Mark 4b

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0:00 We're working our way through the gospel of most. If you've been here with this class couple of weeks, we've been working through it. We're going to just keep working through it and try to do one chapter a week. Although this week we ended up with two weeks on chapter four because I skipped over to chapter three because chapter four was more exciting for me. That's a lovely value going to chapter three times. It's just chapter four caught my attention. And now since you talked about the parable of the sower, that's been really fruitful for me.

0:31 If you missed it and want to hear about it, grab me an afterwards. But it's really, it's made me think a lot. One thing that I realized this policy that I did expect on Sunday is that the parable of the sower, it doesn't say that the seed falls equally on all four types. It just says some falls on each of the types. So who knows how much goes on the path? Most of the time it shows on good soil. And then the other thing that I've been liking about the parable of the sower is I feel like he tells us

1:05 the different types of soil so that we could look back and see what kind of soil we are. And if we're not growing or producing the fruit or face seams hard for us to act or hold on to, we might look at what's going on in life and give us some examples of rocks and movies and the talents. So we're going to understand maybe the challenges that we're having in faith. And the section I want to look at this morning is marked at 50 N starting at verse 35.

1:36 And you may remember, or it's not our reminder, Jesus is teaching a whole group of people here. And in the heart, Mark's gospel runs right into the teaching. We don't have birth narratives or trials of narrative that we have in Luke. It goes right to the teaching, it goes to the baptism and the temptation, and it comes back and starts in ministry. And immediately everything happening, it's healing like crazy, crowds are attacking to him. And in chapter 4, he's teaching a group of people, and he starts with that parable about the sower,

2:08 and he goes into a couple parables about the way that the reign of God works. But before he even starts teaching, before the parable, the sower gets back on the boat. Now because the crowd is pushing towards him, and he needs some space between him. One of the things when folks were teaching at the time of Jesus is the listeners would stand and offering the speaker with the foot. And that's just an interesting flip, that doesn't make a lot of sense to do, but that's how they do it.

2:40 And so we needed some space, it's not for people to hear them, but also because as more people came, then they're pushing and guarding forward. And so he was a planning on being on the boat, but he just ends up on the boat, and he's teaching them parables. The other thing that we mentioned about this parable, that is so interesting to me, is that it seems like Jesus is okay with people misunderstanding him. If he's coming here and he's announcing, he's gone through all the Palestinians, so whatever you have to do to bind the unbounded God in finite glass, he's done the work of like translating infinite, omnipotent,

3:20 omnipotent knowledge into Aramaic and words that humans can grasp. He's not so interested in precision that he teaches explicit gospel. He doesn't lay out a list of rules, he doesn't give like a whole set of do's and don't or theological premise that they'll build upon. He tells these stories that are soft for misunderstanding.

3:53 Often these are things okay with ambiguity, which is often very different from where the church is today, right? Theological precision is of utmost importance. It seems like a drop-back for Jesus. All right, so he's teaching a parable from the boat, he wasn't playing on being on the boat, Mark Chapter 4, verse 35,

4:23 and on that day, the evening had come, he said to them, let's go across to the other side. Probably on the Sea of Galilee. You know, if we were to go back through Jesus and walk into the town and gather into the disciples, it looks like at least half of the disciples came from Capernaum, which is a town right around us. We know that he took James and John right off of the fishing boat with the ! Peter, it seems like he also introduced the sign of Peter with a fishermen.

4:54 There's a crew of fishermen among them, among the disciples, and so they know how to handle the boat. The view is, let's go across the sea. He has been teaching, it's evening, he's done. Let's just go across the sea here. And leaving the clouds, they took him with the boat, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. That little phrase, just as he was, is interesting and I was trying to figure out that there was anything in them or to them.

