Sermon(Mk 4:35-41): Jesus is our peace

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025287148

 

>> 35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 An a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?" 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" 41 And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?" (Mk 4:35-41) <<

 

You maybe won't feel so good if your children are shuddering in the back seat for the fear of death by an automobile accident when you're driving a car. You may feel uncomfortable if others do not have confidence in you. Humans are weak beings, so they yield to fearful things and worship them as gods. People worship the object of their fear in order to get rid of the fear. Some worship the sun, the sea, or the high mountains as gods. Sometimes people worship the beings as gods, which they think are beings that move and control such objects of the nature behind them. So some worship sea gods, some worship mountain gods.

 

However, the problem is that mountains, seas, and the sun are absolutely not personal gods, that there are not sea gods or mountain gods, that the sun, the moon, and the wind, and the rivers do not move according to the will of various false gods. Therefore you can't live a normal and rational life but wander in the darkness of irrationality as long as you embrace such objects of fear, including such natural objects. Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. (Jn 8:32)" If you do not know the truth, you live as a slave to sin. Those who deeply recognize that stealing is a sin never commit theft. Those who do not know the truth that the nature is not a god fall into the sin of idolatry. The self-styled Christians who are not freed from homosex are still living as slaves to the sin because they do not know the truth (that homosex is a grave sin). They continue the cursed life because they do not acknowledge that it is a sin to interpret the Bible arbitrarily, it is a sin to live against parents' expectations, and it is a sin to commit what God forbids. (Homosexuals are committing bulhyo (불효, 不孝). Hyo(효, 孝) is an attitude of life that makes one's parents happy and honorable. To practice hyo is to obey and respect one's parents, and to do one's best to be a good successful man in the world, and to take good care of one's parents when they are old. Bulhyo is the opposite of hyo. To commit bulhyo is to disobey and disregard one's parents, and to do what is disgrace to one's parents. All homosexuals bring disgrace on their parents. They are committing severe bulhyo.) Above all, they desperately deny the truth that homosexuality is a dirty mental illness. Homosexual patients are publicly organizing themselves into homosex groups on the Internet. The government should enact the law that forbids that kind of mental patients to open cafes(, that is, club meetings on the Internet,) or blogs on the Internet. Christianity should take the lead in this campaign. My brethren, please know the right truth. Jesus is the truth. His word is the truth. His life is the truth. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. (Jn 14:6)"

 

Since truth frees us and Jesus is the truth, it is Jesus who frees us. Jesus, through today's words, removed the deep-rooted fear that had been in the subconsciousness of his disciples and gave them true freedom. Jesus, through the episode of that night, made his disciples know the amazing truth. After the disciples discovered the truth, they were forever freed from the unreasonable fear.

 

The truth is that even the nature obeys the words of Jesus. Jesus, after he had taught a large crowd, was on his way to the other side of the sea of Galilee by boat. It's not easy to teach people. Jesus was sleeping because he was very tired from teaching the crowd. But on the way, a gust of wind blew, and raging waves arose, and the boat was on the verge of sinking. Maybe some disciples diligently tried to scoop water out of the boat, maybe some loudly cried to God, "Lord, have mercy on us!" But in the midst of all this chaos, Jesus was sleeping peacefully. One of the disciples found Jesus sleeping peacefully, and thought, 'No, are you sleeping in this fuss?' He went to Jesus and shook him to wake him up. "Lord Jesus! Wake up at once! We are all about to die now!" And perpahs he might add a word, "God listens to all your prayers. So pray to him. Come on!"

 

However Jesus did not pray to the Father, but suddenly commanded the wind and the sea, "You wind, be still. You sea, be still!" Jesus, according to the Bible, rebuked the wind. So he must have said, "You boorish wind! How dare you ...?" And immediately the wind and the sea obeyed him, and there was calm and stillness. They stood aghast at the sight, in awe of him. "Oh, my God!"

 

In fact, people panic when they meet a storm on the deep sea and the water starts to come into the boat. If there is someone who is not afraid in such a situation, he is an extraordinary person. But after calming down the wind and the waves, Jesus said to his trembling disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Why do you have no faith?" They trembled as Jesus was sleeping and the wind and the sea ran wild. But when people asked Jesus for help, Jesus woke up, and the wind and the sea were as quiet as sleeping at the single command of Jesus. Then the people heaved a sigh of relief. This is the typical characteristic of believers of little faith. Jesus is telling you today to put away such shallow faith. Fear is the evidence of the lack of faith. We fear because we do not have confidence in Jesus' omnipotence and his love for us. Through today's event, Jesus showed his disciples that he was God with complete divinity. Only God the Creator can command the wind and the sea to be submissive. "He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities ㅡ all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Col 1:15-17)" "For in him (Jesus) the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. (Col 2:9)" When the storm roared, the disciples woke Jesus up, but their faith in Jesus was not the faith in God the Creator. Therefore they trembled in fear. Jesus tells his disciples to have full faith in him.

