In Mark 4:35-41, Jesus has just finished preaching to the people, it was late in the day when him and the disciples got into the boat on the Sea of Galilee, which to us is really a large lake. The Sea of Galilee is 680 feet below sea level and surrounded by hills. As the wind comes over the hills is picks up speed and power as it hits the lake. This causes unexpected and violent storms, these storms were also famous for their sudden appearances.
So this group of boats begins their journey across the lake when a furious squall suddenly appears. The waves beat against the boat; the waves start to fill boat with water. In the mist of the storm with the disciples truly fearing for their lives, Jesus is in the back of the boat asleep on a cushion. In the middle of the storm the disciples had wake Jesus up…because he was asleep.
Jesus wakes up and immediately turns to the waves and yells, “Quiet! Be Still!” The wind dies down and the water become calm right before their eyes. Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
The disciples are terrified and ask each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Life Happens Fast
We cannot control the future; we never know what is going to happen next. Life comes at us at time faster than we can take it in. Someone is diagnosed with cancer, the phone rings and you’re notified of a death in the family. One ring and your life changed forever. The big event always seem to come one after another, ‘when it rains, it pours’ is the saying we often us.
But what about the small things, a sick child, an overdue bill, you’re tired and life doesn’t want to stop. Your job is demanding, you’re boss is relentless and your spouse wants your attention, the dog needs a bath, the van has a strange noise coming from the engine…I could go on and on but it doesn’t stop.
At time in our lives we can feel like the disciples in the boat. Storms suddenly appear and we are fearful. Our first reaction is denial, why is this happening to me. What did I do wrong? This followed turning towards God, but with the wrong attitude. We blame God or we wonder aloud, “Lord do you care or are you just asleep?”
Ever feel like God was asleep? I mean here are the disciples about to drown and Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. He is comfortable laying there on his cushion. How many of has been in this position wondering, Lord, don’t you care if we drown?”
Jesus in the Mist of the Storm
All of this makes me look at Jesus a little closer. He is in the boat and the water has to be getting him wet, the boat has to be rocking back and forth. Either he is so exhausted that he could not do anything else, or he is just totally at peace with the situation. He didn’t get excited, he wasn’t afraid, he wasn’t wringing his hands, he was a sleep.
I know in my own life when I am worried about something the first thing to go is the ability to sleep peacefully. I’ll be up early trying to figure out what I am going to do. And if I’m afraid for my life, I’m really going to be awake, not Jesus, he is asleep.
So if Jesus wasn’t afraid, if Jesus wasn’t worried, if Jesus was at peace and asleep in the storm. I can’t help but to think about the question Jesus asked his disciples, “What are you afraid of? Do you still have no faith?” Jesus wasn’t going to let the disciples drown; he wasn’t going to let the boat sink. He let the boat take a little water, but Jesus wasn’t going to let the boat sink.
In our own lives storms are going to come. It might even look as if we are going to drown. But Jesus isn’t going to let you drown in your situation. You might face the impossible, but in the end Jesus is going to be faithful. We need to put our trust in his hands and not our own.
Jesus Clam the Storm
Looking at the story, when the disciples were so afraid, Jesus woke up and calmed the wind and sea. Until everything was completely clam. In the middle of the storm, Jesus brought peace. By trusting Christ he will give us the peace. The demonstration of controlling the weather is followed in chapter 5, by Jesus healing a demon possessed man and healing a woman who suffered an illness, to finely raising a little girl from the dead. Jesus is showing us he has complete control over every aspect of our lives; there is nothing he can’t control. He even has power over life and death.
So the question becomes “what are you afraid of?” “Do you still have no faith?” Do you put your faith in yourself first when bad thing happen, when the storm takes you by surprise…or do you trust Christ. Storms are going to happen or for most of us storms have happened. By putting our faith in Christ, he alone can give us peace and clam us no matter the situation.
Let me close with an illustration
When Dick Peterson's wife, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, he knew many challenges awaited his family. What he didn't know was just how many lessons he would learn along the way about love and service in the name of Christ. He writes:
The intruder invaded Elizabeth's body, and by extension, mine. Her disease became my disease and made demands on our relationship we were ill-prepared to manage. As she moved from cane to walker to electric scooter and finally to a powered wheelchair, then lost use of her right hand, I had to adjust my life to fit her needs.
So this group of boats begins their journey across the lake when a furious squall suddenly appears. The waves beat against the boat; the waves start to fill boat with water. In the mist of the storm with the disciples truly fearing for their lives, Jesus is in the back of the boat asleep on a cushion. In the middle of the storm the disciples had wake Jesus up…because he was asleep.
Jesus wakes up and immediately turns to the waves and yells, “Quiet! Be Still!” The wind dies down and the water become calm right before their eyes. Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
The disciples are terrified and ask each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Life Happens Fast
We cannot control the future; we never know what is going to happen next. Life comes at us at time faster than we can take it in. Someone is diagnosed with cancer, the phone rings and you’re notified of a death in the family. One ring and your life changed forever. The big event always seem to come one after another, ‘when it rains, it pours’ is the saying we often us.
But what about the small things, a sick child, an overdue bill, you’re tired and life doesn’t want to stop. Your job is demanding, you’re boss is relentless and your spouse wants your attention, the dog needs a bath, the van has a strange noise coming from the engine…I could go on and on but it doesn’t stop.
