Sermon Mark 4:35-41 “Opioid Disaster”
New Covenant Church
June 24, 2018
Listen to this Sermon.
The disciples of Jesus have had a very eventful week. It started with some Pharisees chewing them out for plucking grain on the Sabbath. Then their rabbi, Jesus, was accused by Teachers of the Law from Jerusalem of being the devil. And Jesus’ family said that he was out of his mind. The disciples had to provide crowd control and had been walking all over the region of Galilee telling people about Jesus. And finally that had to listen to Jesus tell stories about farming, soil, seeds and mustard bushes, something farmers would enjoy but the fishermen disciples would find quite dull. So Jesus decided to give them a gift and let them spend a day on the lake in their boats. We will get to all this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
So the disciples have had a long week. They must have been overjoyed when Jesus said: Mark 4:35 ...“Let us go over to the other side.” Finally, they get to enjoy their day in their boats on their lake. So, the disciples jump in their boats and do this:
36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.
So they took Jesus along for the ride. Up until now, they have been following Jesus. They did whatever Jesus told them to do. But now Jesus is to follow them. The disciples will tell Jesus what to do. And what do you think happens when we stop following Jesus and expect Jesus to follow us? Well, here is what happened to the disciples.
37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped.
Disaster happens whenever we stop following Jesus and expect Jesus to follow us. Our savior protects us as long as we are doing what he wants. But when go our own way that’s when trouble starts.
So what do think the disciples did when they thought their boats might sink and they might drown? Well, they decided that this would be a good time to ask Jesus for some help. So they prayed.
38 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?”
Of course, Jesus cares if they drown. And Jesus did this for his disciples:
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
So even though the disciples had stopped following Jesus and wanted Jesus to follow them their savior still loved them and saved them. This is called grace. Jesus loves you and wants the best for you. But he also wants you to follow him and so he said this to his disciples.
40 … “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
The disciples were afraid, but not of the storm. They feared their teacher, Jesus, who demonstrated that he had the power to calm the storms. And with a display of this power, the disciples were filled with awe and respect. And no doubt they will never try to get Jesus to follow them again.
We live in a culture that wants to go its own way. We don’t want to follow anyone, especially Jesus. But when disasters happen, as they surely will, we turn to Jesus asking for help.
This past week I attended a memorial service for a young man named Tim. His family had come together to ask Jesus for comfort at a time of loss. Tim lived in our community but did not come to this church. He was survived by his mother and father and a very young son who will grow up never knowing his father. What happened to Tim has become common in America. He died from a drug overdose.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 115 people die every day after overdosing on opioids. People are overdosing on prescription painkillers, heroin, and fentanyl.
https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis
Senator Rob Portman said in The Washington Post, “The opioid epidemic that has caused so much pain in the United States is also savaging Mexico, contributing to a breakdown of order in rural areas. Heroin is like steroids for drug gangs, pumping money and muscle into their fight to control territory and transportation routes to the United States. Mexico provides more than 90 percent of America’s heroin, up from less than 10 percent in 2003, when Colombia was the main supplier. Poppy production has expanded by about 800 percent in a decade as U.S. demand has soared. The western state of Guerrero is the center of this business, producing more than half of Mexico’s opium poppies, the base ingredient for heroin. Guerrero also has become the most violent state in Mexico, with more than 2,200 killings last year.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/violence-is-soaring-in-the-mexican-towns-that-feed-americas-heroin-habit/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.016f04bd064d
So what happened that caused Mexico to produce so much heroin that is now killing so many Americans?
The Opioid epidemic in America accelerated from 2012 - 2015. In June of 2012, President Barak Obama implemented a policy called DACA, Deferred Action for Children Arrivals. This led to a significant increase in undocumented children arriving across our border with Mexico. According to Daniel Horowitz “From the time DACA was announced, in 2012, through 2014, the number of unaccompanied minors apprehended from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras increased 490 percent, 444 percent, and 610 percent respectively.”
https://www.conservativereview.com/news/the-immorality-of-the-open-borders-left/
There is a clear link between the DACA program deferring criminal action against undocumented children and the huge increase in unaccompanied undocumented children crossing our border.
Many of these children were sent by parents to receive the DACA benefits. According to the Miami Herald, “Immigrant-rights activists say more and more unaccompanied minors are arriving for various reasons. Many are fleeing gang violence ... But children are also being sent by families who believe they could qualify for immigration reform … or for President Barack Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program known as DACA.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article2087881.html
All these unaccompanied undocumented children crossing our border provided the cover that drug cartels needed to get heroin into our country. And these children are recruitment objects for Mexican gangs. According to the Center for Immigration Studies,
“Center researchers reviewed more than 500 cases of MS-13 gang members arrested nationwide since 2012. We conclude that this resurgence represents a very serious threat to public safety in communities where MS-13 has rebuilt itself. The resurgence is directly connected to the illegal arrival and resettlement of more than 300,000 Central American youths and families that has continued unabated for six years, and to a de-prioritization of immigration enforcement in the interior of the country that occurred at the same time.
All criminal gangs are a threat to public safety, but MS-13 is a unique problem because of the unusually brutal crimes its members have committed, its success in using intimidation to victimize and control people in its territory, and its focus on recruiting young members, often in schools...
Key findings:
We found 506 MS-13 members arrested or charged with crimes that were reported in 22 states. The most cases were reported in California (92), Maryland (85), New York (80), and Virginia (63).
MS-13 crimes are not primarily petty nuisance crimes; 207 MS-13 members were charged with murder. In addition, we found more than 100 accused of conspiracy/racketeering, and dozens of others for drug trafficking, sex trafficking, attempted murder, sexual assaults, and extortion.
While most of the reports of MS-13 suspects in our case set did not include information on the immigration status of the individual, we could determine that 126 of the 506 suspects (and 38 of the 207 murder suspects) were illegal aliens.
The median age of MS-13 gang members identified was 23, and suspects ranged in age from 14 to 57.
The median age of their victims was 19, and victims ranged in age from 14 to 74. Sixty of the victims were under the age of 18, including 52 of the murder victims.
120 of the 506 MS-13 suspects in our case set arrived as UACs (Unaccompanied Alien Children), including 48 of the murder suspects.
The location of these MS-13 crimes corresponds with locations of large numbers of UACs who were resettled by the federal government.”
https://cis.org/Report/MS13-Resurgence-Immigration-Enforcement-Needed-Take-Back-Our-Streets?utm_source=E-
So as a direct result of the Deferred Action for Children Arrivals program we have seen a significant increase in the number of unaccompanied undocumented children crossing the border and a significant increase in gang activity in America. This has led to a vast expansion of heroin production in Mexico and the opioid epidemic we see today. This epidemic is directly responsible for Tim’s death and the death of so many young men and women in our country.
So what should be our response? Some argue that we should provide a sanctuary for undocumented aliens living here. I understand the need to have compassion for people. We do have to provide for basic human needs. But we must also protect our nation from a gang invasion from the south. We must keep Mexican heroin out of our country. And so we must protect our borders and enforce our immigration laws.
The opioid epidemic is a disaster facing America. And we know from scripture that disasters like this come to us because we fail to follow Jesus. So we join our voices with Jesus’ disciples and cry out:“Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”. We admit our need for the help of our savior to rebuke the Mexican gangs and free us from addiction to heroin. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, just as you rebuke wind and rain we ask now that you rebuke the MS-13 and all gang activity in America. Help us to keep them and the heroin they sell out of our country. Protect our children from heroin dealers. And free from slavery all who are addicted to painkillers. This we pray in your glorious name as our savior. Amen.
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