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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Pastor Galler is on vacation, but, for our reflection this morning on the Third Reading for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Pastor Galler edited a sermon written by The Rev. Brian Noack, pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Sayville, New York. Rev. Noack’s sermon was published in the 20-21 volume of Concordia Pulpit Resources (31:3, pp.6, 37-39), to which publication Pilgrim subscribes primarily in order to supply sermons on occasions such as this, when our pastor is away and the congregation has not otherwise supplied the pulpit. The edited sermon reads as follows:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
The events that today’s Third Reading describes seem so extraordinary: Jesus’s walking on water and His healings at Gennesaret. The one, to His disciples straining against the wind, Jesus came walking on the sea and the wind ceased, and, the other, in a region where Jesus may have never before preached or healed, pained people touched even the fringe of his garment and were made well. Unexpected and exceptional means led to miraculous gains, even though, as we heard not that long ago, Jesus previously had both stilled a storm (Mark 4:37-41) and healed a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years and touched His garment (Mark 5:25‑29). More recently, as we heard last week, immediately before the events of today’s Third Reading, Jesus used five loaves and two fish to feed at least five-thousand people. Yet, as we heard today, Jesus’s disciples were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. Whatever His disciples believed about Jesus, apparently they were not yet applying what they knew about Him to every situation that they encountered.
Of course, we too easily criticize Jesus’s disciples. We were not with them as they journeyed with Jesus, and so it is hard for us to know what they were truly going through as they heard the things that Jesus said and saw the things that Jesus did. We do not know exactly what all they encountered. For example, in the case of Jesus’s walking on water, the English Standard Version says the disciples were making headway painfully, or, as other translations put it, they were toiling or distressed in rowing (KJV; ASV), straining or labouring at the oars (NIV, NASB; NEB), or straining at rowing (NKJV). Whether or not, as artists depict it, they were rowing against fierce waves, the Divinely-inspired St. Mark tells us for sure that the wind was against them. Their journey was tough; it was hard work; it had been a long day, and it was late; they were tired; and they may have feared that they might not make it across the lake safely. Similarly, we do not know what all the people at Gennesaret had heard about Jesus and how they came to recognize Him, but they understood enough and had “soft” enough hearts to bring, to wherever they heard Jesus was, those in pain, sick with what all afflictions we do not know.
We too easily criticize Jesus’s disciples, especially as have the benefit not only of hindsight that looks back on Jesus’s completed ministry, but we also have the benefit of the fullness of God’s revelation in the whole of the New Testament, and, still we have problems understanding and are prone to having hard hearts. If we look at our lives as a whole, most of us would probably agree that our lives are filled with many blessings from God. We have family and friends to share our lives; we are blessed with jobs and opportunities to use our gifts in service to our neighbor; we have a place to live and food to eat and many other of what we call “First Article gifts” from our Creator. We may even get to a point in life where we feel as if we are riding the wave comfortably and can simply enjoy all that God provides. However, there are moments when the wind picks up: we get in a fight with someone we love, our job becomes a dreadful burden or is taken from us, the joys of homeownership overwhelm us, or our very lives seem to be in jeopardy. When life becomes work, when hardship befalls us, when suffering enters our world, we have a tendency to close up, to isolate ourselves, and to desire simply to be alone in the strains and pains of our misery.
As believers, we know where we can turn for help in these times, but as sinners, we often do not do turn there. We may tell ourselves that we can strain hard enough on our own, that we can push through the pain. Even if we turn to God for help, we may think that because He does not answer in some unexpected or exceptional way that He does not answer at all. We may think that “it is what it is”; “such is life”. As people of faith, we ought to know that such is not the way things are intended to be for us, that we are never alone, that God does hear and that He answers our prayers, and yet so many times our lives look quite different. An outsider looking at our life might sometimes think what we think about Jesus’s disciples, “How can you not get it? How can you not see where your help is? Why have you not learned by now that Jesus is always with you?” Such are the effects of our sinful nature and all of our sin, whether we sin in those ways or in countless others. Because of our sinful nature and all of our sin, we deserve to die here and now and be tormented in hell for eternity, and we will so die and be tormented, if we harden our hearts against God’s Holy Spirit, who calls us to turn from our sin, trust God to forgive us, and want to stop sinning. When we so repent, then God forgives us. God forgives us for Jesus’s sake.
For the disciples straining on the lake and for the people in pain on Gennesaret’s shore, there was only one source of help: the presence of Jesus. The presence of Jesus eased the strain and caused the wind to cease. The presence of Jesus eased the pain and healed the sick. Those miracles showed that Jesus was no ordinary man but the Son of God in human flesh. As such, when Jesus, out of His great love for us, went to the cross for our sins and for the sins of the whole world, He could redeem us, suffering for us, in our place, the death that we deserve. Jesus experienced strains and pains to give us the eternal gains of forgiveness, life, and salvation. By His Word the Lord is present and delivers these great gains to us, in ways that are, in their own way, unexpected and exceptional. From the moment of your Baptism, the Lord’s promise is that He will never leave you or forsake you. The present Lord speaks through your pastor’s mouth the words of individual Absolution. And, the Lord is especially present to forgive through bread that is His Body given for you and through wine that is His Blood shed for you. In all times and in every circumstance, Jesus is there, for He says: “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
The presence of Jesus comforts us and joins us to His help and healing and life through forgiveness and grace. The presence of Jesus helps us as we go through the strains and pains of this life brought about by the effects of sin. As Jesus knew the strains of the disciples and the pains of the people of Gennesaret, Jesus knows the heartache and hurt that you experience. As Jesus said to the disciples, He says to you: “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid” (Mk 6:50). These are powerfully comforting words from our Savior, for the strains and pains of life are sure to come, but as a child of God, you know where you can turn for help in your time of need, and you can be sure that He is present and helps. As the flesh-and-blood Jesus came to His disciples and got into the boat with them, so we in His Church receive very-tangible help from our Lord, Who meets us as we return to our Baptism, are repeatedly Absolved, and weekly receive His Body and Blood. Look to Jesus, for he is there. He steps into the boat with you to bring an end to your strains, in His time and way. He brings his healing touch to you for all your pains of body and soul, if nothing else with your death and the resurrection of the body. He has gained for you the kingdom and promises you life with Him for eternity.
Understand and apply what you believe about Jesus to every situation that you encounter! He will act as the Son of God in all things. In many ways, the events of our lives and how God meets us in them are no less extraordinary than those of today’s Third Reading. Just as He promised, Jesus is always with us, especially in our strains and pains, to give us eternal gains. Even as we are daily confronted with things that cause us to be afraid, that give us heartache, that bring about sorrow and mourning, our Lord comes to us amid the chaos to calm our fears and give us hope—hope better than that of a calm lake, hope better than that of temporary healing, sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the body and of the eternal life of the world to come. Your health and life are forever preserved by the presence of Jesus, so whatever may come for you, you can confidently pray to the Lord the words of the final stanza of the Hymn of the Day today:
Our hands and feet, Lord, strengthen;
With joy our spirits bless / Until we see the ending / Of all our life’s distress.
And so throughout our lifetime / Keep us within Your care
And at our end then bring us / To heav’n to praise You there. (LSB 754:6)
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +