Dynamic and Annoited Pastor Austin Humphreys Offers Aditional Insights on Jesus' "Walk on the Water"

Pastor Humphreys: “Jesus is Still Enough!”

Pastor Austin Humphreys, Speaker this Sabbath at Berean SDA Church. This image is from his Twitter territory, which can be entered by this  LINK.

PASTOR HUMPHREYS DEVELOPS A THEME RECENTLY INTRODUCED IN THE “WAR ROOM” ON MARK 6:45-51

Pastor Austin Humphreys, in the immediate aftermath of the Super Bowl, delivered a short sermon during the course of the February 10th “War Room” prayer meeting. This talk was entitled “Hang in There.” It was centered around Jesus’ “walk on the water” to catch up with His disciples after the feeding of the 5,000. They were foundering in a storm, straining to keep their boat from capsizing. When Jesus appeared, trouble disappeared. Seventeen days of reflection on this address revealed some new insights on this incident, one described in every Gospel but Luke. This Sabbath’s expanded and enhanced edition of the sermon was prefaced and concluded in the same manner as the original, but featured a more generous portion of “fresh meat” within the boundaries of it’s exegesis. Here is a fast way to access all of this juicy meat, a link to the ENTIRE SERVICE. Pastor Humphrey’s sermon, “Jesus is Still Enough,” begins at time marker1:44:28.

Today’s service continued the theme of “Black History Month” by featuring music that is representative of the African American tradition. The morning hymn was #627 in the Hymnal, “Jacob’s Ladder.” I can’t find a link to The Staple Singers version of this Spiritual that doesn’t try to monkey with your computer. I have an unsubstantiated theory that, based on the pauses in the vocal line, that this originated as a “call and response” work song. I am more often wrong that right in these matters, however.

David Trofort directed the Berean choir ensemble “Open Praise” (including a pair of outstanding soloists) in three selections that preceded the sermon. He provided minimal keyboard accompaniment to Diana Walker’s rendition of “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho” at marker 1:29:25 (I think Ray Charles borrowed large chunks of this song to create “Hit the Road, Jack“). This “minimal” approach yielded to very “maximal” texture in the second of the three songs. The arrangement (probably one by Mr. Trofort himself) was so intricate that he could, as conductor, only imply it in an abstract manner. I suspect it took a fair amount of rehearsal to polish this one up. It commences at marker 1:34:10. The third song exhibited a “medium” texture, and featured the second soloist. It was “I’m Not the Same” (link is to a retro rendition by Walter Hawkins and company), and may be discovered at marker 1:39:00. David Trofort’s wife Terra was present today, leading the praise team, but my idol keyboardist Natalie Raggins was not. Maestro Luther Washington II seemed to be missing, as well.

A screen capture from a really great movie, “La Vie et la Passion de Jesus Christ,” made in France in 1903, and painstakingly hand-colored.

SABBATH SERMON “JESUS IS STILL ENOUGH”

The hidden mechanisms of the universe reveal themselves on occasion (well, actually pretty frequently if you are paying attention). Pastor Austin Humphrey’s initial offering of his commentary on Jesus’ walk on the water was immediately subsequent to the Super Bowl, and a timely reference to this was cited. A few weeks have passed, and the Super Bowl has faded a little from the forefront of people’s consciousness. But, when God closes a door, He opens a window. One of today’s Black Achievement honorees at Berean happened to be a member of the rare group of men that participated in the very first Super Bowl. This act of Providence made Pastor’s Humphrey’s reference as fresh today as it was back on February 10, the first iteration of this “work in progress.”

Pastor Humphreys prefaced his sermon by reading the relevant verses on Mark Chapter 6 (45-51), with special emphasis on the concluding words of verse 50: “be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.” After an invocation, the pastor raised the topic of Super Bowl 50. He noted that 111 million viewers tuned in to the game, giddy with the excitement of witnessing a showdown between Bronco Peyton Manning and Panther Cam Newton. Despite the fact that the game proved to be a mediocre one, people’s eyes nevertheless remained glued to the tube. The attraction was not the teams themselves, so much as the “Superstars” of the game. The pastor stated that we still have a Jesus who is a “Superstar on and off the field.” He described Jesus as “the baddest man on and off the planet (this spin on the Super Bowl analogy was not evident in the February 10th “warm-up” sermon). The first sections of Mark 6 were mentioned (the adoring crowds that followed Jesus about) as and example of His “Superstar” appeal. “Thousands gathered to hear a word from the Lord,” the pastor remarked. The 5,000 auditors mentioned in verse 34 included just the men. The actual total was closer to 15,000, Pastor Humphreys informed us.

“The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes” by Jacopo Tintoretto, from the mid-Sixteenth Century.

