The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost | June 23, AD 2024 | Job 38:1-11 | Andrew F. Weisner |

Job 38:1-11
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: 2 ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Gird up your loins like a man,   I will question you, and you shall declare to me. 4 ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?   Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!  Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk,  or who laid its cornerstone 7 when the morning stars sang together  and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? 8 ‘Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?— 9 when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 and prescribed bounds for it,  and set bars and doors, 11 and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther,  and here shall your proud waves be stopped”?

Psalm 124

2 Corinthians 6:1-13
As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, ‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! 3 We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, 7 truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything. 11 We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. 12 There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. 13 In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.

Mark 4:35-41
35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

Homily

       Question: Have you ever had an experience  about which you thought when it happened: „Oh No! This is the worst thing that could ever happen to me!“?

       I have had that experience! Probably  you, too! Something happens to you, or you hear about something that affects your life, and you think: „Oh NO! This is terrible!“

       Maybe it was related to your health… you were told you have cancer, or heart problems, or your kidneys are failing; or that your mother or father or husband or wife has dementia. Maybe you were given news that you lost your job. Maybe it was bad news about the health or well-being of your child.

       „Oh No! This is awful! This is just the worst thing in the world that could happen!“

       And then: what do you do?  You try to deal with it as best you can… one day at a time.

       While you are in the midst of the experience, it is very painful, and likely frightening. And maybe you wonder, „Where is God in all of this? Has God forgotten me? Is God punishing me? Did I do something wrong in my past, and now God is making me pay for it?“

       Today we have a reading from the book of Job. When I was growing up, I remember hearing my Grandma and my mother and others talk about „the patience of  Job,“ but when you read the story about Job in the Bible, you see that Job was not really very patient. Job had lost all he had: his wife died, his children died; his cattle died; a tornado destroyed his house. And in the story, Job is not really very patient. He cries out to the Lord, and proclaims that he has done nothing bad, nothing wrong; which was true! However, bad things happened to him anyway.

       Finally, God answers Job as he cries out in his suffering. God says to Job, „Where were you when I established the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you are so smart and have so much understanding!

       „Where were you when the first morning stars sang together, and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?

       „Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb? Where were you when I made the clouds the earth’s garment?“

       It is the LORD God, the maker of heaven and earth, the sky, the sea, and all that is in them, who controls the passing of the day and the night, who governs the sun and the wind and the rain, and the strong surging of the seas.

       It is this God, the Creator God, who speaks to and reminds Job, „You don’t know everything. Waitand see what later happens!“

       We have another story today that mentions the wind and rain and surging waves on a sea….

       Jesus and his disciples were in a boat on a large lake; Jesus was sleeping, and a storm arose; and the disciples woke Jesus up, and ask him, „Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing here?“  That line may have a familiar sound to it, like what we cry out when we are in the midst of fear and suffering!

       And Jesus stood up, and spoke to the wind and the sea, saying, „Peace! Be still!“ And the wind stopped. And the water beating against the boat became calm.

       We learned from God’s speaking to Job that it is God who created and controls the wind and the seas…  and then, here, in our gospel story, we see Jesus speaking to control the wind and the sea.

       Clearly: Jesus is God.

       And so: This God, the God who created all that is, seen and unseen; this God who controls the wind and the sea, this God is a person, with a personality. This God is a man of love. A man who cares about others; a man who feeds the hungry; a man who heals the sick; and finally, a man who is willing to forgive those who killed him; a man who is willing to die for others — to die for us, and then, on the third day, God the Father restored to life.

       Jesus is the God who became man, human, to live with us and to teach us, to show us, what God is like. God has a personality: God is Jesus, a man of love.

       In baptism, Jesus called us, and named us his. When terrible, frightening experiences happen to us; when we think that these things are the worst events that could happen to us… over the course of time, we can see: God, Jesus, the man of love, loves us, and his love will never let us go.

       Gracious and guiding Lord: As we go through today and every day, remind us that you are with us and love us, and that the conclusion of our lives will be good: forever united with you, the Lord of Glory. Amen.

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Pastor Andrew F. Weisner
pastorweisner@gmail.com
Hickory, North Carolina, USA
North American Lutheran Seminary, Ambridge, PA, USA