The peace of God

[AI translation] I would like to explain this well-known story in the context of the series we started a long time ago, in which we are looking for an answer to the question: what kind of God do we have? I am sure you already know, because I emphasise it every time: we have the God we see in Jesus. It is only through the teachings, the works and especially the person of Jesus that we can know the one true God! In Jesus, man - in Jesus, the invisible God has given us a visible image of himself. God is like Jesus, and Jesus is like God! In this story, through the person of Jesus, we see God as the One whose peace that surpasses all understanding overcomes the most terrifying storms.Let me begin at the very end, with the astonished amazement that burst forth from the disciples' souls in these words, "Who is this, that both the wind and the sea yield to him?" And indeed, who is this Jesus of whom this story alone is told? I can imagine that there are those who read or hear this scene described here with a little scepticism, and perhaps secretly wonder: this is a story with too much legendary overtones! Perhaps the apostles exaggerated when they later told how it was in that storm! In any case, it is hard to believe that this is what really happened. Well, my brothers, I am glad that this story is so incredible, because I see in it that here again we have before us the miracle, the Jesus before whom all human imagination and reasoning is stopped, the Jesus who cannot be confined to our human categories and standards. The Jesus who, in the very words of the Pauline Epistle we have just read, is the One who transcends all understanding and who acts in a way that transcends all understanding. If Jesus were not like that, He would not be worth believing in! It is precisely what is confirmed in this story - and in all the other stories about Him, from His virgin birth to His death, resurrection and ascension - that the whole Old and New Testament constantly proclaims about Him, that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him; In him dwells the power and the divinity of the Creator himself; in him the invisible God manifests his power, greatness and love in visible ways on earth. It is precisely to show that nothing is impossible with God that Jesus wants to show that God is Lord over all evil, sickness, sin and death, and over the forces of nature. God would not be truly God if he were to break his power over the waves of the sea and the roar of the wind. And if God has begun something with this earthly world, He cannot be thwarted in His purpose by the roar of the storm, however awesome! I don't want anything else with this sermon today, except that we may know Jesus' power even more, and dare to trust Him even more!
We need this very much. Because look, this little circle of disciples also set off so peacefully, perhaps happily, with Jesus towards the "other shore". For Jesus is in the boat with them. They are sailing the waters with the dear, mighty Saviour. What harm can happen then? Is not being with Jesus in the boat of life an assurance that one is sailing on mirror-like waters and serene sunshine? Can there be a greater guarantee of peace and quiet in our lives than Jesus? It is almost a guarantee of life when Jesus is there!
But then it suddenly turns out that the sea is not as calm and peaceful as we thought. That little boat is not sailing in the safe calm we had expected and hoped for. Suddenly a gust of wind - which so often hits the Sea of Galilee - starts to toss the little boat back and forth. The waves are already crashing around them. The danger around them is growing. It's as if the forces of hell have been unleashed and are upon them! "How?" the believer is astonished. Doesn't the presence of Jesus exclude from our lives the storm, the life-threatening situation, the desperate circumstances? Do not our faith in God and our Christian religion draw around us high, strong walls that the wind and the wave break? Can all sorts of troubles and all sorts of storms tear a man who sails with Jesus just as much as any other? They can! They can tear! They can endanger his life! Yes, all kinds of trouble! Sickness, sadness, disappointment, grief, shocking, unexpected events! Nowhere in the Bible is there a promise that whoever walks with Jesus will not go into the storm! On the Sea of Galilee, just as on Lake Balaton, a storm suddenly and unexpectedly rushes over the water, and the previously smooth surface of the water is torn apart in angry, crashing waves. Woe to him who is out on the water. Surely this is how the storms of life come! That's how sadness comes. One lives in unsuspecting peace in a happy home, and perhaps an hour later weeps over the corpse of the dearest soul! Or a piece of news comes unexpectedly, and perhaps the dearest hope in our hearts is withered like the first frost of the night on the flowers in the garden. On Lake Balaton, a storm cannon or a signal fire warns of the approach of a storm, but the storms of life are sometimes ushered in with no warning or alarm. Knocking, unannounced, can surprise you at the most unexpected moment. It's good to always be ready for such an eventuality.
Surely any storm will come upon the man who walks with Christ just as it will upon anyone else. In fact! He who walks and lives in communion with Jesus will not only not be spared from storms, but he can be prepared for the fact that, if not before, then afterwards the waters will not be smooth around him. "Let us go over to the other side," says Jesus. The believer's life is nothing other than starting and moving on with Jesus to the other shore, to the shores of eternity. And in doing so, we can very rarely row in peaceful waters. As Paul says: "we must enter the kingdom of God through many wars" #Acts14,22. For Jesus is not of this world, for in him the divine world of eternity has broken into life on earth. Whoever sets out with Jesus will naturally encounter all kinds of opposition. The prince of this world, as the Bible calls the powers of Satan personified, will do everything in his power to lead man astray from the path of faith. I received a letter from one of our brothers this week. He describes the healing effect of a sermon he had listened to on his years of painful spiritual wounds. And when he told his doctor about his happy experience, the doctor, with great scholarly haughtiness, concluded that it was all an overactive fantasy, a play of reference fallacies! And in the soul that was already moved with Jesus, faith was almost shattered!
Well then, reckon with the fact that faith is a constant struggle, a fight against the obstacles that try to break our faith. Anyone who really wants to believe in Jesus seriously will find himself confronted again and again with questions like. What do you gain by believing in Jesus? Are you not just telling yourself that you are a child of God? The unbeliever has no idea of such storms of doubt! Whoever really wants to take seriously the following of Jesus, his commands, for example: deny himself, take up his cross, love his enemies, keep even his eyes pure, suddenly feels as if he is constantly rowing against the wind, in the beating waves, constantly struggling with his stubborn old human nature! And he who dares to represent the kingdom of God and its truth in a non-believing world in a non-negotiable way: sooner or later he will inevitably see the storms that will break out around him! And what does one know of the storms of sin while he lives in them without Christ? For until then one lives in relative comfort, content with oneself! It is only once he has really tried to follow Christ that he feels what tempests of temptation are raging around him! Whoever, because of his faith in Christ and his Christian life, has never been hit by such storms, should urgently check whether Jesus is in the boat of his life?
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the whole story is that Jesus is asleep! Resting peacefully, as if nothing is wrong! Perhaps that is the most horrifying thing of all that the disciples experience in this life-threatening situation! Shouldn't it be that Jesus, in this really critical situation, is there helping, trying, doing something with them and for them? For it is in the very trouble that it should be shown that we have a living God, that "the keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps" #Psalm 121,4! But Jesus sleeps. God is silent. As if he doesn't even notice how much trouble is going on, as if he doesn't even care how his people are struggling, how they are desperate! He tolerates man's suffering, he tolerates man's torment, he tolerates man's waves! Do the cries of woe fall back to earth like pieces of scattered wood, do they not reach God's consciousness? Jesus is asleep! He sleeps peacefully! Oh, how terrible it is when, in the appearance of God's indifference, one is tossed about in such a fearful situation, amidst the greatest problems and doubts! The other day, in a hospital bed, someone sighed in his painful suffering: 'If there really is a God in heaven, if God really had a loving heart, He would not let me suffer like this!
But there is something comforting in the fact that Jesus is asleep and God is silent. To me, this sleeping of Jesus, which is the only thing we are talking about here in this scene, feels more like a powerful sermon, as if he were proclaiming: 'Fear not, the storm is not so dangerous! If Jesus can sleep while his people are struggling, then the danger is only a pretense. And if the Lord can sleep through the storm, then deliverance is assured. You may still be tossing and tossing on the tops of the waves, your boat tossed to and fro by the storm, Jesus may leave you in that distress for a long time to come, but the fact that He is silent and asleep is not a sign of His unlovingness, but of His carefree care, of the fact that this storm cannot harm you, fear not!
Jesus' sleep, God's silence, should not therefore be seen as a cause for despair, but rather as a cause for consolation. And when the waves crash very high around you, listen as if in their roar Jesus were thus encouraging you: 'Fear not, it is not so bad if I, who love you more than anyone, can sleep in the meantime!
And then comes another scene of infinite encouragement: when the disciples could no longer stand the struggle, they hanged the sleeping Jesus. Not very politely and harshly, not even with great faith and trust, but they turned to Him for help. And Jesus woke up! How wonderful: the roaring of the storm and the raging of the sea did not disturb his sleep, he did not wake up, but as soon as his brothers called out to him, he was on his feet! And it is exactly the same today: even in the terrifying turmoil and wild noise of this world, He hears immediately when someone truly begins to pray to Him. Remember, it was the same on the cross; he was almost bleeding to death, dying in agony. Around him the curses, jeers, jeers of the frenzied people were storming. He did not answer a word. And suddenly, through the tumult of the crowd, a faint voice of prayer filtered to Him, a dying voice, a plea of a penitent soul: "Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom!" #Lk23,42 And Jesus, in that dreadful hour, immediately heard and immediately responded. So you too, trust in Him more, you do not beg in vain!
And as soon as Jesus was aroused, the storm ceased: "And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: Silence, be still! And the wind ceased, and there was great calm". Jesus' divine calm prevailed over the storm. No storm can escape the power of Jesus, Lord and Saviour of the world. No wave can go higher or farther than He allows. There is no one and nothing in this world that is not subject to the blessed Hand that was nailed through there on the cross! So: you too, wake up Jesus and wake up to the knowledge that you have with you One to whom the sea, the wind, the devils, and the diseases all yield! Awake to the consciousness that there is One who has sacrificed His life for you, to Whom all power in heaven and on earth has been given. This Someone loves you, then no storm should come upon you that should frighten you! And then you too will be able to sleep soundly even in the midst of the storm, like Jesus! For His peace, yes, His peace that passes all understanding, will prevail over every storm of your soul.
Observe: if you look at the Jesus whom this great scene at sea reveals to us, how plastic this verse becomes at once: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in your prayers and supplications always offer up your requests with thanksgiving to God, And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" #Fil4,6-7.
Amen
Date: 8 October 1967.