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Strange Exchange Part 3
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
Welcome to the CommonsCast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commons.church for more information. Hey.
Speaker 1:Well, welcome to church. My name is Jeremy. And as always, thank you for taking some time today to join us here online. We don't take that for granted. We know that it takes commitment to keep some of these rhythms of community fresh and in front of us during this season.
Speaker 1:So thank you for it. But as the fall gets rolling, we're also working on expanding ways to connect here at Commons. There are, of course, groups that you can sign up for anytime. Head to commons.church, tap next steps in the top menu. You'll find lots of options there.
Speaker 1:We also have some exciting new courses starting soon, including a marriage and relationship course that starts online next week. Facilitating that. We've got the after party back live on YouTube Tuesday nights at 8PM. We'd love to see you there. And we've also got book clubs and online prayer groups and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1:So stay tuned on Facebook or Instagram for updates on all these different opportunities. We're also in the third week of our launch series called Strange Exchange. And in this series, we are looking at the questions Jesus asks. The way that Jesus uses questions to subvert expectations or to get us to think in sometimes new ways. The way that sometimes a good question can help us to figure out what we really think or want or feel about the world.
Speaker 1:And last week was one of those really good questions, a provocative one though. Jesus meets a man disabled for thirty eight years and asks him, do you want to be well? And I think this is just a really important story for a number of different reasons. In particular, it's the question that opens all of this up for us. I think as an able-bodied person to hear Jesus ask this man, do you want to be well?
Speaker 1:This can be uncomfortable. Uncomfortable because we assume it's rhetorical. Do you want to be well? Of course, he wants to be well. But that is perhaps only because we tend to read this question through our experience of the world.
Speaker 1:And so once we notice that discomfort, we can do one of two things with it. We can ignore it and move on, or we can sit with it and we can go back to the text again. And for me, when I choose the second, what I find is a lot that's hidden there between the lines. This is not just a rhetorical question. Jesus does not assume the answer.
Speaker 1:Jesus asks this question out of some type of off screen personal encounter. Now we read that Jesus learned this man has been in this condition for thirty eight years, so some type of self disclosure has taken place here. We hear this man explain to Jesus the context for what he hopes and perhaps his experience of disappointment and abandonment by community. And all of that dramatically changes the story for me. Now, the question, do you want to be well?
Speaker 1:Is not just a rhetorical flourish, it's an honest inquiry. Jesus really wants to really know what this man really desires. And that personalization is ironically what makes this story about all of us. Because we all of us have places where we need to be healed. We all have stories where we have been left behind.
Speaker 1:And Jesus does not steamroll us with his plans for us. He asks us, he invites us, he welcomes us to respond how and when we are ready for his presence in our lives. Maybe your healing is about something being fixed inside of you. Maybe your healing is about learning to love yourself as you already are right now. But whenever you are ready, Jesus will still be patient enough, gentle enough to ask you.
Speaker 1:Now, we also talked last week about language and about how we can be more considerate with it. I think this is also a really important conversation because I think a little more curiosity about each other, who we are and how we tell our story, how we can adapt our language to honor each other. This is a really simple way for us to love our neighbor well. However, today we have a new story and a new question to look at. Why are you so afraid?
Speaker 1:But first, let's pray. God who comes to us, who listens to us, who asks questions of us to invite our response to you. May we become as curious about each other, as curious about you as you are about us. We understand that asking questions, listening for responses, responding in unique ways to unique individuals, this is an expression of divine love. So as we begin to learn about each other, as we stop presuming what we know is best for each other and we invite responses, stories, shared experiences to come to the surface, in all of that may your grace and peace abound.
Speaker 1:May it become the motivation for everything we do in the world. May it become the way with which we navigate our conversations. And in that, might we come to know you, might we come to know ourselves, might we come to know our neighbors better. May we be fascinated by the beauty, the grace, the peace, the wisdom and the learning that you have embedded in each story. And as we access it, as we learn from it, may we become better for it.
Speaker 1:In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray. Amen. Okay. Today we're gonna move to the Gospel of Mark, but this is a story that shows up a little differently over in Matthew. And so we're also gonna take a look over there to compare as well.
Speaker 1:But even before we get to the scriptures today, the question, why are you so afraid? This is a pretty provocative one. By some counts, do not be afraid is the most common command anywhere in scripture. And today we're going to find Jesus calling out some of his friends' fears. That's okay.
Speaker 1:We're all afraid of something. For example, I have been afraid for years of people blowing out candles on birthday cakes. I think this is just the most revolting tradition ever invented. You bake someone a cake presumably because you love them, and then you have them blow on it before you all eat it together. The way, who looks paranoid now as I stand here behind this screen?
Speaker 1:The world is just catching up to me on this one. Mark my words. But I also remember talking to my son last year when he said something to me about fear. Dad, he said, mom is the bravest person I know. And do you know why?
Speaker 1:Because today I saw her see spider, and she didn't know that I saw the spider, but I did see the spider. And she pretended she didn't see the spider, so I wouldn't be scared of the spider. And that's how I know she is the bravest in our house. So fears are natural and normal. It's okay to be afraid.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of us have become more familiar with some of our fears during this season. Finding the balance between honoring what is happening inside of us and not becoming immobilized by it is hard and holy work. Maybe we can begin to uncover some of that today. But let's go to Mark chapter four and I'm gonna read the encounter between Jesus and his disciples where we get this question. And then we're gonna go and compare that with Matthew eight where we get the same encounter in another version of the story.
Speaker 1:So Mark four verse 35, when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side. Jesus has been teaching and telling parables here and evening has come and he's looking for a little respite. So leaving the crowd behind, they took him along just as he was into the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped.
Speaker 1:Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, teacher, don't you care if we drown? Now we'll keep going here in a moment, but just a thought. Where does Jesus get a cushion in this story and why does Mark think we need to know about it? I mean, even says they took him just as he was into the boat.
Speaker 1:Does this mean that Jesus just brought a cushion with him? I mean, does this mean that Jesus had a favorite cushion he carried with him from town to town just in case he had a chance to take a nap, and I'll put it out there. But I just legitimately love the image of a Jesus who is ready at a moment's notice to take advantage of a bit of downtime to look after himself. I love it. People talk about self care like it's all about bubble baths and manicures and if that's your thing by all means go for it.
Speaker 1:But sometimes self care is looking at your schedule, realizing there are moments you can give back to yourself and planning accordingly. Sometimes self care means bringing a cushion with you and sometimes it means actually using it when you can. Look, I get it. The term self care can be a little overdone these days. But honestly, what is the writer pointing to here?
Speaker 1:It's not the idea that Jesus took time to look after himself when he needed to. But Jesus is comfy in the stern while a storm rages. And so the disciples say to him, don't you care if we drown? Verse 39. He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, quiet, be still.
Speaker 1:Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? But they were terrified and they asked each other, Who is this even the wind and the waves obey him? Now, here's one of our first interesting contrasts between the story in Mark and Matthew.
Speaker 1:Matthew, the same thing happens. Although the writer over there doesn't seem to think the cushion is all that important. He leaves that out. That's that's his loss. But we do have the same storm, the same fearful disciples, the same mastery over wind and waves, and the same question from Jesus.
Speaker 1:But the last line of that story in Matthew says that the disciples were amazed and asked, what kind of man is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him. That's Matthew eight twenty seven. Now what's really interesting to me is that while Matthew seems to take the story as a pretty simple tale about a storm and the fear of drowning, which to be fair is pretty scary, Mark decides to layer this with a deeper story about our fear of being saved. Well, Matthew describes the disciples' response as thaumazio, excited, marveled, amazed at what's happened.
Speaker 1:Mark describes their response to Jesus as phobeo, terrified, frightened, afraid. So we need to talk about these two fears, the fear of the thing that threatens to hurt us and the fear of the thing that promises to save us. But let's start with Matthew's more straightforward version of the story, the fear of the thing that threatens us. Because it's okay to be afraid of real threats. Storms, particularly when you're on boats, these are worth being afraid of.
Speaker 1:And the disciples being experienced sailors used to navigating the Lake Of Galilee were presumably pretty good judges of the severity of this type of a storm. I mean, they were coming to Jesus saying, look, we're in danger, there's probably a good chance that they were. In fact, you could probably assume that at least part of the reason Jesus felt comfortable going down and having a nap was precisely because he trusted this boat to these competent hands. But this is important because there are certainly things that are worth being afraid of and storms certainly fall in that category. It's okay that you're afraid at times.
Speaker 1:We all are. But if you step back from the fact that perhaps you've heard the story one too many times before, Jesus' response here is really intriguing. The disciples say, Lord, wake up, save us, we're gonna drown. And Jesus says to them, You of little faith, why are you so afraid? Now, is Jesus implying that they shouldn't have been afraid of the storm?
Speaker 1:No, I don't think so. I mean, are experienced sailors after all. They know danger when they see it. So is Jesus implying that they shouldn't have woke him up? I hope not.
