The Lord Who Passes By

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

It's our hope that these sermons will draw you

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Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God Bless. Lord God, we thank you for

your Word. God, I pray that you would speak today

into the places of our fears, of our uncertainty,

and that you would assure us of your great loving

presence to us. Lord, we're thankful for the

Word that you give us. We pray that we would

hide it in our hearts this morning. Amen. All

right, so let me tell you about one of the things

that my kids are into these days. We have a competitive

crew and so this spills out into all kinds of

things. One of the things that spills out too

is in watching commercials. So we're watching

like a basketball game or something and a commercial

comes on and the game is who can name what company's

commercial it is first, right? So that's what

they do. They saw it's this company or that company.

And it becomes a game and it becomes competitive.

But the commercials that they know the best are

the ones that seem to be on the most, which are

insurance companies. They know Flo well, and

they know that she goes with Progressive. They're

familiar with Doug and the Emu, right? and the

jingle, liberty, liberty, liberty, right? You

all know it, come on. They know the farmer's

insurance, we are farmers. Yeah, you all know

it, you all know it just like I do, just like

they do. They know that when Dean Winter's face

comes onto commercial, the end of the Allstate

commercial will say pretty much something like,

and you can be protected from mayhem. Like me

y 'all know that Now I think this is a rather

controversial take And it's something that can

be debated, but I think the best ones are those

ones the mayhem like me ones I think maybe because

flow kind of just annoys me anyway But I also

think because a lot of them are actually fairly

mundane like things that are taking place There's

the one with the baseball dad You know who I'm

talking about? If you don't even know the commercial,

you know the baseball dad. The guy who was yelling

at his kid to hit the ball, and he's getting

in the ref's face, and he's like yelling at the

coach, put my kid in. And then the end of it

is this baseball bat flying through the air and

just landing in the middle of this lady who's

in the parking lot with windshield. And you're

like, yeah, I can see that happening. Pretty

sure that happens. There's one. Where I hesitate

to do this because I'm gonna go probably out

of I know there's people watching online But

where where he's he's a raccoon in an attic,

you know, and he's just like he's bundled up

like this with all this like You know all the

stuff around him all the attic insulation and

and he's like nodding on some wires and you're

just like yeah, yeah Raccoons, we know those

problems. We had them a lot growing up. They

would get into our trash and the trash would

be all over the place. And actually, my parents

had tons of chickens growing up. And it was just

sort of a normal thing that all of a sudden there'd

be a lot of feathers. There's the beauty blogger.

Oh, y 'all, I know that you have this fear. The

beauty blogger, she leaves the hair straight.

And you know how many times you've done this

and you're like, I better go home because I do

not know if I left the curling iron on, the hair

straightener on, whatever it is, right? They're

playing off of us, off of the real realities

of our fear. And then there's this one that I

actually have had this thought quite a bit. I

still kind of have this thought where he's playing

the gate that comes down when you're driving

out of a parking garage. and it malfunctions,

and he's like, and then your car's just got this

crease on the front hood. And I'm telling you,

I have that thought somewhat regularly when I'm

leaving a parking garage. I'm like, I'm pretty

sure it's gonna malfunction. I'm pretty sure

the hood of my car is gonna have a crease in

it now. And of course, why are these ads so ubiquitous?

Because fear sells. And because these things

actually really could happen to us. It's not

totally divorced from real experience. I mean,

I can tell you, I really do sometimes have the

thought when I am leaving one of those garages

that has one of these, it's gonna, it's possibly

gonna come down on me. And maybe it's because

I watched the commercial. I don't know, but I

have those thoughts. Or, you know what? I was

up above the ceiling two weeks ago with a roofing

contractor. I'm pretty sure there's a squirrel

up there. Thankfully, it looks totally fine.

But these are like real things. We're like, yeah,

raccoons really do get into these spaces and

they really do wreak havoc on us, right? And

I don't know what part of the house they're eating,

you know, this time or whatever. Or the fear

of your child being on a team and one parent

just going berserk on them is a legitimate fear

that happens. I mean, it really happens. That

stuff happens. So why are there so many insurance

ads? Partly because the fear sells, but partly

because these things are actually true. We actually

live in a world that can be very fearful. One

of them is leaving. coals on a grill and then

going into the football game and then you come

out and your car's on fire and you're like that

probably doesn't happen but except when it does.

And these of course in some ways aren't actually

the big fears that we actually have but they

are real fears. In fact, the big fears we have

are in some ways like what our dear sister Donna

Weatherly is living through right now. She's

spent the last two months not at home, not able

to be at home. She's been moved from one rehab

to another rehab, one hospital actually at times

to another hospital. And as grateful as I am

that some of you have gone and visited her and

ministered to her, the truth is that very likely

she will not be with us again in worship. I mean,

that's very likely where that is going for her.

In some ways, the stories of the insurance are

like, they're real, but they're not like the

deep ones. Instead, we actually know sort of

the deeper fears that we have. We live, of course,

in a time of such upheaval. If you maybe kept

track of speeches to Europe recently, last year

you might have heard our vice president sort

of distance. the US relationships with Europe,

and then you just heard maybe our Secretary of

State tried to bring them back together, and

you're like, I don't really know where we are

internationally. Maybe you've actually followed

somewhat the fact that we as a country have moved

aircraft carriers and destroyers close to Iran.

How unsettling. An uncertain time. Will we be

in another war? But it brings up all kinds of

unknowns, right? And of course unknowns bring

up all kinds of fears. What is going to happen?

I spoke a little bit on Wednesday, if you were

here, to just the unbelievably quick development

of AI. And it is going so much faster than I

had any idea of. What will happen when you look

for your next job? That is a legitimate question

for many. Will it be overtaken by a computer

as many jobs have been? What will happen with

the prospect of where your children are when

they are looking for jobs? Those are like real,

real deep -seated fears and understandable ones.

So is it any wonder that insurance ads are ubiquitous?

Of course it's not. Is it any wonder that we

live in a world where we are so eager to vote

for people that say they want strong power and

control, or that you could offer you some level

of safety with free things? That's not surprising,

given the uncertainty of our life, given the

fear that we live in. Now I want you to, I wanna

think this morning of our passage really in two

ways. I want us to sort of walk through where

the disciples find themselves and then I want

us to walk through where Jesus finds himself

and where they find him. And the first thing

that I think you're gonna see, actually the thing

you're gonna see kind of throughout is that where

the disciples find themselves is actually often

just in a place of fear. The first one I wanna

say is related to relational fear and I wanna

say this is relational escape in a way. So verse

45, that first verse that I read, it said, immediately

he made his disciples get into the boat and go

before him to the other side to Bethsaida while

he dismissed the crowd. What we read, if we were

reading the same passage in the Gospel of John

is that he does this and he does it quickly because...

Because Jesus had perceived that after he fed

this enormous crowd, they would want to make

him the king. And of course they would. I mean,

he's just able to feed this enormous crowd of

people and tend to them and care for them. And

they're like, we don't know where else where

we can have this kind of safety and provision.

So Jesus sees this possible riot of this crowd

and he puts his disciples in the boat. He says,

leave. Think about this, the disciples, had already

tried to get away from people, right? I mean,

the passage that Melise read for us actually

begins with Jesus trying to get them away from

people and them needing to get away from people

because they had no leisure even to eat. And

what happened in that story, of course, they

get in the boat and they cross over and then

it says the. people from all the different towns

run and they beat them there and they get to

shore and they're like oh man people again um

all right another crowd um and what do they say

what do they say to jesus i'm actually i'm really

glad malice read this for us send them away we

are so tired of people And now there's this crowd

that we know from John is acting in some kind

of riotous way, which of course once again makes

the disciples in some ways want to hear Jesus

and get in the boat and get to the other side.

Now we're gonna get to their experience of when

they get to the other side and what happens in

the boat and all of that. But listen to what

does happen in verse 53 and 54. When they crossed

over, they came. to land at Gennesaret and more

to the shore. And when they got out of the boat,

the people immediately recognized them and ran

about the whole region. It's the exact same thing

that was happening before, people running all

over and coming to find them. The crowds are

at it again. I mean, people can be exhausting.

They're wanting a relational escape. Jesus even

invites them to it and then they don't find it.

And okay, I just want to say this very seriously.

Isn't some of the great fears that we have in

our lives that we won't be able to handle the

relational dynamics that are given to us? On

a really small level, Some of you feel this at

the passing of the peace, right? And I want to

say it's totally fine if you just want to stay

exactly where you are while other people come

up to you. And if you don't want to say the peace

of the Lord be with you to everybody, that's

okay. Churches need to be very welcoming to people

that are more introverted. And I know I'm I'm

eager to say hello to everybody, and so maybe

I need to give people some space, right? So some

of you know, like, there's a relational thing

that you're like, I cannot handle this, right,

on that kind of level. But, of course, this happens

on much more serious levels, right? Think of

the mother who is overwhelmed by a child who's

so sickly. and a husband who doesn't know how

to engage with this well and their relationship

is more and more distant. And the friends that

seem to be going to the wayside because so much

time is spent just caring for the child whom

this parent loves and who now there's like this

almost anger towards and there's a relational

dynamic that is just so overwhelming and so full

of fear and it brings up so much insecurity and

so much uncertainty. Or think of Ben Rector's

song, Wonderful World. The second verse he sings,

I've taken medicine, I bought an ottoman. He's

talking about becoming a middle -aged dude. I've

taken medicine, I bought an ottoman. I got a

bigger house with bigger trees. And then he says

this, I'm getting better at not blaming mom and

dad. I'm trying to figure out what it all means.

