Saturday, November 1, 2014
Mark 4:39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
A GREAT CALM
On All Saints' Day, November 1, 1517, when the sun first shone on the doors of the All Saints Church in Wittenberg, and illuminated the ninety-five theses, there were few, if any, who would have predicted the extent of the storm that would rage in the coming years, trying to blot out the evangelical spirit that prompted those theses.
Truly for the mighty Roman Church of that day, the professors and the whole university at Wittenberg must have looked like a tiny flock. Who would think that they could have any lasting effect?
And who, for that matter, would have thought that the small boat of the disciples, nearly swamped, would ever get out of the storm on Galilee? Experienced seamen though they were, the disciples were fully expecting to drown when they woke up Jesus.
The answer: two words -- "Quiet! Shut-up!" These were not new words invented for the occasion, but they came from the mouth of Jesus Christ. One little word from His mouth was enough to shut up an evil spirit (Mark 1:25).
We too are like those disciples, helpless by our own reason or strength to survive the storms of this life. It is He who must preserve His Word, His honor, His Zion, His children, His preaching, His storm-tossed little flock. And it is He who does! Amen! Amen!
Preserve in wave and tempest Your storm-tossed little flock;
Assailed by wind and weather, May it endure each shock.
Take now the helm, O Pilot, And set the course aright;
Thus we shall reach the harbor In Your eternal light.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 264:6)