Speaker 1:I mean, sure, he's got his cushion down there. He's comfy. But Jesus is always for us, always on our side. So what exactly is Jesus getting at here? Well, I wonder if what Jesus sees standing here in front of him in the bottom of his boat is a group of experienced sailors who know exactly what to do in this situation and yet who have become somehow so overwhelmed with fear they have stopped doing it.
Speaker 1:Are you really so afraid that you've stopped rowing for sure? Even the phrase here in Greek, it's not the normal use of the word or faith. It's actually just one word, which means tiny faith. So it's not so much you of little faith, why are you so afraid? It's more like tiny faith, why so terrified?
Speaker 1:You've crossed this lake a thousand times before. Has this storm really stopped you from believing you can make it to the other side? And so Jesus says, okay, you're afraid. Let's handle this. And he gets up and he rebukes the wind and calms the waves, and the men were amazed.
Speaker 1:Part of what I take from this is that there are things worth being afraid of, things that will stretch us and challenge us, things that will put us far outside our comfort zone and sometimes even hurt us. And then there are things that seem to steal our breath from us, That immobilize us, that threaten to stop us from being us. And sometimes the faith that we place in Jesus looks a lot like the faith we put in ourselves to keep going, to keep rowing, to trust that as terrified as we are, we are not. We are never alone. So do not give up.
Speaker 1:For Jesus to meet us in our fears and ask us why we're so afraid Is, of course, the reminder that Christ is near and invested and committed to our good, but it is also implicitly the encouragement that we are more capable than we often realize. And that sometimes it is only our fears that stops us short of everything we could realize. So men were amazed and asked what kind of man is this even the wind and the waves obey. That's Matthew. But what about Mark?
Speaker 1:I mean, we've got basically the same story. Right? The same men, the same boat, the same storm, the same question. But there are a couple small differences that I think are important. First, in Matthew, the disciples come to Jesus and say, Lord, save us.
Speaker 1:We're going to drown. But if you look at the parallel in Mark, it is a little different. Here, the disciples come and say, teacher, don't you care if we drown? Which is a little more pointed. I mean, we almost get the impression here that at least at this point in the Gospel of Mark, early in the story, the disciples may not fully trust themselves to Jesus yet.
Speaker 1:And I I actually kind of like that. Because to me, that speaks of this very honest, evolving human relationship between them. Love at first sight might be real, but we don't learn to trust overnight. Not even with Jesus. Look, if you are still exploring the Jesus story, if you find yourself fascinated by Jesus, but you're not quite ready to jump in with both feet yet, there is a time for everything and when you are ready, Jesus will be there.
Speaker 1:So here in Mark, Jesus doesn't seem to be offended by this question. In fact, unlike Matthew, he doesn't even respond directly to the question. He just simply gets up, rebukes the wind, and says to the waves, quiet, be still verse 39. And then it's only after the storm is calmed, once he turns his attention back his disciples and he sees the fear in their eyes, it's here in Mark that Jesus asks, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?
Speaker 1:In other words, these are two very different perspectives on the exact same story. For Matthew, Jesus asks the question, because the disciples are afraid of the storm, he says, Are you so afraid that you've stopped trying to live? But over here in Mark, Jesus asked the question because the disciples are afraid not of the storm, but of their salvation. He says, are you so afraid you refuse to trust everything that's in front of you right now? And I want to talk about that.
Speaker 1:But first, let's pay attention to this. We've got one story here with two different meanings. We've got two writers with two interpretations, and they're both in our Bible. This is important because the sacred text of scripture is far too important to be reduced down to the lowest common denominator. As if it was the simplest, easiest, plainest meaning that was always true.
Speaker 1:Scripture doesn't work like that. It speaks in layers. It meets us in our moments. It reads us as we read the text. And in those encounters, it is the very spirit of God that connects us directly to the heart of Jesus.
Speaker 1:Now, are faithful and there are manipulative interpretations of scripture, no doubt. But if we start demanding interpretive uniformity when even the scriptures present us with a multiplicity of approaches and meanings, think what happens is we risk taking control away from the spirit and thereby diminishing the work that God is interested in doing in us and through us as we come to the text with all of our questions and all of our faith. Mark needs Matthew and Matthew needs Mark. Because the Bible is an interpreted work in the Church, we are an interpretive community. And the more that we allow ourselves to surface our inquiries together, the more orthodox we will become together by listening to each other.
