Matthew 8:23-27
Rest Easy
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
January 29, 2017
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
What keeps you awake at night? Worry and the anxiety. How to pay the bills. What to do about that problem at work. Argument you had with your spouse, or with your child. Recent news of cancer, or death, of a loved one. Too much coffee? Whatever it is, we’ve all been there at some point. Wide awake when we should be resting. Our minds unable to turn off, our thoughts and our hearts troubled.
But none of these things seem to bother Jesus. He’s just had a long day. Crowds had swarmed around Him. He had healed many people and had just reiterated the hard truth that following Him meant denying all other things. He’s probably exhausted as He climbs into the boat and falls asleep, rocked by the gentle waters of the Sea of Galilee. But even when the boat is swamped by the waves, He sleeps right through it all. Apparently, Jesus can sleep through anything. No guilt or shame or worry to keep Him awake.
But it wasn’t so with His disciples. They were wide awake and in a panic. The daily life of these men was on the sea, fisherman familiar with these very waters. The boat was being swamped by the waves, but Jesus was asleep through it. They wake Jesus fearing that their lives were lost and crying out for Jesus to save them.
What a contrast to last week’s Gospel. Earlier in Matthew 8, Jesus has marveled at the faith of a Gentile centurion. Now, He is with His disciples and slams them with the words “O you of little faith!” Jesus has revealed His power and authority. They have seen Him heal many and do much. Yet they fear even when they are with Him. He rests easy, they panic.
How often we feel this way, as if He ignores what is going on in the world. Wars and disease, hatred and persecution. These things surround us and is God just sleeping through it all? Crime and poverty. Families falling apart. Babies murdered in the womb. Children rebel. Government and media lies. Friends betray. False prophets preach false doctrine. And then nature itself attacks through earthquakes and tsunamis, and seemingly unending snow and ice. And it is fearful.
For this reason, the Lord rebukes the wind and the waves after He rebukes His disciples. He doesn’t rebuke them for waking Him, for crying out for salvation. No, He rebukes them for disturbing themselves with their fear. Jesus diagnoses the disciples fear as being caused by a lack of faith in Him. Indeed, every one of our temptations to sin is really about our faith – will we trust the Lord or not? Will we trust the Lord to provide for us in our times of need, in supporting the Lord’s ministry through the blessings He has given to us, in caring for us through hard times, or will our lives be dictated by fear and a lack of trust in God's provision?
Jesus seems to say here, Why are you afraid? I am with you. Why do you fear being blown about, I command the wind. Why do you fear being drowned by the stresses of this world and your life, for I calm the waves. Why do you fear your lack of control, for I am the Lord of all creation and I am with you. The Lord permitted the storm that they might find in Him one who is mightier than the storm.
Maybe that’s the real issue. We fear because Christ is with us. The storm comes against the boat because the disciples are with Jesus. Jesus’ preaching and rebuke of sin causes the devil and the world to rage against Him and all who would follow Him. And that can be scary. Following Christ invites persecution and hardship and the fury of the devil. Too often we stand before Christ with the attitude like Jonah who wants to run the exact opposite direction because we are afraid of what might come. We don’t want to suffer in this life. We don’t our family and our friends to rebuke us for believing in Christ, for coming to church, for denying the world’s demands of conformity to all kinds of evil and depravity. And to top it off, we know that God is righteous and holy and jealous and we deserve nothing good from Him, nor from the world. And we fear that He shall rebuke us along with the storms.
You of little faith, repent! Repent of your fear, of your lack of trust in the Lord. Repent, not of disturbing God with cries of help, but of disturbing yourselves through your lack of faith. Repent and cling tightly to the Christ, for in the storm, He teaches that He is Lord over all His creation, including you. And He teaches of His mercy and His love, of the calm that He brings to through the goodness of His presence in rebuking our sin and restoring His creation by His grace.
And be rebuked again and again. Suffer His harsh words and His condemnation of your sin. For in this way, the Lord teaches you to trust not in yourselves, but in the goodness of the Lord. He breaks you to mend you. He kills you to revive you. Thanks be to God. Those things that keep you awake at night, the worry and stress, the guilt and regret. It is faith that stirs your heart in the midst of such trials. Pray that you are never comfortable in your sin, that you may never think you face the storm alone, for if you do, the waves will surely swamp over you. If you stop feeling the Law, you lose the Gospel. First comes the rebuke, then the calm. First the cross, then the glory. Repent. Pray. Submit in faith to the goodness and protection of God. Wait for the Lord. The storms will cease. Jesus is with you.
Are we those of little faith, of fear, tossed about in life? Certainly we are. So, save us, Lord; we are perishing! The Church is often storm tossed, but this does not prove that the Lord is absent. The Lord is not asleep. He slept the sleep of death for three days, but has awoken in the resurrection. He is awake. He is attentive and active. When persecution arises because of God’s Word, we can know full well that Christ is in the boat with us. For that reason the sea and wind rage. But let them rage, for they are subject to their Creator and their Lord. The persecution and hardship will not last longer than He wants. May God help us so we do not despair and do not lose faith under such attacks and that we may rest easy.