"In Peril on the Sea"

Mark 4.35-41

Pastor Tom Johnson, June 24, 2012

 

One of the few shows everybody in my family enjoys watching is Whale Wars. The show is about an international group of activists that are trying to stop Japanese whaling ships in the Antarctic Ocean. The people show an amazing amount of courage to go thousands of miles from civilization. They must be as tough as nails to put themselves in harm’s way. Even with the best equipment, a human being could not survive for more than a few minutes in those near freezing waters. In a recent episode, their fastest ship is damaged during a storm. They literally have to repair their ship by tying it together with a rope. The nearest ship is nine hours away and has to go around the storm to get to them. The multimillion-dollar ship may stay afloat until help arrives; then again it may not. When the reality of their situation sets in, the captain of the ship and the rest of the crew start to lose their cool. Some are cursing. Others are crying. But everyone has a panic attack. Sitting on my couch on solid ground, it takes a bit of imagination and empathy to really understand how terrifying it must be—to be so alone and vulnerable in the Antarctic Ocean—to walk on the edge of the frailty of life. The chilling truth is that many people died of hypothermia in the artic waters when the Titanic sank almost 100 years ago.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus and his disciples take several boats out to sea. They too encounter a great storm. The waves beat the boat. It is flooding with water. We know several of Jesus’ disciples were professional fishermen. If a professional fisherman is afraid at sea, then there is good reason to fear. The boats are being swamped. The wind and waves are too strong to survive long in the water.

What are the storms raging in your life? What is the wind howling and tossing you back and forth? What is the wave threatening to pull you under and drown you with fear and terror? Is it a difficult relationship? Is it some bad news? The Apostle Paul says that we can be “tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of teaching” (Eph 4:14)—when we are not grounded in God’s Word, our lives can feel like they are spiraling out of control. James says in his letter that “the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way” (Jams 1:6,7)—when we don’t trust God we don’t know where to reach for help or to whom we call when we are in distress.

In Mark’s Gospel, he wants us to remember another story of a boat in a deadly storm at sea. Can you guess which one? He gives us a handful of hints and even quotes the story word for word twice—the story of Jonah. Jonah was a disobedient prophet. He was going in the opposite direction God told him to go. A storm started to threaten the boat Jonah was on. Jonah was so clueless—so out of touch with reality that he was sleeping on the ship. On Whale Wars, the crew made it a point to say that they could not sleep. The boat was moving too wildly. There was too much to worry about. They may sink at any moment. It is hardly a time to count your sheep when you’re wondering if this may be your last moment.

Can you believe it? Jesus is also asleep on a sea-drenched cushion in our text. The boat is jerking violently here and there. The wind is howling. The waves are crashing in and filling the boat with water. And Jesus seems to be as clueless and out of touch with reality as Jonah. “Teacher, don’t you care? Don’t you realize we are about to drown and die?” they yell. After waking up, Jesus says, “Shut up! Put a muzzle on it!” That’s what “Peace! Be still!” literally means. Maybe it took a moment for them to realize that Jesus wasn’t telling them to shut up but the wind and the sea. The wind stopped blowing and howling. The sea stops churning and slamming against their ships. In the story of Jonah, the ship’s crew tossed Jonah into the sea and the sea calmed miraculously as well. It takes a few moments for a bathtub full of water to stop moving if you slosh it around enough. The waves and ripples caused by a big cannonball splash in a pool will also take a few minutes to settle down. A stormy sea will take hours and even days to calm. For Jesus to stop the waves from tossing instantaneously is a miracle.

Jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish. And on the third day the fish vomited him out on the right side of the sea—in the right direction——to bring God’s message of grace and mercy. Jesus spends three days in the belly of the earth. In Matthew 12 (vv. 40-41), Jesus says, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” By his death and resurrection, Jesus shuts up and muzzles sin, the devil, and death itself. He tells us not to fear but to trust in him to still the storms of our lives. He gives us a peace that passes all knowledge, the assurance of forgiveness and eternal life. In peril on the sea, land, and air we can trust Jesus. As the hymn reminds us: “upon the chaos dark and rude, and bid its angry tumult cease, and give, for wild confusion peace.” In peril and in peace, Jesus is the anchor of our lives.

