This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Matthew sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, July 30, 1989.

Our scripture reading is changed this morning from the one that was listed. We are in Matthew 8. We are at verse 18 and we will be reading through verse 27. Hear the word of God. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

And a certain scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead.

And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves, But he was asleep. And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us! We perish! He saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the seas obey him?

We have a leap ahead from Matthew 6 to a famous pericope, famous story, one that is recorded in each of the first three Gospels, namely the spilling from the storm. Matthew, in this section in his gospel, has gathered together a number of miracle stories. We’ve run through Matthew 8 and 9, and we note a number of miracle stories there included.

This particular miracle is often cited as an example of the so-called nature miracle. miracle that demonstrates Jesus’ power over nature, the world, and the realm of nature, calling attention to his extraordinary might and magnificence. However, it is my hope this morning to show you just how much this story exceeds the boundaries of a near-nature miracle. There is much more involved here than simply an account of Jesus’ power over the forces of the creation. This story, in truth, reaches out in such a way as to demonstrate Christ’s power not just over nature, but over supernature. And it is a story that has something specific to say about the matter of discipleship. These matters then bring us beyond the boundaries of a miracle simply preoccupied with Christ and his power over nature.

Matthew 8 verses 23 through 27 is specifically about discipleship. It is specifically about following Jesus, and that is why we read the story that leads into this particular account, verses 18 through 22. Jesus there, withdrawing himself from the crowds, telling of his intent to make off across the Sea of Galilee to the other side. and then certain would-be disciples coming to him, making their protestations, and Jesus making his appropriate responses to them. Discipleship, an easy matter, a comfortable thing, or something filled with risk and danger, something injected with a specific precariousness. Are these disciples spoken of, these would-be disciples of verses 18 through 22, prepared actually for what is in store? One says, I will follow you anywhere, Jesus, and then Jesus says, well, I really have nowhere to lay my head.

Have you taken that into account? In this world, I am but passing through. As are my own, so am I. I am numbered with them. I am a stranger and an alien. Have you taken that into account? Another one says, but first let me go and bury my father. Let me prove to be the faithful son in this Jewish economy. That the man’s faithful son, in order that inheritances may be passed on from generation to generation. Let me first secure my inheritance in this world, Jesus, then I will come and follow you.

So we have the protestations of the would-be disciples, and they then are contrasted with readiness, seemingly, the readiness, the unquestioning readiness of the disciples that actually do follow Jesus. Notice verse 23. Jesus has made plain his intent, he’s going to cross over the sea, now he’s gotten into the boat, and there are these disciples who follow him.

They are not making excuse They are not declaring this and that, but what is said of them is this. They followed him. Now Jesus most definitely knows what’s out there. And most likely these men, being fishermen, know what’s out there too. They follow. True disciples follow Jesus. Now there are many great religious figures and there are many great personages that this world has known. There have been many that have arisen within the church herself. that you see true disciples of Jesus follow Him. And that, regardless of the cost. But to be a true disciple of Jesus, to follow Him means to be placed at risk. to be placed. In the midst of danger. First twenty four. Great storm arose in the city both covered. With.

What kind of master is what kind. of Lord, can this be, that takes his disciples out into the midst of the sea, at a time when the sea revolts and is most likely to overthrow them? The true disciples of Jesus, those who follow him, are placed at risk.

And true disciples of Jesus are those who are utterly dependent upon him. They cry out to him, Lord, save us or we perish. There’s no one else to whom they can appeal. There’s nowhere else they can go. True disciples are utterly dependent upon Jesus. And true disciples, in light of their Lord’s provision, are left in complete astonishment before Him.

That’s how the story ends. How many of these things have now evaporated from the cause of Christ, as it is so defined in our liturgy? Disciples following everyone but Jesus, or all seemingly enlisting Jesus for their cause as if Jesus were following them, not they, Jesus, The root of discipleship, one of comfort and ease.

Why do you think I came to Jesus in the first place? I was having trouble. Life was a mess. The complications were overwhelming. I came to Jesus in order to get out of the mess, in order not to be at risk or to be found in danger or to have my life viewed as precarious in this world. dependent on Jesus, rather much more upon my own resource. I still attend worship.

I put in my time with respect to prayer and other religious duties, but really, you see, God has left us here to depend upon ourselves our own resources, our own capability. We will accomplish the purposes of the kingdom. We will achieve the end that religion has in view by our own devices, by our own cleverness, by our own strength. What a marvelous invention is modern science. for modern science has taught us just how much in control of things we are. Why we can even program a revival. We can analyze the ingredients necessary to bring about a renovation of people in any given location. We can chart the path. We can enlist all of the right ingredients, put them in place, and what do you know, as we mix them together, instant revival of the Holy Spirit, bound to deliver.

And with respect to the last, what can be said? Astonishment before the person, the personage of Jesus. Astonishment, awe, amazement. You possibly melted before him? What manner of man is this? You literally awestruck by so magnificent an individual. One incomparable. the likes of which has never been known.

Our familiarity with Jesus breeds contempt. I get a kick out of the various Sunday School publishing firms that put out their version of what Jesus looked like. The one that I liked best was the fellow with the square jaw and the well-trimmed beard, a rather muscular torso. I could swear if you put a T-shirt on him and a whistle, he’d look like a director of a youth camp. Now some worshipful children may stand in awe of such a figure, but generally, not so. Here are the disciples then.

In fact, the life of discipleship, seen as it were, as a life in a boat crossing the precarious sea. How severe, how extreme the risk, how deep, how precarious the journey. How might we see the sea? How will we interpret that upon which Jesus now has launched out. Well, in one sense, the sea can be viewed as the world as a whole. The world that threatens the disciples. The world, through various means, that seeks to grasp of the disciple and pull him down. But even more, in keeping with what we find elsewhere in the Bible, in the Old Testament, and also in the New, the sea is a figure of the awesome abyss.

The bottomless pit The risk in view is launching out upon the face of the world, launching out over the surface of the abyss. And the truth of the matter is, no, it’s not that if you’re lucky you will survive, it’s that you can’t survive. It’s impossible for you to be successful in this journey at all. It’s nothing that can be avoided. It is faced inevitably. It is there for all that would be disciples of Jesus Christ. It is there. The sea must be traversed. You must cross over the face of the world and over the surface of the abyss. But how are you going to do it? How are you going to survive? How are you going to make it?

As much as in that day, when these disciples in that boat were crossing that sea, all disciples of Jesus presently are in a boat and they are crossing the sea. While they do so, it may well appear to them that Jesus is far distant, as much as asleep Unconcerned.

Jesus, of course, is not unconcerned. Oh, he has slept. But he has also awakened. He has died, but he has also been raised again. And he, as the living Christ, is always awake now, though seemingly distant, to provide for his own, to hear their cries and to bring them through. has triumphed over the world and over the abyss by his death and resurrection, and he has the power over both.

It may well seem to us now even more so than it did for those disciples when Jesus was asleep in the stern of the ship. Jesus now being in heaven, that he is absent from us, but think again, our Savior is present, guaranteeing to us our folks’ safety. And as it was then, when he responded to the prayer of his disciples, chiding their unbelief to be sure, yet granting their request, he did so by his word, and there came for them the great call.

Not only then, his presence with you as you traverse the world, as you cross the surface of the abyss, an impossible task, not only his presence, but also the certainty of that calm and peace that promised to you and conveyed to you through him. He is the one who has overcome the world, granting to you an uncommonty not as the world a serenity that comes from heaven, but then lays upon the surface of the world and upon the opening of the abyss. There is a day coming. when, in the language of another storm story found in the Gospels, there is a day coming when Jesus will come to us through the raging tempest and the contrary winds. As one who seemingly walks upon the surface as one seemingly from another world. And in that day it will be clear to each of us that there is granted to us through him the power to walk upon the surface with him.

As the disciples get into the boat, it’s not in lieu of a possible journey, one capable of successful end. It is an impossible journey. It cannot be made successfully without Jesus. If in fact our Christ can calm the storm of the world and quiet the abyss, He can certainly take care of us each day in all of our little tempests that arise. until the end, you see that the calm come and the journey successfully is completed He is present with you today And it is important for you to remember that, not only as you receive this word, but as you receive the sacrament of the Lord’s suffering. the boat may appear as if it cannot withstand and in the midst of the storm we may even lose our sense of that ability to chart a course that will bring us to land but in our ship is Christ With Him, now all things are possible. And we are saved. We thank you for this, our God, and ask that we would remember the presence of your Son with us, in the Word, and also in the Sacraments. Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.