Questions in the Storm

Introduction: We have been walking through the Gospel of Mark in our sermons on Sunday mornings. This morning we are going to finish out Mark 4. And as you turn there I will remind you of some what has been happening in Mark’s Gospel up to this point. Jesus began His ministry in Mark 1 in the region of Galilee and had some success there. Enough success that He was able to appoint 12 of His followers to be apostles in Mark 3. But now Jesus ministry and influence has begun to grow outside the Galileean region. And as Jesus’ begins to draw larger crowds and as His influence over these crowds increases, so too does the opposition that He and His disciples face from the Enemy. In today’s passage, Jesus and His disciples set out to cross the lake called the Sea of Galilee and expand His ministry to a new area when a strong storm, a squall, comes up to terrify and oppose them.

Mark 4:35–41 (NIV)

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 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?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Pray?

Transition: This morning, I want to look at the questions that are asked in this passage- questions asked in the storm- and we will let them guide our study.

1. Don’t You Care if We Drown? (v38)

But before we look at the first question, let’s make sure we understand the context. The passage says that the disciples took Jesus “just as He was” in the boat. What does that mean? “Just as He was?” This is probably a reminder that Jesus was already in the boat. He had been teaching from the boat a little ways off the shore, and now, without going back into shore, Jesus told the disciples to set out for the other side of the lake. [Royce Gordon Gruenler, “Mark,” in Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, vol. 3, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1995), 773.]

Now, archeologists have found a 2,000 year old fishing boat from the Sea of Galilee. And it was about 27 feet long by 7 feet wide and only about 4.5 feet deep. It had a center mast for a sail as well as a couple of benches or cutouts in the middle of the boat where several men could sit to row the boat. And it also had a small raised deck at the back where the helmsman could stand or sit to handle the rudder and steer the ship. So, Jesus was probably on this raised deck at the rear of the boat, called the stern, sleeping on a cushion that was normally used by the helmsman who steered the ship.

Now, we have to remember that Jesus had been teaching all day. I don’t know if you’ve ever done a big presentation or spoken to a large crowd but there’s something uniquely draining about it. When you preach you put your whole person into it, you strain all your attention and all your focus and all your energy to engage your audience. And Jesus had been preaching all day! He was wiped out. He had given the crowd everything He had so as the boat sailed away, He crashed and fell asleep .

Now as the disciples try to make their way across the lake, Scripture says that “a furious squall came up.” Now, I want to read a quote from the CSB Study Bible that I think is helpful. It says, “The Sea of Galilee lies almost seven hundred feet below sea level. It is surrounded by highlands. To the northeast is Mount Hermon, which rises over nine thousand feet above sea level. When the cold air from Mount Hermon meets the rising warm air from the sea, it often results in a storm that sweeps down on to the lake from the heights.” [Ross H. McLaren, “Mark,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1566.] This kind of storm was common on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples would have been prepared for this. Peter, Andrew, James, and John made their living fishing this very lake before they became disciples. So, this storm must have been especially fierce to scare the disciples. Scripture says, in fact, that their boat was “nearly swamped.” The waves are crashing over the boat’s low sides and the boat is filling with water. They are nearly sunk! And what is Jesus doing? He’s asleep.

These disciples followed Jesus and look where it got them. It took them into the heart of the storm, to the very brink of death…and Jesus seems unbothered. You’ve heard the saying “asleep at the wheel.” Well, Jesus was asleep at the rudder. And so the disciples ask, “Don’t you care if we drown?” That is the first question asked in today’s passage and really the only question asked during the storm.

Have you ever felt that way before? Like you followed Jesus, but ended up in the heart of the storm anyway? Have you ever looked around for God in the midst of your storm and felt like He was asleep on the job. If so, you’ve probably asked God a question very similar to what the 12 asked. Don’t you care God? Don’t you care about what I am going through Jesus? If you cared, you would surely do something. Why don’t you do something to help me?! Why don’t you seem bothered by my storm?

I want to suggest to you this morning that maybe God isn’t bothered by your storm for the same reason that Jesus wasn’t bothered by this one? Because He already knows the outcome! God knows what’s going to happen and He’s already worked this storm into His good plan. Why should He worry? In the same way, Jesus doesn’t worry or jump into action because He knows He doesn’t need to. Jesus knows that He is God’s Messiah. He knows that it is not His time to die, and that He cannot die in this storm. He must die on the cross. Moreover, He knows that these 12 have been chosen by God to be witnesses to His death and resurrection. So, they cannot die yet either. So, why would He worry about the storm?

And the disciples should have known all this too. I think they would have realized it had the storm not been so terrifying. You see the disciples were focused on the storm and were asking Jesus “Don’t you care if we drown.” What they should have been doing was focusing on Jesus and the question they should have been asking was, “Is Jesus with us?” Because as long as He was with them, they were going to be okay. They should have been able to say, God’s Messiah is here with us, we will not die.

As long as Jesus was with them in the storm, they had no reason to be afraid. The same is true of you. The question you need to ask yourself this morning is this: Is Jesus with me? No matter what you are going through right now, that is the most important question for you to answer. You see, the Bible tells us that God loved you so much that He sent His Jesus to take on flesh and suffer and die in your place so your sin could be atoned for and forgiven. And it says that if you respond to that truth with faith, then God promises that your ultimate destination is Heaven. Your destiny is secure. Whatever storm you are going through, it can’t take you off that path. In fact, any storm that a believer goes through has been allowed by God to draw them nearer to Him and to conform them more into the image of His Son. As Romans 8:31 puts it, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

If God is for you then what storm, what enemy can be against you? Is Jesus with you, then what do you have to fear? Have you put your faith in Him and acknowledged Him as Lord of your life? Is Jesus with you? If so, then you can trust Him in the storm because your destination is secure. You may say, “But I really could die.” We all die eventually, but even if you die you can’t lose your place in Heaven or the inheritance you will receive there as a child of God. No storm can steal those things from you. With Jesus you can weather any storm. So, that’s the first question you have to answer this morning, Is Jesus with you?

Transition: Let’s look at Jesus’ response to their question and at the questions He asks of them.

2. Why Are You So Afraid? Do You Still Have No Faith? (v40)

Scripture says that Jesus “got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

What we learn from the two questions Jesus asks is that faith and fear work against one another. Fear is nothing more than a lack of faith because faith drives out fear. (Repeat.) The disciples problem is that they lack faith. In fact, in this story Jesus is a picture of faith and the disciples are a picture of fear.

Let’s look at Jesus first. Jesus has so much faith in God to save Him that He can sleep through the storm. In the midst of the storm Jesus in faith focuses on what He knows to be true that the Father will not forsake His Messiah before it is time for Him to die. Jesus believes that, so He sleeps.

The disciples, on the other hand, are a picture of fear. They focus not on what they know to be true but on what might happen. Their fear causes them to focus on the worst possible outcome: death. So they ask, “Jesus, don’t you care of we drown?” Their problem is they lack faith. But they have another problem too. And that is that they fear the wrong thing.

They fear the storm, but by the end of the passage, after Jesus calms the storm, v41 tells us that the disciples were terrified again because now they had seen the power of God at work in Jesus. You see, they feared the storm until they learned to fear Jesus. Matthew Henry points out that the disciples feared the wind and the waves more than they should have because they feared Jesus less than they should have. If they had known who Jesus really was, then they would have feared the storm much less and Jesus much more.

Here is a lesson for you. Fear God more and you will fear everyone and everything else less. Why are you so afraid? Are you living in fear the wrong things…the wrong people? Do you still lack faith? If so, choose to focus on Jesus instead of the storm. Fear God and place your trust in Him.

Transition: And now for the last question of the passage, the question the disciples ask themselves when it’s all said and done.

3. Who is this? (v41)

The disciples have just seen Jesus do what only God can do. Understand, that only God could control the sea in the Old Testament. It was God who parted the Red Sea. Even our Scripture reading from earlier this morning in Psalm 89:9 says of God, “You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.” Yet here, with but a word, Jesus not only stills the waves but also the wind and storm as well. What other explanation can we give but that creation recognized in Jesus’ voice the voice of it’s Creator? Who but God could do this?

And so the disciples ask this rhetorical question, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark,as he wrote his gospel, left that question unanswered because He wants you to answer it. This is the question that He wants you to answer. Who is this man who has total authority and power over nature?

Who is Jesus? From this passage we see plainly that He is both human and Divine. We see His humanity in the fact that He sleeps. God doesn’t sleep, man does. And we see His divinity as He calms the storm. Only God could do that! Already in Mark’s gospel, we have seen that Jesus has power over disease to heal the sick. Already we have seen that He has power over demons to cast them out. Now, we see He has power over nature as well.

So, Jesus has power over life and death. He has power over the physical realm, and He has power over the spiritual realm. Jesus has power over all things! That is why you can follow Him into the storm with faith. That is why you can dare to risk it all to follow Him. Who is Jesus? He is the Christ, the Savior of all mankind and my Lord.

Who is Jesus to you?

PRAY- (Thank for someone in the storm and someone to save us. Help us to respond in faith not in fear)

Invitation:

Are you in the midst of a storm in your life this morning? Do you feel like you’re in danger of drowning? Have you begun to wonder if Jesus even cares? He cares. He is with all those who believe in Him and He promises never to forsake them but to ride the storm out with them. Turn to Him and ask for help right now during this invitation.

And if you haven’t answered yet, Who is Jesus?, then decide for yourself today. Is He just a man? Is He just a good teacher? Or is He your Savior and Lord? Come to Him for salvation today.