Jesus was “moved with compassion toward them,” as verse 34 notes. Pastor Humphreys alluded to a “boy from the hood whose mama had packed him a lunch.” This was a person who “nobody really counted in the first place” (an historical character, but akin to the mythical “little drummer boy.” I have to cite First Corinthians 1:27: “…God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty). Everyone was fed, and verse 43 notes that there were twelve baskets of fragments left over from this repast. Pastor Humphreys hypothesized, at this point, that the disciples carried some of these leftovers with them when they departed to board ship. This hypothesis would be restated at a significant place, later in the sermon.

Jesus, after a long and exhausting day, needed some “me time” to talk to the Father (in the sermon’s prequel, in the context of the “War Room,” slightly more emphasis was placed by Pastor Humphreys on this instance of prayer by Jesus, but not too much more). The pastor said that “corporate worship was fine,” but that sometimes it was more important to consult with God on an individual basis (just for kicks, here again is the link to Soren Kierkegaard’s “The Crowd is Untruth,” which seems to insinuate that corporate worship is not such a great thing, after all).

While Jesus is praying, the disciples are on the sea. A storm arises. They are “toiling” (verse 38) to save themselves. A memory of sermon One had prepared me for the next concept, one which highlighted the “separation” of Jesus (the solution) at that moment, from the scene of the disciples’ peril (the Problem). There existed a gap between “problem” and “solution” that Jesus needed to bridge. This mental image set the stage for the pending citation by Pastor Humphreys of the  remarkable manner by which Jesus bridged this gap, by “walking on the water.”

“Jesus Walks on Water” by Alexandre Bida.

A physical separation was not indicative of a spiritual separation between Christ and His disciples, however. Jesus knew at all times what  they were experiencing. Pastor Humphreys stated, “I’m so glad that Jesus knows exactly where I am at all times, even when I cannot see Him, even when I cannot feel Him… His eye is always on me!” The disciples, being pro fishermen, may have thought that they could resolve their current dilemma by “leaning upon their own understanding.” The pastor repeated the reference to “toiling” in verse 48, stating that the word literally means “fighting for their lives.” Here is a lazy paste from biblehub.com about the original Greek, complete with a crazy font: “The word βασανιξομένους means more than “toiling;” it means literally, tormented. It is well rendered in the Revised Version by distressed. It was only by painful effort that they could make head against the driving storm…”

Here the Pastor described the walk on the water by Jesus. The water was the very substance that the disciples were afraid was going to kill them. Assiduous Adventists should revisit, at this time, the Tuesday, February 16 Sabbath School lesson “Jesus Dominion Over Nature,” which has a bearing on the pastor’s imagery (even though it describes the “other” calming of a tempest by Jesus). Inventive lesson author David Tasker relates that Jesus “just stands up, raises his hands, and tells the wind and waves to just settle down and be quiet, as if they were merely rowdy children” (I hope that next quarter’s lesson book author, Andy Nash, proves to be as good a comedian as David Tasker has been). Pastor assured us that Jesus has the power to do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (from Ephesians 3:20).

“Jesus Walking on Water” by Gustave Dore

Time as a factor relating to the topic was introduced, in addition to the concept of distance. Pastor Humphreys noted (also from verse 48) that it was the “fourth watch” (between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.). The “form” that Jesus assumes before the disciples provided a short, but meaningful digression by the pastor. Verse 49 (in the KJV) describes this form as that of a “spirit.” Pastor Humphreys warned us that Jesus was not always going to manifest Himself in whatever manner we may have grown accustomed to. He emphasized the importance, therefore, of “walking in faith, and not by sight.” Here the digression ended, but it left me speculating just what kind of potential forms Christ might choose to assume.

While the storm yet rage raged, Jesus admonished His followers to “be of good cheer.” It was the simple fact of the presence of Jesus that should cheer the disciples, whatever the external circumstances may have been. The hour of the “fourth watch” now came under scrutiny. “The fourth watch is the time when the sun always rises,” Pastor Humphreys stated (another dab of exegeses not broached during the February 10th “trial balloon”). The disciples should take heart from the fact that they had “already gone through the worst part of the night” (the unrelentingly dark “third watch”). “Don’t worry, because the sun (Son?) is coming!” This last statement by the pastor was probably intended to provoke multiple interpretations. I feel the need to poke my nose into the discussion by providing a link to the peppy song by Les Paul and Mary Ford entitled “The World is Waiting for the Sunrise” (Bing Crosby played matchmaker for this “power couple.” Les Paul and Leo Fender simultaneously invented the electric guitar. Les Paul pioneered multi-track recording).

“His Master’s Voice”

“Be of good cheer. I am here,” Jesus states (verse 50). Although His form is ambiguous, the disciples recognize the voice. They know this voice because they have a “personal relationship” with Jesus. Pastor Humphreys cited John 10:4-5: “…and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow…” The pastor described taking his dog for some “higher level training” (I had already determined to purloin an image of the RCA Dalmatian, even before the pastor introduced dogs into the sermon. Now it was mandatory). “Your dog will honor your voice in private,” the pastor was told, “but we need to bring him into some chaos training.” In a crowded and chaotic context, the pastor was directed to step away, out of his dog’s sightline. Having done so, Pastor Humphreys then issued a command to the dog. “Having heard the voice of his provider,” pastor said, “my dog began to sit, like a good boy.”

“Is there anybody in here that is so glad, when you know the Lord, on a personal level, He will call on your name, even in the midnight hour? Be of good cheer! It is I!” Punctuation by Hammond Organ.

The final statements of Pastor Austin Humphreys’ sermon were unified  by a common preface, one both evocative and colloquial.

“Bible Says: Jesus steps into the boat, and the wind ceases.” The pastor referred to the “other” calming of a storm by Jesus (the “peace! Be still!! version), and observed that, in the current episode, Jesus is not obliged to rebuke the storm. “This storm was not some random storm. This was a storm provided by the Lord in His controlled environment,” pastor informed us. “The storm was never designed to swallow them up. The storm was designed to grow their faith.” I thought that I had traced the source of this interpretation directly to Ellen G. White during the course of summarizing the 2/10/2016 sermon, but could not discover any traces of this in my post. A passage from Chapter 40 of “Desire of Ages” has some relevance to earlier statements by Pastor Humphreys, from page 381: “Not for a moment did He lose sight of His disciples.” A quote from page 380 is ambiguous: “They were in the midst of troubled waters. Their thoughts were stormy and unreasonable, and the Lord gave them something else to afflict their souls and occupy their minds.” At this point, I am only partially certain that Ellen White was the source of Pastor Humphrey’s insight. It may be am Austin Humphreys original.




We were now reminded of the bag of “leftovers” from the feeding of the 5,000 that was in the possession of the disciples. Jesus’ approach to the boat was likened to that of a passerby, as the fisherman had everything that was needful.  The “leftovers” served as a memorial of the Lord’s capabilities. The disciples had just seen Jesus “do the impossible.” But as Ellen White notes (again on page 380): “Those were hours of large blessing to the disciples, but they had forgotten it all.” Pastor Humphrey chastened unnamed Bereans for arriving at church to seek “new manna” when they “already had a bag of leftovers in the car.” I will get lazy at this point. The “new meat” of the pastor’s sermon has been consumed, if not entirely digested (an E.G. White statement in regard to the intentional provision of the storm as a “test of faith” continues to elude me; it may be a Humphreys  insight after all). The bottom slice of bread of this Sabbath Sermon was identical to the concluding anecdote from 2/10/2016, which I shall reproduce here:

A personal experience of the pastor was related. When younger, he would deliver MLK speeches. He was to present one in Nashville. It was to be followed by orchestral music. The organizers of the program informed Pastor Humphreys that the conductor of the orchestra would not be present, so he must fill in for the missing person. The pastor nervously commenced this unexpected duty. What he had assumed would be chaotic, instead turned out to be beautiful music. Unbeknown to both the pastor and the audience was the fact that the real conductor was seated in the balcony, and was providing proper direction to the musicians throughout the performance. This reminiscence furnished a suitable metaphor for our relationship with God.

Original instructions to beneficiaries of God’s oversight were, on 2/10/2016, were to just “Hang In There” (the title of that sermon). Auditors on 2/27/2016 were advised that they need to simply “go through the motions,” a statement more descriptive of  an act of mock orchestral conducting.

Concluding remarks by Pastor Austin Humphreys to the members of Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church, Atlanta 2/27/2016

Psalm 30:5 was quoted: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Punctuation by Hammond Organ.

Psalm 121:1 was quoted: ” I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.  Punctuation by Hammond Organ.

“He needs you to go the through the motions, but He will never leave you, nor forsake you!” The punctuation by the organ transformed itself into a sort of continuous underlining, as Pastor Humphreys vehemently thanked Jesus. “Won’t He fight your battles? Won’t He make your enemies your footstool? Won’t He give you joy in [the midst of] sorrow? Won’t He give you hope for the morrow? Won’t He? Won’t He? Won’t He? Won’t He?” The dynamic nature of some of Pastor Humphreys’ utterances blurs the line between speech and music. It was now time for the last word
.
“I only came here today to let you know that JESUS IS STILL ENOUGH.” (In musical terminology, this would constitute the “coda”)