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THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST June 23, 2024 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Divine Service Setting III (Pages 184 – 202) Lutheran Service Book OPENING HYMN: 717 “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VrraIIjabo Confession and Absolution Page 184-185 Introit (read by the Pastor) Psalm 107: vss. 29-32; antiphon: vs. 28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. The Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy) Congregation: Lord have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord have mercy upon us. The Gloria in Excelsis P. 187 The Salutation: Pastor: The Lord be with you. Congregation: And with thy spirit. Our Collect Prayer: Almighty God, in Your mercy guide the course of this world so that Your Church may joyfully serve You in godly peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our Bible Texts – Frist Reading: Job 38:1-11 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known 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 sons of God shouted for joy? 8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9 when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 and prescribed limits 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 stayed’? Pastor: This is the Word of the Lord. Congregation: Thanks be to God. Psalm 124 (antiphon v.8) If it had not been the LORD who was on our side— let Israel now say— 2 if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us, 3 then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; 4 then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; 5 then over us would have gone the raging waters. 6 Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! 7 We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Epistle Reading – 2nd Corinthians 6:1-13 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. 11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13 In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also. Pastor: This is the Word of the Lord. Congregation: Thanks be to God. Our Gospel Reading – 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, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Pastor: This is the Gospel of the Lord. Congregation: Praise be to Thee, O Christ. THE APOSTLES’ CREED Page 192 HYMN OF THE DAY: 726 “Evening and Morning” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwZcmovAhdQ THE SERMON – Have you ever been on a small boat, or even a ship, in really rough seas? It can be terrifying, especially at night. You feel lost. You long for solid ground, for something you can trust. Today the disciples learn a valuable lesson as waves and wind threaten to sink their boat. And at the end of the episode, they’re far more in awe of the man who had slept in the back of the boat than the storm. The squall threatened them, could have sunk the boat, drowning them. But the One who stilled the waves, held a far greater power. The irony is the lifeless storm shows a greater recognition of Christ’s divine power than the disciples at this point. We can also, at times, take what we perceive as the Lord’s silence as sleepy indifference. But the Bible is not silent. God has left us His powerful, life-giving Word. The Good News of Jesus Christ. And the One who brings salvation, also calms the storms in our lives, and reassures us. Yet when the waves of life threaten, we can ask “Jesus, don’t you care? Where are you?” We forget the man in the boat, the incarnate Lord, is suffering the storm with us. He doesn’t promise the troubles in this life will go away, just the opposite, but He tells us we will not suffer them alone. I think we often feel God is asleep and not paying attention to our problems. When we’re in the middle of the storm, we can’t see the end of it, but He can. Before the beginning of our Gospel passage, Jesus had been teaching. The first words of Mark, Chapter 4, say the crowds were so great Jesus was forced into a boat to teach. Christ has been in this boat all day. He has worked to exhaustion. In His state of humiliation in this world, He could feel the same pain and strains we do. Archaeologists have dug up a first century fishing boat from the mud along the shore of Lake Galilee. The boat had an exceptionally low gunwale, or side. This was so they could haul heavy nets over it easier, but it also made the boats prone to swamping. Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat, and the disciples come and ask him a question. It may have been the same one persecuted Christians of Mark’s time, or our time, have. “Don’t you care that we’re perishing?” Jesus awakes. He rebukes the wind and waves, and they’re silent. Let’s just think about that for a moment. He spoke to the very forces of nature, and they listened and obeyed. We can do a lot with modern technology, but we can barely predict the weather, let alone control it. Jesus tells the wind to cut it out, and the tempest cowers before Him. Then He turns to the disciples and chides them for lack of faith. “Why are they afraid?” He asks. Why does Jesus say this? Why the rebuke? Is this Christ speaking directly to the persecuted first century Christian community through Mark’s Gospel? Is it Jesus speaking across the centuries to you and me? What if you’re an Egyptian Christian watching ISIS behead believers? What if you’re one of the many Christian refugees in Syria and Iraq? Or those living in Pakistan, Iran, China, or North Korea? What if you were just diagnosed with a terminal illness, or got word that a friend has died? The disciples’ reaction is interesting. Their fear doesn’t go away, but it is redirected. They had been afraid of the wind and the waves outside the boat. Now they’re far more in amazed at the person in the boat with them. “Who is this?” they ask. Compared to the storm, He looked infinitely greater. Is the real secret to overcoming our dread of the things of this world, to learn to fear and respect the One who is in the Church with us? Should we have more respect for the contents of the communion cup than the contents of our bank accounts? Whom do we think will save us when our lives are threatened, or coming to an end? As Job did, we must arrive at the conclusion that God is God, and we are not. Jesus couldn’t have made it any clearer when He said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” In other words, fear, love and respect God. Keep in mind that throughout the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is travelling to the cross. He will knowingly and willingly go to an agonizing, humiliating death to bear and pay for our sins, not His own. The disciples in the boat were confronted with the One who is both God and man. If He is less than God, His death was meaningless, His sacrifice of no use. If He is all God and does not die, we are still in our sins. But Christ is both true God and true man who was crucified, rose, and ascended into Heaven to come again. That means we can stand in fearful awe of Him, love Him, and be saved by Him at the same time. There is a storm out there – it might not have thunder and lightning, but our boat can feel like it’s swamped and going down. Maybe it’s a financial storm, or family troubles, maybe it came on the winds of a diagnosis. Whatever the cause, it can strike us with fear, and uncertainty. The most difficult part of the storm can be that it points to a lack of faith and trust in the only One that can lead us out of it. With eyes on the waves and ears filled with the sound of wind, we can overlook the One who only seems to be napping. We can miss the quiet and strong Lord who’s always been there. There is no storm greater than our Saviour. He has climbed into the boat with us through His incarnation. He has united Himself with you and me. The Lord of the Church, while seeming to be asleep and uncaring, will arise in due time to bring believers to Heaven, with Him, for eternity. Jesus has come for those that are perishing in this world, sinners. He does all the work to pay for our sins, and asks us to believe it. To simply receive the gift of faith that the Holy Spirit works within us using God’s Word and His Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper – His means of grace. He hates what the storms do to us. He died to heal these hurts once and for all, to wipe away sin and restore us to paradise. He has come to Church with us today, this almighty Creator God. He is in the chalice and the bread at communion, in the waters of Baptism, His voice rings out in the sermon and absolution. He draws us through His Spirit to this place and these things. He takes our vision off frightful, worldly things, and lets us see His strong and gentle presence. Jesus didn’t throw the foolish, faithless disciples out of that boat, any more than He casts us out today. We may not be able to pry open our hearts to believe and love as we ought to, but He can, He does, He has. Amen. PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 THE LORD’S PRAYER Page 196 THE WORDS OF OUR LORD Page 197 Pax Domini Pastor: The peace of the Lord be with you always. Congregation: Amen. THE DISTRIBUTION Post Communion Collect (Left-hand column) Page 201 Salutation and Benedicamus Page 201-202 Benediction Page 202 CLOSING HYMN 752 “Be Still, My Soul” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqDSZHDhenY