August 4, 2024 – Mark 6:45–52

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Hope Lutheran Church
Manhattan, Kansas
August 4, 2024
Mark 6:45–52

I wonder if they were starting to feel like they should give up. As they tried to row across the Sea of Galilee during that windstorm, were they ready to throw in the towel? Turn around? Just surrender to the storm and let it overtake them?
Because this wasn’t the only thing that had happened throughout the day. It’s easy for us to miss because we’ve been looking at it and hearing about it over a few weeks, but everything from Mark 6:30 to where we are today happened on the same day.
Maybe you remember, but a few weeks back we saw the disciples return from their mini-missionary journey. They had gone off and done miracles, preached, and taught in the name of Jesus. They had returned to Jesus, reporting everything that had happened, and people were still coming to see them.
And in the meantime, the other Gospel writers tell us that the disciples also learned their friend, John the Baptizer, had been killed. He had been put to death because he was bold enough to preach and teach in the name of the living God.
Mark told us they were so busy and there were so many people coming that they didn’t even have a chance to eat. So what did Jesus do? He took his disciples aside and told them that they were going to spend some time alone together for a little bit.
But it ended up not happening the way Jesus intended because a crowd came. A crowd of thousands came and when Jesus saw them, he had compassion on them. He and his disciples went to serve those people. They taught and preached to them.
And then, last week, the Gospel reading told us about the Feeding of the 5000. After Jesus preached and taught the people who had come to see him, he decided it was time for them to be fed. And Jesus told his disciples “You give them something to eat.”
The disciples looked around at each other and what they had, and all the people that were there and they had thought to themselves that it couldn’t be done. That it was impossible. But then Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fish and used them to feed a crowd of thousands. And then Jesus asked his disciples to distribute the food and to take it out to the people.
So you have all of that – the disciples just getting back from a missionary journey, trying to get some time away with Jesus, learning about the death of John the Baptizer, and the Feeding of the 5000 – all in one day. 
And then they get to this. They’re out at sea. They can’t get anywhere. And it’s not like they were out there for just a little while. Mark tells us it was late into the night – probably three or four in the morning. They’d been out there, rowing and rowing, getting nowhere for hours and hours. And all of this on top of everything else that had happened in the last 24 hours.
So I wonder, were the disciples ready to call it quits? Were they ready to give up?
Do you ever feel like you’re ready to give up? Do you ever feel ready to call it quits? Because sometimes it can start to be too much. Sometimes it can feel like there’s way more on your plate than you can handle. And then all of a sudden, a storm comes along on top of it all.
And you’re trying to get out of it. You’re trying to handle everything as best you can. You’re doing everything you can to get out of the storm. But it feels like you’re not getting anywhere. You’re like those “disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.”
That can feel an awful lot like torture, can’t it? Sometimes it can feel like you’re rowing and rowing and rowing. But the fatigue is starting to set in. You get tired and burned out. It’s starting to feel unbearable – like torture – and maybe you’re ready to throw in the towel and give up.
And that’s just in our own lives. That’s when it comes to the personal storms we face. But then you throw on top of that all the storms we can see and we experience in the world around us. The storms that don’t just impact us, but all of us together.
Those disciples had to have been terrified of the sea, terrified of the storm, terrified that they were going to die. And so I wonder if they were ready to call it quits and stop avoiding the inevitable… I wonder if they were ready to give up and embrace the unavoidable…
But I also wonder if they remembered why they were out there to begin with. Listen again to how Mark started this account: “Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him.”
The disciples weren’t out there because they had chosen to go out there. They weren’t out there because they were trying to get away from something. They were out there because Jesus had told them to get out there.
Here they are in the middle of a storm, trying to fight against the wind and the waves, trying to get across to the other side of the sea because that’s what Jesus had told them to do. And it got them stuck and fighting for their lives.
Jesus tells us to go out, too. He tells us to get out into the world. To leave and be his people. The thing that’s scary about it is that out there, there’s chaos, confusion, and hurt. Things go wrong. Jesus sends you out into the sea, out into the unknown, out into the things we can’t control.
Today we’re wrapping up this series we’ve been moving through, Meaningful Ministry. We’ve been reflecting and considering how Jesus sends us out into the world to serve and love our neighbors and, when we have the opportunity, to serve them with the Word of God.
And you know what? That can be scary. That can be terrifying, especially when you put that on top of all the other things in our own lives that already make life hard and difficult and scary and confusing.
But here’s the thing – Jesus isn’t sending us into anything he doesn’t already know about. And he’s got a plan and a purpose behind it all.
Maybe he’ll take care of you in ways you didn’t expect. Maybe he’ll teach you to rely more and more on him and less and less on yourself. Maybe he’ll help you grow in your faith and trust in what he has done for you. Maybe he’ll give you peace you can’t find anywhere else. Maybe he’ll give you the chance to watch as he works in the hearts and lives of other people.
Jesus was the one who sent his disciples out into the sea, out into the storm. Jesus sends you and me out into the sea, out into the storm. But that doesn’t mean Jesus leaves us alone or forgets about us. He’s still paying close attention to you.
The disciples were rowing and rowing, not getting anywhere. Each second, each minute, each hour, I bet they were starting to feel more and more desperate.
I wonder if some of them were thinking back to how Jesus had sent them out there. I wonder if some of them were a little bit annoyed or upset that Jesus would put them in a situation like this. Maybe some of them were thinking Jesus had forgotten them. But that wasn’t even close to what Jesus had done. 
Mark writes: “After leaving them, Jesus went up on a mountainside to pray. Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.”
These disciples who probably thought that they were on their own, who probably thought that it was all up to them, who were maybe starting to be tempted to think that Jesus had forgotten them. Yet Jesus was standing on the shore. And he saw them.
He saw them in their struggle. He saw them in the chaos. He saw them in the confusion. He saw them in the uncertainty. And what did he do next? He walked out to them. And he walked right on top of the thing that was causing so much chaos, so much confusion, so much uncertainty for his disciples. It was nothing to him. He went to meet them right in the middle of the storm and the sea. “Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake.”
Jesus sees you in the storms you face too. He doesn’t leave you alone. He doesn’t leave you to fend for yourself. He doesn’t tell you to work harder so you can get across the rest of the sea by yourself. He sees you. And then he walks out to you.
On top of all the things that make life terrifying, on top of all the things that make life uncertain and crazy and chaotic, what does Jesus do? He tramples over all of them.
He’s already walked over the worst things – death and sin and Satan. And that means he can walk on top of each and every one of our fears, each and every one of our anxieties, each and every one of our uncertainties. Jesus walks on top of them all, and he comes to you.
And he can do that because of who he is. And the only words Jesus speaks in these verses help us see who he is. Mark writes: “Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’”
The way Jesus talks right there is a little funny, isn’t it? I wouldn’t walk into a room and introduce myself that way. It’s weird because Jesus is trying to say something that’s kind of hard to reflect in English.
Because what Jesus is saying there is probably better translated as “Take courage!       I am. Don’t be afraid.” And if you know a bit about the Old Testament, maybe you hear that and you recognize that’s the name God gave himself for the people of Israel. 
It’s like Jesus is standing out on the water with his disciples, looking them in the eyes, and saying “I am the Lord. I am God of heaven and earth. I am God who created, rules, and sustains all things. I am God in the flesh. I am the one who controls all this.”
And because that’s who he is, he can say something like “Take courage. Don’t be afraid” in the middle of a storm as he’s standing on the water. And his disciples actually can have courage. They can stop being afraid.
And to show them he means what he says – that they can have courage and stop being afraid – Jesus gets into the boat with them and, in an instant, the storm is calmed and they’re safe. To show them that the Lord is going to be with them no matter what happens next.
You and I can have courage too. You and I can stop being afraid. When we feel like giving up or calling it quits, we can continue. Because Jesus is Lord who’s already walked on the water and calmed the storms for us and now he’s in the boat with us.
And we can leave this place to live as God’s people in this world no matter what kind of chaos or uncertainty or confusion is around us. We can go out and really partake in Meaningful Ministry. Because we don’t go out alone. We don’t go out powerless. We don’t go out fending for ourselves. Jesus goes with you every step of the way.
The maker of heaven and earth, the almighty, eternal, omnipotent God goes with you. He’s in the boat with you. He’s gonna take you to the other side. Eventually, he’s gonna take you home to where he wants you to be forever.
And that changes everything during the ride in between.
AMEN!