5:26 And people try and make stuff out of it, but I think if we were to look at Matthew's account of this story, in between him saying, let's take the boat across and then after leaving, that's an in search of story the way he remembers it. There's a guy that comes up and says, I'd love to come and follow you, how could I help? And Jesus says, Fox, who have been first, have left with the Son, man, nowhere to lay his head. The Becca can tell from this little phrase that they took him in the boat, just as he was. And the disciples early at this point in their career and their relationship with Jesus were really enamored

6:01 on how Jesus just went with the slope. Like he didn't have, he didn't seem like he had an over-arching plane. They took him in the boat, just as he was. Like he ended up in that boat's seat and then he didn't have to go and get stuff. He didn't have to like load up a bunch of things and go somewhere. He didn't have to go and explain to anybody, hey, I'm not gonna be back. Jesus was just had moving through life here. He's on the boat, it's evening. He feels like it looks like so, Fox.

6:32 Let's see. Which is interesting too, like, I mean, a just the fullness of time to God incarnate the person of Jesus. I think it's not a build up to Jesus' life, right? I mean, it's the fulcrum on which humanity turns. It's the recreation of humanity and the world. It's a solution for infinite, like, forever life for people.

7:06 And it's kind of just going to the flow. It's just like really interesting for how, like, we approach. Like, no one has more responsibility on the soldiers than Jesus. And he's like, is this so dreadful, why not, man? Okay. So, that's what he was. And other boats were with them. This is another one that was like, you never noticed that before.

7:38 And other people, like, I can tell, it's probably because it's not a small thing to talk to Jesus' Galilee. And so, it's probably, it's either two things. Either if people who were in the street doing their solar nano-whip and that they wanted to follow in, and they got in boats and followed in the cross. Or if, like, there's a group, if you're going to cross the sea of Galilee, especially at night, and you do it in a group, they didn't like standing water, they didn't understand, really, the advantage. It was a nerve-wracking thing for them, even fishermen. And so, if they're going to cross, especially in the evening, maybe they were crossing

8:11 a group. But Mark wants you to know that there were other boats there. Okay. And other boats were with them. And a great room, room, trailer road. And the waves were breaking into the boat. So the boat was already filled. And he was in the turn, both of them were in the turn, a thief, a kitchen. A great room storm of Audrey.

8:42 While we're coming in the boat, they shot there in peril. A great room storm of road. The waves were breaking into the boat. So the boat was already filled. Said a couple of weeks ago that we think that Mark probably wrote this gospel, listening, mainly to Peter, Peter, the artist, remark of the fishermen. He knows when the situation is perilous, and spent on this, there's a lot. With water coming in the boat, in the fleet. The first time I read this, I thought, how is the gun?

9:16 Right? Like... It's not uncommon when you read the gospel to hear people feel like men and kids will talk together ways from these folk. I looked to you sometime by the time you find yourself on several things, you try to figure out when folks and folks find things. Right? And again, I was like... One, he's like very tired too.

9:48 There's water coming in the boat, and it's so clean. There's wind, he's so clean. Then I was like, wait. Is that kind of weird? Like, the God-man, like, where's that? And it's... It's just how it is. It's just how it is, man. There's nothing. Like... Inclinated God in the fleet.

10:24 Like, Christmas, right? The Tracer-Girrathan, forgiving his killers on the craw. The miracle with the woman with the issue of bleeding, calling lages outside of the tomb, and the branches wore out and needed mess. All of these are true. Jesus can raise himself out of the grave.

10:59 And also, this is the fleet. It's okay if you hit a wall every now and then. Limitations are not bad. It's okay to have to be weak in some moments.

11:35 Jesus was tired. I mean, tired. The boat is in danger of thinking, and he's not playing with the disciples. He's a freak. You're going to run out of gallons, because you're not in danger. And that is okay. Take a measure. I mean, that wasn't the point, but it's nice.

12:07 Okay. We're getting to the point. But he was in return, a thief on the person, and they woke him and said to him, Jesus, do you not care that we are flourishing? He is a thief's expression. I think another person thinks we're going to lie. But you don't care that we're going to die. Verse 39. And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, be still.

