Stretch Marks

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Mark 4:35-41

On my back there are two stretch marks. They are a physical reminder of when I grew the most. Sometime during the summer between Ninth and Tenth grade I grew seven inches. I can show you; this type of rapid growth leaves lasting marks.

Over the last three month we have been asked to grow at such a rate that it is sure to leave a mark. What will these marks say to us years from now? Will they be symbols of a challenging time now forgotten, or symbols of great growth from what we have learned, that has become a part of who we are?

One of the critical growth lessons I hope we are learning during this time is the difference between good and bad leadership. This morning, I want to emphasize the great importance we must place on creating and empowering moral leaders.

            With our graduating seniors in mind this morning, let’s examine the concept of biblical leadership.

            In “The Connected Generation,” a recent Barna study conducted in partnership with World Vision, the data shows that young adults face unique headwinds on their road to becoming effective leaders. When we take time to listen—an essential practice for connecting with 18–35-year-olds—we hear a sense of unease about the future and uncertainty about the kind of leaders that could make a difference.

            Part of it is the underlying sense of anxiety that permeates many societies today. For good reason, the connected generation perceives deep, wide, systemic problems facing the world’s future. Four out of five affirm—and nearly half strongly affirm—that “society is facing a crisis of leadership because there are not enough good leaders right now” (82%). David Kinnaman:  The Connected Generation.

            This country is having a prescient conversation regarding leadership right now.  It is the recognition of how much everything rises and falls based on the quality of leadership.

            In this leadership crisis, perhaps we should look at a really unique and compelling picture of Jesus’ leadership style.

Q. When the storm came what was Jesus doing?

A.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. v.38.

            Is this Jesus having a great leadership nap?! What is going on here?

            I believe the nap is not incidental to Jesus’ leadership style, but actually reveals one of his most powerful leadership characteristics; centeredness. 

            One must remember that these men, at least the Fishermen among the twelve, had sailed this lake many times. They were skilled sailors, so for them to react this way was legitimate. They knew the danger, and it was real.

             “The Sea of Galilee is in a depression between various hills, and because it is a relatively small body of water in a basin, a storm and wind can arise and quickly change the caricature of the lake.” – Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Mark, A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary.

            The storm came up really fast, the sailing experts were sounding the alarm, water was filling the boat, but Jesus was not concerned. Jesus was so centered in His mission, and His identity, that the storm did not raise his blood pressure one iota. It didn’t even wake him up.

            Now, when we see odd things in the text like this, (in fact this is the only time Jesus sleeping is mentioned), it is really important examine why is it there?  

            There is a strong case to be made that this Gospel story is a parallel story with the first chapter of Jonah. Remember Jonah was a strong napper as well. Jonah was also asleep in the middle of a massive storm. Except he was on his way to where he shouldn’t have been going. Jonah was trying to run away from God. The sailors on the ship find him, and he tells them the reason for the storm is because of his failure to accept God’s calling on his life. He tells them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea… and it will become calm.” The sailors resisted throwing Jonah overboard, and the storm grew worse. Finally, they ask forgiveness for taking an innocent man’s life, and throw him into the water. The raging sea becomes calm.

            While some of the details of the story are the same, Mark is really making the parallel to draw out a distinction. One prophet is seeking to escape his mission. The other is so centered on His mission, he knows no storm can stop Him from getting to where He is going.  

            Crisis is the great revealer. The storm gives us insight into what was really going on with these two men.

            For Jesus the storm was a moment to be at peace, and to bring peace. For Jonah the storm was the moment to wake up, and come to terms with what he was avoiding. By not accepting his true mission; he wasn’t just putting his life at risk, but everyone else as well.

            I must confess this morning, that in this moment I feel more like Jonah than Jesus.

            I grew up in one of the most privileged environments that anyone could ever grow up in. Door after door has been opened for me, safety net after safety net has been placed under me, and it is hard for me to criticize these institutions of privilege, because they have worked for me. If you are like me, this is where you feel an ache in your spirit. The very reason I am a pastor engaged in the teaching of scripture is because in this book, I found a Jesus who called me to leave my place of privilege. Not just for my sake, but for the sake of those who are treated unjustly.

            Teaching biblical truth is what it means to be fully human; fully alive. God himself gave us these teachings, and without them there would be no hope for any of us. Why would we ever look upon someone else’s suffering, if there wasn’t first a savior who looked upon ours. He invites us to do the same? We all have our limits, but I pray that in these humbling times, God shows us how to make more room in our hearts for the suffering of others.

            Recent graduates, if you are listening to me this morning, let me share a quote with you, that has been shared with me many times, and every time it rings true to me.

            The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. -Frederick Buechner.

            Jesus rests easy, because he knows that his mission is the mission. He sleeps like a rock because he never worries about His mission, or if he is making a difference, or if he is wasting His time.  Jesus is at peace; He is standing at the center of the storm, right where he was meant to be.

            The story of Jonah and the story of Jesus today, through both positive and negative example reveal the same essential truth. Personal peace comes to the degree you are being used by God for the purposes he designed you to pursue.

            We need to make Jesus our center. Not just the center of our private lives, but the center of our entire lives.

            “As God is exalted to the right place in our lives, a thousand problems are solved all at once.” – A.W. Tozer

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:14

            We need leaders with a moral center. We need leaders who can teach our children values will stand the test of time.

            We need true players not pretenders. Crisis is the great revealer. It separates the players from the pretenders.

When I was boy I spent countless hours shooting baskets in my backyard. I liked to imagine that my team was behind by one point in the last seconds and I had the ball in my hands. I’d dribble, spin away from a defender, and shoot from twenty feet out. Time expired, and the final buzzer sounded as the ball was spinning in the air…, Swish! I made it!! We won!!! 

The thing that most Los Angelinos loved about the late great Kobe Bryant, was his Mamba Mentality. When the game was on the line, everyone knew who wanted the ball in his hands.

John Wooden once remarked that he wished he could wait to name the captain of his team until four or five games into the season because he wanted to see who wanted the ball when it really mattered. When crunch time came, who wanted the ball, and who faded to the background, was the best determiner of a captain; the leader.

Pretenders can hide during normal times. They can hide behind their titles, rank, and degrees, but crisis squeezes out who we really are. Pretenders are happy to fade away because they always want to look good. They are afraid of looking bad, afraid of embarrassment. Players go where their needed, where they can do the most good. They search out those who value what they have; the ability to lead in a crisis.

            Graduates please hear this quote as well, one that I have to tell myself often;

            It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt

            As we end this morning, I want to share with you a true story about what Teddy Roosevelt is talking about.

            It happened in Birmingham, Alabama September 28th, 1962 when Dr. King was giving the closing speech of the four-day annual meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, (SCLC).

            The auditorium was packed with 300 SCLC members, black religious and civil rights leaders from all over the South who had organized and participated in numerous boycotts, protests, rallies and marches, all of them conducted peacefully, following the guidance of Dr. King.

            Nearly everyone was dressed in their Sunday best, with the men wearing conservative dark suits, white shirts and formal ties.

            But in the sixth row that day sat Roy James a 6-foot 2-inch, 200-pound white man, who stood out because of his color, but also because he was wearing a casual white T-shirt.

            The SCLC meeting was open to all; however, its members didn’t know this man was a Lieutenant Storm trooper of the American Nazi Party; and James grew angrier as Dr. King spoke.

            Finally, James could take no more. He sprung from his seat, bolted on to the stage and slammed his right fist into Dr. King’s left cheek, hitting the 5 foot 7 inch civil rights leader so hard, it sent him backward and into a partial turn.

            James went after Dr. King and kept punching him rapid fire as the audience screamed in horror.

            As people rushed to the stage, there was an instant when Dr. King was able to stand and face James. As James got ready to hit Dr. King again, the civil rights leader dropped his hands and looked his assailant in the eyes.

Dr. King was bleeding profusely from the punches, his lips and face rapidly swelling and his ears, neck and back were aching from punches that hit him there.

            But this crowd of civil rights leaders watched in awe as Dr. King did as Jesus had advised all of mankind, “to turn the other cheek.” James was also stunned at Dr. King’s reaction, as the two men silently stared at each other.

            James anticipated these black men would beat him to a pulp. But immediately Dr. King’s voice rang out, “Don’t touch him,” and then again, “Don’t touch him. We have to pray for him.” And no one harmed James, instead they prayed for him.

            As they prayed, Dr. King assured James he wouldn’t be harmed. Then he took James to a private room and the two men calmly spoke.

            Afterward, Dr. King declined to press assault charges. But James was still prosecuted and served 30 days in jail and paid a $25 fine.

            James left the auditorium perhaps as stunned as the man he had attacked, he had witnessed “turn the other cheek,” not as words in a bible, but in practice from a man he had severely injured.

            The seeds of reason and love Dr. King planted in James that day did not take, but they did reach a far bigger audience.

            For no-one who witnessed that attack and Dr. King’s response to it ever forgot what they saw. Dr. King had already been threatened numerous times, his house had been bombed with his family in it and he had been shot at, beaten, stabbed and jailed.

            But most delegates hadn’t seen it for themselves, although they and their families had often been threatened and in some cases beaten and jailed. However, thanks to Roy James, now they had seen how Dr. King would handle so horrific an incident, putting nonviolence at his core.

            This bloody scene reinforced Dr. King’s words of nonviolence and when the SCLC delegates, the leaders of the civil rights movement returned home, it was with the belief their marches, boycotts and protests must remain nonviolent.

            In Dr. King’s words, “Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence, but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.” And Dr. King did not hate James or anyone else, but rather tried to reach them with reason and love as he and other civil rights marchers absorbed their blows. Walk the Walk: The #1 Rule for Real Leaders, a book by Alan Deutschman (2009).