You know, it would be easy for me to tell you that today’s Gospel lesson teaches us that Jesus calms all the storms of life. You don’t have to be afraid when your going through various trials and troubles. He sees you in your struggles. He’s with you in the boat. He’ll speak His words of peace to you and take your fear away. But today’s Gospel text has a number of rough edges that can’t be smoothed away so easily.
Consider first of all that Jesus sent His disciples away on their own. He didn’t go with them at first. He took leave of them and went up on a mountain to pray. Now, most likely He was praying for His disciples, but wouldn’t it have been better for Him to be in the boat with them? Couldn’t He have prayed there? Why did He leave them alone, knowing that a storm would soon come up?
Second, once the storm did come up, Jesus saw them struggling painfully (and the word used here indicates a torturous struggle), and it seems that He was finally going to do something to help them out. But when He came walking out towards them on the water, the text says that He meant to pass them by. He didn’t even intend to enter the boat, at least not uninvited. It was only after He let the disciples think He was a ghost, allowing them to become completely terrified, that He spoke His words of peace to them and entered the boat. Only then did He calm the storm. And you and I both know from experience that there have been many times in our lives too (and maybe we’re going through some even now) when not only does Jesus not seem to see what we’re going through, but He also doesn’t even seem to be around. And even if we do hear words of peace from Him, where is the calm He seems to promise here? More often than not, the storms just seem to keep raging with no end in sight. And when they do finally settle down, it’s only after we’ve had to ride them out and not because Jesus has miraculously taken them away.
Now, why does Jesus put His disciples through such things? Why does He allow us to experience such storms, such feelings of abandonment, such terror, while waiting until we’ve reached the end of our rope before He’ll help us? Oh, we could give the standard answers that Jesus is using all of our trials and troubles for our good. He’s working through them to strengthen our character and our trust in Him. He’s using us as examples to others, even giving our fellow believers the opportunity to serve us in such situations. Maybe the storms we experience are self-inflicted. Maybe they are the temporal result of some sin we’ve committed, the natural consequence of our behavior. Maybe, as He did in Job’s case, God is testing our faith, striping us of our false gods and everything we hold dear, so that we will look to Him alone for our help and fear, love, and trust in Him above all things. True as all this may be, it’s still small comfort when we’re in the midst of a storm, especially if Jesus doesn’t bring the storm to an end, but rather lets us ride it out instead. Doesn’t He know how weak and helpless we are?
In the end we just don’t know sometimes why God allows storms into our lives or why He doesn’t bring them suddenly to an end as He did in this particular case. True, there may be times in your life when you’re experiencing a storm where it’s very easy for you to trust in the Lord. You cling to His Word that He is with you. You pray for His help, and you know He hears you and will answer you. And in some cases He’ll even miraculously deliver you and calm the storm, just as He did for His disciples here. But then there will come those times when you’re going through such a tempest in your life that no matter how much you pray, no matter how you try to cling to God’s Word, no matter how many times you are reminded that the Lord is with you, does care for you, and is working all things together for your good, the trial isn’t taken away, and it seems that the Lord just wants to pass you by, as He leaves you alone to continue to struggle on your own. And if you become aware of His presence at all in those times of testing, it’s more of a terrorizing experience, as you begin to wonder if God is bringing all this on you to punish you for something you did.
The fact is, you’re going to experience many storms in your life, and you’re not always going to know why. Some of those storms you’ll be delivered from immediately, while others you’ll have to ride out for a long time. In the end, the final storm of death is going to take us all. To what do you turn, then, for comfort, especially when the Lord doesn’t seem to want to deliver you? To His cross! Look to Christ’s cross, because it’s there that Jesus was delivering you from the greatest storm you’d ever have to face - the storm of God’s wrath on account of your sins. When you look to the cross of Christ, you will see that Jesus didn’t hold Himself aloof from you; He did not pass you by, but He put Himself right where you were, smack-dab in the midst of the hurricane of God’s fury, in order to allow that storm to take Him instead of you, so that you might enjoy peace with God, regardless of what other storms might come your way. When you look to Christ’s cross, you will realize that the storms that you have to experience are small in comparison to the storm of Calvary. That big storm has been taken care of by Jesus, so that the little storms can no longer really harm you now. Oh, yes, you will hurt physically, you will hurt mentally and emotionally, you will agonize and mourn over others, you will even experience physical death. But none of these storms will ever be able to take you down, who have been baptized into Christ and believe in Him, because you now have eternal life, and not even physical death can take that from you. Jesus experienced the storm of all storms on the cross for you and then rose again from the dead, in order to deliver to you the great calm of peace with God, so that you might live with Him now and forever.
You see, today’s text doesn’t necessarily teach that Jesus will miraculously calm every storm that you have to face in this life. It does, however, teach that He will eventually bring an end to all of them on the day that He comes to usher in the calm of the next life. After you have suffered and died with Christ in this life, you will experience the great calm of the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting. Jesus will someday bring an end to all the struggles that you face now. He will no longer act like He intends to pass you by, but will come to you, deliver you, and dwell with you face to face, just as He did with His disciples in the boat, only this time it will be in His kingdom of glory.
In the meantime, He speaks the same words of peace to you that He did to them, so that you might not despair of His help and presence with you now, but be reassured of both, even when it appears that He’s left you alone to struggle on your own. The words, “Take heart! It is I. Do not be afraid” are meant to give you comfort even in the midst of the storms you face in this present evil age. With His words “Take heart!” Jesus encourages you not to give up hope in your struggles. None of them can separate you from His love or snatch you out of His hand. You have His promise on that. Plus, the storms are only temporary. The great calm is coming. Remember that both Christ’s cross and His resurrection are yours. Because you are baptized into Him, you will experience both, but in Jesus life triumphs over death.
With His words “It is I” Jesus comforts you as He reminds you of who He is. The actual words He uses here are the words “I am.” They are the same words that God used of Himself on Mt. Sinai in the O.T. when He gave His Name to Moses to give to His people. When Jesus says to you “I am,” He reminds you that He is God. Not only that, but He is your God, who has redeemed you with His blood, so that you might be His own and live under Him in His kingdom, now and forever. When the storms hit, remember that greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. If the triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is your God, who has created, redeemed, and sanctified you, then which of the devil’s storms could ever really threaten you? With His words “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus assures you that none of the storms you face will ever be able to destroy you. Even death itself has been defanged and defeated by Christ for you, so that you too can say with David, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.”
It may not always seem like it, but Jesus is always with you, helping you to ride out the storms, if not take them away altogether. Jesus always goes with His Name. And because He’s put His Name on you at your Baptism, wherever you go there He is also. He has made your body His temple. And so He is in the boat with you when you struggle against the wind and waves of adversity that come your way. He does see what you’re going through. He even prays for you, just as He did for His disciples. He will not pass you by, but will come to your aid when you call upon Him for help. As the Psalmist writes, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” And as Jesus teaches us to pray, “Deliver us from evil,” so He will do just that. One day He will deliver us from every evil of body and soul, property and honor, and finally, when our last hour has come, will grant us a blessed end and graciously take us from this valley of tears to Himself in heaven. There we will forever enjoy the calm He has worked for us through His cross and His resurrection. Amen.