Proper 7B, 2024
Text: Mark 4:35-41
Title: Jesus Doesn’t Care
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Jesus doesn’t care.
That’s the conclusion that the disciples reached in the storm in the boat on the Sea of Galilee that day.
Jesus doesn’t care.
The disciples saw the storm. They felt the boat pitching in the waves. They saw the boat filling with water faster than they could bail it out.
These were no tourists out for a three hour cruise on the lake.
These were seasoned fishermen.
They had seen a storm or two or three in their days.
And this storm had them worried, scared to death.
They must have sprung into action the moment that the storm came upon them—manning the sails, pulling at the oars, bailing out the water, doing everything in their power to get control of the boat and bring it through the storm.
And where is Jesus in all of this? What is He doing to help?
Nothing.
He’s in the back of the boat, on a cushion, asleep.
Jesus doesn’t care.
That’s the only conclusion that the disciples could reach.
If Jesus cared, He’d do something. He’d be there alongside them, helping to bail out the boat, working the sail, pulling at the oars, whatever it took to get that boat to safety.
But Jesus was asleep.
Jesus doesn’t care.
How often have you felt that way? How often have you said those words?
Maybe it wasn’t in a boat in a storm.
Maybe it was in a doctor’s office after receiving a devastating diagnosis.
Maybe it was in the parking lot at work after being laid off.
Maybe it was in the classroom after failing another exam.
Maybe it was in your bedroom, alone once again.
Maybe it was at the cemetery as your loved one was lowered into the ground.
You saw the storm. You felt the waves. You did everything you could to bail out the boat. But the storm was too much.
You felt alone and abandoned.
Where is Jesus? Is He asleep? Why doesn’t He do something to help me?
That’s how it feels sometimes, doesn’t it?
What the disciples forgot, and what you often forget as well, is that the most important part of the story is not the storms, it’s not the wind and the waves, it’s the fact that Jesus is in the boat with them.
They are literally in the same boat with Jesus. He may be asleep, but He hasn’t abandoned them.
This means that what happens to the disciples, happens to Jesus. If they drown, He drowns, too.
Jesus doesn’t leave the disciples in the storm all alone.
You are not alone.
Jesus is with you. And Jesus is more than just a good friend. He’s more than just a person you can rely on to answer the phone and lend a listening ear.
Jesus is the Lord God of heaven and earth. He is the one whose voice created the wind and the waves in the first place. He is the one who has power over all creation. And He became a human being, a flesh and blood person, just to be with you.
No matter how bad it gets. No matter how scared or worried or anxious you become, you are not alone. Jesus is with you.
You are baptized in His name, and He cannot forsake His own.
Today Skye was joined to Jesus in Holy Baptism. With that water and with the name, Jesus joined Himself to her.
We don’t know much about what the rest of Skye’s life will be like. We don’t know what her first words will be, what her favorite color or subject in school will be. We don’t know what she’ll do for a job, if she’ll get married and have kids, where she will choose to live. All of that is a mystery. And you will have the joy of seeing what the future holds for her.
But we know one thing for sure about Skye’s future. Jesus will be with her. She will never be alone. We don’t know what sorts of challenges that she will face, what tragedies she’ll have to deal with, what may break her heart.
But Jesus will be right there with her.
It might not seem like it. It might not feel like it. It takes faith to trust in Jesus in the midst of the storm.
It doesn’t take faith to trust in Jesus when life is good everything comes easily. It takes faith when the boat’s about to sink, and it seems like Jesus doesn’t care.
Jesus doesn’t promise you that your life will be easy. Jesus doesn’t promise nothing but sunny days and perfect weather. Jesus doesn’t promise that you will never experience pain and suffering.
Jesus himself had to deal with this.
It happened one dark and stormy afternoon. Jesus wasn’t in a wooden boat, but nailed to a wooden cross.
The storm that He faced that threatened to sink Him was death itself. The powers of darkness raged all around Him, and Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”
But the storms did not have the last word. Jesus rose from the dead, and He brought peace and calm to our troubled, stormy world.
And that’s how it will go with you.
One day the storms will end. And Jesus will bring the peace that only He can bring.
He will transform our world into a place with no more pain and suffering of any kind, no more danger to fear, no more worries or anxiety of any kind.
Until that day, Jesus is with you. The disciples, too, the whole Christian Church is in the same boat. It’s like the ark that brought Noah safely through the Flood. Skye now has her place in the boat with all of us.
And Jesus speaks words of calm, words of peace, forgiving your sins, and assuring you of His free gift of everlasting life.
Because Jesus does really and truly care about you.
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