Job 38:1-1;  II Cor. 6: 1-13; Mark 4:35-41         

Well, that was quite a storm we had Wednesday night.  I don’t know about you, but I certainly wasn’t expecting anything as dramatic as what happened.  Looking out my window, it reminded me of the micro burst that came through Frick park a few years ago, maybe 500 feet from my house.  It was pretty scary.  Needless to say, the power of nature is awesome.  So, in today’s Gospel, we have a miracle story of the stilling of the storm, a stilling of the frightening forces over which we feel we really have no control -- witness Katrina and the tsunamis.  One way of looking at the Gospel story is that it illustrates the power of God over the forces of nature.  One biblical commentator suggested more, that is, that there is another dimension to the story.  He postulates:  "Jesus' stilling of the storm at sea is an exorcism story."  Exorcism – now, that is something we don’t talk about much in the Episcopal Church.  Exorcism implies that there is some force, or forces, that need to be exorcised, removed – i.e., demonic forces.  The commentator goes on to note the presence of the exorcism formula (the rebuke and command to silence) that Jesus uses elsewhere in addressing demons.  The demon here is the storm.  Now, we might not think of a storm as a demon, a force of evil.  It is simply a force of nature. But, are there, in fact, demons? … evil forces, forces of wickedness?  Yes, there are.  We acknowledge that fact in our baptismal covenant, when candidates or their parents and godparents renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness, when they renounce the evil powers of this world, and all sinful desires that draw us from the love of God.  This is serious business.  It is at the heart of who we are as Christians.  We renounce evil and promise to follow Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.  In all of the other more clearly recognizable exorcism accounts in the New Testament, the person or persons exorcised become new people.  They are radically transformed. Whatever one thinks of exorcism, and that is a pretty scary subject, one cannot help but notice the radical transformation, in Scripture, of the subjects of exorcism.  They become a new creation.

Back to the Gospel story:   "A great storm...arose."  If we can see this short journey across the lake as images of human life itself, then we surely know the nature of "storms." Illness, depression, loss of a job are only a few of the "storms" that can assault us.  Are these things evil?  Yes, in the sense that they are consequences of living in a fallen world.  To put on my chaplain hat for a moment, illness, depression, loss of a job are not to be seen as a punishment we deserve. They exist because there are forces of evil at work in the world trying to thwart God’s plan of salvation for His people.  In the end, they won’t win.  The light will triumph.  In the meantime, back to the Gospel story. "The boat was already filling”, the story continues.  We all know that sense of being overwhelmed, that sort of sinking, or drowning feeling -- like the tragedies, or difficulties of life are going to get the best of us.

And there's Jesus.  "He was in the stern (of the boat), asleep on the cushion."  At stormy times in our lives, why does it sometimes seem that our Lord is asleep, that nobody cares, not even our God!  His disciples woke him and said to him, "teacher, do you not care if we perish?"  There it is.  Do you not care, God?

When Jesus was awakened, he said to the storm, "Peace!  Be still!  And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm."  The storm subsided.  The words that Jesus spoke were commanding words.  When Jesus speaks such words, the storms subside and calm prevails.  But then the story ends with an ironic twist.  One might think this story has a happy ending.  With all of the trouble that Jesus' disciples were having, Jesus was with them all along.  He was in the boat; he was present with them at all times, in the midst of their turmoil.  They were upset because he seemed to be unresponsive (being asleep), but he was there.  And his word brought calm, restored peace.  But that's not where the story ends!

It was following the calm that Jesus asked them, "Why are you afraid?  Have you no faith?"  After the fact, "they were filled with awe", or more literally translated, "They feared a great fear."  The storm was frightening enough, but even more frightening, or awesome, was the power of Jesus' word, to which they responded, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?"  It seems that what the disciples were most afraid of was not the storms around them, but the power of Jesus to still the storm.

For us, it is probably the same way.  We become familiar with the storms in our lives, with the evil in the world, and even the evil in our own hearts.  Remember what St. Paul once said?  He had this dilemma which he described in this way:  “I do not understand my own actions.  For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  …It is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me.”  Paul struggled.  But for us, we may become strangely comfortable with that “sin” that dwells within us -- knowing the enemy, as it were.  We learn how to cope, or we try to cope as best we can.  We know gluttony is a sin, but we see that big piece of chocolate cake – and eat it anyway.  I know…, small sin, but you get the idea.

The power of Jesus' word can change all that, and that is frightening.  The power of Jesus' word is a power that can transform, that can exorcise evil, if you will, and can make new.  Rather than a story of exorcism, I see today's Gospel as a story of healing.  Fear can stop, or block, healing. When we become more comfortable with the storms in our lives, the evil that causes us to do things we’d really rather not do, than with the prospect of transformation, of new life in and through Jesus Christ, it becomes impossible to move on, to grow.

We are called out of our limitations, to become, in Christ, a new creation. The boat could not make headway in the midst of the storm.  Only when Jesus spoke the powerful word of healing was there smooth sailing.  No matter how frightening the prospect of transformation in Christ may seem, it is the way to life.

                 Amen