12:42 Jesus has peace a couple of times. And, you know, when he appears in the upper room, and the disciples are afraid, he's like, be with you. There's something I imagine about the command of peace from Jesus is to stand for. Remember that the peace of God is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of the Spirit in a way that comes hard and long.

13:14 Jesus is not the absence of something, but the presence of something very specific. And at the opportune moment, Jesus awaits the ministry, stares on the edge of the boat, and announces supernatural peace into the world and worlds obey. Oh, peace comes in. Is that something something out? Is the least it's out of the end of the world that calms the situation? I can imagine, well, I can't imagine, but I love to dream

13:48 about what it would be like or might be like or will be like to get Jesus just finally speak peace over me. Are you kidding? Every trouble and troubling narrative, I think it's a little thought of anxiety and concern running in the foreground and the background of your heart and mind. Jesus, not, not as populated,

14:25 but those double persists to win. I think of God wins. I love the idea that there comes a day where by Jesus speaks truth to me in all the anxiety and fear producing narratives, quiet, dying. Where all the hospital is done.

14:55 Where wrath in its truest, tense, emergies. The disciples are freaking out. The wind and the waves are over the boat. Jesus wakes up and comb the world, and I have to imagine them in the moment. What a good age. You know?

15:26 He just says it, and they are amazed appropriately. Peace, peace, justice, and the wind, peace, and there is great calm. And then he said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you no faith? Okay, to get this is coming to the point clearly of the story, right?

16:01 And like the first thing is, I'm tracking back to the story to figure out and it feels like a rebuke in the way that Mark writes it. It feels like the disciples did something wrong. So I track back to try and figure out where did they do something wrong, right? He said he wanted to get a boat, cool, I got him in the boat. He did the teaching, they didn't understand it. He didn't seem too bothered by that, though,

16:32 a little bit of noise, because then he explained it to him. He said, you guys want to get it? Let me explain it to you. And then if we were to read it, I'd read the other parables and said that he continued to do that. He talked the parable about the rain gods and he explained it to the disciples. And he talked about the parable about the rain gods and he explained it to the disciples. And then at the end of the day, he said, let's just go across the lake and it says, let's just go across the lake. And then this life, life means to our emergence. They did nothing wrong to the disciples.

17:03 They followed Jesus physically. They walked right behind him, they heard him audibly and did the things that he said to do. And following Jesus, listening to him, their life was in danger. Nothing wrong to the Father. What does he say? How about you? Ever followed Jesus to that point?

17:33 Here, here proceeds reality comes. What I mean is, you don't have to ask Jesus to answer yes, I have followed Jesus to the point that I've heard. But if you followed Jesus, it was situations where you slept like your life would threaten that kind.

18:06 Remember that moment. Because what I'm about to say, I want to, if we are following Jesus, God, God, God, our life will be threatened. If you are never in peril, if you never feel more vulnerable than you're okay with. If you never feel out on a limb prepared in your calling,

18:39 in your mercy, in your generosity, in your earning capability, in your creating capability, if you never go out onto a lake in the middle of a storm, if you never feel wind and waves, if you never put yourself following Jesus, I'm saying, not have poverty or mess of your own nature. I'm talking about following the way of Jesus, following service, generosity, love, creation into the world.

19:15 And often the result of those places to follow Jesus, your life is threatened, take a setback and look. Who am I to ask for a problem? What am I to ask for the work you're working for? What are the things that are driving me? It's the things that Jesus are driving us, our lives will be meaningful there. Not all the time, but there will be times. The God who created the world, sustained Israel, brought Christ,

19:46 build the Pope, has a greater capacity for generosity than we think we do. Has a greater heart to service than we imagine has a greater ability to create and leave than we think we are capable of, but the beauty of the God, is He calls us beyond what we think we can do and equips us in the midst of it. This is what we're talking about. Don't you get it?

