A tempest, a storm is unleashing its fury on the Sea of Galilee. Waves are throwing themselves on to the boat. The stout fishermen keeping the boat afloat start to lose their confidence, even in their own skills and abilities. For they are no match against the raging sea.
In an instant, it no longer matters who has caught the most fish, who lives in the best house, or whether they’ll be having leftovers for dinner. The storm has instantly grasped their distractions, tossing them into the sea. Their breathing intensifies, their pulse quickens as fear begins to drown and overwhelm them. They realize that they are frail and weak, unable to fight against the storm.
But these disciples of Jesus weren’t weak men. They were strong, skilled in the art of navigation and sailing. They were strong in body. But now through His creation, Jesus is training them to become strong in spirit, by trusting Him, listening to His Word, and praying. To follow Jesus is to follow Him into the storm–and the storm that thunders down on His disciples can be fearful, indeed!
Yet, the Lord Jesus uses the storm for His own, divine purposes. He allows the disciples to despair. He allows them to fear for their lives. Why? All so they might learn to trust Him all the more, but also learn to cry out to Him, seeking His help.
We have a tendency to travel through our lives as if we are safe and in control. Here, we are comfortable and warm. We know where the food is for dinner. We have a car to take us here and there and a safe place to sleep. So, we make our plans, reassuring ourselves into complacency. But in reality, our safety does not come from the stuff we have. Our true safety is in the Lord.
Today’s Gospel reading reminds us that our life of following Jesus is a voyage on a storm-tossed sea, within a wind-beaten vessel. Perhaps, we suppose that God is too harsh with us. But, in truth, He treats us with far more softness than we deserve. Simply think what your steady state of normal is, and your own experience will probably confirm this to be true.
God uses the turbulence and turmoil in life, even our own approaching death, to bring us to our knees and pray. Today’s Gospel, with Jesus asleep in the ship, reminds us of Psalm 44:
Wake up! Why are you asleep, O Lord? Get up! Don’t cast us away forever! Why do You hide Yourself and forget our affliction and oppression? We are brought down to the dust; our bodies pressed to the ground. Arise! Deliver us! Redeem us because of your unfailing love! [Psalm 44:23-26]
We can pray such words–not with a despairing, halting faith, unsure of how our Lord sees us–but knowing that He loves and cares for us.
Our Lord uses the storm, so the disciples might find in Him One mightier than the storm. Knowing that He is such a Lord, we now can sleep, that is, have a calm confidence, even in the fiercest of storms.
We know that our Lord saved Noah through the Flood. We know that He rescued Joseph from the pit and cleared him of the false accusations against him. We know that He saved Daniel from the hungry jaws of the lions. We know that He saved the three young men from the fiery furnace. And what did the three young men sing when they were in the furnace? The Old Testament Apocrypha tells us.
Let’s turn to hymn number 930. [Pause] In the first stanza, we see the confidence the three young men had, even while in the fiery furnace. They sang: “All the works of God, bless the Lord! All you angels, now bless the Lord; come, you heavens and powers that be, praise the Lord and His majesty.” And it goes on.
You have been baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has kept you in the one, true faith through Word and Sacrament. Will He not then rescue you, if not here, then in eternity?
That is why we can sleep and rest secure. That is why the Small Catechism teaches that after you have said the Evening Prayer, confessed your sins, and placed all your cares into the Lord’s hands that you “sleep at once and in good cheer.”
Psalm 4 also expresses the confidence we can have, even amid the misfortunes of life, even when we are approaching the end of our days. It reads, “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, enable me to live securely” (Psalm 4:8).
In our Gospel reading, we see both natures of Christ: His divine and human natures. We see that Jesus is human, for He tires and sleeps. Yet, we also see that He is divine, for He can command the winds and waves. As a human, Jesus understands your fears, weakness, temptation, and sadness. As God, He can help, bringing to you His calm and His peace.
From this storm, we learn more than that an all-powerful Being is in control of His creation. We learn more than that Jesus, as both God and man, is Master over the wind and waves. What we learn is His disposition toward us. We learn about His plans for us. And they are to care for and protect us, to bring us safely into the haven that He has prepared for us.
In our Old Testament reading, we heard about a man in rebellion against God. Yet, even that rebel Jonah serves as a shadow pointing us to the reality of Christ. By sacrificing himself–in Jonah’s case, being thrown into the sea–the others are saved.
Jesus, who can walk on the waves, casts Himself into our depths. He does this to deliver us from their danger. Jesus said, “An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign. Yet no sign will be given to it except the sign of the Prophet Jonah” (Matthew 12:39). As Jonah was in the belly of the fish, so the Son of Man was in a tomb of death.
The sacrifice of Jonah stilled the storm. By Jesus’ forgiving Word and the communion we have with Him, He steps into our small boat and calms the storm swirling round us. He does this, not by making the evil around us and aimed at us disappear immediately, but by assuring us that He is Lord over creation.
And just as He is Lord over creation, so also is He our Lord. He will be with us in our storms, bringing us safely to the other side. Yet, even the storms are for our well-being. For God does not pamper or spoil those He loves. He, instead, disciplines them, all so He might bring them to the perfection that awaits them in eternity.
We must learn to separate, then, the prayer that Jesus’ disciples prayed into two parts, keeping what is good while discarding the chaff. They first prayed, “Lord, save us,” which in their native Aramaic was “Hosanna!”
We find short prayers as these throughout Scripture, teaching us to cast all our cares on the One who cares for us. We find such prayers as: “Hosanna!” “Lord, save us!” “Kyrie, eleison!” “Lord, have mercy!” “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!”
The second portion of their prayer, however, we must learn to outgrow as we grow in faith. They prayed, “We are perishing.” Yet, what does the Word of God say? “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). You belong to Christ, O baptized one! You will not perish! You will not be destroyed!
The Lord will save you–and is even saving you right now! Recognizing that reality, we pray each week in the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper: “Hosanna!” Hosanna means, “Lord, save us!” That was what Jesus’ disciples prayed on the storm-tossed boat. And today, Jesus answers that prayer. The sleeping Jesus, as it were, awakens and enters our sanctuary in bread and wine. He is coming to give Himself to us–His body and His blood to save us.
Jesus is answering our prayer of “Hosanna!” He answers with His own crucified and risen flesh for us to eat and drink. Under the bread and wine, Jesus strengthens and nourishes our faith and teaches us to pray.
Jesus preaches the Gospel to us in all of its beauty and joy. Suddenly, our priorities are realigned. Our pettiness and arrogance of wanting our own way are stripped from us, cast into the sea of forgiveness. Jesus leaves us pure and holy, even as He is pure and holy. Suddenly, we are without blemish, guilt, shame, or regret.
Jesus, the One who is the Word, has spoken His Word. The waves of fear and doubt are gone. The rains poured in, and the water of Holy Baptism has drowned us. But He has raised us up again to life.
Those waters have changed from storm and wrath to peace and mercy. We have crossed over from death to life. We are safe in His protection. Nothing now can harm us. No one can snatch us out of His hand. He is our God. He loves us. He is good. The One who commands the waves is also the Lord of life–the Life that He has delivered to us.
Lord, save us! Hosanna! Amen.
