Psalm 9:9-20 Mark 4:35-41
Jesus is always telling the disciples and us that we have little or no faith; that we need faith like a child.
We talk about people with a great faith – those who endured hardships yet didn’t turn from God. We note Christians in developing countries who have no material goods but and awe-inspiring faith.
We tell the confirmation class that the life of faith is a journey and we are all at different points along that journey. Still people say they have lost their faith. Are we are all talking about the same thing? Or do we each have our own variant definition of faith?
The disciples wake Jesus up and yell at him, "Do you not care that we are perishing?" Jesus responds by standing up, raising his arms and saying, "Peace, Be Still." The winds and sea obey and there is complete calm. Then Jesus turns to the disciples and says, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" The disciples look at each other in awe and say, "Who then is this that even the sea and wind obey him?"
This story is odd because we don’t expect the disciples to wonder who Jesus is after he calms the storm. Isn’t that what they wanted him to do? And why does Jesus calm the storm then ask, "Have you still no faith?" Shouldn’t he have asked that before he calmed the storm? There are lots of questions about this story. But it is Jesus’ question, "Have you still no faith?" that rings in my ears; that grabs at my flesh and won’t let go. "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?"
In the stormy days and nights of life, we call to Jesus just as the disciples did accusing him of not caring about us and the fact that we are drowning in this life. "Where are you," we yell. "Why are you not doing something about all that is wrong in this world." Do you not care that I am lonely. That my father is very ill, but he is too young too die. Do you not see that violence pervades our lives and infects our children? Do you not care that the church is growing smaller everyday and no longer has the influence in people’s lives that it once had. Jesus, are you sleeping through this storm raging in my life as I decide about school, a job, which car to buy, which house to buy? Jesus, do you not care that we are perishing?
We all have our own questions thrown to Jesus in the midst of the stormy days and nights of our lives. They may be different, but all of them want to know where Jesus is when the storms rage. As we ask these questions of Jesus, the one for us is, what is it that we want Jesus to do? What do we expect from him?
What do you think the disciples wanted? Maybe they wanted him to calm the storm, but they didn’t really think he could do it, otherwise they wouldn’t have been shocked and in an awe when he did. Maybe they just didn’t want him to get in a good nap when they were scared out of their mind that they were going to die. They wanted him to be in it with them, suffering like they were. But Jesus was with them. He may have been asleep, but he was with them. Whatever was going to happen to them in that boat, was going to happen to Jesus too. Maybe they just wanted him to have to work, bailing out water like they were. They didn’t want him to get out of the labor they were doing. Who knows? Whatever they wanted from him, they were surprised by what they got.
Jesus has just spent time teaching and using parables to tell people about the life of faith. But to the disciples, he actually explains the parables so that the secret of the Kingdom of God is revealed to them. And Jesus expects that they will grow in faith because of it. That they will understand who he is and what he is about and therefore what they are to be about. But they haven’t. I don’t know how Jesus interpreted their question to him as he slept, but he is clearly disappointed and frustrated that they still do not get it and from what Jesus sees, they still have no faith.
Have you still no faith? This question cuts to the heart of who we are as Christians. We have the witness of scripture, we have the tradition and its stories of God’s work in the world and we have the promises of God on which our faith is grounded. Yet how often do we still have no faith. We pray give us this day our daily bread while we reduce our pledge to the church because the stock market has fallen. We pray for peace but do not believe it is possible. We say we are all one in Christ Jesus, but pick and choose who the ones can be. We pray forgive us when we have forgotten the poor and never question who made our clothes and in what conditions. We hold in high esteem those in other places who have nothing but their faith while we complain about not having enough storage space in our house. We lament that the church has lost its center of power and grumble because we are now on the margins all the while saying we believe in Jesus Christ who preached good news to the poor and release to the captives and who ate with outcasts.
And so Jesus says to us as we scream at him for not caring that we are perishing, "Have you still no faith?" The psalmist says, "The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you…For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever. Rise up O Lord, do not let mortals prevail; let the nations be judged before you. Put them in fear, O Lord; let the nations know that they are only human." As the psalmist writes, God’s promise is to save us all from the evil of this world. And God has done that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. God’s promise is to bring equality and justice for everyone, especially the poor and the oppressed who have been abused and marginalized. And God promises judgment for those who oppress; those who abuse the poor, who look out only for themselves. For this is not the way of God.
Have you still no faith? What does it mean to have faith and be among the faithful? The faithful are those who believe that God will work God’s purposes out. Who believe that there will be a day when no one goes hungry, when everyone is healthy, when the air we breathe and the water we drink are not contaminated, when people love one another and know nothing of hatred and revenge. The faithful are those who believe that we are all connected and that the choices we make have consequences for people we do not even know. Faith is more than saying we believe that Jesus is God’s son, that we have salvation through his life and death and resurrection. Faith is more than saying we believe in the kingdom of God. Faith is saying Your Kingdom Come on earth as it is in heaven. Faith is living our lives in the belief that it will be so. Faith is knowing that nothing but life with God, as God intends it for all people and creation that nothing else is more important. Faith is believing and so living our lives in the midst of the stormy days and nights that God’s promises are true. That no matter what it seems like right now, no matter how bad it all may seem, God will achieve God’s purposes. And so we do not have to be afraid. We know the secret to God’s kingdom. We have the truth. When the doubts of this world come creeping in, as they will surely do, we have the truth of God’s promises, the knowledge that God has been true to those promises in the past and God will do so again in the future.
If we live out what we say we believe, the truth of those promises becomes more real and our faith is strengthened. But if we do not live out what we say we believe, the doubts about those promises become stronger and we have no faith. And if we have no faith, then we turn to what the world offers for security and promises for the future. The storms continue to rage. And Jesus continues to be there in the midst of them, calling for us to believe and have faith.
What is it we want Jesus to do? He will not simply make life easy or expect nothing from us, his followers. He has shared his very life with us and given us the secret to the kingdom. He wants us to be faithful, just as he is to us. This story is not a happy ending story where Jesus saves the day. This story is a challenge to all of us who claim to be believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ; to all of us who talk about faith but whose lives do not reflect the promises of God. As we seek to be faithful in our lives, let us remember the words of the psalmist, "The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you." Our God is the one who stands up in the boat with outstretched hands saying, Peace, Be Still. And even the winds and the sea obey. Our God is the one with the power and the truth to end the chaos and evil and to bring the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Whatever it looks like today, this is the promise; this is the truth. Believe it, live into it, and have faith. AMEN.
