Mark 4:35-41

Introduction:

Have you ever found yourself in a hard or painful situation that you didn’t intend to be in?

**story of hurting my finger on the sewage grate

Suffice to say, I didn’t wake up that morning planning to go to the ER to get stitches

-However, this is what happens to each and every one of us in life

-I doubt that any of us plan to put ourselves into hard or painful situations, and yet we often find ourselves there contrary to our desire to avoid hardship at all costs

-Perhaps these kind of situations are tragic: the death of a loved one, a dear friend or family member moving away, or a sudden health complication

-Perhaps your situation is more of a slow-burn kind of hardship, the kind that grates on you each and every day: a job you hate, the fact that you’re still single but desperately want to be married, or a loved one that has turned their back on the Lord, and you live with the knowledge of their antagonism toward God each and every day

-Perhaps you wonder what the purpose of your situation is, or why God would do this to you? Does He care? Why doesn’t He help?

Here in our text, we find the disciples of Jesus suddenly in a hard situation that they never intended to be in

-And we find valuable truth for all God’s people as we face the hardships of living in this sin-cursed world as we wait to be rescued by the Return of our Savior

I’m preaching for this Sunday afternoon and next, and I’ve picked the Gospel of Mark for a few reasons:

Jeremy and I are working through a commentary on Mark together, and it’s really been a blessing to me

As we move into the Christmas season, we often associate Christmas time with the birth of Christ.

-And this is true, Christmas is about the birth of our Savior

-But it’s also about the Incarnation as a whole

-It’s a time for us to consider the fact that God became a Man in the Person of Jesus Christ

-And this week and next, I want us to consider two accounts from the Gospel of Mark that help us worship God for the Incarnation, and to consider the implications of it for us

-Mark begins his account with Mark 1:1

Mark 1:1 NKJV

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

And from there, Mark writes an short, action-packed Gospel, focusing on Christ as the Suffering Servant who has come to seek and save the lost

-And Mark, perhaps more than any of the other Gospel writers, focuses on the humanity of Christ, the fact He is truly God, and yet truly man

And today’s text is kind of short, but is truly rich in the theology of the incarnation and how it shapes our lives as we go through hardship and trial

The text is structured around 3 questions that are asked, and so we will follow these questions as we consider the truths God has for us

**pray**

Question 1:

vs. 35-36

-Mark wants us to know that the events of this narrative happen “on the same day, when evening had come.”

-So, what had been happening earlier this same day?

-If you glance back up at the bulk of chapter 4, Jesus had spent His day teaching the kingdom parables:

-The parable of the 4 different kinds of soils

-The parable of the mustard seed

-The lesson on not putting a lamp under a basket

All of these parables were designed to proclaim to His followers that with the birth and then the baptism of Jesus, the kingdom of God had finally broken in in a whole new way

-And Jesus was about to demonstrate powerfully and authoritatively that He is the King that has brought this Kingdom to earth

Now, earlier in this chapter, Jesus had been teaching while in a boat as the crowd sat on the shore

-so at the end of the day, Jesus tells the disciples that it’s time to shove off and go to the other side of the lake

-I don’t know this for sure, but I wonder if the 4 fishermen out of the 12 enjoyed these kinds of commands from Jesus

-It gave them an opportunity to be helpful to Jesus and maybe even show off their expertise to Him and the others

“Don’t worry Master, we’ve got this! If there’s one thing we can handle, it’s getting you across the lake!”

-So they send the crowd away and whisk Jesus away into the boat as other boats travel with them, perhaps to follow Jesus and see what He’s going to do or say next

So, Jesus and the twelve begin their voyage which, which theoretically shouldn’t take much more than a couple hours depending on the speed of the boat, since the lake is only 8 miles across at the widest point

-However, things do not go quite as planned . . .

Vs. 37

The text tells us two important things about this storm:

-It’s a windstorm, which wasn’t uncommon for the sea of Galilee, which sits in a basin 700 feet below sea levels with mountains on various sides of the lake

-Because of the unique geography, cold air could rush down the mountains over the lake and create sudden and fierce windstorms where the lake would get whipped up into a frenzy

And second, this was a GREAT windstorm

-it was so great that the waves were crashing into the boat and filling it up with water

You can almost imagine the seen:

-A few disciples are dozing off after a long day, while Peter and James are giving Thomas a hard time about his fear of water

-Thaddeus notices that the sky is darkening with clouds and feels a stiff breeze blowing in from the Northeast

“Hey Peter! Those clouds . . . are those anything to worry about?”

