WE have talked about this before. The Gospels are full of questions. And the questions “speak loudly to US,” if, WE will but listen.
WE have to listen to the word. WE have to pay it attention. WE have to hear what it is saying…and…what it is not saying. WE have to listen to the questions that are being asked.
From Genesis thru Revelation…all kinds of questions are being posed. Here are just a few, there are obviously many more: Where are YOU? Am I my brother’s keeper? My God, My God why have you forsaken ME?
Who is MY neighbor? What did YOU go out to the desert to see? How many loaves do YOU have? What are YOU looking for? Do YOU want to get well? What is truth?
And on and on, the questions go…
Each time we hear such a question WE need to pause and realize that the question is being asked of US!
To answer the question, is to have heard the word speak to YOU. Our Gospel text for this evening has its fair share of questions.
Our setting is the Sea of Galilee, a body of water 680 feet below sea level surrounded by hills and more than a little prone to sudden and violent windstorms.
Mark is the only gospel writer to tell US that Jesus is curled up and sound asleep resting on a pillow in the back of the boat. This guy could sleep through anything-obviously!
When the winds and the waves kick up and the boat is tossed and turned and thrown about and is threatening to capsize, ol’ Jesus is cutting logs and sawing away.
The exhausted and tired disciples are forced to rouse him from his sleep. Jesus is hit immediately with accusation, panic, bailing water and bewilderment.
“Don’t you care that WE are drowning,” they ask? Maybe YOU have asked a similar question or two yourself? Oh, not in those exact words, but YOU know what I mean…
Don’t you care that I am sick?
Don’t you care that I have lost everything? Don’t you care that I am alone and afraid? Don’t you care that I am dying? Do you see how scared I am?
Where are you? Why aren’t you with ME? Why can’t I feel your presence?
Does Jesus care? Does God care? And if he does – why then do WE still ask these questions over and over again?
The next two questions come from Jesus himself: Why are YOU afraid?
Do YOU still have no faith?
There are so many times in this life that WE can feel overwhelmed, over-powered, at wits end, in over OUR heads, lost and alone, scared-really scared. Jesus are you kidding ME? I am a mess! Just look at ME!
I can think of a gazillion reasons why WE feel the way WE do. Let’s see: Earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, threats of annihilation, droughts, fires, terrorist attacks, mass shootings, bullying, inequity, powerlessness, random acts of violence, hunger, catastrophic diseases, broken marriages, depression, the stock market, anxiety, grinding jobs, unfriendly neighbors, financial uncertainty, home invasions, car-jackings, mean people, health concerns, drugs and alcoholism, and on and on the list goes…
Isn’t fear reasonable – in a scary and frightening world? Isn’t it – a little bit appropriate? Having fear doesn’t necessarily mean that WE lack faith or that WE have “no faith.” It means that WE are human. It means that WE are vulnerable. It means that WE need you!
So, how do YOU answer these biblical questions? Do YOU see them as being asked of YOU? Or, do YOU just go on and assume they are here for someone else? Do YOU ignore them completely?
Take the three questions for today, how will YOU answer them? (Personally)
Teacher, do you not care that WE are perishing? How do YOU respond?
And Jesus asked, “Why are YOU afraid?” “Have YOU still no faith?” How do YOU respond to him?
And finally, the $100,000.00 question of Mark’s gospel: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Again, how do YOU respond?
Allow the scriptures to speak to you, take it all in…and then respond back with your heart of hearts. The scriptures are here to instruct and to guide YOU!