"Scatter, Sleep, Sickle"

Mark 4.26-29

Pastor Tom Johnson, June 17, 2012

You no doubt have noticed by now that the color of our paraments are green. Green is the color for the liturgical season we are in: the Time of the Church. Many of our readings are about Christian growth and maturity. During this time we receive a lot of the teachings of Jesus—particularly about the Christian life and the nature of ministry. Just as we see green things growing around us and maturing at this time of year, so God wants us to grow and mature. And we adorn the sanctuary with green.

One of the most encouraging things about being a member of First Saint Paul’s is a genuine desire to grow and mature. That desire flows from the heart of God. It’s what Jesus is talking about in our Gospel reading this morning. He says the Kingdom of God is like someone scattering seed, sleeping restfully for days on end, and then finally reaping the harvest with his sickle. The ministry of the Church—the work of this congregation is like a gardener:

The Kingdom of God is like a garden. The gardener takes her seed for all the various plants she wants to grow. Even all together, the seed could easily fit in her cupped hands. She has been gardening for years. She breaks up the soil with a spade. She gives each seed the space it needs. Some plants are easily smothered; others enjoy the crowd. She knows what depth of soil to plant each variety. Some plants like to go deep into the soil; others are satisfied near the surface of things. No soil is easily overlooked. Even the more shady areas are places of growth for certain varieties. Others like to be fully exposed to the light as much as possible. The gardener scatters her seed widely and thoroughly. And she waters the soil.

When she is done, she puts away her spade, trowel, gloves, and garden hose. She gets a drink of water. She gets something to eat. She washes up. And with nothing else to do for her garden, she lies down, turns out the lights, and goes to bed. Her sleep is sweet because her body has been well exercised. She rests in heavenly peace because she knows that she has done all that she can do. Day after day she sleeps well and wakes up refreshed because she knows the results are in the Lord’s hands. As the Apostle Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Cor 3:6).

She is a wise and experienced gardener but does not have a PhD in botany or agriculture. She doesn’t need to know the details about the microbiological world hard at work day and night in the soil. They will do their job without her help or worry. She doesn’t need to know exactly how those tiny seeds are genetically preprogrammed to work. Somehow the seeds feel the warmth of the sun baked soil and begin to drink in the moisture knocking on their miniscule doors.

Somehow those seeds wake up from their slumber. Somehow the seedlings know to stretch their roots down and out. Somehow they know to reach for the sky. How it all works, the gardener does not know. Even the scientist marvels at it all—always learning and never arriving at absolute knowledge. If they are honest, the more they discover the more questions they have about the whole process. That is part of the joy of the journey. Being amazed, intrigued, and making another discovery is what makes it interesting and fun.

The seed sprouts and grows. It’s invisible until it peaks out of the soil. The plant thickens and lengthens. It puts out its solar panels and stores the energy. Then it flowers and the fruit first appears. The fruit also grows and changes color until one day the gardener can enjoy her sweet and nutritious reward. How it all works, she does not know. She is wise enough and humble enough to not take full credit but trusts in the One who “gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater” (Isa 55:10; 2 Cor 9:10). But she has participated in the miracle of it all.

The harvest has come. What was once a barren landscape is now a field of tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, peppers, mint, lettuce, carrots, melons, and potatoes. Doesn’t it make you feel like gardening—or at least participating in some way? Jesus wants to draw us in to the work of his Kingdom—the harvest and garden of the ministry of the Gospel.

He wants us to continue to scatter the seed of the Gospel even more widely—to share the good news with as many different kinds of soil all around us—to do so realizing we need to go deep some more than others—being sensitive to know when some seedlings are smothered and need their space.

Thanks be to God that it does not depend on us. But we can lay ourselves down to sleep—we can rest easy knowing God is at work beneath the soil and the heart of the seed. We can relax and trust in the finished work of Jesus who sowed his own body in the ground and reaped forgiveness and resurrection for the whole world. And it is just pure pleasure to see things grow to maturity. It is a rich reward to know that we can not only participate in the miracle growth of the Kingdom but also share in the spoils of encouragement, fellowship, and joy.

