THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

Collect
Lord God, you who know that we are placed in the midst of so many and so great dangers, and that because of our human weakness we cannot always stand upright: Grant us such a measure of strength and protection that we may be supported in all dangers, and be carried through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen.

Matthew 8 : 23 - 27
Jesus Calms the Storm
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Meditation
The Lord Jesus displays his dominion over the forces of nature. The God-man in the boat had designed the journey across the lake to be a voyage of understanding for the disciples. It was not to be a peaceful crossing. Providence had decreed not just a run-of-the-mill storm that causes no great panic, but a furious storm that descended without warning. Un-forecasted terror gripped the seasoned sailors who normally could handle
their fishing vessels with great expertise. Waves easily mounted the sides of their boat threatening to fill it with an unwelcome volume of water and sink it. The disciples instantly sensed the danger with unaccustomed alarm. But Jesus was unaware and continued sleeping. His former encounter with a crowd tired him and he needed refreshment. His sleep was so sound that the raging storm did not disturb him. The
disciples rising reliance upon the master was quickly awakened.

They woke Jesus with urgent appeals for safety. They were embroiled in a life or death situation and they had sufficient trust in the power of Jesus to rescue them. “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown?” A disastrous death was imminent. No sailor of any kind underestimates the danger of water. These hardy and experienced men who derived their living from the lake were seriously afraid of the fate that surrounded them - demise by storm stronger than any they had ever experienced.

It was a case of the Lord educating his folk by extreme measures. Experts and people of exceptional accomplishment can tend to rest on heir abilities to cope. Providence sometimes issues a surprise that shakes us out of our presumptuousness. None of us are
omni-competent or invulnerable. There is always something that will scare the greatest hero out of their wits. The disciples quickly learned that they were mere men dependent on more than their acquired skills or inherited abilities. When it comes to the crunch many of us learn our dependence on divine action and intervention. Humans are not supermen (Hyper-men) as much as some males may retain that boyish notion.

But the disciples were taught much more about themselves in the midst of the tempest. Mere men they certainly were, but mere man Jesus was not. “The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” The raging
storm revealed the unrestricted authority of the Son God. Our self-trust, our creature-trust in our fellows must subside as we arrive at an absolute trust (never fully gained on earth) in the Saviour who ever sails with us. How often has he stood with us through the storms of life? How often could he address us with those words, “You of little faith, why are you afraid”.

This is not simply a cosy story to soothe the timid or apathetic. It is a call to courage in our confidence in God when our stoutheartedness falls apart and we tremble in great fear. It points to our ultimate defense, our only deliverer Jesus Christ. Jesus’ power prevails everywhere, always. O, for that certitude!

*The sea of life: Blessed are all your saints, O, God, and King, who have travelled over the tempestuous sea of this life and have made the harbor of peace and felicity. Watch over us who are still on dangerous voyage. Frail is our vessel, and the ocean is wide; but as in your mercy you have set our course, so pilot the vessel of our life towards the everlasting shore of peace, and bring us at last to the quiet haven of our heart’s desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord. St. Augustine

Matthew 8: 28-34
Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men
When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

Meditation
Jesus' lake crossing was dual purpose. He had demonstrated his power to govern nature (of which he was Creator), now he will show his supremacy over the realm of the demonic. He transfers himself from the stormy elements of wind and wave to the dark realm of mental derangement and terrifying physical violence. He elects to arrive at a place too terrible for folk to pass by and notice, and he encounters the fearsome territory
and fury of men inhabited by evil spirits. Their desperate depth of depravity and dangerousness is signified by their frightening emergence from the desolate tombs of the dead. These men are deemed beyond all help and hope. They stir revulsion and dread in every heart that hears of them. What an unimaginable and miserable destiny.

But Jesus went there to meet these prisoners and practitioners of evil. He was sovereign over the demonic oppressors to liberate them, and powerful enough to banish the devil’s minions. The Lord Jesus proved himself superior to all powers, natural and supernatural, and all that is deadly and destructive. He is the strong man and strong Son of God and our Refuge from all that threatens to harm us. He is our all-round and abiding security. Heaven will reveal the times and types of his rescue of us in a hazardous life. Yet, there are those for whom Jesus is the principal upsetter of a preferred way of life that they cannot ever envision quitting. They bid him to depart from them. They deem him unprofitable to their accustomed desires. They are the ones to be pitied in life’s story.

RJS

 Matthew 8 : 5 -13

For the Christian, facts are the foundation of sure knowledge and renewed life in union with Jesus Christ. We are folk of conviction as to the truth of divine revelation laid before us in Holy Scripture. Our confidence and abiding hope are lodged in God the Three-in-One, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A reality derived from historical record and insight into the invisible sustains and surrounds us. We are inhabitants of the realm of faith with a grasp of verities illuminated only by the light and manifestation of things as they really are by the Spirit of Christ. The Word of God shapes our world view - our understanding of this world, and our incomplete apprehension of the world to come. A God-given certainty accompanies us through life and into the enjoyment of life everlasting. Solid truth surrounds and sustains us. The divine message in the Lord Jesus, Son of God, guarantees an adequacy of accurate perception to the mind and the guidance of the Comforter ensures our safe journey toward eternity.

   The substance of our faith is objective. Its content is communicated and confirmed by God himself at work within us. The basis of our confidence is infallible. But not so is our behavior. We are frail and fallible to a high degree. If God and his truth are immutable we are creatures of fluctuation determined by mood. By mood means that we vary in our apprehension and sensibility toward matters and our attitude and actions are not yet consistent with the will and character of God. Within our subjective selves there is a dissonance with the nature and ways of God. There will be such discord until we are fully delivered from self, sin, and the ways of this world. We are not yet perfect. That is our prospect in paradise. Our holiness and wholeness are partial. The exhortations and encouragements of Scripture, prophetic and apostolic, are essential. We are not only to be instructed in the truths of the Lord; we need to be educated as to being true in the Lord. Life here, under God and with God, is developmental. It is a process of healing. Scripture is comforting and corrective in accordance with the divine compassion.

   There are many lapses in the lives of the saints. Some of these are evident but many more are secrets confined to the deepest crypt at the core of our being, driving our secret conceptions and imaginings, and often not discovered or detected by ourselves. Jeremiah, that man of deep inner disturbances, declares that we cannot know ourselves exhaustively. “The heart is deceitful: above all things: and beyond cure: Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9). Knowing this predicament the prophet wails before the Lord: “I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. Correct me Lord, but only with justice — not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing’ (10:23-24).

   Hence the biblical insistence on justness of outlook and of life. Belief and behavior must be right with a divinely determined fairness of approach to life, evident in active roles and relationships. The God of grace will make us gracious gradually as we discern our continual need for supernatural assistance. “As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). This is an enormous responsibility so contrary to our self-serving ambitions (often disguised). Harmony is a collaborative exercise among the people of God. It is godly, sensible self-denial that promotes peace and harmony. The vengeful heart, wounded unjustly or reacting from offended pride, must struggle through the donation of grace not to provoke conflict and division. Paul does not hector the family of God. It is evident that he sees the problems among folk that are difficult to surmount given the residue within us of the old Adamic nature that still fosters the evil of the curse. He ardently desires the wellbeing of believers individually and collectively (an ecclesiology we have not quite grasped).
 
  We are a congregation, all believers, gathered to the Lord, not separate individuals occasionally swarming together, all busy bees seeking our own advantages and forgetting our obligation of mutual care and service, shared respect and patience, love and fairness (justice). Paul is familiar with the instant instincts of human nature that rush to the fore of our minds and manner. With God’s strong aid we must, with deliberation, curb and quash the evils that still prompt our old, familiar inclinations. May God supply his grace in abundance. May he ever be accessible to our urgent plea for righteousness, and may we always be alert to our total dependence upon him.

RJS