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This Week's Sermon THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 21 June 2009 "The Author of the Deep" Mark 4:35-41 LSB Series B Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

In Gloucester, Massachusetts, Gay and I visited an eight foot bronze statue called "The Man at the Wheel Monument." It faces the harbor looking out to the vast Atlantic Ocean. It commemorates the over 5,368 residents of Gloucester who have lost their lives at sea in the fishing industry. The statue was dedicated in 1925 as part of the city's 300th anniversary. On the base of the statue is a bronze lettered inscription from the 107th Psalm which reads "They That Go Down to Sea in Ships 1623 - 1923".The entire citation from the Psalm reads as follows:

"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still." (Psalm 107:23-29, KJV)

At Niagara Falls, Canada, our tour guide gave a brief history of the Falls and how four of the Great Lakes empty into the Niagara River before hitting the Falls and Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, and finally the Atlantic Ocean. He said that these Great lakes comprise 20% of the world's fresh water lakes. They are lakes, he said, but there can be enormous storms. One web site lists over 4,760 shipwrecks on the Great Lakes, a testimony to the power of storms on these inland seas.

That's the kind of picture we get in the Holy Gospel today. It isn't winter and it isn't the Atlantic Ocean or the Great Lakes, but the Sea of Galilee, a place where violent storms often arise due to geography. Picture the men in that little fishing boat with a sail. No radar, no sonar, no protective gear, just their little wooden fishing boat along with the other little boats, this little fleet trying to cross the lake.

At this time of the year we become accustomed to warnings of severe weather, often advising us to take shelter or get to higher ground. It was exactly one year ago that storms lashed our community and caused unprecedented flooding. A few of you are still recovering from those storms. One's life can hang in the balance during such storms. We understand fear of the created order. It can turn violent in minutes.

It was reported a couple of weeks ago that one of the possible causes of the loss of Air France Flight 447 might have been that the jet stalled in the massive storm it hit. One official from our NSTB speculated in an interview that at 35,000 feet there was not much margin for error in combating the kind of violent winds this storm generated [FoxNews]. The storm was simply stronger than the aircraft and caused it to stall. No recovery was possible.

During this time of year we sometimes receive requests for intercessions for those who travel. While we take travel for granted, there is still danger involved. Today our Hymn to Depart is Eternal Father, Strong to Save [LSB 717]. It's known popularly as the Navy Hymn, the hymn of sailors. In part it is based on this Gospel incident. To that hymn written in the 19th century, words have been added to reflect travel never thought of by John Dykes: auto traffic and air travel. As the note at the bottom of the page states: "This hymn is appropriate to times of travel." We'll sing the modern version, but take a look at the original version with its close connection with our reading.

Did you notice that they go across the lake at night because Jesus had directed them?

"On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side."" (Mark 4:35, ESV)

"Teacher, is it no concern to you that we are dying?"

"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26, ESV)

Jesus spoke of your value to the Father. The disciples were accusing Jesus of devaluing them! It is an incredible act of unbelief to believe that God doesn't care what happens to you, yet it is very common. Many in our day-in fact, it is the prevailing view in our society-simply have no reference point with regard to the created order. They falsely believe that man can control the created order-and I won't ever say "mother nature" because that is a way of avoiding speaking of the Holy Trinity and what we confess in the Creed. Your real "mother" is the Church because you were born of her womb, the baptismal font. You have a Father in heaven who cares for you. Is it not what you have confessed in the meaning of the Creed?

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that he has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.
He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.
He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil.
All this he does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey him.
This is most certainly true.

We sin when we abandon the faith that our heavenly Father controls all the forces of the created order, when we trust that all these things somehow lie in our control. It is sheer faithless arrogance to believe that everything is spinning out of control. Of course, if one has no god at all, this is the only option, as we see with the hand-wringers who think that we can control the climate. It drives much of the political and economic debate these days.

Jesus does the amazing. He speaks to the created order: "Peace! Be still!" That is, "Stop making noise! Put a muzzle on it!" And Mark records:

"And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." (Mark 4:39, ESV)

They are dumbfounded at his questions? Now a fear overtakes them that is greater than their fear of the wind and the waves:

"And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"" (Mark 4:41, ESV)

"(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)" (Hebrews 3:4, ESV)

"They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."" (Luke 5:7-8, ESV)

It has never been God's purpose to drive sinners away from him. That is precisely the reason why our heavenly Father sent his only-begotten Son to be born a man. He sent him to redeem us from the curse of the Law. Here in the boat with them was this Christ, this Son through whom all creation took place, and yet they were afraid. Fear is a sin that has us looking at the created order or ourselves instead of Christ.

What has Christ done for you that you should have a trust that transcends the storms of life? The cross. He is your Savior who has given his life on your behalf. He is your Savior who has become one of us, a true man. He is the one who completed your redemption and has ascended to the right hand of power where he rules forever on behalf of his own. If this is what God thinks of you, that he sends his only-begotten Son to offer the ultimate sacrifice for sin, then God must surely love him. Paul Gerhardt, in his wonderful Lenten hymn, "A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth:""You lay the One into the grave Who built the earth's foundation" [LSB 438.3]!

Will The Author of the Deep" let you be lost because he is "sleeping" in the stern of the boat? God's care of you does not depend upon your asking him to do it. He does it because he is God, the God of your salvation. The proof is no further away than Word and Sacrament, these precious gifts he pours out abundantly for you to reassure you that you are his and that he is yours. The same Jesus who spoke "Peace! Be still!" to the winds and to the sea, speaks words of peace to you, too. Only the Christian has the confidence to know that he who rebuked the wind and the waves has concern for him. When he says "Peace" to you in the Holy Absolution and places his peace into your ears and mouths in Holy Communion, you know that you have nothing to fear from God. And that translates into having no fear of whatever you may face in this earthly life, danger, illness, loneliness, and even death because this.

The ancient Church father, Prudentius wrote a Hymn on the Trinity. In part he says:

His power and miracles proclaim him. God.
I see the wild winds suddenly grow calm
When Christ commands' I see the storm-tossed sea
Grow smooth, with tranquil surface bright,
At Christ's behest; I see the waves grow firm
As the raging flood sustains his treading feet.
He walks dry-shod upon the flowing tide
And bears upon the flood with footsteps sure.
He childes the winds and bids the tempest cease.
Who would command the stormy gales:
"Be still,
Your strongholds keep and leave the
Boundless sea,"
Except the Lord and maker of the winds? . . .
Who on the sea could walk, who with firm step
Upon the flood cold without sinking tread
That path with soles upborne and feet unwet,
Except the author of the deep, the Spirit,
Poured from the Father's lips, that moved across
The waves, not yet hemmed in by solid shores?

[Ancient Christian Commentary, Mark, p. 65]