Mark 4:35-41 Great Calm

Mark 4:35-41 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

35On that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” 36After leaving the crowd behind, the disciples took him along in the boat, just as he was. Other small boats also followed him. 37A great windstorm arose, and the waves were splashing into the boat, so that the boat was quickly filling up. 38Jesus himself was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?”

39Then he got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still lack faith?”

41They were filled with awe and said to one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”

Great Calm

I.

I know it doesn't look very difficult, but it’s exhausting. Preaching—really, public speaking in general—takes lots of emotion or it just comes off flat.

Jesus hadn’t just had a service or two, maybe with a Bible class in between. He had been preaching and teaching all day long. He had just finished his last parables of the day. He had talked about the farmer scattering seed in his field, not knowing how it would come up, or how much of it would come up. Then he had compared the kingdom of God to the mustard seed and the plant that grew from it.

Last week’s Gospel said: “With many similar parables he continued to speak the word to them, as much as they were able to hear” (Mark 4:33, EHV). Apparently the scattered seed and the mustard seed weren’t the last parables of the day, just the last ones Mark wrote down for us.

At the end of all that preaching and teaching, Jesus was exhausted. “When evening came, Jesus said to them, ‘Let’s go over to the other side’” (Mark 4:35, EHV).

Sometimes at the end of the day’s preaching the pastor just wants to go home and collapse in his favorite chair, turn on some sport on the TV, and be lulled to sleep by the announcers and the crowd noises. Other times perhaps just a different form of activity, even if it’s physical, will seem relaxing because it’s different from the emotional expenditure of public speaking.

And so they set off to cross the big lake that evening. They didn’t wait until morning. These were experienced fishermen who often fished through the night, so navigating to the other side didn’t seem unusual. The weather must have looked favorable, or they might have objected.

“After leaving the crowd behind, the disciples took him along in the boat, just as he was. Other small boats also followed him” (Mark 4:36, EHV). “Just as he was,” the disciples took him. Exhausted. Completely spent. The professional fishermen could handle things; Jesus left it to them.

“A great windstorm arose, and the waves were splashing into the boat, so that the boat was quickly filling up” (Mark 4:37, EHV).

Though they hadn’t expected weather like this, the disciples know just what to do.

II.

There are storms and there are storms. We have all been through storms, haven’t we? The thunder rolls, the lightning strikes.

Like the disciples, perhaps you do everything you can to minimize the impact of the storm. You tie down the loose ends of tarps and cover your outdoor furniture. You close the windows. Then, safe inside the house, you turn on the TV to see if anything more serious approaches.

Sometimes it does. If the reports indicate a rotation in the winds, maybe you head down to the basement, or to the most interior room you can find, in case there’s a tornado.

“A great windstorm arose,” says Mark. The Greek word is the word for a hurricane or a gale—a really serious storm, not just the run-of-the-mill bad weather. Most people don’t want to be in the middle of the ocean, or the middle of Lake Superior or Lake Michigan, in a gale.

Those who have experienced firsthand the devastation of a tornado or a hurricane will never forget the way they felt—helpless, unable to do anything about what is going on all around them.

The great windstorm the disciples faced seems to have blown up quickly, rather than building gradually. Still, their first inclination was to work through it. Many of them, after all, were professional fishermen. They had been through storms before.

The one at the tiller wrapped his arms more tightly; with all his might he did his best to steer the boat into the waves, rather than just letting them crash into them broadside. Others were busy resetting the rigging, shortening the sails and turning them as best they could to use the winds as effectively as possible. Still others grabbed the bailing buckets to help keep the boat from listing.

Sometimes the storms of life are like the great windstorm. The events of life come at you fast and furiously. Sicknesses and accidents. Job loss or job changes and the accompanying money problems. The out-of-control people around you that disrupt the peacefulness of your existence.

What’s your first reaction? The tendency is to grab the tiller, reset the rigging as best you can, bail out whatever can be bailed out, and ride out the storm. In other words, you look for whatever logical steps you can take to solve the problem and steer back onto the right course.

Sometimes it’s beyond your abilities. You can’t seem to make any headway.

So it was for the disciples. They had to admit it—they couldn’t handle this particular storm.

But what did they find? “Jesus himself was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion” (Mark 4:38, EHV). He wasn’t helping with the rigging. He wasn’t clinging to the tiller, or furiously bailing water. He wasn’t even clinging to the gunwale for dear life, like I probably would have been doing. He was sleeping. Calmly. Peacefully. Sleeping.

“They woke him and said, ‘Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?’” (Mark 4:38, EHV). Something else had to be admitted—they were terrified. Jesus could solve absolutely any and every problem. These disciples knew that about him. He hadn’t solved it. The fact that he didn’t take any action without them specifically asking terrified them even more.

It is common to think that since we are children of God, just like the disciples, God shouldn’t ever let bad things happen in our lives. Sometimes he does. The Second Reading for today chronicled one of the three times the Apostle Paul was shipwrecked. Paul listed numerous horrors that had happened to him in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 11:23-27).

But it was the same Paul who wrote to the Romans: “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, EHV). God doesn’t promise that he will always remove the storms of life. He does promise that somehow, someway, he will use all those storms of life to work together for our good.

III.

In their terror, the disciples shook Jesus awake. Over the howling winds they shrieked their terrified question: “Don’t you care that we are about to drown?”

Their prayer wasn’t really prayed the “right” way. Their prayer was accusatory, rather than a humble plea for help. But Jesus responded anyway.

“Then he got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ The wind stopped, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39, EHV).

As if the plug got pulled on a giant fan, the wind quit blowing immediately. That’s one thing—miraculous in and of itself. But waves don’t quit, just like that. Waves keep coming and coming, even after the wind dies down. It takes a while for the seas to grow calm.

Not this time. “There was a great calm.” Notice the complete contrast to the description of the “great windstorm” earlier. As fierce as the gale had been, so still and quiet was the “great calm” after Jesus rebuked the wind.

Jesus can solve any problem. He can handle every situation. Gale-force winds are no match for his rebuking voice. The other storms of life—even those with gale-force winds—are no match for him, either.

IV.

“He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still lack faith?’” (Mark 4:40, EHV). Literally Jesus asks, “Why are you so cowardly?”

Sometimes believers in Jesus show cowardice. In moments of panic we abandon trust in the One who can really help us. When the disciples finally turned to Jesus did they really believe he could help them, or were they just grabbing in desperation? Do we turn to Jesus the same way? As a last resort?

“Do you still lack faith?” Christians have been privileged to read all about Jesus’ miracles. We know his greatest miracle—that he has conquered sin and death for us. He has paid for our moments of cowardice and our weak faith. He remains faithful, even when we sometimes are faithless.

“They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!’” (Mark 4:41, EHV). Most of the other translations say the disciples were terrified, or filled with great fear.

Jesus’ miracle didn’t make them afraid of him. The control Jesus showed he had over nature made them realize more and more clearly that nothing was out of the realm of possibility for Jesus. If even the wind and the waves were not outside his control, neither was the defeat of sin and Satan. Just like a great calm settled over the lake, a great calm must have settled over their hearts.

God grant that your heart is filled with a great calm as you consider your Lord Jesus today. He is in charge. He is in control, no matter what seems to be the problem of the day. Jesus has given you the great calm of sins forgiven. No matter how intense the storms of this life, when he decides the time is right he will bring you to the eternal great calm of heaven. Amen.