Tough Answers 5

Tough Answers—Authority Question: Job 38: 1-11;  Mark 4: 35-41

            Years ago, I went on vacation with Mom and Nana to Las Vegas. Most of glamour was lost on my high school self from a country-bumpkin town in Appalachia. But I will never forget the flight back. There was a worker strike at the time, so we ended up being routed from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City, to Atlanta, to Knoxville. And the plane from Atlanta to Knoxville looked like a child’s toy. As this was June, one of those short-lived severe thunderstorms sprang up on the flight from Atlanta to Knoxville.

            Y’all…I have never prayed so hard in my life as when that plane with two seats on one side and one on the other started bouncing and swaying like it was dancing the Tango. I came several inches out of the seat. The flight attendant’s cart flew away sending Ginger Ale hurling all over the people behind it. And the middle-aged man in a suit next to me fell asleep and slumped over on my 16-year-old shoulder, snoring, like nothing was happening. I don’t know if his peace and comfort was medically induced or not, but by golly, one day I want to be that unbothered.

            Today’s Gospel and Hebrew lessons are stories about control, authority, and the ability to find peace when we have neither. Job’s discussion with God here, or rather, his lecture from God, comes near the end of the book. Job has, at some point, criticized God. We learn that God says to him (after a whole other chapter of lecturing him), “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?” God spends 71 verses over two chapters reminding Job of the sheer majesty and magnificence of God’s ability to create, bring life, redeem, restore, and deliver.

            Job is speaking from a temporary time of suffering in an eternity of God’s authority and care. Job seems to believe that God is uncaring in his time of suffering. But, as a theme for both of these scriptures, remember that unbothered does not mean uncaring. One can still provide all the care in the world but be unbothered or unconcerned about the struggle because of the knowledge that the temporary struggle is not the final outcome. Both Job and Mark’s Gospel speak to the power of God to tame the chaos and bring order into all of life.

            In ancient mythology and in the imagery created by Biblical writers, the sea is often seen as a hostile force, something often battled and tamed by those of power. It’s no mistake that Jesus calmed the raging sea in the Gospel. This miracle would have resonated with all who saw it and heard about it because it was so familiar to them. We see the imagery in Job, in the Gospels, in Psalm 107, in the creation story of Genesis. The chaos of the raging sea has a place in God’s creation and redemption specifically in that God sets boundaries and restrictions on the chaos to keep it in check.

            In our Gospel Jesus sleeps through the raging storm while the disciples are gripped by fear and panic that they will all drown. But when they call out to Jesus, he simply says, “Peace, be still,” and the storm is done. One commentator noted that Jesus uses the same language on the storm that used with demons. It’s almost as if Jesus is casting out the storm in the same way he addressed and cast out evil spirits. Here is why it’s important that it’s a storm. In Jesus’s day, any sorcerer, magician, or exorcist was believed to be able to cast out a bad spirit from a person. But only God could control the weather. In silencing the storm, Jesus asserts the power of God to the people.

            Why does all this matter? Well, for Mark’s church this was a powerful story. Marks’ church was suffering and under extensive persecution. This story pulled them away from what they were facing and reminded them who they were following, and the power that God has. Faith in God is easy when everything is going well. An easy life makes for an easy walk with God. But when the storm is raging, we are often left with a lack of trust. All we can see is the storm. And sometimes, the storm is overwhelming. The chaos appears like it has no end and will never be put back right again.

            In those times we often suspect that God does not care. That suspicion that God does not care is a rotten factor in faith. It will corrode, ruin, rot away our ability to follow Christ in faith. It leads us down a road of blaming God for everything. Sometimes we blame God for the storms we make. I had a friend who loved to gorge on sweets every single day. When he was diagnosed as diabetic, he couldn’t believe God would let that happen to him. This was one of those less than pastoral moments for me. I blurted out to him, “What did you think would happen?” This is just the natural end result of your actions, not God’s divine manipulation.

            Faith is hard in the storm because crises lead to doubts, and doubts tell us that God does not care. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unbothered does not equate to lack of caring. I had a friend who slept through Hurricane Michael in 2019 when it came through at night. I was flabbergasted. How could someone sleep through a whole hurricane? But what he said was this. I am unbothered by it. I can’t control it, and I can’t change it. If something bad happens in this storm, I will work through it in the best way I can. If the storm does me in, I’m ready to see Jesus. Any way this goes, I’m unbothered by the outcome. I care, but I also have faith that all will be well in the end. If it’s not well, it’s not the end.

            For Mark’s church, who so desperately needed to hear this miracle, it’s not so much about what Jesus did as it is who he is. Faith is not an antibiotic that fixes everything in a few days. It’s an insurance plan that lets you know things will be taken care of when the time is right, and it’s needed. We tend to be overwhelmed by the trouble of the present time before us, but faith is something we live for eternity. The God we rely on and believe in knew us before we were born, leads and guides us in the present, and loves us throughout all eternity, and nothing can separate us from that eternal, unchanging love.

            Jesus knew the struggles the disciples had and how the storm would challenge their faith. After he rebukes the storm, he turns and challenges their unbelief, saying, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” A good friend was complaining about one of the ladies in her prayer group. She said that Mildred, the name has been changed to protect the innocent, used to pray for people then go on about her day and never check in. My friend said when she prayed, she would check in with them at least a couple times a day to see how they were. Mildred, however, just prayed and went on about her business. My friend got more and more worked up about how Mildred could never follow up or check back. Finally, I asked her a question. Does Mildred not check back because she is uncaring or is it because she’s unbothered? Perhaps she cares a great deal, but has the faith and trust to believe that God heard her prayer, and she doesn’t need to backtrack, hover, and follow up on every little thing God works on? Unbothered does not equate to uncaring.

            The message from Job and Mark’s gospel is quite clear. Faith is something we must continue to work on both when life is easy and when the storms and trials come our way. Jesus cleared up the storm in a matter of minutes for the disciples on the boat. Most scholars believe Job suffered for years before his deliverance. No matter how long the storm, the severity, or the endurance we must have, we can still have faith in the One who is more powerful than any storm of life. Deliverance might not come today, tomorrow, or in this lifetime, but faith carries us through, and God’s love remains eternal.

            Many years ago, I spent an hour and a half bouncing on an airplane between Atlanta and Knoxville like I was on the worst ride at Six Flags imaginable. The whole plane full of passengers was soaked in Ginger Ale, and covered in snacks. But we landed safely. And the guy next to me slept through the whole thing. He was unbothered by the storm the whole way through. When the storms of life hit us, when we are overwhelmed, and when faith feels crushed, remember that Jesus created peace in the middle of the storm, then he reminded the disciples that faith sees them through eternity, not just immediate trial. Thanks be to God.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1484855905477193