Monday, July 26, 2021

Sermon - Pentecost 9 - Mark 6:45-52

 


Mark 6:45-52

“He Walks On Water”

“Oh, he thinks he walks on water!”  It’s become one of those cultural euphemisms for people who think too highly of themselves.  Or of someone who regards another person as above criticism, someone who, in the eyes of others, can do no wrong.  It’s a sort of a roundabout way of comparing someone to the Jesus himself – either in a sarcastic or absurd fashion.  And yet, I think when many people use the phrase, they forget where it came from, and aren’t thinking much of Jesus at all.

Jesus walks on water.  And we can say that in an un-ironic, completely serious way.  For Mark tells us just that in this account we hear today.  Just after the feeding of the 5000, Jesus tells his disciples to get back in the boat and head toward the other side again, to Bethsaida.  He takes care of dismissing the crowd, and then goes up the mountain to pray.  Back to business as usual, it would seem. 

But for the disciples, business is not as usual.  Jesus set them out on the sea at night, not in the safety of daylight.  The wind was against them.  The boat was having a hard time making any progress.  And most commentators seem to agree that this strange wind was a divinely appointed obstacle, not just a natural happenstance.  Again, Jesus sets before his disciples a difficult task.  One wonders if they grew resentful.  Why is he asking us to do this?  Where is he when we need him?

For his part, Jesus is praying.  What is he praying about?  We don’t know for sure but here are some possibilities: 

The news of the Baptist's death (verse 12) which must have filled Him with foreboding of His own death, a year hence (John 6:4);

He had just overcome the temptation to be proclaimed an earthly king by the crowds he had fed.

Likely He foresaw that the remnants of the 5,000 would totally reject Him, the Living Bread from Heaven, the next day, as we read in John 6.

 

And likely, he also prayed for the 12 - who were in danger for a number of reasons and needed to pass a severe test the next day. When the crowds would desert him Jesus asked them, “are you leaving too?” and Peter answered as we sing, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life!”

Last, but not least, the betrayal of Judas was on His mind, as we also read in John 6.

But as he prays, he’s also watching them from his mountaintop retreat.  He sees them in their difficulties, and perhaps it wasn’t his original plan, but he descends to come to them, though he meant to pass them by.

Now, let’s stop here for a moment.  “Pass them by” – an important little phrase that we might too quickly pass by.  But think of this, when does God “pass by?”

There are two Old Testament stories that come to mind.  One with Moses, and the other with Elijah.

When Moses was on Mt. Sinai, we have our first example from Exodus 33:

"Moses said, “Please show me Your glory.” And [God] said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you My name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” He said, “you cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and live.” And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by Me where you shall stand on the rock, and while My glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My Hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away My Hand, and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

Here we learn that sinful man, even a great man like Moses, cannot see the glory of God full-on.  The nearest glimpse Moses got was of the backside of God as he passed by, and even that was a great and wonderful blessing.

But here, in Christ, the Disciples get something even better.  Here, in Christ, God does not pass by, but stops to help them, stops to join them.  He, who is clearly divine – and shows it – not only by multiplying loaves but also by mastering the sea and strolling on it so easily – the glory of God is now revealed to the disciples in the person of Jesus Christ.  He does not pass them by, but he enters their boat, for he has already entered human flesh and become one of them, one of us.  Herein we have the great mystery of the incarnation – God and man in one person of Christ.

And then in 1 Kings 19 we have God passing by Elijah:

"There [Elijah] came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, The Word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And [The Word of the LORD] said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Ah yes, Elijah’s story shows us that when God passes by it is often as we least expect, not in the powerful windstorm or the earthquake that shatters rocks, or the fiery maelstrom.  It’s in the quiet whisper of the word that God is found.

So also, here, with Christ.  In the dark of the night, when they least expected him, HOW they least expected him, comes the Christ.  The miracles come, one after the other – the feeding of 5000, the walking on water – but also the calming of the wind as he climbed in the boat.  But perhaps the most striking is what seems most mundane – that God in the flesh was here, with them, and joined them in their boat.  That Jesus would regard them, help them, be with them at all.

Jesus walks on water, friends, but you and I certainly do not.  Jesus is master of nature and Lord of all creation.  You are a lowly creature, subject to the laws of nature, and captive to the corruption of sin in which you are born. Jesus walks on water, because of course he does.  You walk in the valley of the shadow of death, in the midst of a world of death and sin.  You stumble from one sin to the next – thought word and deed – stepping always through a minefield of your own making.  And sometimes those mines explode in your face.

But the good news is, Jesus is with you.  The God-man who walks on water, walks with you.  And he has walked before you, through his own life, even all the way.  He walked the dusty roads of Galilee.  He walked into and out of dangers, toils and snares, into the wilderness, through the crowd that sought to cast him off a cliff.  He preached all around the villages and towns, and even went to pagans and Samaritans. 

He easily treaded the crashing waves.  But he most importantly walked under the weight of the cross, carrying it along with all your sins, to his goal – to Calvary.  To death.  How beautiful upon that mountain are the nail-pierced feet of him who brings good news by his glorious death for all sinful people, for you, for me.

Here, Jesus is not passed over, so that you would be passed over.  He shows himself to be the true Passover lamb, whose blood is shed so that your blood is not shed.  Who is sacrificed in your place.  Punishment and wrath did not pass him by, but in him, by him, you as passed over, thanks be to God!

The disciples didn’t understand about the loaves.  The disciples didn’t understand about the walking on the water.  They thought they were seeing a ghost.  Their hearts were hardened.  Their faith was lacking.  But Jesus continued to come and reveal to them who he truly is, and what he comes to do.  He is no ghost – he’s flesh and blood!  He’s true man, even as he is true God. 

Once again we will see Jesus demonstrating his divinity – and again we can call Moses and Elijah to witness.  There on the Mt. of Transfiguration Jesus would show his disciples a glimpse of his glory in a very visual way.  Moses and Elijah testify by their presence, and then by their disappearance, as indeed all the law and prophets testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that salvation is only him.  And when Moses and Elijah are gone, the disciples are left with Jesus only.  And that, of course, is enough.

Christ comes today, and we would not see him pass us by.  He comes not in full-on radiant glory, not in wind and storm and quake and fire.  He comes not walking on water.  He comes in the whisper of his word, preached and proclaimed, sung and prayed.  He comes in the bread and wine, the true Paschal lamb once slain but now alive forevermore.

And he comes to help us.  His presence always helps.  In the word and meal he brings himself, his forgiveness, his salvation, his life.  He who walks on water, also treads death and devil underfoot, and brings us a share in his victory.

Therefore with Jesus there is really nothing to fear.  There is no reason to lose heart.  He even says so, “Take heart;  it is I.  Do not be afraid.”

He comes not to scare us or judge us or even just to teach us a better way.  He comes to save.  To do the saving.  To take away all cause of fear. 

This doesn’t mean this life won’t be rough sailing at times.  The wind might be against us, the waves lapping at our boat.  But we have Jesus, the God-man.  We have his presence and his promise.  He walks on water.  He will certainly walk with us.  Look to him for help, and he will never pass you by.

In Jesus Name.  Amen.

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