"A House Divided Cannot Stand"

Mark 3.20-35

Pastor Tom Johnson, June 10, 2012

 

We normally do not picture Jesus coming from a family with challenges. We picture his mother and stepfather looking adoringly at him in the manger. Or we think of his half brother, James, who rose up quickly to become an early Church leader. But it wasn’t always that easy. Here his family comes to have an intervention for Jesus. Our text says they came to “restrain him” because people were beginning to say he was going out of his mind and possessed by an evil spirit. Jesus’ ministry is so vibrant and demanding that he does not adequately rest and nourish his body. A devoted family should show concern for their loved ones and their physical welfare. They should care about rumors of madness and false religion. You can hardly fault his family for their sense of urgency.

But the people who really cross the line are not his family members, the ones who think he is a workaholic, nor those who conclude he is mentally ill. The people who are in real danger are the ones who consider Jesus an agent of evil. Jesus says every sin will be forgiven. But if we believe that the words and actions of Jesus promote evil and serve the powers of darkness, we are in no condition to receive forgiveness. We will not receive forgiveness in a state of unbelief.

The Holy Spirit delivers forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Jesus to restores, heals, and forgives sins. That is why he came—to teach about forgiveness, to die on the cross to break the power of sin, and rise again from the death to assure us of eternal life. The Holy Spirit and Jesus have an inseparable bond and partnership to deliver forgiveness. To reject Jesus is to reject the Holy Spirit. And to reject the work of God is the epitome of unbelief. And as long as we don’t believe that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are working for our good, we deny ourselves forgiveness. Jesus reminds us that the persons of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will never be divided. God is One. And the powers and principalities of evil also will not be divided until the end of all things; and that time has not yet come.

In the meantime, we live in a divided world—divided political ideals throughout the world, divided kingdoms and nations, divided political parties, divided communities, divided school districts, and divided families. Jesus says, “A house divided against itself will not be able to stand.” The most insidious and destructive thing for a house is internal strife. There is nothing more threatening than when one member of a home is against another. This is called “self-destruction;” we become unhinged and fall apart under our own weight. We are in great danger when we no longer see one another as friends and family but as “the enemy.”

The most deadly American war by far was the Civil War. 100% of the soldiers were American. Even with the enormous population increase from the time of the Civil War to World War II, there were 200,000 more deaths in the Civil War than WWII. About two percent of the American population died in the Civil War. Three-tenths of a percent died World War II. It is no accident that President Lincoln entitled his Civil War speech with Jesus’ words when he heard about the devastation on both sides: “A house divided against itself will not be able to stand.”

Recently, the United States waged a cyber battle against Iran and their nuclear facilities. Our government created a computer worm called “Olympic Games” in order to set Iranian computers against one another and destroy their own equipment. It worked. Iranians blamed one another. Workers were fired. And their work was unable to go forward for months; divided, they could not stand.

Businesses close when owners cannot work together. Beloved Kiddieland, an amusement park just blocks from our house had to close—not because of a lack of business—but because of a family feud. A house divided cannot stand.

Recent studies encourage parents not to emotionally damage their children by marital strife. When parents fight, they are hurting the whole home. Even divorce will not solve this if there is continued or escalated strife. A house divided cannot stand.

There are two disturbing truths in Jesus’ words: First, there is evil in the world trying to divide and conquer us on a global, national, local level—in our diplomatic rooms, court rooms, board rooms, and bedrooms. The second disturbing truth in Jesus’ words is this: that when we allow conflict to grow and fester and ignore God’s work of peace by the Holy Spirit through Jesus—when we ignore or neglect God who is building his Family, we find that the so-called “enemy” is ourselves. We will not receive forgiveness because we reject its Source.

God by means of the Holy Spirit through the Person and Work of Jesus Christ is building his House. As Joshua built a nation under God, he said, “choose this day whom you will serve…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh 24.15). God is building his Family despite the greatest obstacles—even those relationships closest to us. Scripture says, “my father and my mother [may] have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in” (Ps 27.10). And, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Prov 18.24). That friend is Jesus.