 

I wonder if you perhaps have heard the direct voice of God, "Have peace. Do not be afraid," when your worries and fears about something do not leave your mind. I've actually heard that voice a few times. After hearing that voice, I threw away all my fears about something, trusted God 100%, and made the peace my peace. There is something Jesus said to the disciples: >Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace to you!" (Lk 24:36, in Korean version)<

 

Peace comes when you let the fear go. We must let go of our fear of nature. The vague fear of an irresistible natural disaster destroys people's hearts. However, we believers must not live in fear of such natural phenomena as lightning, flood, drought, typhoon, and earthquake, believing that the nature also moves according to the will of Jesus. You don't have to be afraid of a car accident. Don't even be afraid of diseases. Do not have any fear of evil spirits. Shortly after this event of the sea storm, Jesus came to the region of Gerasa, where he drove out evil spirits from a man who had been possessed by evil spirits and lived among the graves (Mk 5:1-20). Demons came into him, so they had the name 'Legion' (Mk 5:9). These demons came out of the man at one word of Jesus, without any resistance. The power of nature and the power of evil spirits are beyond our ability to resist. Nevertheless we can be freed from the fear of them, because our God the Creator, Jesus Christ, loves us. The truth the disciples discovered was that Jesus was the One who could suppress both the forces of nature and those of evil spirits.

 

Humans do not fear the God who punishes sinners but fear things of nature and dirty spirits which they don't have to fear, so that they fall into idolatry and live in anxiety and sin without knowing the true peace. Humans should not fear other things but only God. I mean the holy devout fear of God. We should revere God because he is the One who rules over the whole world and over all spirits. By a single word of God, the all things came out of nothing. At his word, the sea was divided, and a way appeared there. At his word, angels came to humans to help them. At his word, the earth was split open and swallowed up sinners alive. At his word, even evil spirits overwhelm the wicked and torment them. The question is neither nature nor spirits but God the Creator. Foolish are those who fear and worship the nature and the evil spirits. Wise are those who do not fear such things but revere the God. Looking at the text of the Bible today, the disciples of Jesus gradually come to have such true faith. They have a holy fear of Jesus. >And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him? (Mk 4:41)"< Now the disciples are overwhelmed by the holy fear of their teacher who ordered nature and made it submissive rather than have the fear of the nature. Did the subjects of the Roman emperor feel the reverence for the emperor when they reluctantly worshipped the statues of the emperor because of the threat of spears and swords? Maybe they bowed down to the statues of the emperor, but despising him very much inwardly. He who is not a God but who deceives others by plausible sophistries and threats others to worship him as a god will be called 'the absolute corruption of a human being'. However, Jesus showed his divine power directly to his disciples, creating a sense of awe in their hearts. Jesus did what even the emperor couldn't do. He only did what no one else in history could do. One of his disciples who witnessed the event of the biblical text and his resurrection could not help but say to him, "My Lord and my God! (Jn 20:28)" Not only self-deification of a human being but also the deification of others who are but humans is categorized into the absolute corruption of the humans; but it was a great discovery when Thomas confessed to Jesus, "My God!" And Jesus received from the Father the authority to pass the final judgement upon all humans. Therefore we must revere him. "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. (Jn 5:22)" "I (Jesus) have the keys of Death and Hades (Hell). (Rev 1:18)" Jesus has the power to cast evil people and evil spirits into eternal hellfire. And the nature itself will disappear before our eyes when a new heaven and a new earth comes upon us. "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (Rev 21:1)" Therefore he who fears humans, nature, and evil spirits is foolish while he who fears Jesus is truly wise. Only when we fear only this Jesus can we have freedom and peace.

 

It is to our benefit that we should fear him who has such great authority. Peace is with us when we fear this Jesus, because Jesus considers only those who fear him as his disciples and assumes the responsibility for their life. His peace is a peace that can enable you to sleep even in the fierce storm and in the raging waves. Nothing and none can threaten Jesus, so there is the absolute peace with him. When we love this Jesus and keep unwavering confidence (trust) in him, he becomes our good protector and shepherd who keeps us from all dangers and threats. Jesus promised us to give his peace to us. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (Jn 14:27)" Before his death on the cross, Jesus says he will give his peace to his disciples. Jesus' peace is a peace that infinitely overcomes death. If you revere him and have 100% trust in him, his peace is your peace.

 

Jesus, who commanded the wind and the waves to calm down, commands the storm in us to calm down. The wind and the sea obeyed him, so that they themselves became calm and still. When your soul obeys his word, then it obtains peace. Anxiety is disobedience. Peace increases in proportion to faith. His promise of peace is the promise that he will take responsibility for our life in all things. Usually, when parents told their children not to worry about anything but to study hard, they promised that they would take care of them in all respects, giving everything they need. Jesus told his disciples to look at the lilies in the fields and the birds in the air. Let's cast such heavy burdens as today's storms and tomorrow's worries on the Lord. Above all, let's look at our eternal life that we have already obtained in Jesus, and enjoy peace.

 

May Jesus' absolute peace be with all of you who fear him.

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                    - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -