The Bungee Cord 6-24-24

Hello,

I was a “supply preacher” this past weekend at a church in Johnstown, Pa. I have found myself filling pulpits about once or twice a month since I retired a year and a half ago. It feels good to get back in the saddle without all the pressures of everyday ministry. As I was thinking about what I would write in my Bungee Cord this week, it seemed to me that my sermon, which was based on Mark 4:35-41 when Jesus calmed the sea, was Bungee worthy. So, here it is.

Mark 4:35-41

June 2024

So, there they all were, the twelve of them, after a whole day of teaching at the seashore to large crowds, and Jesus said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” I am sure that some of the disciples must have thought to themselves, or even said it out loud, “Why can’t we just stay here for the night?” Why hop into a small boat and sail out into the darkness and risk dealing with the chaos that brewed in the sea?

I’ve seen the kind of boat that they were using (you can too if you look up “The Jesus Boat” on the internet). The boat was unearthed a couple of decades ago when there was a severe drought around the sea of Galilee, and it is displayed in a museum by the sea. The boat was about 30 feet long, 7 feet wide and 4 feet deep. No keel, but only a place for a sail in the middle of the boat and a rudder at the back of the boat. The sea of Galilee, which is really just a large lake, 11 miles long and 7 miles wide at its greatest width, could erupt into a hungry whirlpool as winds would sweep through the valley in which it lay, so travelling it was dangerous even in the day, but at night when you couldn’t see where you were going or couldn’t see approaching storms, and you had no keep to keep you going straight it could have been considered a death trap.

“Why can’t we just stay here until the morning, Jesus?” But since Jesus was the rabbi and they were his loyal students, they hopped into the boat and set sail for the 7-mile trip to the other side. The Bible doesn’t tell us how long it was that they were afloat before the mighty gust erupted and they found themselves being tossed around like Yatzee dice in their boat and the water was swamping it, but when that happened, we know this, the disciples feared for their lives. They went to Jesus and woke him up as he was asleep in the back of the boat. Remember this boat was less than10 yards long and was nearly packed to the gills with the 13 of them riding in it, so when the Bible says that they went to Jesus, it was only a matter of a foot or two that they had to go, and they said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

“Do you not care?” “Do you not care?” After all, it was at Jesus who had decided to throw all caution to the wind and make that dangerous trip. And It was Jesus who seemed completely at ease with the pounding of the waves and the sinking of the boat. Did Jesus bring them out here in the middle of the Sea of Galilee that they would die? Did he want this boat to go down? Was this his plan that they, including him, would drown to death? “Teacher, do you not care?”

Ever find those words coming from your mouth as you take Jesus by the shoulders when the sea is crashing down on you? “Jesus, do you not care?” Do you not care that I have lost my job and I have all these bills to pay? Do you not care that my kid gets bullied from the time that she steps on the bus to the time she steps off and I have to watch her cry herself to sleep every night? Do you not care that my family is falling apart right before my very eyes? Do you not care that the darkness of depression is so thick that I can’t see where I am going, and I feel like I am drowning? “Jesus, do you not care?”

Many people who read this story think that this story is in the Bible to show how powerful Jesus is, that he has so much power that “even the wind and the sea obeys him. Certainly, that is true. The disciples certainly are amazed by the power he just wielded. But I think there is a greater reason that this story found its way into the Bible and into our ears, and that is this: to show us how much Jesus cares. “Do you not care?”, the disciples asked, and Jesus answered their question not with words directed at them, but words directed at the sea and the wind. Jesus did not just say that he cared….he showed them he cared. “Jesus, do you not care?” “You bet I care!”

To me, it is not so amazing that Jesus, who is God incarnate, might have the power to do incredible things…miraculous things….after all Jesus was the Son of God. What is amazing to me that Jesus, who the Gospel of John tells us ” was In the beginning with God, and was God. . All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” It is amazing to me that this one, would care at all about the 12 other microscopic specks of the universe who were in that boat with him, specks so small in the scope of the universe that even the most powerful atomic microscope could not see them….and to bring that to us, we who sit in this nave…this boat…that is what this room is called….that he would care about us…sub atomic specks in the universe. That is hard for me to believe.

So that is why, God didn’t just say “I care,” to us who venture into the darkness of the future, tossed about by the gusts of winds, waves of pressure pounding down on us and filling our lives with guilt and fear, and we find ourselves sinking in despair. No, Jesus rose up from the cushion of his life, was nailed to a cross and like a giant cosmic maelstrom gathered into himself everything and anything that might take us away from him, and with the yell, “It is finished!” Jesus took all of those things to the grave with him and left them there when he walked out on Easter morning. He left them there dead and in the grave, so that they might no longer have power over us. Jesus didn’t just say he cares….Jesus showed that he cares….with his very life, he showed that he cares.

I don’t know if you have noticed, but life is not a daily gentle cruise on a pontoon boat in a protected, glassy lake. Life is like a nighttime journey across the sea of Galilee, a journey where Jesus takes us. Jesus did not come so that we could sit on the seashore and watch life go by. He came so that we might have life and have it abundantly, and when Jesus says abundantly he isn’t talking about wealth and power and glory….he is talking about relationships that are so dear that it stabs your heart when they end…he is talking about hope so strong that you can say with courage to the world when you wake up, “hit me with your best shot”….he is talking about divine love so powerful that when you stand on the edge of your own grave, you can laugh at death and say, “Death be not proud. You won’t have me. God has me forever.”

So, when you get up from your pew today and step out into the gusty world around you, you who have received the very body and blood of Jesus and now holds on to you from the inside with divine strength… know this: Jesus cares…Jesus the one who has the power of the universe, the power to still wind and waves…Jesus, that one, cares about you!

Amen.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace (ggap),

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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