Speaker 1:But let's look at what Mark thinks this story is all about here. Because for Matthew, the issue is the way that fear stops us from doing what we know we can do. The way that fear immobilizes and disempowers us, which is a really important lesson. But for Mark, the story is about the ways in which our fear stops us from embracing our salvation. That is a really profound insight.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the thing we are most scared by is the thing that we most desperately need. Now look, I get it. I mean, disciples come, they tell Jesus about this storm. He gets up and tells a storm to cut it out and it does. That's a little trippy.
Speaker 1:But how many times have you prayed for something, asked for something, pleaded for something only to get it and find yourself terrified by it? At a very basic level, I think about wanting an opportunity at work. You know that you can handle more responsibility. You know that you can do the job if you're just given the chance. And then what happens when you are?
Speaker 1:Sometimes that fear turns into excitement and excitement turns into passion and we rise to the occasion. Oftentimes it is being in over our head that teaches us to swim. But getting what we ask for can be scary. Now take it a bit deeper. You want to be in a relationship.
Speaker 1:You want that stability that comes on the other side of commitment. You want to know that someone is as committed to you and your story as you are to theirs. But then what happens is we get close to that tipping point in our relationships. Let's be honest here, for a lot of us, that's the point. We bail.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we're terrified of the thing that we want. Look, I talk to a lot of couples that are at the point where they're considering marriage and sometimes they've been together for years. Sometimes they've been living together for years. And yet still often the thought of marriage. The moment that door clicks shut behind us, all of it can be pretty scary.
Speaker 1:By the way, sometimes the fact that you're nervous about commitment isn't a bad thing. Sometimes it's a sign that you're taking it seriously. So keep doing the work. But let's take this even one step farther. What happens when you want, when you desperately need to know that you are loved?
Speaker 1:That you are valued, that the universe is more than just the cold and empty vacuum of stellar space. What happens when you need to know that love is at the center of all things and what happens when you finally hear that love speak back to you? Because that's what these disciples are terrified of. I mean, they are following Jesus because they want Jesus to be the Messiah. They are in this boat because they believe Jesus is for them and interested in their good.
Speaker 1:They are here in this moment precisely because they trust that the God of heaven is on their side and with them in their journey. But now, with a word to a wave, all of that has become far too real for them. And I can resonate with that. Because a disinterested God in the sky, a God who plays favorites and picks sides, a God who is in the end a lot like me, that I can wrap my head around. But a God who is unconditional love.
Speaker 1:A God who is infinite forgiveness. A God who is all of that and still close and near and invested interested in the details of my story, a God who is everything that exists in my best imagination of the divine and more, that God has implications. See, if God is angry, well, I can change my actions to appease that God. And I can find the standard and work my way around that God. But if God is actually infinite love, Then all that I can do is receive it and rest in it and begin for the rest of my life to live out of it.
Speaker 1:See, there are moments, I believe, where the love of God reaches in and through us and takes hold of us. Where we come face to face with our salvation and sometimes life on the other side of that story. A life motivated by selflessness and kindness and love exclusively, seems too beautiful, too compelling, far too foreign for us to even try. And so what happens is we get scared and we back away and we make God small again. And it's here that Jesus shows up and asks, why are you so afraid?
Speaker 1:Why are you so afraid of the idea that you are completely loved as you are right now? Why are you so afraid of the idea that I love your neighbor in the exact same way right now? Are you so afraid of the idea that your world will be completely different without all of this fear that you carry around with you? Because that is what Jesus offers to us. Freedom from the fear that stops us from doing everything we can right now to change the world and make it just a little bit better.
Speaker 1:But also freedom from the fear that stops us from believing possible on the other side of grace, a world that is enveloped and informed by the infinite grace and peace of God. Do not be afraid, but take heart, for I have overcome the world. And if you want to, you get to live in that story. Let's pray. God, when we are terrified of everything that we know that we need, a life free of fear, a life free of the other, a life free of needing an enemy to define ourselves, a life is completely redefined in your grace and peace.
Speaker 1:Everything that we long for, everything that we dream of, everything that we are terrified by. In those moments, would you be near to us, close to us? Would you show up face to face and ask us why are you so afraid? To let go of your anger, to let go of your fear, to let go of everything that seems like it separates you from me. And as we begin to let go, as we begin to imagine ourselves living in this new world motivated by selflessness, to give ourselves away, ready to embrace our neighbor in ways that might scare us right now, God, would your spirit bring courage and curiosity and imagination?
Speaker 1:Would we begin to believe that everything you tell us about your kingdom and commonwealth is possible in you. God, help us not to be afraid of a world without fear. Help us to follow that path in the way of your son. Help us to live as if love was the center of all things. In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen.