Faces of Failure: The Disciples

Daniel Defoe in the well-known book Robinson Crusoe bases his story on the need to call upon God in time of trouble. Crusoe had long been isolated on a small island following a shipwreck. He had come to believe firmly that he was the only human being on the island. But one day as he went to the beach…

People go through life with contrasting attitudes. For some, life can be faced courageously. Others seem to cower constantly before ills that are either real or imagined. Some interesting statistics along this line were issued by the famous Mayo Clinic. They issued a report that anxiety is one …

Modern submarines cannot easily be caught without warning of an impending disaster. They have the use of radar, and by means of radio can keep in touch with their headquarters and hear the weather reports. We, too, can tune in to forecasts about the weather and be warned of severe thunderstorms or winter storms of snow and ice. But…

Victor Hugo, in his story "Ninety-Three," tells of a ship caught in a dangerous storm on the high seas. At the height of the storm, the frightened sailors heard a terrible crashing noise below the deck. They knew at once that this new noise came from a cannon, part of the ship's cargo, that had broken loose. It was moving back and forth with the swaying of the ship, crashing into…

Storms at sea have been a part of human experience from the beginning of time. On Christopher Columbus' journey home after discovering the New World, a storm threatened to sink his ship. He was less concerned for hi…

An elderly pastor was crossing the ocean some years ago on an ocean liner. One morning he awoke to hear the ship's foghorn blasting an ominous warning every fifteen seconds. Going out on deck he saw that the fog was so thick that he could see only a few feet in front of him. The fearful thought crossed his mind that under these circumsta…

There were six cities in ancient Israel which were designated as cities of refuge. When someone took a human life without premeditation or malice he could flee to o…

Faith and fear are enemies. You must choose one or the other, but you cannot have both.

Some boys were playing on a beach with a large beach ball. By accident the ball was thrown too high and, driven by the wind, landed in the water. No thought was given to it for a few minutes until one of the boys noticed it was going farther and farther from shore. One of the boys decided to retrieve the ball. After entering the water he realized that it was farther from shore than he had th…

God indeed cares, and sent his Son to keep us from perishing because of our sins. The story is told of an ancient king who dearly loved his son but wanted him to grow in character by facing up to life's hardships. So he sent him out into life to meet whatever troubles might come his way. The young man thought he was alone and grew with each difficulty he met. He did not know that his father's love had caused the king to send out a group of strong and brave knights to look after his son. Through the dark nights when he could hear the howling of wild beasts, the prince had no idea that the knights were near at hand for his protection. In life we may think we are alone. We n…

Mark 4:37-41 is one of the many passages in the Bible which has been set to music. "Master, the tempest is raging! The billows are tossing high! The sky is o’er shadowed with blackness ..." You recognize it. From childhood, we have sung the words to "Peace Be Still" and have loved to lift the refrain which concludes, "they all shall sweetly obey thy will ..." Two primary elements are underscored in both the scripture and the hymn: the power of Christ and faith in Christ.

The Gospel according to Mark characterizes the ministry of Jesus as being a succession of "mighty works," indicative of his Sonship. Actually, the stilling of the storm is only the beginning of a series of incidents portraying the power of Christ. After the storm experience on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus and the disciples c…

We are not told that Jesus commanded the wind and the waves with masterful gestures or a great, loud voice. For all we know from the text, he just quietly told them to behave themselves. This makes sense, because people who truly have power don't need to flaunt it. God may not answer our request with the same…

Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.

The problems began when Chippie's owner decided to clean Chippie's cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She'd barely said "hello" when "ssssopp!" Chippie got sucked in. The bird's owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum cleaner, and opened the bag. There was Chippie - still alive, but stunned.

Since the bird was covered with dust, hair and all the …

We must remember that regardless of what happens, God will be with us. Wrote the Psalmist: "When I am afraid I put my trust in you." Well, let me ask you. Where else are you going to go? No matter the trials we face, God is still going to…

The story is told of old Bishop Warren Chandler, after whom the school of theology at Emory University was named. As he lay on his death bed, a friend inquired as to whether or not he was afraid. "Please tell me frankly," he said, "do you fear crossing over the river of death?" …

I read a story about an Ohio gentleman whose oil well caught fire, and he put out an all-points' bulletin for help, to make sure that anybody and everybody would come and help him. He offered a $30,000 reward to whoever could put out that fire. With all the large firehouses from cities like Newell, Chester, Wellsville, Dillonvale sent help. They sent their best companies accompanied by the most modern fire- fighting equipment available, but not one of the trucks could get within 200 yards of the blaze because the heat …

Dante, the great poet of the Renaissance, was exiled from his home in Florence, Italy. Depressed by this cruel turn of fate, he decided to walk from Italy to Paris, where he could study…

