Where Is Your Faith?

Introduction

When Jesus calms the storm on the Sea of Galilee, he turns to his terrified disciples and asks, “where is your faith?” This sermon on Luke 8 explores what faith in the storm really looks like — faith during hard times, when life feels overwhelming. We discover that Jesus is not a tame lion, but a Saviour who grows resilience and courage in us as we learn to sail with him.

I was able to get away last week for a little bit of an adventure, and I think adventures are good for the soul. You know, more than just a holiday, actually going to wild places and surrounding yourself with nature. But also, I don’t know, pushing yourself a little bit, taking some risk, maybe experiencing a bit of hunger and tiredness. I think we learn something really important when we step beyond that which is comfortable. Stuff that prepares you for the storms of life. And this wonderful, very short story, I think, is intended to do that same thing. We’re to remember this, and it’s there for us when we face those challenges in our life. So it begins with Jesus saying to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” He’s taking them into the unknown. It might sound like a nice little day trip, but in actual fact the east side of Lake Galilee is something of a hinterland, slightly lawless, beyond the boundaries.

And to follow Jesus, to be his disciple, will mean to venture into the unknown. To find yourself in unfamiliar and even risky places. He calls each of us to the other side of the road, the other side of the tracks, even the other side of the world. Why? Because of course the light and hope of Christ are needed just as much there as they are here. Followers of Jesus have always gone to the other side. But the Sea of Galilee is big and their boats are not. In verse 23 it says, “As they sailed, a squall came down upon the lake.” We’re quite used to the idea of modern weather forecasting, which means that most of the time we can predict what’s about to happen. We still get caught out sometimes, don’t we? But of course in the ancient world that was far more difficult to do. But in life there are always storms, and you can’t always be prepared for them. And of course a storm from a safe distance is an amazing thing. The wind and the waves and the lightning are a testament to the majesty of God. But if you’re not in a safe place, if you’re actually a little bit vulnerable, then they can be terrifying and overwhelming. And I think in life when we are a bit vulnerable, the stuff that we might ordinarily cope with can become a real crisis. And that’s what happens here. Verse 23: “The boat was being swamped and they were in great danger.” It is a real crisis. I think we’re not always that good at coping with risk. Do you know the problem of the soft play centre? If you’ve got kids of a certain age, they will have grown up going to these amazing play centres full of — well, everything’s padded. So you really couldn’t hurt yourself if you tried. And it means that the children are able to sort of career around and run headlong into anything without doing any harm, which of course is great fun but is actually not great preparation for real life. Because of course the world isn’t a soft play centre, and it means that we aren’t necessarily that good at learning to deal with real risk. And this, for the disciples, is a serious situation. They are in actual danger. Did you notice though, by contrast, Jesus seems quite relaxed about the whole thing. He’s asleep, which is rather a surprise. It’s a lovely detail. I’m not quite sure necessarily what we make of that. I mean, what’s the moral of that story — that Jesus is sometimes asleep on the job? You could say it’s good to spot that he’s actually tired. And it’s a consolation to anybody who’s working hard and could do with a nap: Jesus gets tired too. But I think more than that, the point here is that Jesus isn’t worried. He rarely is.

