Views from the Pews – Proper 7 – Sunday, June 23, 2024

Brothers and Sisters,

If it was not Jesus who was asking the question, our reaction to the speaker would probably be something like, “What?  Are you nuts?  There is a storm out here!”  Of course the disciples were afraid.  They are in an open boat on a stormy lake without a global positioning beacon, life rafts, or the Coast Guard nearby.  The lake is big enough that they would have little chance of being able to swim to shore in a dead calm and here the waves are high and breaking over them while they are still in the boat.  It is only prudent for them to be afraid.  To not be afraid in this situation would be proof that they are not in touch with reality.  And yet Jesus asks the question, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”

Jesus was a master teacher.  He used the common, everyday things that people were familiar with to teach them about God and spiritual realities.  When he told parables about sheep and seed sowers and fig trees, they were probably in sight of the people as they listened.  Even though this was a terrifying event for the disciples, Jesus used it to teach them about the things of God.  In the midst of a terrible storm, when it seems that all was lost, Jesus calmed them by stilling the storm and then while they could still taste the fear in their mouths he asked, “What are your priorities?  Where have you anchored your lives?”

Most of us would like to have the leisure to answer such questions when things are a little less hectic.  We would hope to go on a retreat where we could spend time quietly reflecting on the foundation of our lives.  We would at least appreciate having a take-home test where we had some time to reflect on the question.  But in the calm moments of life, we either avoid asking the hard questions about the meaning of our lives or we too easily come up with some quick, canned answer.  When the storms are raging and all seems lost, we act and speak out of the truth of where our hearts are centered.

The disciples had been following jesus and learning fom him.  They still had not come to the point of fully realizing who he was or what he had to teach them.  They are left at the end of the story still asking, “Who is this?”  They do not yet understand the truth of the parential, caring love of God that Jesus has spoken of to them.  They are still taking in the information but they have not yet made the decision to base their lives on what Jesus has said.  They are searching and open, but not yet committed, so that when the storm seems to overwhelm them, they look not to God but to the storm and their own pitiful boat and they are terrified.

This story invites us to consider where we have placed our faith.  What is it that we trust enough to base our very lives on?  When the storms of life arise, as they always do, where will we look for refuge?  Will we find our lives securely founded on the loving grace of our God or will we find ourselves flailing around at sea terrified?  Where is your faith?

Shared from a Book entitled Sermons on the Gospel Readings by Richard Gribble