And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but [Jesus] was asleep. And they went and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And He said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey Him?”
On the day of a Holy Baptism, it is good for you, Alfonso, and for all the baptized alike to ask this question, “What sort of man is this?”
In Holy Baptism, Christ unites Himself with you.
It is good to consider what sort of Man exactly we are united with.
In other words, what have we gotten ourselves into, united ourselves to this Jesus?
Being a baptized Christian comes with some consequences. There are powerful forces that hate Jesus and now they hate you, too.
Do you renounce the devil? Yes, I renounce him.
Do you renounce all of his works? Yes, I renounce them.
Do you renounce all of his ways? Yes, I renounce them.
Well, now you have the devil as your enemy and he’s a convincing liar and a murderer from the beginning who has deceived much of the world.
If the world hated Jesus, if the world rejected Jesus, and now you are in Christ, united with Him, then you can count on the fact that the world will hate and reject you.
A disciple is not above his teacher.
What have we gotten ourselves into?
Holy baptism paints a big target on us. Remember Jesus after His baptism is then tempted by the devil.
We the baptized can now count ourselves targeted by the devil and his demons.
Attack this one – squeeze and pressure the faith, hope, love and joy out of their hearts and souls.
Target this one – squeeze and pressure them not fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
Aim right there so they are tempted with despair or some great shame, or vice or addiction.
We can feel this squeezing and pressure when we don’t want to pray or go to church.
We can feel this squeezing and pressure when the cruel master of anxiety grips us.
We can feel this squeezing and pressure when the desires of our flesh are opposed to the desires of the Spirit.
We can feel this squeezing and pressure when we wonder how God could love me and use when I fail him and others so hard and so often,
or when we suffer or watch people we love suffer and despair if God is really is in control –
“Are you asleep Jesus? Don’t you care that we are perishing?”
In baptism and every time you confess your baptism you are renouncing the devil and all his works and all his ways, but that doesn’t mean he goes away. Rather, he strengthens his attack.
You’ve pushed back darkness today by being here at this church, hearing God’s Word, praying, singing, and you can expect that darkness will push back.
So, why would do this?
Why be a Christian?
Why desire baptism for ourselves and our children?
Because the Lord has worked in you a faith that answers, “What sort of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him,” with, “That’s my Savior.”
Jesus saves – that’s what His name means. You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.
What sort of man is this?
He is the sort of man and sort of God who wants to unite Himself to you with full knowledge of the sort of men and women and children we are.
There’s a story of a woman who found out where Jesus was going to be dining at one day and she came and knelt before, and anointed His feet, and wet His feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. And Simon the Pharisee was thinking, “Doesn’t He know what sort of woman this is? A woman of the city? A sinner?”
And Jesus tells a story about the one who is forgiven little, loves little. But the one who is forgiven much, loves much.
Your sins, dear saints, are many – He knows what sort of men and women and boys and girls are here: real sinners.
Our love has too often failed and given way to pride and selfishness.
Our forgiveness has too often failed and given way to anger and resentment.
We too often seek pleasure or glory or are people pleasers.
And above all things, as our text points out – our faith is so often so little.
“O, ye of little faith. Why do you doubt?”
“Where is your faith?” St Luke records (Luke 8:25)
“Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” St. Mark records (Mark 4:40).
He knows the sort we are.
And He gets in the boat with us. He unites Himself with our sin and death and devil and is beaten and battered by the wrath of God like a small boat in the midst of a massive storm,
He becomes exhausted, being weighed down with our shame and guilt,
He sleeps the sleep of death crying out, “It is finished,”
He wakes up and says, “Peace be with you.”
Christ is risen and His first words to His disciples are just that, “Peace to you.”
Don’t you care that we are perishing? The disciples asked. God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
What sort of man is this? He’s in the boat with you. Here, now. Who cares if it’s a small boat and the storm is large. Christ is here, in the boat with us.
What sort of man is this?
The sort of God-man who wants you, even you, especially you, to be united with Him forever and united with Him you are protected and supported and carried.
What sort of man is this?
That God who knows the sort we are – that you cannot stand on your own, you are too weak, you are too frail, you live in the midst of too many dangers [Prayer of the Day], but you are not on your own, you baptized – united with Christ,
Taken by the loving Father,
Having the Spirit now within.
And listen to His voice:
Peace, be still.
God is at peace with you.
And be still, and know He is God. He is God. He is God. That’s who are you united with. God.
If God is for you….
So with things like that in mind, with things like the truth of the end of the world coming, St. Peter asks in his second epistle, “What sort of people ought we to be?”
We’re sort that knows we are forgiven much and thus we love much.
We’re the sort who live in the promises of baptism.
We’re the sort that knows we all have little faith so we need to gather together in the presence of God to be fed and strengthened in that true faith.
The wind and the waves obey this sort of man, and we are the sort that wants to obey and serve Him, as well.