Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 2 – 2020

10 March 2020

Text: Mark 6:35-56

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. Mark shares with us three miracles in one short reading: our Lord’s feeding of the five thousand, His walking on the water, and His healing of many sick people.  None of these can be explained by natural means.  None of these can be replicated by magicians or charlatans.  And it is clear that Jesus is demonstrating who He is and what He has come to do.  

In the feeding of the five thousand, our Lord shows His mastery over the elements.  For Him, creation is not a limitation, but rather creation must bend to His will, for He is the Creator!  From galaxies to electrons, all things are under His command and function according to His divine purpose.  It is our own rebellion from the Lord’s ordering of the universe that has caused all discord in our world – including scarcity and hunger.  Jesus takes mastery over the forces of chaos, places things in order, and shows His love and mercy of His fallen creatures by feeding them!

When the Lord walks on the water to be with His disciples, who were struggling against the wind, He demonstrates His mastery over the forces of nature: by walking on the water and by calming the winds by His command.  The disciples are still reeling from the last miracle.  Jesus tells them: “Take heart; it is I.  Do not be afraid.”  We need not fear even things of nature, for He is the author of the laws of the universe, and He is merciful to us.

In Genesaret, people all over the region bring their sick to Jesus.  In curing them, He again demonstrates His mastery over viruses, broken bodies, and other infirmities of the body.  Jesus again teaches us that all of our illnesses and griefs are not as creation was meant to be, and in forgiving sin; in crushing the head of the serpent, that is, the devil; and in destroying death; He has come to restore that which is broken: that which we, by our sins, have destroyed.  

And the Lord knows that His disciples’ hearts are “hardened,” that our faith in Him is lacking.  He has come to demonstrate who He is by signs, and also to make explicit that His incarnation is a mission of mercy, and indeed, the ultimate act of love.

Let us not harden our hearts, dear friends.  Let us look to the Word to inform us about our Lord and Master, who commands the elements, the weather, and even diseases, who has come to restore the broken and heal the infirm – and to do so at the cross, and at the empty tomb.  Let us indeed heed the Lord’s gracious invitation to “Take heart…. Do not be afraid.”  Let us rejoice in His salvation, and let us not fear, but believe!  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.