Proper 7B | St. Luke’s, Metuchen

1 Samuel 17:1-49; Psalm 9:9-20; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

I want to take a moment and put this gospel reading into the context of the whole Gospel of Mark. In the chapter right before this one, Jesus has been preaching and teaching beside the lake, also known as the Sea of Galilee. This is what is sometimes called “The Sermon by the Lake”. The crowd was so big, Jesus had to preach and teach from a boat. You could almost call this the “Sermon on the Lake”. Jesus had been using lots of parables, parables like the sower and seed, and, as we heard last week, the mustard seed, representing the Kingdom of God, growing into a big bush, welcoming birds of every kind.

This is the end of the day. No doubt Jesus is tired.   

Let us go across to the other side. Gentile side. Demons were waiting. The storm symbolic. Gerasene demoniac. The demons are disturbed like the lake.

The disciples didn’t know what awaited them, but they sure were afraid.

The children of Israel faced a menacing foe, the Philistine champion, Goliath. Most of us probably heard the story of David and Goliath from our childhood. What do we know about Goliath? He was a giant. Some translations have him standing at 6’9”. Others 9’9”! That detail doesn’t matter. What matters is that this Philistine warrior was taller than Saul, the King of the Israelites. That’s why they chose him to be their king, despite God’s warnings against it. Saul was tall, but Goliath was taller!

And who steps up to fight this giant? A puny shepherd boy. He’s so small that he can’t even wear the king’s armor. He goes out to face his foe, no amour for protection. Just a sling shot as a weapon. But David’s resume was impressive for a boy, times he overcame wild creatures with his bare hands…and God on his side.

Goliath laughs at his opponent, mocking him. But what Goliath did not know, nor probably anyone else for that matter, this boy had God on his side.

The time comes in our own lives when we face serious challenges. On a personal level we can face cancer and other diseases. We can face the loss of jobs or homes. Our seas can sure get stormy. We can face personal Goliaths.

The whole world has been sailing very stormy seas this past year and a half, this storm named COVID-19. Just now it seems the storm is subsiding, but not everywhere in the world, just yet. 

Others times our society can force us into confrontations – facing Goliaths or even demonic powers. We faced one yesterday.

Yesterday morning members of the Diocese of New Jersey, including members of the Anti-Racism Commission and the Reparations Taskforce, marched in Newark to commemorate Juneteenth, the anniversary marking the day in 1865 when slaves in Texas finally received word that they had actually been freed two years before! It took so long for word to reach them that that date has been remembered even to this day.   

We have hard questions to ask ourselves as a nation and as individuals. Why doesn’t it seem we are making any progress in ending racism? One step forward, two steps back. Why is there still so much racial violence and systemic racism in America?

This past Thursday marked six years since 9 innocent people were killed at a Bible Study inside Mother Emanuel church in Charleston. We remember. We remember that racial hatred is real, and it is deadly.

Systemic racism is real, and brave Americans have stood up for decades crying out for justice. Talk about David vs Goliath. People are still working for better schools, a just justice system, and better economic opportunities. The need for economic justice is a passion for many in this diocese, including me. But these waters are troubled, there are forces opposed to it. Waves crash into the ship, slowing our progress. There are goliaths mocking even the most modest efforts toward justice.

As servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God.

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as … a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

The first of these epistles was written by the Apostle Paul, a man who knew all too well the inside of a prison cell. He knew beatings and sleepless nights. The second letter was by Dr. King from inside the Birmingham jail, who knew beatings, fire hoses, and attack dogs. Paul, of course, would be martyred for his faith, executed by the state. Five years after writing his letter, Dr. King would be murdered by the same racism he was fighting so hard against. Sometimes David doesn’t win.

Do you not care that we are dying, Jesus? Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

“Why are you afraid?” Jesus asked them. “Have you no faith?”

He said this, of course, after he stilled the storm, with just a word. Little did the disciples know what still lay ahead of them, an encounter with demonic forces on the other side. They ask each other after Jesus calms the storm – “Who is this that even the wind and waves obey him?” They hadn’t seen anything yet.

Jesus was about to face an even more dramatic encounter. “Have you no faith?” Jesus’ question must have been ringing in their ears as they witnessed another amazing act of God. Mark’s Gospel is full of amazement.

The disciples had a lot to learn. And so do we, especially when we are facing injustices that seem like Goliath, like a legion of demons. These foes are bent on taking away life, and we must stand against them.

God has been faithful in the past – raising up Davids to defeat the giants we face, but also calming the storms that make us cry out – “We are dying!”

Jesus asks us, “Why are you afraid?”

Whenever we celebrate the Eucharist, we rehearse the history of the people of God. It reminds us how God has been faithful in the past, and God WILL be faithful in the future. Storms and giants may make us fearful, but God is greater still. Whatever foe we may face, and this weekend, racism is front and center for many of us, we know that whatever foe we may face, God sees, and God will be with us in darkest hour. Amen.