At time in our lives we can feel like the disciples in the boat. Storms suddenly appear and we are fearful. Our first reaction is denial, why is this happening to me. What did I do wrong? This followed turning towards God, but with the wrong attitude. We blame God or we wonder aloud, “Lord do you care or are you just asleep?”
Ever feel like God was asleep? I mean here are the disciples about to drown and Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. He is comfortable laying there on his cushion. How many of has been in this position wondering, Lord, don’t you care if we drown?”
Jesus in the Mist of the Storm
All of this makes me look at Jesus a little closer. He is in the boat and the water has to be getting him wet, the boat has to be rocking back and forth. Either he is so exhausted that he could not do anything else, or he is just totally at peace with the situation. He didn’t get excited, he wasn’t afraid, he wasn’t wringing his hands, he was a sleep.
I know in my own life when I am worried about something the first thing to go is the ability to sleep peacefully. I’ll be up early trying to figure out what I am going to do. And if I’m afraid for my life, I’m really going to be awake, not Jesus, he is asleep.
So if Jesus wasn’t afraid, if Jesus wasn’t worried, if Jesus was at peace and asleep in the storm. I can’t help but to think about the question Jesus asked his disciples, “What are you afraid of? Do you still have no faith?” Jesus wasn’t going to let the disciples drown; he wasn’t going to let the boat sink. He let the boat take a little water, but Jesus wasn’t going to let the boat sink.
In our own lives storms are going to come. It might even look as if we are going to drown. But Jesus isn’t going to let you drown in your situation. You might face the impossible, but in the end Jesus is going to be faithful. We need to put our trust in his hands and not our own.
Jesus Clam the Storm
Looking at the story, when the disciples were so afraid, Jesus woke up and calmed the wind and sea. Until everything was completely clam. In the middle of the storm, Jesus brought peace. By trusting Christ he will give us the peace. The demonstration of controlling the weather is followed in chapter 5, by Jesus healing a demon possessed man and healing a woman who suffered an illness, to finely raising a little girl from the dead. Jesus is showing us he has complete control over every aspect of our lives; there is nothing he can’t control. He even has power over life and death.
So the question becomes “what are you afraid of?” “Do you still have no faith?” Do you put your faith in yourself first when bad thing happen, when the storm takes you by surprise…or do you trust Christ. Storms are going to happen or for most of us storms have happened. By putting our faith in Christ, he alone can give us peace and clam us no matter the situation.
Let me close with an illustration
When Dick Peterson's wife, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, he knew many challenges awaited his family. What he didn't know was just how many lessons he would learn along the way about love and service in the name of Christ. He writes:
The intruder invaded Elizabeth's body, and by extension, mine. Her disease became my disease and made demands on our relationship we were ill-prepared to manage. As she moved from cane to walker to electric scooter and finally to a powered wheelchair, then lost use of her right hand, I had to adjust my life to fit her needs.
Uninvited and unwelcome, this disease now forces us into a kind of sick reality game, leaving no choice but to follow the rules even as they change and become more restrictive …
Every family divvies up chores, fairly or not so fairly. The MS dictates ours, but we do have the choice to let it tear us apart or use it to strengthen our marriage as we face the adversity together. This reaches deeper than deciding who does what. It reaches to feelings, emotions, and attitudes about what we do, what's done to us, and who we are to ourselves and each other …
We both pray for healing. With our families and our church, we agonize before God for a return to the day when Elizabeth can offer an open handshake instead of a permanently clenched fist, or take a flight of stairs without thought.
But if we only grieve the loss, we miss the gain. Even as the MS steals abilities from Elizabeth's life, a healing grows almost undetected inside. When we talk about this, Elizabeth wonders aloud, "Did it really take this to teach me that my soul is more important to God than my body?"
And I ask, "Is this what Jesus meant when he taught his disciples to serve? When he washed their feet, did he look 2,000 years into the future and see me washing my wife's clothes and helping her onto her shower seat to bathe? Did it really take this to teach me compassion?" …
God's healing can be sneaky. We pray that Elizabeth will resume her old life; he wants her to assume a new life. We long for change on the outside; he desires change on the inside. We pray for what we want; he answers with what he knows we need …
[God] has made me question whom it is I love. When I pray for healing, is it for Elizabeth? Or is it because her healing would make life so much easier for me? I challenge, "Aren't you the God who heals? I love her and I want her well." But in the back of my mind I know I also want her healed for me.
The exposure shames me. God commands me to love God with all that's within me, with all my heart, soul, and mind, and to love my neighbor—my wife—as I would myself.
Loving what I want for myself isn't even on the list. God has given me an impossible command, but he has given me the power to obey it.
The intruder still resides in our home, still presents us with new challenges each day, and still teaches us forceful lessons on submission, dependence, service, and a love that endures all things and never fails—even when I fail.
Strange as it may seem, that intruder is beginning to look more and more like a guest.
Only Jesus in the middle of the storm can work a miracle only Jesus can give us peace when we face difficult times. Only Jesus has the power to take tragedy and turn it into good. But we can only experience Him if we know him.
What are you afraid of? Do you still have no faith?
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