Sermon 7-28-24

Pastor Ray Lorthioir

Trinity Lutheran Church

W. Hempstead, NY

Based on the Gospel Lesson for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost, Mark 6:45-56.

Preached to children on the occasion of the Trinity Music Ministry concert during the service.

No Ice Needed

OK, boys and girls. Can people walk on a lake? Actually we can. Anybody can. And, you may have already done it. But there’s a trick to walking on water. Here’s a hint. You can only do it at a certain time of the year. Does anybody know what that time of the year is? If you said winter, you were right.

When I was a teenager, winters used to be colder and lasted longer than they do now. So, if the temperature stays lower than 32 degrees what happens to water? It freezes into ice. And if the temperature outside stays lower than 32 degrees for many days, the ice on a lake will get so thick that you can safely walk on it. I did that when I was young. I’ve walked on water — frozen water.

Have you ever been to a place so cold that you could walk on the ice of a lake? Don’t try that around here. It doesn’t get cold enough any more. So the ice that forms on lakes around here is only thin and not strong enough to keep you from falling through it into the water.

My wife’s father was born in 1913. If he were alive today, he would be 111. He told us that in the 1930’s the winters here on Long Island were so cold and so long that ice would even form on the salt water that surrounds Long Island. He said that the ice on Roslyn Harbor, on the North Shore, would get so thick that some daring people would even drive a car across it from Glen Cove to the Port Washington side.

So, boys and girls, if water turns into ice and the ice is thick enough, you and I can safely walk on water. But we can’t do that in the summer time. Right? There’s no ice.

But we heard in today’s bible lesson that a man named Jesus actually did walk on water in the summer time. Jesus was the most important teacher who ever lived. And he had a group of men who were his students. They were called disciples. And, Jesus was their teacher. They called Him their Master. Jesus didn’t teach karate but it was a little like a karate school. Jesus was their Master. They were his disciples.

Jesus and His disciples came from a land called Israel. And the part of Israel they came from has a very large lake called the Sea of Galilee. It’s still there today. And people go out in boats and fish on that lake still today. So, some of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen. And all of them came from the part of Israel where the lake is. So, getting in a boat and sailing or rowing to another part of the lake was not unusual for these men.

One time, Jesus told his twelve disciples to row a boat back home across the lake while he stayed in a lonely place and prayed. It was a windy night, and the disciples had to row the boat into the wind to get home.

Now, more than once in my life I’ve been in a row boat, canoe or kayak and have had to paddle against the wind. It’s hard work. If you stop rowing or paddling, the wind will push your boat backwards. And the whole time you’re rowing or paddling forwards, the wind is trying to push you backwards. That’s why it’s hard work. So, it takes a lot longer to get where you’re going when you’re rowing a boat against the wind.

On that windy night, Jesus’ disciples were working hard rowing their boat against the wind. And the boat was going up and down on the waves that the wind was making. It was taking them a long time to get home.

Suddenly one of them looked up and saw someone walking toward them on the water. He called out to the others and they all looked up. And even though they were men, they became very afraid. They all knew that nobody can walk on water. So they thought they were seeing a ghost coming toward them on the water. That’s why they were so afraid.

But then the ghost spoke to them. They heard Jesus’ familiar voice shout out. “Don’t be afraid. It’s me.” So it wasn’t a ghost after all. And Jesus walked on the water right up to the boat and got in it with His disciples. As soon as Jesus got in, the wind stopped. It would be easy to get the rest of the way home.

When all this happened. Jesus’ disciples didn’t know what to think. With their own eyes they had just seen a man walk on top of the waves and come to them. It was Jesus, alright. He had gotten into the boat and it was Him. And as soon as He got into the boat the wind stopped. With their own eyes they had just seen that  Jesus was no ordinary kind of person. He did things that only God can do.

Boys and girls, have you ever made something — even if it was pretend? My grandson is eight. And he loves to make things in Minecraft. Then, he likes to tell me what the things he has made are supposed to do. Only he knows what they’re supposed to do because he made them. I don’t know what they do because I didn’t make them. So, the only way I can know is if he tells me.

God made all the water that exists. Only he knows all the secrets about water. So, only God knows the secret of how a human being can walk on water in the summer. There must be a way, because Jesus’ twelve disciples all saw Jesus do it. But, it’s a secret God is keeping to Himself. And Jesus never told His disciples what the secret is. None of us know the secret. And you don’t know the secret. So, never pretend you do and try to walk on water. The only way you can go in deeper water is if you know how to swim. If you don’t know how to swim, stay out of the deep water. You will drown.

No one can walk on water except God. The Bible says that God can walk on water. It’s written in Job 9:8, “He [God] alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.” (NIV) God can walk on water because He made all the water that exists everywhere. Only He knows all its secrets.

So, if only God can walk on water, and Jesus walked on water, what does that say about Jesus? Is He God come to us in a human body? Yes. That’s what Christians believe. It’s why we celebrate Christmas. God came to us in a very special way, born in a human body to the virgin, Mary.

Jesus was put to death on a cross by angry people who would not believe that God could come to us in a special way as a human being. That’s why Christians remember a day called Good Friday.

But Jesus didn’t stay dead. After three days, all Jesus’ disciples saw Him alive again in a real human body. Once again, they were scared and thought they were seeing a ghost. But Jesus said, touch me. You’ll see I have a real human body. He even had something to eat with them.

But there was something different about Jesus’ body. Jesus was raised from the dead in a body that can never die again. And, this is why Christians celebrate Easter. Jesus taught that if people will believe that He is the Son of God, He will also raise them from the dead in bodies that can never die again. So it’s a wise thing to believe in Jesus.

Jesus also taught that if we will believe in Him because He is the Son of God, we are to do all the good things He commanded us to do. This is so that everyone will know that we too are His disciples.

Jesus said that He’s coming back again on a day that no one can know. On that day, everyone who has ever lived will see Him. He will take away every bad thing and every bad person. So, only what is good will remain. This is what Christians celebrate in the time just before Christmas called Advent.

None of us are good. We all sin. All adults sin. In fact, the older you get, the bigger the trouble you can get into. Think about it. Who’s in jail — kids? No. Adults. Right? 

So, all adults sin. All children sin. Only Jesus can make us good. Just like He had the power to walk on the water, Jesus has the power to forgive our sins and make us good.

Where did He get this power from? Here’s something strange. Even though Jesus is God, the Son, He’s also a real human being. And when He lived on earth, He lived a perfect life in perfect obedience to God the Father. He even died on a cross rather than disobey God, the Father. That’s how much He loved God the Father, and how much He loved us. And that’s how He got the power to forgive our sins and make us good. All we have to do is know that we have sinned and ask Jesus for forgiveness.

How do we know Jesus can forgive our sins? It’s because He was raised from the dead. He’s God. Jesus also showed that He is God when He walked on the water. No one but God can walk on water in the summertime.

And as for you adults, what do you think? Did this incident happen? Scholars date the writing of the Gospel of Mark between 17 to 27 years after the events recorded in it. That’s the same period of time in which Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians. In that letter Paul says that about 500 hundred people were gathered together in one place. Together, they all saw Jesus resurrected bodily from the dead. This took place within 40 days of Jesus’ resurrection. In the letter, Paul says that as of the writing of 1 Corinthians some of the 500 had died but most were still alive. This means that there were still a lot of eye witnesses to Jesus’ ministry alive at the time that Mark also wrote. Most importantly, most of the men who were in the boat with Jesus were still alive. Therefore, if Mark had made up a story about Jesus walking on the water, there were still plenty of people alive who could have disputed the story as false. But none did. That’s why Jesus walking on the water is in Mark’s gospel.

As for the people who don’t believe miracles can happen, no one throughout history has been able to give us a really good reason not to believe that miracles can happen. The best they can do is: miracles can’t happen because miracles can’t happen. Or, they mock people who believe miracles can happen as being stupid for doing so. But based on the vast human experience in this world that miracles do happen, I’d say it’s the people who don’t believe miracles can happen who are stupid.

Finally, God can do anything. If Jesus, God the Son, wanted to walk on the water that He had created, it would be a cinch for Him to do so — even in a human body. And even when there was no ice. Amen. 

The Bible quote is from the NIV.