Where Were You?

5 Pentecost Proper 7

June 23, 2024

Job 38:1-11; 2 Cor. 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41

Deacon Jae Wan Chung

Nearly thirty years ago I was in Korea, heading to Dokdo on board an LST (Landing Ship, Tank), which was used for the WWII Normandy Landing. Dokdo is a small island in the far east territory of Korea. This mission was the first for the newly commissioned officers in the Korean Navy. When we embarked, the weather looked good, but by the next day a typhoon was coming up from south of Japan. The wind was increasingly gusty, and the waves were getting higher. The LST captain finally was ordered to return to the harbor. We were glad for the reprieve; we wouldn’t have to go through the storm after all. But even the return was difficult, as the LST was pitching and rolling from the large waves. Many men were seasick. There would be no food or sleep until we reached safety. Finally, we made it to the harbor, where the morning was beautiful and peaceful — a stark contrast to the stormy night before. 

In today’s Gospel reading from Mark, Jesus and his disciples set out in a small boat for a healing mission across the Sea of Galilee. While Jesus was asleep, the wind whipped up to dangerous levels. The disciples feared the boat would be swamped and they would drown. Unlike my own experience at sea, they did not receive orders to return to dry land. Terrified, the disciples woke Jesus, who rebuked the wind and commanded the sea to be still. Jesus and his disciples continued safely to the far shore, where their mission was to liberate a man suffering from demons. Jesus caused the demons to leave the man and enter a herd of pigs, which then ran down a steep path into the sea and drowned. The townspeople, after seeing the sick man’s return to health, then asked Jesus to leave. This trip had great meaning not only for the man who was healed, it clearly woke the disciples to the fact that they didn’t know Jesus as well as they thought they did. Their beloved teacher not only had the power to cast out demons; he could literally change nature’s course — even the wind and the sea had to obey Jesus! The disciples, despite being at Jesus’ side, had not yet recognized the extent of his dominion. Only with pitching and rolling through the chaos of the windstorm could they have the experiential and existential knowledge of Jesus Christ.

The same thing happened to Job. The Hebrew pronunciation is Yob and the verb root of his name is Ayib, which means “to be an enemy” or “to be hated/hostile toward.” Job was an enemy to Satan because he was a blameless and righteous man. In Job’s chapter in the Bible, even his three friends seem to be his enemies. Job’s nickname is “a righteous man of faith,” and some of us might say that Job is finally blessed by his faith. But I think Job was blessed through his tenacious struggles with faith. In the beginning and at the end of his struggle with faith there was a great wind – his house was struck by a great wind and collapsed, killing his ten children. And in today’s reading the voice of the LORD came out of a great wind. Only with pitching and rolling through the windstorm could Job find the answer to his questions about life. 

Throughout his many trials, Job asks God about the cause of his suffering. Do you remember a popular book by Rabbi Harold Kushner called “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?” Rabbi Kushner was struggling with many questions about theodicy, which roughly means: where is God in this stormy world? Why does misfortune and downright evil plague good people? In today’s reading, the LORD answered Job out of the windstorm. Paradoxically, Job found the answer to his own questions within God’s return volley of pointed questions to Job. Job received the true knowledge of God in answer to his questions, and that became blessing of his life. Finally, Job found peace and the true self from the Word of God in the storm. He confessed that “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” He finally had the existential and experiential knowledge of God. 

In other words, Job and the disciples recognized that they were with Jesus, the True Answer of God about themselves. If we want to find peace in the storms of life, all we have to do is be with Jesus and be in Jesus. Through our pitching and rolling struggles with faith we can get to the harbor of peace. On board the LST in the stormy sea we heard the voice of the captain, saying, “Don’t worry. This is an LST which is designed for landing on shore. We’ll get there soon.” That answer gave us peace because we were in a ship. 

Jesus asks us, “Why are you afraid?” Because we might lose something. If we have nothing to lose we would not be afraid of anything. This is the way of living of St. Paul. He described himself as having nothing, and yet possessing everything because he was in Jesus, the source of everything. And so the command of Jesus was not toward the wind and the sea, but toward us: “Peace! Be still! I am with you and stay in me.”

Amen.