Homiletics Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Homiletics - Term Paper Example The use of ‘sea’ is highly symbolic in nature as is ‘storm’. In addition, he intends to show the movement of his mission to the Gentiles. Thus, the Gospel presents an incident that is very relevant even in the modern church. The incident provides the insight that for a believer, while crossing the sea of life, there is Jesus to still the issues that may arise on the way. The first point, according to Craddock (115), is that the Church too requires the constant protection from Jesus for its survival in the sea of modern life. Evidently, crossing the sea was a difficult task. As Rose observes, Galilean fishing boat of Jesus’ time was quite weak with oars and flimsy sails. So, one can imagine the range of fear that would arise in the mind of a sailor in front of a storm. In my opinion, the purpose of this section is to teach that the Church should be fearless in its functions as true faith knows no fears. In addition, as Craddock (115) states, the Church should seek continuous help from Jesus as it is evident that without Christ’s supports, even the Church will not be able to survive though it preaches his teachings. The first point Craddock brings in is that Jesus wanted to show his disciples the nature of his ministry. In fact, the stilling of storm was the first among the four episodes in which Jesus performs miracles. The miracles are calming a storm, healing a demoniac, healing a sick woman, and raising a dead girl. Craddock points out the fact it was immediately after this performance of wonders that Jesus appoints the twelve to preach his ministry. So, Craddock tries to draw a conclusion here that Jesus meant to show his disciples the nature of his ministry. Yet another point that Craddock brings in at this juncture is the fact that calming natural forces by rebuking is not at all different from other acts of exorcism performed by Jesus. Thus, in the words of Craddock, â€Å"rebuke† is intentionally used instea d of using touch or any other acts of exorcism to show that the purpose was not to present Jesus as one among the many exorcists who lived in that time period (Craddock, 66), but to show the power of the word of God. In fact, according to Craddock, the intention of Gospel was to show the power of the word the church was going to preach. The third point of consideration is the fact that Church too requires the constant help from Jesus to survive in the turbulence of life. Craddock (115) points out the fact that the usual posture of the church is serving others in the name of Jesus, but the Church too is receiving the benevolence of Jesus’ ministering presence; and in the long voyage across the sea of life, the Church would not be able to sustain itself without the active support from Jesus. In addition, Craddock points out the fact lack of belief and experience in Jesus, or of the Holy Spirit, would lead to the collapse of Church as it would easily go astray under the weight o f its own institutionalism or self-promoting programs. Another point of consideration is the question that Jesus asks his disciples on calming the storm. The question is â€Å"Where is your belief?† In the opinion of Craddock, the intention of Jesus was not to mention that the disciples were not believers or that they did not have belief. Nor did Jesus want to pint out that the disciples would be able to control the storm with belief. In the opinion of Cradock (115), Jesus was addressing their fear that did not mitigate even after spending so many