And some of you are parents living with the real

heartache that your children are still blaming

you. Still so upset. With seemingly everything.

On the other hand, maybe some of you are learning

actually how deeply wounded you are from your

family. From your family life. Some of you are

angry at your parents. and you don't know what

to do with it and you don't know when that anger

will subside. What I'm saying is that there's

like a relational overwhelm this in this passage.

And that's part of like the fear that the disciples

live in given that the last passage is them saying,

send them away. And then they are fraught with

the idea that they're all still right there.

The first movement that we see the disciples

make here is a relational escape and they find

themselves right back in it. And what I'm saying

is that some of the great fears that we live

in is actually the relational dynamics and how

can we actually live into them well or how do

we do this when we don't live into them well?

It all seems so broken. Where is the crowd at

the end? Did you actually notice this? The crowd

is like everywhere at the end. with 55, and this

is talking about the people, they ran about the

whole region and began to bring the sick, the

people in their beds, and whoever they heard

he was. And wherever he came in villages, cities,

and country sides, they laid the sick in the

marketplace. Villages, country sides, cities,

marketplace, wherever they're running, and just

like, okay, we're right back in it. Which is

to say, in some ways, there's no real escape.

And for a lot of us that's a great fearful thing

because we don't know how to deal with even the

relationships that we are given. Okay, so that's

the first movement I'm suggesting. The second

movement I want to call vocational toil, okay?

So there's this relational dynamic that's at

play and then there's this vocational dynamic

that's at play. So verse 47, where do we find

them? Verse 47, the boat was out to sea. These

people are out at the sea, which, let me remind

you, in some ways would have been the most normal

thing for these people. In some ways, this would

have been the place of some of their comfort.

You know what I mean, right? Some of you going

to work is actually the relational escape that

you... Like at least I can kind of control things

here a little bit. You know, my students listen

to me when I talk to them and they do what I

tell them because they get a grade or I can control

this little bit of work that I'm given. So they're

out there on. on the sea, we know that at least

four of the disciples, four of the 12 disciples

are fishermen. We think that probably two of

the others are fishermen. So six of them probably

just live most of their life on the sea. And

this is the place where they are comfortable.

But then what does verse 48 tell us about their

experience of where they are? And he saw that

they were making headway. painfully. They were

making headway painfully. And what we know actually

is that they did this all night long. Because

what it says is it was the fourth hour of the

night, the fourth watch of the night, the fourth

watch of the night would have been right before

dawn. And the passage began with immediately,

they had just eaten all this, they got the 12

baskets. So from dinnertime to dawn, all they're

doing is rowing painfully. So in the place where

they're like, this is the kind of stuff that

I can control my work, they're actually finding

that their work itself is filled with pain and

toil. In fact, the word painfully there can be

translated troubled or even more tortured. It's

in their vocational life where maybe they can

get a relief from their relational angst, where

they're actually finding that they are being

tortured. And think about this, a lot of our

fear is that even in our work, even the work

that we've been trained to do, it just doesn't

yield what we long for, what we desire, what

we think we've been made to offer into the world.

And even what we do work on and what we do yield

into the world is so painfully accomplished.

We can work on even good things that we believe

God has called us to, and at times it feels a

little bit like torture. We're told to pursue

our dreams, then we find out that our dreams

are hard. and that they need to shift and we

don't know how they're gonna shift and we don't

know what we're gonna do and we don't know how

we're gonna provide and all of that. And of course,

so much of the fear around work has to do with

our inability with regards to our agency that

we actually don't accomplish the things that

we think we're supposed to accomplish and they

don't provide what we think they're gonna provide

or offer into the world what we had hoped. I've

said this before. though Jess shared with me

that she has similar dreams. I have an ongoing

nightmare that I've shared with you before, and

that is that I show up and either one, I don't

have my notes with me. And for some reason, even

though I've worked on it quite a bit, I have

no idea what I'm saying. And then the other thing

is that while I'm blabbering on having no idea

what I'm saying, You're just one by one getting

up and leaving and then I'm stuck here and like

not even my family's here and I'm like, what

am I doing with my life? What am I doing with

my life? I work on this and I have nothing to

offer. Nothing. There's so much fear around our

work. They make their way in what they actually

do vocationally painfully, tortured. all the

way through the night, just plowing along. Of

course, the experience in a way of the disciples

builds even. So there's this relational dynamic

that's at play, there's this vocational dynamic

at play, but then of course, there's also this

spiritual dynamic that's at play in this story.

Because what we next find about the disciples

about their experience. Well, let me begin this.

Where is Jesus? Well, according, they don't actually

know where he is. We know where he is because

we're reading, but all he does, let me read it,

okay. He made his disciples get into the boat,

verse 45, and go before them to the other side

to Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd. And

after he had taken leave of them, he went up

to the mountain to pray. All they know is that

they're in the boat without Jesus. They're like,

okay, our experience of this painful toil is

that Jesus isn't with us. And we're not really

sure where he is. He just made us get in the

boat and said, leave. As far as they're concerned,

he's just gone. And in his absence, which is

to say in the absence of God, who knows what's

gonna happen. And what does happen? Well, what

happens is that they see this guy walking on

the water past them. And verse 49 says, they

thought it was a ghost and cried out. They saw

him and they were terrified. They were terrified.

They have a spiritual experience that God is

not with me and some kind of spiritual dynamic

is at play and I'm freaked out because something

is still going on, but Jesus is not in the boat

with us. I love that Eugene Peterson's translation

of the message said, They screamed. Which is

exactly what you would do if you thought you

saw a ghost. Then he says, for they were scared

out of their wits. Which is to say that part

of the, so some of their fear is not just relational

fear or vocational fear, but it's also spiritual

fear. The abandonment of God. Which is to say

isolation and abandonment from God, anything

could happen. their greatest fears could be there

right before them. Now, I do think it's kind

of wild that with the decrease in church attendance,

there's actually been an increase in spirituality

broadly and specifically more in the occult.

Some of you probably know this that, Church attendance

for adults in the United States went from about

42 % in 1975 to now they think it's around 22,

23%. It's kind of hard to exactly measure this.

And there is a little bit of an increase just

the last couple of years, which makes sense with

the big dip during COVID and all. But as you

read about these things, what has not diminished

necessarily is the idea of the spiritual. Maybe

it's the rejection of God's presence with us

in Jesus, but there's this attentiveness to the

broadly spiritual. And to see ghosts still freaks

people out. Maybe you've heard this. I think

some of you are probably familiar with the idea.

that we live in what's called a closed world.

And all of you will understand this. That for

the most people in the world, they engage with

the world as though the world is all there is,

right? So it's kind of odd. It actually feels

like it feels separated from this idea that spirituality

doesn't necessarily decrease with church attendance,

but a lot of people treat the world as though

it's sort of just a natural world, that God is

not present, that the divine is not present.

And maybe some of you know that actually a lot

of people have treated this passage and the one

before it out of this closed world kind of idea.

So a lot of people say, Jesus didn't really walk

on water. I mean, when he gets in the boat, it

seems as though they're already there. They were

just in shallow water. And he's just walking

and they think that he they're actually they've

they've travailed so far that they actually have

gotten farther. And they just think that he was

walked nowhere. He wasn't really doing that.

Maybe some of you know that there's an explanation

that some people give for the feeding of the

five thousand there. Jesus didn't really multiply

five loaves into fish. the young boy who gave

these, that is mentioned in John, inspired everybody

else to go, wait a second, I did bring my dinner

and I should share it with others. But what I'm

saying is that we vacillate spiritually from

this idea of Jesus isn't present with us. We

don't know if we should engage with him, but

we'll kind of engage with some kind of spirituality

ghosts. Let's just explain everything away materially.

Close world. But I wanna suggest to you that

everyone, or nearly everyone, when they're actually

deeply in the deepest place of their fear, when

their spouse is on their deathbed, it cries out,

God, help. God, do something. God, I cannot do,

I cannot control, I need you. God, heal. God,

act. And in some ways, I think this is, we don't

know what they cried out. We know they were terrified,

but I wonder if they cried out in that moment,

oh Lord, help. Because their fear had been increasing

and increasing. Now, this is the experience of

the disciples. Now, I want to shift and I want

us to see what Jesus was doing. And we do not

have a lot of time, so I'm going to try to race

through this. So where's Jesus in the midst of

our fears, right? Our relational, vocational,

our spiritual fears, where is he? First place,

he is up on the mountain. And my guess is that

for a lot of us, we're like, that's not very

helpful. Jesus, why aren't you in the boat with

your disciples? But what's he doing on the mountain?

