The Scriptures include a significant number of life-and-death questions about meaning, purpose and value in life. Consider some of the questions posed by Scripture:

• What will it profit us if we gain the whole world but forfeit our life? (Matthew 16:26)
• Who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16:15)
• What are you looking for? (John 1:38)
• Who is my neighbor? (Like 10:29)
• What must I do to inherit eternal life? (Mark 10:17)
• Who can separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:35)
• Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? (Mark 10:38)
• Which commandment is the first of all? (Mark 12:28)
• Where can I go from your Spirit? (Psalm 139:7).
• What is this new teaching, with authority? (Mark 1:27)
• Who is this about whom I hear such things? (Luke 9:9)
• What is truth? (John 18:38)

And this morning's Gospel lesson ends with the question, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" Who is this Jesus, the one who speaks with a new level of authority, the one who is able to bring calm into the storms of life, the one who comes among us as prince of peace, suffering servant, fount of compassion and grace?