Readings:
Sermon:
The Gospel today is from Luke 8:22=25 and tells the story of Jesus calming the storm. Where Jesus and his disciples find themselves caught in a storm on lake galilee and the disciples feared for their lives but Jesus stood up and calmed the wind and raging waters which left the disciples in fear and amazed, asking “who is this?”.
This is a story which follows the disciples having already witnessed Jesus performing miracles and hearing the teaching of Jesus Christ.
Yet in this moment, we learn the disciples still hadn’t grasped who Jesus truly was and they were surprised by Jesus.
This being surprised by Jesus doesn’t end in this passage either, it continues throughout the gospel and even into Lukes second book, the Acts of the Apostles.
In some ways, I think it’s probably the nature of being human in the presence of the divine. We can find ourselves knowing God, we may even know our scriptures really well, and yet even the best of Christians still find themselves surprised by Jesus.
There should be comfort in reading the response of the disciples for all who follow Jesus today. They physically witnessed the incarnated Jesus first-hand, saw his miracles before their very eyes and still struggled to grasp it.
There have been a few times in my life where I have been surprised by Jesus. One is in my own conversion and another is in my own healing testimony early in my faith journey. Even with the remarkable nature of these encounters of God, I have found myself continually surprised.
I remember walking home from work in Wolverhampton and a man who was giving out books about meditation, promoting an alternative religion, stopped me and said: “I’m giving out these books, but I can see you are already a man of peace so don’t need them, can you tell me more?”, and so I got to tell him about Jesus. It was a surprise, I felt exhausted from running around the collection point at Argos but by the power of God, He created this opportunity for this man to hear the gospel.
It's not just the miracles of Jesus which are surprising, but who he is. God with us. He is the one who controls with winds and the waves, we are told elsewhere that all things were created through him. He is the all powerful God.
The greatest surprise is that it is this God who was willing to give up the riches of heaven, to dwell amongst us and give his life up on the cross so that we, though undeserving, could be forgiven and become a beloved child of God. The fact a wretched sinner like me, can call myself righteous, beloved, saved, holy, free, elect, chosen will forever be the greatest surprise.
Let us be people of faith today, may we look on Him with amazement and may we seek to know and love Jesus more and more each day as he continues to surprise us.
Questions:
- Do you have any stories of when Jesus has surprised you?
- Do you know the answer to the disciples question: “who is this?"