Storm, Silence, and the Question of God
Sunday, April 19, 2026
Scriptures: Mark 4:35-41
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In the second sermon of the series, The Miraculous, Scott explores the story of Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4, to help us read the stories of miracles in the Bible and to process the miraculous in our own lives. He highlights how Mark uses the Greek word megas ("great") to describe the storm, the calm, and the disciples' fear, showing us how the sensory intensity of miracles in the text connects with our own great and terrible experiences. In the second section of the sermon, Scott explores the literary tropes used in the miracle stories, here it’s a raging storm and sea, which was a recurring theme in Jewish apocalyptic literature. We shouldn’t just look for the miraculous in the stories, we should look for the tropes used, because those often come from our common human existential experiences and/or anxieties.
Then Scott specifically talked about the trope of a "sleeping god,” and how miracles are not universal and often leave us asking, "God, don't you care?”.
In addition to giving us tool for how to read these miracle stories, Scott argued that the point of miracle stories is not just a display of power, but a revelation of a God who is willing to be "in the boat" with us.
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Community is shaped by the conversations we share. These questions and reflections are a tool to help you meaningfully engage with the themes of this week's teaching.
Connect: What’s one way the challenges in your life have changed your theology or view of God?
Share: Share your thoughts about how you usually read the stories about miracles in the Bible. Do you interpret them literally - this is exactly how it happened? Or do you lean toward other interpretations?
E.g. Tertullian (2nd-3rd century)— read this story in Mark 4 allegorically - as a description of early Christian efforts to “cross over” and proselytize in Gentile communities.Scott mentioned that a key for reading this and almost every miracle narrative in scripture is to look for those common tropes. These stories connect to some bigger narratives, fears, existential experiences we carry (and that show up in our culture through movies for instance, for ancient near East a raging sea was an apocalyptic imagery).
“Where you can sit and ask yourself — how does this story tap into the scenarios we use to play out our deepest dread and uncertainty?
See, I think that more often than not stories like this are meant to take us to the outer reaches of our abandonment, and our powerlessness, and our struggle to survive.
And that implies that we should always be watching for tropes while we wait for miracles.”
Reflect: Reflect on the fear of the disciples. Scott suggested that what truly terrified them was not just the storm, but the idea of someone having the power to still the waves and yet choosing to sleep through the crisis.
“Both the Psalms and your experience get at one of the biggest problems the idea of miracles raises - the fact that they aren’t normative and universal.
Because for every person pulled out of the rubble of an earthquake — for every person who’s had a diagnosis miraculously change — for every person who's prayed a desperate prayer they felt was heard — there are countless upon countless individuals who don’t.
And are we to argue that they didn’t pray? That they didn’t shake God hard enough? Are we going to argue that they weren’t heard?
See, while it might be stupefying to think of a being having the power to still raging waves and calm life-endangering wind, what I think caused the disciples to fear a great fear — and what might be truly terrifying about this story — is to imagine some being having that kind of power and choosing not to use it. To imagine that god might sleep through our most dire circumstances.”
What do you think about this perspective on divine power and agency, or even divine ambivalence?
Engage: Engage with the way Scott suggests we read these miracle stories.
“To believe the stories of miracles in the text is to do more than claim that God can or would suspend the laws of the universe to enact or perform some special feat.
It is to trust in something more than the randomness of such in-breaking.
It’s to have confidence that Christ is, in some mysterious way, here in the boat with you.Whatever you’re facing, and however hard the wind might be blowing.
And this means that the fiercest, strongest forms of your faith are not those that can grasp the astounding ways that God appears or hold out hope for miraculous intervention, but can simply trust you’re not alone.”
Is this a helpful perspective for you right now? Why or why not?
And if you were to see a "miracle" as less about the suspension of natural laws and more about God’s presence in the midst of chaos, how would that change the way you pray or notice God in your own life?
Take away: What is one thing that you're taking with you into your week, either from the sermon or our conversation?
Benediction based on the sermon:
May you hold on to the central claim of Eastertide.
That in the risen Christ you do not worship one who stilled the sea to save himself…but his friends.
That in the risen Christ you do not worship one who defeated death by use of force and power…but by surrender and obedience.That in the risen Christ you do not hope in one who is capricious in his use of divine power…but self-emptying and familiar with your chaos.
May you trust that your storms you are never alone.Amen.
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CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 116
MUSIC Curated by Curt Muller
Elevation Worship -Praise
Bethel Music - If The Lord
Passion - He Who Is To Come
Commons Worship - Faithfully
SERIES BUMPER
The Miraculous