A cartoon strip shows Dennis the Menace in bed between his mother and f…

Some years ago the late, great Norman Vincent Peale visited Europe. In Belgium he went to what used to be a Nazi prison camp, between Antwerp and Brussels. His guide that day told him that he remembered the morning when the Nazis arrested his own father. They brought him to this very camp and shot him. Dr. Peale asked the guide, "How did those prisoners stand up against the awesome fear that must have ha…

It is easy for me to poke fun at liberal biblical scholars, because I am one of them. Over the years, we have tended to come at scripture with the notion that, above all else, scripture ought to make sense. So, in order to make the Bible make sense, we have tried to rationalize everything in the Bible that sounds irrational. Now I suppose the idea of a man standing in boat and rebuking waves of that magnitude borders on the irrational. Which is why we are fond of saying: "Ah! Jesus was not talking to the waves at all. When Jesus said, 'Peace, be still,' Jesus was talking to the disciples. He was calming his men. And once calmed, they could face the storm without the need of any superna…

In the summer of 1990 Binney & Smith, the makers of Crayola crayons, retired eight colors from their 64 crayon box and replaced them with eight brighter, bolder colors. The colors inducted in the Crayola Hall of Fame include raw umber, maize, lemon yellow, blue gray, violet blue, green blue, orange red and orange yellow. The new shades introduced include such postmodern colors as Cerulean, Vivid Tangerine, Royal Purple, Teal Blue, Fuchsia, Jungle Green, Dandelion, and Wild Strawberry.

The reaction on the part of adults to the change was swift, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, always objecting. The "Save Raw Umber Societ…

Stephen Crane wrote a poem: A man said to the universe, "I exist." "That may be true," said the universe, "however that has never created in me a sense of obligation to you."

How many, like Crane, have cried out in their pain and despair, and have received nothing in reply? Is there anyone "out there" who cares about us "down here?" Or, in time of pain, are we mostly left to our own devices? When we pray, "Deliver us from evil," as we sh…

The disciples' question is ours: Do you not care that we perish?

Jesus doesn't care about the storm. But does he care about us who care about the storm?

About this time of the year, I invariably think of a divinity student whom I taught. He felt called by God to serve as pastor to rural churches. Amazingly, he found a woman who felt called by God to marry him and go with him into a lifetime of service in out-of-the-way places. They went, in June, on a honeymoon, traveling by bicycle in the mountains and camping, the only honeymoon they could afford. First day out, on the road, there was an accident. She was hit by a car, crushed, and died a painful, terrible death.

I could imagine that young man…

Often, the alternative to risking the dangerous, stormy crossing, is to stay tied up on the shore. Unfortunately, that is the picture of many churches--a peaceful, restful club house on the shore rather than a boat following Jesus' command to take the fearful risk to cros…

One time a mother walked in on her 6 year old son who was sobbing. "What's the matter?" she asked. "I've just figured out how to tie my shoes." "Well, honey, that's wonderful. You're growing …

During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once, as he censured Stalin…

Frederick Buechner, the famous Presbyterian preacher, writes of Gertrude Stein asking on her deathbed, "What is the answer?" Then, after a long silence, she asks yet another question. This time she asks, "What is the question?" Buechner co…

The Scriptures include a significant number of life-and-death questions about meaning, purpose and value in life. Consider some of the questions posed by Scripture:

• What will it profit us if we gain the whole world but forfeit our life? (Matthew 16:26)
• Who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16:15)
• What are you looking for? (John 1:38)
• Who is my neighbor? (Like 10:29)
• What must I do to …

God also works through other people to assure us in the midst of difficult times. A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows." This puzzled the farmer. But he liked the young man, and hired him. A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to ch…

There was a woman in a community who was well known for her simple faith and great calm in the midst of many trials.  Another woman who had never met her but had heard of he…

A little girl was about to undergo a dangerous operation.  Just before the doctor administered the anesthetic, he said: Before we can make you well, we must put you to sleep.  The girl responded: "O…

We love stories of genuine heroes. People who perform remarkable acts of courage. Their stories thrilling, but I admit they are a bit unsettling. How do people do those things? In a real crisis, what is to keep me from running in the other direction? The best stories are the ones that t…

A man named Fock was a sailor in World War II. In one of his letters home he wrote, "If you should hear that I have fallen in battle, do not …

There was a little farm boy who was taken to a neighbor's house for the day. As night came on the little boy went out on the porch intending to go home. He became frightened by the darkness and began to cry. There was no one to take him home…

Any daily newspaper recounts tragic story after story of premature deaths, fractured relationships, and broken dreams. Indeed, we need not turn to any newspaper for an accounting of the world's troubles and sorrows. We have only to look at our own friends and neighbors and families. We have only to look into our own lives and hearts. Jesus, the healer and power-giver, never insulted people by telling them their problems weren't real. He never told the sick they were never really sick or that their illness had no pain or reality. He never told people that death wasn't real, nor did he offer th…

On a cold February 4, 1943, the American ship, the Dorchester, was carrying several hundred soldiers off the coast of Greenland. Suddenly, an enemy torpedo ripped into its hull. Within minutes the ship would go under. Amid the panic and confusion, four chaplains, Alex Good, Jewish; John Washington, Cathol…

I was actually rescued from drowning in the sea. The events and images of that day is very powerful. I can recall being physically tossed about by powerful waves and buffeted by the cold wind; I know what it is like to be sinking in the sea for what seems to be the very last time. I understand with absolute clarity how the disciples must have felt as disaster overtook them while their Master slept. I lived out this Bible story on March 12, 1967 in a very literal way. Since then, I have had several occasions to live it out in a metaphorical way, and I am ashamed that I still haven't learned my lesson despite all these years. 