We worry that bad things might happen. It stresses us out and keeps us awake at night. Jesus is clear: yes, they will. In this life there will be struggles and there will be storms. But when they come, we together will cope with them. There is nothing to be gained by worrying. And so Jesus is asleep. You might know the quote by the wonderful World War II hero Corrie ten Boom. She says, “Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength. It’s carrying two days at once. It’s moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” She’s quoting the Sermon on the Mount, essentially. Remember, Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Can you hear that the message is not that everything’s going to be fine, that you won’t have struggles? It’s that we need to cope with what we need to cope with today rather than worrying about it in advance. And so what’s really notable about this story is that Jesus is letting them sail the boat. And don’t forget, lots of them are really experienced at this. They’re fishermen. This is their profession. Jesus isn’t stepping in to solve their problems. He isn’t what we call helicopter parenting. He is allowing them to take real responsibility and to grow in character and faith, and to inhabit a world confidently and unafraid. He’s doing the same for us. He is working in us that we might grow in maturity, in faith, in confidence. As Paul says to the Ephesians, “We grow to become mature. We become the body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” Jesus isn’t sailing the boat for you. He isn’t taking the wheel. He gives them real responsibility. However, it doesn’t work out that well, did you spot? I think they just panic. They are in real danger, but it may well be that the reason why it becomes a real crisis is because of their panic. I think we know what you’re supposed to do if you’re on a boat and there’s a storm. You work extra hard. You set the prow into the wind. You trim the sails. You batten down the hatches. You bail out the storm water. The great danger is losing your head, of getting broadsided by the wind, of being swamped by the waters. And they stop doing the things that they should do. And maybe when we’re in a crisis, we are the same. We stop doing the things that we know we should. We get turned around. We panic. We stop facing the storm. We stop working and praying and keeping faithful friends near us and rooting ourselves in God and his word.

It’s all gone wrong. And of course, when it does all go wrong, although Jesus is not immediately present, he is in the boat. Verse 24: they woke Jesus, and he stood up and rebuked the storm. It is an utterly remarkable moment. Can you imagine the scene? Little boat, great storm. Jesus, just woken up from his nap, stands up in the prow of the boat, stares at the storm and rebukes it, telling it to be still. And then all of a sudden the clouds break. The rain stops. The wind dies down. And the lake settles. It’s a remarkable moment. In this wild and dangerous place they catch a glimpse of who Jesus really is. As if the lion roars and the earth trembles. We catch a glimpse of who Jesus really is. It’s interesting, actually, the phrase that’s used about Jesus rebuking the storm. I think that’s a reference to the Psalms, which speak of God in creation, who at his rebuke the waters fled. This is Jesus who was there at creation. He can cope with a storm. Did they think that Jesus was going to let them drown?

But what happens next is that he growls at the disciples. Verse 25, he says to them, “Where is your faith?”

Do you remember the lovely line about Aslan in the Narnia books? They say of Aslan, “He’s not a tame lion.” And Jesus isn’t a tame lion. He might just be being grumpy because they woke him up from his nap. But you get this picture of Jesus: he wouldn’t have calmed the storm unless he had to. His expectation was that their resilience, their faith, would be able to face up to the harsh realities of the world. Our prayer probably shouldn’t be, “Lord, get me out of this situation.” It should be, “Help me to sail this ship better.” In fact, I was remembering an old Sunday school song that said, with Jesus in the boat, you can smile at the storm. Anyone remember that one? Or was that just me? And I don’t know about smiling at the storm, but it does mean that with Christ, we can face almost anything.

To grow in faith and character and resilience means facing up to the storms of life, of facing up to apparent peril. What does that look like? Well, I think we need to be willing to just slightly let go of our desire to be in control of everything. We need to be willing to go places where we’ve never been before to experience new things. The future is unknown.

But God is faithful and trustworthy. And these sort of adventures of faith help us to realise that all too often our view of God is too small. The disciples, in fear and amazement, asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” Jesus is wonderful, but he is not a tame lion. He was there at creation, and he hasn’t finished that work. He is the author and the perfecter of our faith, and he is still at work in us. His expectation is that we are growing in faith and maturity, and character and service.

So, scripture tells us that we will go through storms in this life. It is inevitable, and some of them will be very hard. But no matter what you face, you do not need to be afraid. Hold your head up high. Keep doing those foundational things which keep you in the right course. As scripture says, “Let us not become weary in doing what is good, for at the right time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” And of course, that’s what church is for. We are here to learn to sail together. “We admonish and teach one another with all wisdom, so that we may present one another fully mature in Christ.” You see, that’s the goal: to learn to sail better. To live better. To work hard at the important things of faith, which will equip us for when the storms come. To face into the storms. To work hard. To pray harder. To be faithful in the little things. To keep good friends close. To root ourselves in God and his word. And to remember that Christ is with us always. He was there at creation. He can cope with whatever this is. And he says to us, “Where is your faith?”

Amen.