It’s an honour to be asked to give the sermon today.
Particularly on this auspicious occasion of the 44th birthday of the Uniting Church.

I joined the Uniting Church 44 years ago, as a university student, just after the inauguration. I have been a proud member since.
Many of the good things in my life have emanated from that decision to join the Uniting Church. 
A major reason for joining the Uniting Church was that I saw it as a modern, progressive church which I wanted to be part of.  I still think that.

The gospel reading today was Mark 4:35-41.  “Jesus calms the storm”. 
In Chapter 4 of Mark’s gospel, Jesus is spending the day by the lakeside near Capernaum in Galilee, where he seems to have spent a lot of time at the lakeside.  
Such large crowds had gathered that he had to push off in a boat from the shore in order to address the crowds and so as not be crushed.
He spent a busy day, teaching the crowds in parables and healing the sick and blessing people and, as we know, he turned no one away, no matter how annoying. 
Then at the end of the day as night approached, Jesus seemed to make a fairly unexpected decision.
He said; “let us go across to the other side.”

The other side of the Sea of Galillee was a gentile territory of Gerasenes, now part of modern-day Jordan. 
The disciples must have been very wary of this decision.
Going to a hostile gentile territory may have been worrying.
But many of them being fishermen, they were also well aware of the  dangers of crossing the sea of Galilee and particularly at night. 
To call it a “sea” was somewhat of an overstatement. It is actually a large shallow lake; about 12 kilometres by 20 kilometres . 
It’s well known today and no doubt the same in Jesus’ time, that it is prone to sudden and violent storms.
The wind blows in from the Mediterranean and is funnelled through the mountains and can suddenly turn the calm lake into a maelstrom of waves, as many seafarers have found to their peril. 
But the disciples obediently followed Jesus’ directions and set off with him in the small boat with Jesus; as the scripture says; “just as he was”.

Night fell and unfortunately their worst fears were realised.
What is described as a “great windstorm” suddenly arose. 
The waves beat against the small boat and seemed about to swamp it and the disciples greatly feared they were about to perish. 
It was a terrifying situation. 

Then they looked across and saw Jesus, fast asleep, in the stern of the boat, on a cushion.  
That may say wonders for his ability to relax and switch off, perhaps a key to his serenity. 
Perhaps also it was an indication of how hard he worked and how tired he was. 
But the disciples couldn’t fathom it and woke him in alarm, saying, “teacher, do you not care we are perishing.” 
Jesus woke up, and shook himself. 
He looked around and assessed the situation.
Then he “rebuked” the wind and said to the sea, “Peace, be still” or strictly he said, “be muzzled”. 
Then the wind gradually ceased and the waves subsided and there was a dead calm. 
And Jesus said to the disciples; “why are you afraid?’. 
Or apparently it can be translated, “why are you such cowards?”
Then he said, “have you still no faith.” 

Now that may seem a little harsh on the disciples, who had come willingly with him on this strange, trip and had genuinely feared for their lives.
But apparently his point was, “I am here. So why were you worried? Nothing could go too wrong.”   
And then presumably, he rolled over and went back to sleep.
The disciples bailed out the water and continued on the journey to Gerasenes.
But they looked at each other and said, “who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him.”

So what can we say about this passage? 

Perhaps put it in a bit of context.
The first thing is that I think is that this is perhaps the first written record we have of a major miracle by Jesus. 

Mark was the earliest gospel writer, some 40 years after Jesus death and the first to put an account of Jesus life, as far as we know. 
The only earlier writings we have than Mark are Paul’s letters.
And interestingly, Paul says nothing about any miracles of Jesus. 
Mark refers to some healings and exorcisms in the first 3 chapters.
But here, in chapter 4 is the first major “nature” miracle, where Jesus shows powers to calm a storm with a few words? 
 
What was the historical context in which Mark wrote his gospel? 
To the best of our knowledge, it was probably written in about 70AD and was probably in northern Galillee, perhaps in the town of Caesaria-Philippi.

This was a tumultuous time in Jewish history.
The Roman war had just come to an end, which had seen the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and the slaughter and diaspora of the Jewish people and the future of Judaism and the Jewish people was in peril. 

Mark was among a second generation of Jewish believers who gathered together for support in dangerous and turbulent times.

Many people have commented on this passage, that the words used by Jesus to calm the storm, were very similar to the words he used earlier in Ch 1 of Mark’s gospel to exorcise an unclean spirit from a man at Capernaum.
Here in ch 4, he told the sea to “be muzzled” like a creature or dog. 
That apparently reflects what was Mark’s belief, and the common belief of the times; that storms were caused by evil spirits and demonic forces. 