You know what I am talking about: there are times in your lif…

Jesus does not promise to calm every storm in your life. Jesus does promise to calm you in every storm of life.

John Wesley could hardly have been called a faint-hearted stay-at-home. But there were times when even he lost his nerve. During one of Wesley's several Atlantic crossings, a frighteningly fierce storm broke out, pitching and tossing the ship about like a bathtub toy. While Wesley and others clung to their bunks and hid their heads, a community…

Victor Hugo, who is famous for his novel the Hunchback of Notre Dame, also wrote a story called "Ninety-Three." It tells of a ship caught in a dangerous storm on the high seas. At the height of the storm, the frightened sailors heard a terrible crashing noise below the deck. They knew at once that this new noise came from a cannon, part of the ship's cargo, that had broken loose. It was moving back and forth with the swaying of the ship, crashing into the side of the ship with terrible impact. Knowing that it could cause the ship to sink, two brave sailors volunteered to make the dangerous attempt to retie …

Pastor John Ortberg has a delight discussion on porcupines in his book, Everybody's Normal Until You Get to Know Them. Porcupines are members of the rodent family, says Ortberg. They have around 30,000 quills attached to their bodies. Each quill can be driven into an enemy, and the enemy's body heat will cause the microscopic barb to expand and become more firmly embedded. The wounds can fester; the more dangerous ones, affecting vital organs, can be fatal.

The porcupine is not generally regarded as a lovable animal, Ortberg continues. Books and movies celebrate almost every other conceivable ani­mal. Dogs, cats, horses, pigs like Babe or Arnold Ziffel in the old TV s…

The boat is a symbol for the church. It has been that way from the beginning. The ship has always been a symbol for the church. The logo for the ecumenical movement in our day is the symbol of a ship upon the sea. The Roman Catholic Church refers to itself as "the bark of Pet…

In the GardinerMuseum in Boston there is a painting by Rembrandt entitled "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee." It is Rembrandt's interpretation of this scene. It shows panic etched on the faces of the disciples, as their small vessel is being raised up on a high wave, about to be crashed down. Two of the disciples are attempting to rouse Jesus who is asleep in the stern of the boat. But if you look more closely, you wil…

When I was a kid, I was terrified of spiders. Even Daddy Long Legs, which I now understand are not, technically, spiders but have a very spiderly look about them, scared me to death. Once, almost literally, when one leapt out of a half bushel of peaches we had just bought by a road side stand, I leapt out of the car into the road. Fear can do that. 

My sisters and brother didn't help…

Do you remember the 60's song by Simon and Garfunkel song which had the line, "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you. What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson? Joltin' Joe has left and gone away." Originally it was part of the soundtrack for the film The Graduate, the song "Mrs. Robinson" has became one of the 1960s' best-known, iconic ballads.

But in a 60 Minutes interview Paul Simon mentioned that some time after the song was released, he received a letter from Joe DiMaggio in which DiMaggio expressed his befuddlement at what in the world that song could mean. DiMaggio wrote, "What do you mean 'Where have I gone?' I haven't gone anywh…

Garrison Keillor On Lutherans: I have made fun of Lutherans for years - who wouldn't, if you lived in Minnesota? But I have also sung with Lutherans and that is one of the main joys of life, along with hot baths and fresh sweet corn

We make fun of Lutherans for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like they do.

If you ask an audience in New York City, a relatively Lutheran less place, to sing along on the chorus of 'Michael Row the Boat Ashore,' they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their under-wear. But if you do this among Lutherans they'll smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! And down the road!

Lutherans are bred …

A hurricane is a storm with cyclonic winds that exceed 74 m.p.h. Rain, thunder, and lightning usually accompany the winds. Hurricanes can be very fierce storms with relentle…

It was just a few days before Christmas, when two men decided to go sailing while their wives went Christmas shopping. While the men were sailing a storm came up-a mighty storm that tossed the boat back and forth across the wat…

This concept of authority as something that causes another person to "do what you want him to do" is reflected in most definitions. For instance, the Random House Dictionary of the English Language speaks of authority as "a power or right to direct the actions or thoughts of others. Authority is a power or right, usually because of rank or office, to issue commands and to punish for violations." Again the root idea seems to be control or direction of the actions of others.

We see this same idea even in sophisticated examinations of authority. For instance, William Oncken, …