Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Have you ever been in a situation where you were sure you were about to die?

Several years ago, one of the men at the congregation where I preached in Metropolis told me about a scary experience he had on the Ohio River.

He had been out boating with a friend, and as evening approached a sudden storm blew in.

The rain was coming down in sheets, and the wind had the water churning with huge swells.

He couldn’t see a thing, and his boat was being tossed around all over the place.

This is a picture

To top it all off, he was close to the small Brookport lock and dam.

It’s nothing like Watts Bar, or Fort Loudon.

It’s just a small lock and dam (which I’m pretty sure is just used to control the water level of the port in Paducah).

It’s barely visible in good weather, especially if the water level is up.

But he knew it was out there as a looming danger—and he couldn’t see it at all.

He told me that in that moment, he was sure he was going to die.

He began to make peace with how he was going to die.

Yet at the same time he kept pushing on ahead, and eventually made his way back to the shore.

Obviously, he lived to tell me the frightening story.

Have you ever experienced something like that?

It doesn’t have to have happened on a boat.

It could have happened in any kind of setting.

Whatever the situation was, you were sure you were going to die.

Your end had come.

And yet, it didn’t.

But that feeling of impending doom is probably much the same as the one the disciples in Jesus’ boat felt when they were overtaken by a sudden windstorm.

They were sure they were going to die! Let’s read our text for this morning’s lesson:

Once had a man in Metropolis (Galen) tell me about a time when he was on a boat on the Ohio River and a sudden storm caught him.

It was getting dark, he couldn’t see where he was going.

His boat was being tossed all over the place.

He also knew that there was a small dam up ahead somewhere, but he couldn’t find it or the lock.

He said he was sure that he was going to die.

But thankfully he made it back to the bank.

This same story is recounted in and .

Yet Mark’s account seems to be the most “raw.”

It’s possible his account comes from first-hand information.

Maybe Peter or someone else who we can suppose was in that boat told him about it (of course, with the Holy Spirit guiding Mark’s process of writing).

There are very specific details that the other writers don’t record, like the time of day, the cushion, and Jesus’ location where he was sleeping.

Have you ever had that sort of experience?

Maybe it wasn’t in a boat, but whatever it was, you were sure that you were about to die.

That’s the sort of situation Jesus’ disciples find themselves in in our text for this morning.

Mark’s account also seems to portray the disciples words to Jesus in a more raw, emotional way.

We can see their irritation with Jesus.

After all, some of these men are likely experienced sailors (e.g.

fishermen).

They’ve been on the water a lot.

They’ve seen lots of storms.

And if this one is enough to get them worried they are going to die, well, it must have been a pretty bad storm!

They are at the point where every able-bodied person is bailing out the water that’s quickly filling the boat.

And there Jesus is… asleep...

As I was preparing for this morning’s lesson I read several commentaries on this text.

They described all sorts of interesting things we could look at, like facts about boats they sailed in, the unpredictable and turbulent weather on the sea of Galilee, and the similarities between this story and what we read about Jonah… I’ll let you read about that in a book!

(Galilean Fishing Boat Picture)

fishing boat

Instead I want to spend our time together focusing on something a bit more personal.

I want us to meditate on the gentle, yet profound rebuke Jesus brings against his disciples in this instant: “Why are you so afraid?

Have you still no faith?”

(Artist’s Rendering of Fishing Boat)

Jesus apparently expected his disciples to have a greater amount of faith at this point.

Consider with me just a handful of the things his disciples would have seen and heard at this point:

Water changed into wine ()

Healing of the official’s son ()

Healing of the demon-possessed man in Capernaum ()

Healing of Peter’s mother-in-law ()

Healing of many on one evening ()

His preaching, and casting out demons ()

Healing a leper ()

Healing a paralyzed man ()

Healing a man with a withered hand ()

Other things not recorded, as well as Jesus’ teaching...

Other things not recorded, as well as Jesus’ teaching...

They had even just seen this miracle!

That’s the context of Jesus words with his disciples, “Why are you so afraid?

Have you still no faith?”

Or as Matthew records, “O you of little faith.”

Or as Luke says, “Where is your faith?”

Their scolding of Jesus only shows their ignorance of who he truly is.

No, they hadn’t seen everything that Jesus would or could do… but how much did they have to see before they fully believed?

Would one more miracle make a difference?

Ten more?

What would it take?

Or had they seen enough?

He expected more trust from them by this point.

He expected them to have the same kind of peace inside their hearts that he had—because HE was in the boat with them!

Instead, the disciples allowed the storm around their boat to have a greater influence on them than the Savior inside their boat.

Jesus was at peace despite the storm raging around him.

Yes, it’s likely Jesus was extremely tired from his work.

Showing that Jesus slept certainly does point out his humanity.

But I don’t think that’s the whole story.

Think about this:

Have you ever stayed awake all night, anxious because of the weather?

Maybe it was one of those nights where there was thunderstorm after thunderstorm, weather warning after weather warning (a little like the start of last night).

Why?

Why did you stay awake?

Did nervously watching the weather make it change?

Unless you have a basement, how much difference is there between the room you were staying in and the “safest” room in your house?

And if a tornado did in fact come and blow your house down around you, what if you died?

Really think about it.

What if you died?

As a Christian, what would that mean for you?

So did staying up worrying really accomplish anything?

Not really… and we know that.

But it usually doesn’t stop us from worrying anyway.