They didn’t have the benefit of a nightly weather report showing a west coast low in the Mediterranean, likely to cause storms in the Sea of Galillee. 
Mark wanted to show that Jesus had control over these evil forces. 

This theme is continued in Ch. 5 of Mark’s gospel, as Mark shows that Jesus had control over demon possession of a person, over a woman’s illness and even over the death of child. 

It is also important I think that the writers of the Gospels were not producing history or biography. 
They wrote in the Jewish way, imaginatively and creatively and reflectively, taking themes and stories from the Old Testament. 

It is said the Christian story emerged in the Synagogues after Jesus death, where his supporters trawled through the Old Testament scriptures to find evidence to show that Jesus was the Messiah.
And Mark used this in his gospel. 
So many of the stories of Jesus have Old Testament parallels.
Here too, there are very many stories of God having power over the seas and calming storms, particularly in the Psalms; such as Psalm 107, where God “commanded  and raised the stormy wind which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven…
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he brought them out of his distress. 
He made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed.” 

So, also in this story in Mark’s gospel, we hear echoes of the prophet Jonah.
He also was asleep in a boat, whilst the storm raged and threatened to capsize the boat.
And Jonah was also on his way to gentile territory, if reluctantly and had to be delivered to Nineveh via a large fish.  Jesus was so much greater than Jonah. 

A Lutheran professor of theology from US, Sharon Ridge had an interesting perspective on this passage. 
She observed that there are no resurrection stories of Jesus in Mark’s gospel.
Mark’s gospel ends with the women finding the empty tomb and fleeing in terror. 
Perhaps, she says, this story is part of Mark’s post-resurrection stories of Jesus.  
There are symbols there to indicate this, that it might be a post-resurrection story. Jesus being alone with just the disciples; in a boat, traditionally a symbol of the church; being “asleep”, a synonym for death and Jesus coming awake and alive to help the disciples in their time of need.

Maybe the memory of Jesus by the time Mark wrote his gospel, some 40 years after Jesus’ death, is a combination of the historical memory of Jesus the man, and also the post-resurrection memories and stories of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah. 

The great American progressive theologist Marcus Borg, in his book on Mark’s gospel, early in the book when discussing his approach to the whole gospel, points particularly to the two stories of Jesus calming the storm and walking on water.
He says for a variety of reasons, “most modern theologists think the stories are not based on the memory of something that actually happened.”
But they are what he describes as metaphorical narratives.

This does not mean they are not truthful and vital.
He says the model of seeing these stories is as with Jesus’ parables. 
Everyone agrees that Jesus’ parables are meaningful and truthful stories.
But they are made up stories, not necessarily based on any event.

As Borg says; “Jesus told parables about God; his followers may well have told parables about Jesus.”   
He suggests that to get into an argument about whether the events actually happened, or not, is unhelpful and the wrong question.

No matter how much you might like to get into an argument with fundamentalists, that they are missing the point by interpreting the story literally, it is pointless.
It is like getting into a heated argument about whether there was an actual prodigal son or a good Samaritan.  He says, “believe what you want about whether the events occurred or not.
Now let’s talk about what they mean.”

This passage meant a great deal to Mark’s community in Casearea Phillipi facing huge challenges in 70AD, this was a story of encouragement to them. 

What might this passage mean to us today? 

We too all face major challenges in our lives from time to time.  
These come in all sorts.
The unexpected death of a loved one in the family.
A divorce or family breakdown.
Or a redundancy or loss of employment. 
A severe illness. 
These setbacks can undermine our very sense of being and who we are.   

How do we cope with them?

Here in this story, we have a great example of what Christian life is about.  

In the dark of night, when the storms are battering us and threatening our very existence, Jesus is with us. 
He tells us not to be afraid.
To have courage and things will work out.
He tells us to have faith and patience and it will cast out our fear.
Because he tells us, he is with us through these crises and challenges. 
We will see our loved ones again.
We will overcome these setbacks and personal tragedies and things will work out, one way or the other.
Perhaps not in the way we expected. 

This is a wonderful reassurance.

So, on this birthday of Uniting Church, this is great message for our church as well.
I pray that the Uniting Church has courage and faith and does not succumb to fear and negativity and focus on ourselves and our security too much. 
I pray we continue to be the leading modern, progressive church; willing to take a new bold approach which is non-judgemental and inclusive of everyone, which does not take a narrow literalist interpretation of the scriptures, but a modern expansive one, which provides an interesting and meaningful message to people in the 21st century. 
I pray as a church we reach out to all people and that we show who we are and what we stand for; by the love and care we show for each other and the love and care we show the community.
​And I pray our church will continue to be a great voice of the true church for the next 44 years. 
Amen