Sermon: Mark 6:46-56, July 25, 2021

07/25/21 • -1 min

A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on July 25, 2021 at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on Mark 6:46-56. You may play the audio of the sermon here.

A mostly unedited transcript of the sermon follows the jump:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text this morning is from the Gospel according to St. Mark, the sixth chapter:

Immediately He madeHis disciples get into the boat and go beforeHim to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd. And after He had taken leave of them, He went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and He was alone on the land. And He saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they sawHim walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all sawHim and were terrified. But immediately He spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognizedHim and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard He was. And wherever He came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and imploredHim that they might touch even the fringe ofHis garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

Thus far the text.

My dear friends in Christ,

This a passage that I have preached about many times and yet it is something that I just cannot ignore when it comes. I mean, there's so much good to see out of the Genesis passage and out of the Ephesians passage, but this is incredible. I like it. One of the main reasons is because, if you know Greek, it is very clear as to what Jesus is saying; he's not telling the disciples in the boat that, It is I. He says, Take heart. I am, do not be afraid. Jesus here claims the name of God for Himself. In Greek, it’s ego eimi. In Hebrew it’s Yahweh. In English, it’s I Am. So when Jesus says I am, He’s saying, I'm God. Don't be afraid. I'm God, I got this.

Now you would think that the disciples, who have been through storms with Jesus before, storms where Jesus was sleeping and they wokeHim up and He calmed the the wind and the waves, you’d think that they would know that all will be fine. Except you have to remember that in this windstorm, Jesus isn't with them right away. Our passage today follows after last week's reading, which is the feeding of the 5,000, which we really know is the feeding of many, many thousands, right? Enough that 200 denarii worth of bread. 200 years worth of work, would not have paid to feed them all. After this, Jesus sends the disciples away. He makes them get into the boat and go before him. And presumably this is because Jesus desires then to pray, right? It says He went up onto the mountain to do just that. We’ve talked about this before, that, anytime you see a mountain, something holy is about to happen. And the holy thing that happens is not that Jesus walks on the water. It’s not that He calms the wind. Those are certainly miracles, but the point of this passage isn’t that. The holy thing that happens is that He, God, sees the boat even while it is in the middle of the sea.

Remember the sea of Galilee is no small lake. It's pretty large. I'm not saying it's Lake Michigan, large, but it's pretty large. And a boat can easily be los as you're looking down from a mountain into the sea of Galilee. Add in the wind and the waves surrounding the disciples, and it’s easy to miss the boat. That boat is tiny and small. And when you think about it, we are tiny and small. Who are we that God should take notice of us? When you have a God who created the heavens and the earth, He must be greater than all things that He created. The common child's question comes up. How big is God, daddy? Is He bigger than you? Yes. Is He bigger than Pa Pa (because grandpa's taller than I am)? Yes. Is He bigger than our house? Yes. Is He bigger than the clouds? Yes. And we can go, as adults, ad infinitum, right? Is He bigger than the sun? Is He bigger than the solar system, bigger than the galaxy? The galaxies, is He bigger than th...

07/25/21 • -1 min

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