to bed hungry? Clearly, Jesus does care, as he
rebukes the wind and calms the sea – and then he does the same to us, asking
the disciples “Why are you afraid?”
Why are we afraid?
Because what if people don’t come back to church. Because what if someone
learns the truth about my past. Because I’ve been paying attention to the news.
There are so many reasons for us to be afraid, for us to be unsettled.
Mark then records
that they were filled with great awe. That’s not a great translation though. In
Greek, the word mega, as you might expect, means “really big.” There are
three “megas” in this text. The storm is described as a mega-storm. Then there
is what our translation called a “dead calm” which is “mega-calm” in Greek. And
here at the end of the passage, it says that they “feared a mega-fear.” What
caused this mega-fear? They’ve come face to face with the God who was with
David when he slew Goliath. They’re standing before the One who commands even
the wind and the sea. They now know that there is a power loose in this world
is beyond our ability to comprehend, capture, or control. Things are changing and
things they thought were impossible are now happening right in front of their
very eyes.
In addition to
these “megas” hidden in the Greek text, there’s another comfort there that grounds
us amid the storms of life. Jesus asked them, “Why are you afraid?” and the
word that Jesus uses is deilos. This is a word that means afraid in the
sense of being cowardly. It’s what the army of Israel felt as they looked upon
Goliath. It’s what we feel when we think about how unsettling the world is.
But the word that
is used to describe the mega-fear that the disciples experienced after
realizing who they are standing before is a different word: it’s phobos, a word that does mean
fear, but in a way that includes awe and reverence. This is the word at play
when we talk about being “God-fearing.” It’s not cowering before God, but rather
it’s being overwhelmed by the grandeur and the glory of God. This is the move
that Jesus helps us to make in the face of towering giants and unsettling
changes – the move from deilos to phobos, from cowardice to reverence.
To be clear, there is fear in both of these. The fear of cowardice comes from
being out of control with nowhere left to turn. The fear of reverence comes
from realizing that we are not in control, but trusting that God is. It’s not
easy when we’re not in control, so it really is right to speak of “the fear of
the Lord” because when we take our
hands off the controls, it can be frightening. Though things may not be in our
control, they are under the control of the one who even the winds and the waves
obey.
It’s also worth
noting that salvation came to the disciples by staying in the boat. When we
waters of life get choppy, it’s not uncommon to look for a lifejacket or a
rowboat to try to get away from our problems. Had Israel fled from the battle, they
would have been overrun by the Philistines. If the disciples jumped out of the
boat and tried to swim to safety, they would have drowned. As difficult as it
can be to hang in there when we are unsettled, we never do so alone. God is
with us in our struggles against giants bigger than us and in the storms that come
out of nowhere.
God’s power is
bigger than any problem we are facing and God’s love is more enduring than any chaos
we will face. And this is what today’s Collect is getting at: “O Lord, make us
have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to
help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your
loving-kindness.” Take that prayer with you this week, and when you are feeling
unsettled, for God never fails to help us because we rest secure in the love of
Jesus. The love of God in Jesus Christ is why, in the face of giants and in
storms, we can trust that all shall be well.