20:17 Why are you afraid? Go into the storm. The storm is not the problem. Whether you live or die, you say, I am here. I think it's referring, well, maybe not referring, but at least they might remember, because they use the Bible, but it's immediately as they attacked the 41. Often in the story of scripture, fear and faith can't go together. A peril of the time and faith exists in the midst of sorrow,

20:49 but fear is like this mad opposite magnet with faith. They don't go together. And I was trying to find a passage that explained that, or got onto that, and I found that I did a chapter 41 verse, we're going to skim from eight through eleven. God's speaking through a prophet Isaiah,

21:19 but you is real my servant, so you get to my own servant, the offspring of Abraham and my friends. You, who I took from the ends of the earth and called from the heart of the storm. Can I read again so that you'll share this? This is beautiful. Do you expect it? But you, Israel, my servant, another name for Jacob and also the nation, Jacob, who I have chosen,

21:49 remember that he chose Jacob, he wasn't the firstborn, he was the secondborn, and then Israel as a, as a, as a, the positive, but also the fullest version of Jacob. Jacob, my husband, the offspring of Abraham and my friends. You know, who I took from the ends of the earth. Abraham was nobody in no place, and randomly it seemed, but not random to the God. He knew exactly who Abraham was,

22:19 called him by name and built a name for him. And you, the father of Abraham, my friend, saying to you, you are my servant, I have chosen you and not taught you off. You, it says, fear not. I am with you. Be not the snare for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you,

22:49 I will uphold you with my righteous hand. Jesus laid in the boat, and he fed to the disciples. Don't forget it, I will hear you. You are not alone, passed about on some sea where you can't see the shore, with water rucking in, and nobody paying attention. The daughter of the universe has called you by name.

23:19 You are his. From the end of the earth, he found you and brought you to himself. And then he commit to save with you, whether storms or sun, right? Whether light or death, amongst the good and the bad, the God of the universe, the God of Christ and the church, told you and will not leave you. Why would you feel

23:49 your head about you? When I was, I mentioned the moment I feared, and I mentioned irrational thoughts when the swimming across that lake, from now period of year, vulnerability, irrational thoughts.

24:19 There's swimming across this lake, and I can tell you, you've said it a bunch of times. It's not from a swim that falls three times a week. I'm in this lake, and I'm sure, this is the fact of my thing, that my homes are too small to pull me through this lake, that I'm like going to be on this treadmill forever, paddling like this, and getting nowhere. And in the dark, I cannot see in the water, and I'm sure I'm going to get left to the middle,

24:51 and no one will know this, as I think to the bottom and down. It's like completely irration, or people all around me. There's something about the isolation, this person, that no one else can, no one else sees, no one else has a capacity of rescue. When all else feels, you just said, but I am here, his commitment to you, no matter what situation you get yourself in,

25:21 is that he will never leave you. Great. Asclamation of David, you will not abandon me to the grave. Life or death, either heaven or hell, consipanities, nothing can separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus. They get this affirmation from Jesus in the boat,

25:53 all as well, peace has returned, and they refill the great fear and said to one another, who is this, that even the wind and the steel band? Oh. I thought it was bad. Why are you so much more than the people that I thought was bad? Why are you so afraid I'm with you? And then they were filled with great fear at Jesus.

26:28 They had a respect. They'd pointed the fear of the wrong thing. They were afraid of the wind and the waves. They ought to have been afraid of the one who made them. When they saw what we could do in their defense, they said, what can this guy now do? When they saw what he would do to protect them and defend them appropriately, they said this guy has all authority and power.

27:01 And what does it do? And then they just took it out in the boat, and they just finished crossing the length. The appropriate response to the real estate thing, that the incident Almighty God will not leave your feet to go get in some boat. Follow him through some cases. Take some rent. Move out of generosity and service and creation. Go get into some era following three tests.

27:34 We ought to be more afraid of him to constantly defend them than we lie to circumstances of the world. But we do it not only calms our own solidities and brings them into it emboldens us to live in the way we were intended. And that is my goal. Just to live well following Jesus. Let me pray that we could do that.

28:06 Hey Lord, give up faith to their like you did for those ones in the boat with you. Like you did for Israel, through Isaiah. Give up faith. Calm our fears. Bring peace emboldened us to live. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.