I’m happy to be back from my
vacation with our family at Ocean City, New Jersey; and although I’m very
tired, I’m also rejuvenated. Spending a week by the ocean always relaxes and
refreshes me like no other place can do. I know that some folks like the city
and others like the mountains; but give me the ocean any day! Maybe it’s the
sound of the waves lapping on the beach, or maybe it’s the sight of the ocean’s
vastness, or maybe it’s my meditations on the depth and mystery of the sea, or
maybe it’s all three; I really don’t know. What I do know is that for me, a trip to the ocean is better than a week
at a spa!
The ancient Israelites
wouldn’t have agreed with me, though. They didn’t like the ocean in the least! As
far as they were concerned, the ocean was a terrifying place. Why, everyone
knew that the chaos monster, Leviathan, lived in the ocean; and to venture out on
it was very risky business! Whenever the sea is mentioned in the biblical text,
listen and you’ll hear the music from “Jaws” playing in the background. The
creatures that lived in the ocean depths were powerful and uncontrollable and scary! But the Israelites also knew that
God was even more powerful than even the sea. God could contain its chaos. Human
beings might be in mortal danger when they venture out on the ocean; but God
has everything under control, even the raging waves that the chaos monster
churns up with its gigantic tail.
We need to remember that the
Israelites felt that way when we read stories about the Sea of Galilee in the
New Testament. Now, the Sea of Galilee isn’t as vast as the Mediterranean, but
it has its own share of chaos. Geographically, the Sea of Galilee is fairly
shallow, and when storms blow up across it, they can be very dangerous to
anyone who is in a boat. Anyone who has experienced the choppiness of Lake
Erie, another shallow body of water, knows what I’m talking about! Fishermen
weren’t usually risking their lives when they went out for a catch, but that’s because
they didn’t venture very far from shore. But crossing the whole Sea of Galilee…
That was something else! And that’s exactly where Jesus sent his disciples as
this morning’s text begins (Mark 6:45-51).
The disciples had just
witnessed Jesus feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fishes.
After the meal was over, Jesus sent them across the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida
while he remained behind to pray. And he sent them “immediately.” (There’s that
word that Mark likes to use so much! There’s no time to lose! Hurry up – get
going!) Now, ancient Bethsaida was located at the northernmost point of the Sea
of Galilee. Journeying there by boat would have taken the disciples across the
deepest part of the lake. And that’s just where they were when evening came and
the wind kicked up. (Can you hear the music from “Jaws” in the background?) The
story tells us that the disciples were rowing as hard as they could, straining
at the oars, but the wind was against them. Imagine how frightened they must
have been! The darkness of night was quickly approaching. They were out in the
middle of the water, sitting on top of whatever lurked in the water’s depths. And
they couldn’t get to shore because the wind was blowing against them. They
were, as we might say, between the devil and the deep blue sea!
Let’s freeze-frame that
picture for just a minute with the disciples stuck in the middle of the Sea of
Galilee. Even if you’ve never been in a boat in your life, I’ll bet that you
can understand what they were going through. Jesus had given them what seemed
to be an easy job – get in the boat and go to Bethsaida. Some of the disciples
were fisherman; they knew how to handle a boat! But they couldn’t get where
they were going because the wind decided to blow the other way! They couldn’t
do what Jesus asked them to do, even though they were trying their hardest. Does
that sound familiar? It sure does to me! Many times in my life have I tried to
do what Jesus asked of me, only to get stranded in the middle of the lake
because the wind was blowing the other way. It happens to us as a church all
the time, doesn’t it? Jesus asks us to make disciples, but we have lots of
competition during the Sunday morning worship hour, and people don’t come to
church like they used to. The winds are blowing against us. Jesus asks us to
bring the children to him so that they can be blessed; but we don’t have young
children here any more! The winds are blowing against us. Jesus asks us to
minister to the last and the least, but our congregation is aging and there are
fewer and fewer people available to take part in mission. The winds are blowing
against us. We’re trying our best – we’re pulling on those oars like our lives
depend on it – but we’re just not getting anywhere. And underneath us is chaos
bubbling and churning and threatening to overturn our little boat and plop us
into deep water. Yes, just like the disciples, we’re between the devil and the
deep blue sea.
But the story doesn’t end
there. Let’s set the story in motion again; but now, let’s move the focus to
Jesus, back on the shore where he has been in prayer. Jesus saw that his
disciples were getting nowhere. Jesus heard that “Jaws” music, too; but he just
laughed at it. After all, chaos doesn’t have any power over the Son of God! And
so, instead of traveling overland to Bethsaida, Jesus went out onto the sea to
meet the disciples in their boat. He walked right over the water, over the chaos,
over the threat. The disciples, of course, weren’t expecting Jesus at all, and
they thought that he was a ghost. They were already frightened, and now they
were terrified! But Jesus reassured them “immediately.” “Don’t be afraid!” he
said, “Be brave! It’s me.” As quickly as Jesus wants us to do what he asks of
us,” Jesus is even quicker to come to our rescue when we get into trouble. And
sure enough, the minute that Jesus climbed into the boat with the disciples,
the wind died down. The disciples were astounded. They hadn’t yet understood
that their friend and teacher is the one who created the world and who holds
even chaos in his hand!
We can leave the disciples’
story now and come back to our own story. We’re still in our little boat rowing
as hard as we can against the winds. How is our own story going to end? Well, I
think that depends on whether or not we decide to let Jesus into the boat with
us. The chaos is always going to be there; and whether or not the winds blow is
out of our control. But we can certainly decide who is travelling in the boat
with us! And we have a couple of choices. We can go it on our own. We can try
our best to head for the far shore and row that boat without any help. But
that’s not going to get us very far in the end. The winds against us are
strong, and our strength is going to give out sooner or later. Or we can get
help from people who are specialists in rowing boats. They’ll analyze the
direction that the ocean currents are flowing, and predict when the winds will
die down, and they’ll even help us practice rowing so that we’re as efficient way
as we can be. After all the advice is considered, though, we still have to row
that boat all by ourselves. But there’s a third option. We can invite Jesus to
get into the boat with us. Oh, we’ll still have to do some rowing; and the
progress that we make may not be spectacular right at first. But with Jesus in
our boat, the winds won’t last forever! When Jesus is in the boat, he will
advise us, guide us, and cheer us on. He might even help us row now and then! No
matter how far out at sea we may be; no matter how chaotic the ocean may be
underneath us; no matter how hard the winds may blow against us; Jesus can
always reach us over the chaos.
So, don’t despair! The next
time that you realize that you’re between the devil and the deep blue sea, and
you hear the music from “Jaws” coming closer and closer, listen again. Even
over the noise of the winds, I’ll bet that you’ll hear Jesus saying, “Don’t be
afraid! Be brave! It’s me!” Maybe we should let Jesus into the boat with us!
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