In our text, Jesus looks around the crowded room with great love and affection and calls them his sisters, brothers, and mothers. And so God looks at us through the eyes, Person and work of Jesus and calls us his beloved family. He grafts us into his family tree and calls us his own—not because of our ethnicity, geography, or diplomacy—but because we trust him as our Brother and Son. A house divided cannot stand; but the House of God will stand forever.

"Holy, Holy, Holy"

Isaiah 6.1-8

Pastor Tom Johnson, June 3, 2012

 

Isaiah has a vision of the Lord sitting on his throne, high and lofty. The hem of his robe fills the temple. Those mysterious creatures—the seraphim—fly with one set of their three sets of wings. They worship and proclaim the uniqueness, grandeur, and wonder of the Lord: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

“Holy, holy, holy”—three times because the holiness of God transcends our language, understanding, and human experience. “Holy” means unique, special, unlike anything in creation—sacred—set apart from all that is of this world. Isaiah is in the very presence of God and sees him in all his glory. Once Isaiah experiences the holiness of God, he is never the same. In fact, no one who sees God is supposed to be able to physically withstand the experience. To see God, or be in his presence, is a near death experience. It began with our first parents Adam and Eve.

You’ll remember that God said the day they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they would die. They ate. Their eyes were opened. They heard the Lord walking in the Garden of Eden. They hid themselves in shame and fear wondering what God might do—probably expecting immediate death. Instead, they were promised a Son who would one day undo the curse of death (Gen 3).

You’ll remember Jacob who feared for his life and spent the night in prayer wrestling with a Man who later identified himself as the Lord. He survived with a dislocated hip. Jacob called the place “The Face of God” and says, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved” (Gen 31). ³¹

You’ll remember Moses who wanted to see the Lord’s glory. God put him into the cleft of a rock to protect him and gives him this warning: “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live” (Exod 33).

That is why Isaiah starts to talk about his own demise and the demise of his people when he sees the Lord. “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” The fear of God holding us morally responsible for our actions is at the very core of what it means to be a human being. God held Adam and Eve accountable with one rule: you cannot eat of that one tree. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments to govern all our actions with dire consequences if we break even one command. For Isaiah, it was his lips and his peoples’ lips that let him know they all failed to please God. Perhaps they were taking the Lord’s name in vain, teaching false doctrine, or were malicious gossips.

Lips are small organs that produce words that can either build up or tear down. Lips can either bless or curse. Isaiah’s lips and his peoples’ lips are what caused Isaiah to see his own sinfulness and his own mortality. There may be a particular area of our lives that constantly reminds us of our brokenness, frailty, mortality, and sinful condition as human beings. For Isaiah, it was his lips. When we creatures stand before the holy, eternal, righteous, and perfect Creator, what area of our lives keeps reminding us of our sin? What secret in our hearts are we hiding that causes us shame, guilt, and fear before God who knows it all?

Isaiah says, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Just as we begin our service in confession, so Isaiah begins true worship with these honest and transparent words. That’s when God does what he planned to do. God does not reveal himself to Isaiah to make him cower in shame or run away in fear. God wants Isaiah to hunger and thirst for healing, restoration, and forgiveness. And then he delivers.

One of the seraphs flies to Isaiah, with a red-hot coal in a pair of tongs. Like a surgeon sterilizing his equipment with heat to prevent infection, God heals Isaiah’s whole being. He puts the burning coal on his lips and says, “Your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out”—not just clean lips but redeemed body and soul. Like Isaiah, we too can know full forgiveness through a particular sin plaguing our lives.

An angel goes to the altar where animals are sacrificed to get a burning coal to place on Isaiah’s lips for forgiveness. And so we receive the crucified and resurrected Body and Blood of Christ when the bread and wine are placed on our lips also for the forgiveness of all our sins.

Once we know God’s bountiful forgiveness, like Isaiah, we are ready for mission. It is then that Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And Isaiah says, “Here am I; send me!” We experience the grace of God and are ready to tell our own stories. We are ready to tell the world about the Lord who is holy beyond human understanding. We are ready to tell the good news of God who takes away our guilt and blots out our sin.