The Gospel
Mark 4:35-41
When evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Comment: Who is this Jesus who we have promised to serve…to the very end of time?
Last night, I read a meditation which on reflection, was a prelude to this morning’s reading ( above) of the Gospel reading appointed for next Sunday.
EXTRACT – FROM CHRIST TIEGREEN.
THE ULTIMATE HUMILITY
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God, something to be grasped
……..Jesus made a mind-boggling statement by entering the womb of a Jewish teenager. He refused to cling to what was rightfully His: a permanent position on the throne of heaven, the worship of myriads of created beings, all glory and honor from all things at all times. He left the position of deity and embraced the position of fallen humanity. No greater condescension has ever been made, nor can it be. There is no higher exaltation than where Jesus came from, and there is no lower depth than that to which He went for us. Jesus forsook equality with God, and He did it for a reason.
That should speak volumes to us. If the Son of God could have such humility, such a sense of sacrifice and love, then we are misguided if we think God would not ask us to make sacrifices. If Jesus wasn’t above a birth in stable and a death on a cross, we are not above any humble act God calls to. If God led us into ghettos and garbage dumps, we’d have no right to refuse. Our unwillingness would be confronted – and sternly rebuked – by the humility of Jesus.
The challenge for us as Christians in a fallen and broken and desperately needy world – although many do not realize this – is that many of us would like to do, or see miracles happen around us – doing the greater works as promised by Jesus. And God knows that I would like to see a young man who has been unconscious for months, at age 21, wake up and be “ returned to his mother”. And father too! But we are often unwilling to suffer and be humiliated, for the sake of the Gospel, as Paul suffered and wrote about it in the Epistle for nest week:
The Epistle
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
As we work together with Christ, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,
“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see– we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return– I speak as to children– open wide your hearts also.
Comment: How many of us who have promised to serve Jesus to the vey end, this God who took on flesh, became incarnate, this God who opened His heart wide, to rescue fallen mankind from Sin, are determined to “ open our hearts wide” also to serve suffering mankind. To bring glory to this “ who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey Him”.
That’s the context in which we are called to serve. Not on behalf of the Anglican Church, not even on behalf of the church writ large across the world. But in order to serve and follow this Jesus, who “stilled the waters“. And who suffered and died in great humility and love on Calvary to rescue us from Sin and evil and the fear of death. And who with great power was raised from the dead, that we may become a “ new creation”.
So yes, if it God’s will, we too, for the glory of the God of Jacob, will be empowered to say to the crippled of this earth, “ Silver and Gold have I none, US dollars or Euros, have I none, but in the name of Jesus, get up and walk”. But more important, and more likely, the call of God on our lives, we who believe that Jesus “ Thou camest O Lord with the living Word that should set thy people free…..” is to humble ourselves and seek to serve the “ wretched of the earth” ( Franz Fanon), those in “ wrong addresses” ( Etana) those beholden to and enslaved by Sin and living “ immoral lives”, those who cry for “ justice”, those who weep for sons reportedly killed by police or soldiers wrongfully in Jamaica , those who die by the hands of violent and wicked men as civilians in Israel and in Gaza, those who suffer from hunger and privation in Africa and Asia, and those who perish and suffer on the high seas or at borders, seeking a better life.
Lord renew thy church beginning with those who are prepared to suffer and in humility spend their lives for people from “ Bull Bay to Six Miles”, from Westmoreland to Hanover, from Ukraine to Gaza to Haiti to Israel, to Congo to Sudan, where suffering humanity cry out to the God who still the waters, for help, and He sends us, the disciples of Jesus, to help to renew the nation(s).
In obedience
Shalom
LWJ
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