Two things it says he's doing. He's praying and

he's seeing. Verse 46 said he went to the mountain

of the prey, verse 48, and he saw that they were

making headway painfully. And I think so much

of our fear is actually related to the idea that

we're just not sure where Jesus is or what he

is doing. But what the Bible tells us is that

Jesus is seeing what's going on. And specifically

right now, what the Bible tells us again and

again and again is that He is at the right hand

of the Father and He is interceding for us. So

that we hear that Jesus is at the right hand

of the Father and Acts and Romans and Colossians

and Hebrews and Peter and Revelation. They're

all saying God is right at that place of authority.

And then what we hear about a couple of times

is that He is, what is He doing in that place

of authority? He is interceding on our behalf.

It is not that in the midst of their sort of

travail that God is just absent. It's not in

the midst of your travail that Jesus is just

gone. He is seated at the right hand of the Father

and He is interceding for us. That's the first

place Jesus is. Second place Jesus is is on the

water. So verse 48 says, and about the fourth

watch of the night, He came to them walking on

the sea. Now we just talked about how the disciples

are like, ah, a ghost! But what this says is

that He came to them. Right? They're not actually

in the midst of their vocational travail all

alone. They're not. He had seen them and He comes

to them. Think of Jesus and John saying I'm with

you always even to the end of the age or peace

I leave you my peace I give you When he gives

us the helper the Holy Spirit the Holy Ghost

it Comes to us in our place of fear Okay, where

is Jesus next Jesus again in the midst of people

In the midst of the crowd doing what he does,

which is to say Jesus is the compassionate shepherd

that we heard of in the last passage He's providing

for he's caring for the crowd in their need The

story ends right with Jesus being this compassionate

shepherd who provides and who tends to and who

cares Jesus is feeding. He's healing. He's teaching

Which is to say that he addresses our spiritual

fears and our vocational fears and our relational

fears What we do not hear in the last passage

is actually what we heard the disciples say before

send them all away Because Jesus in some ways

has addressed that fear with his disciples and

now they're present and able to minister as he

calls them to to have these relationships That

he's calling them to have Okay, now here's here's

the I need I need to end and I need to end with

this Aren't there a couple weird passes parts

of this passage? What do you think is the weirdest

part it's anybody Anybody had a weird part The

hearts were hardened yeah, okay, we're gonna

get we're actually gonna talk about that when

we go to the supper, but what's another part?

He meant to pass by them What is going on? Is

Jesus like, hey guys, I'll show you how fast

I can walk on water. I was saying, you know,

on the mountain over there and now I'm going

to be to the shore. What's going on? No, I mean,

that can't be it. Why would Mark highlight he

meant, he had intention to pass by them? Why

would Jesus want to pass by them? Well, I think

the clue is in what he says to them. And what

does he say to them? He says, take heart, it

is I. And that it is I is the Greek words, ego

a me. Those Greek words are the very words in

the Greek Old Testament when the Lord appears

to Moses in the burning bush and Moses is freaked

out. And of course he's scared for all kinds

of reasons. Moses is scared. Relationally, he's

had to flee Egypt. He's had to leave his job

vocationally, right? He's wandering. He says,

what is this, you know, this phantom I'm seeing,

this bush that's burning and it's not, what's

happening? What does the Lord say? I am. Those

are the Greek words, ego a me. In the midst of

the deepest places of fear, what God is saying

is, I am. You can take heart because I am with

you. Do not be afraid. Take heart. Brothers and

sisters do not be afraid. That's what Mark is

saying. The very God who was hovering over the

face of the waters in Genesis chapter one, bringing

order out of chaos. The same God who actually

very interestingly in Job chapter nine, Job talks

about God walking on the waters. The same God

that was with Job when it seemed like he had

lost everything. The same God who who met with

Moses in the midst of almost everything seeming

to be taken away and his people being enslaved

down in Egypt. That same God is the Lord Jesus.

That same God is the one who says, I will never

leave you. I will never forsake you. He's telling

us today, take heart, take heart in his eye.

There is no fear that's too great for me. I am

with you Let's let's do this let's collectively

end By saying together Take heart do not be afraid

Say with me Take heart do not be afraid when

you turn to your neighbor quickly really look

at somebody say take heart Do not be afraid Okay,

turn to your other side, please. I'm serious.

Look at each other in the eyes. Say, take heart.

Do not be afraid. Let me pray. Lord God, what

a wonderful passage. Lord, we pray that in the

midst of all that is so fearful in our world

that we would know that you are with us. You

are the great I am. It is you. Therefore we may

take heart and not be afraid. Amen. Thank you

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