Peter eyes the clouds and smirks, “Nothing to be concerned! I know to someone who doesn’t sail much, it may seem like a little scary, but trust me, me and Andrew have seen way worse! Haven’t we Andrew?”

“That’s right! We’ve seen some storms that would make landlubbers like you all cry!”

The breeze picked up and soon turned into a rushing torrent of wind.

The smirk soon disappeared from Peter’s face as the boat began to violently jerk back and forth

A sleeping Matthew awoke with a high pitched yell as a wave of water crashed on top of him

-Soon, all the disciples were awake. Some clutched the side of the boat in pure panic, while the 4 fisherman frantically barked out orders to try to bail water out of the quickly sinking ship

-With a jolt, Peter realized that he hadn’t seen or heard Jesus in a while. Did he get tossed overboard??

“Where’s Jesus??” Peter’s frantic scream pierced the through the howling wind and crashing waves

-The disciples looked at each other with eyes of panic, desperately looking around until John shouted above the roaring storm: “He’s over here!”

-The disciples rushed over to John and looked down into the stern of the boat

Mark 4:38 (NKJV)

But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow.

Brothers and sisters, can we take a moment and stop here at the stern of the boat and marvel at the mystery of the Incarnation as we stare down at our Savior sleeping through a near-fatal storm?

-The Lord of glory, the Creator the ends of the earth, the One who never slumbers nor sleeps is so exhausted that He sleeps through the storm

Have you ever been so tired or seen someone so tired that they slept through something that shouldn’t be able to be slept through?

**I distinctly remember as a teenager going over the Guffey’s house in River Hills for our teen Christmas party

-We a pretty large youth group back then, and a rather loud one at that

-There were probably 20-30 teens there that night, making all kinds of noise with our games and gift exchanges and laughing

-And right in this room with all these teens milling about and all this noise, I distinctly remember looking over and sitting slumped up against a wall was James Guffey sound asleep

**On a personal note, I can remember being on a mission trip to China, and one of the last nights I was there before we travelled back, I had something on my mind that I was really concerned with back home, and I stayed up all night

-I just wasn’t able to sleep

-So that day, we went on a tour of a really large dam there in China, and then we went to the airport to begin the process of getting back home

-And I was so exhausted, that I fell asleep the moment I sat down on the plane and did not wake up until we had landed, pulled up to the gate, and everyone else on the plane was already off

-I completely missed all of it

-I had no recollection of any of it because I was simply that tired

-And our Lord here is so tired that the howling wind, the crashing waves, the screaming disciples, and the water filling into the boat doesn’t wake Him

-Brothers and sisters, Jesus was truly human

-Jesus shared in all of our human experiences

-He knew what it was like to come down with the stomach bug

-He knew what it was like to have a long day at work where nothing seems to go right

-He knew what it was like to have annoying neighbors

-He knew what it was like to have family tensions

In the Incarnation, Jesus truly became man

-And before we move on, I hope you really take comfort in that

-That Jesus knows what it’s like to take on human flesh and live in our world

The disciples find Jesus sleeping . . .

Mark 4:38 (NKJV)

And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

This is the first of the three questions, and what a question it is:

“Jesus, don’t you care that we’re going to die??”

“Jesus, doesn’t it mean anything to you that we’re in trouble??”

This is the Savior of the World

-This is the One who has all power and all authority

-This is the One who loved the world enough to come and save us!

What a question to ask the Savior

-But brothers and sisters, we get to points like this in our lives, don’t we?

“Jesus, I know you died for me!”

“Jesus, I know you’re the king of the Universe!”

“Jesus, I know you know the end from the beginning and are sovereign over all!”

“But don’t you care what I’m going through?”

“Don’t you care that my children aren’t living for the Lord?”

“Don’t you care that I’m still single but I desperately want to get married?”

“Don’t you care that my family is going through something really hard right now that seems to be tearing us apart?”

“Don’t you care that I’m struggling financially and it seems like we’re always a few dollars away from the poorhouse?”

“Does it mean anything to you Jesus that my heart is breaking and it seems I just can’t go on anymore?”

Aren’t we there sometimes? Are you there this afternoon?

-Those waves are real!

-That wind is real!

-That health issue is real!

-That nagging source of hurt and disappointment is real!

Doesn’t Jesus care?

Question 2:

So what does Jesus do?

Mark 4:39 NKJV

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

Jesus, rubs away the sleep from His eyes, stands to his feet, and speaks to the wind and the sea

-Like a stern father who sends his children scurrying for cover when they’ve been too loud in the house, Jesus rebukes the wind and the sea and commands them to be still

What incredible power this is

Who else can do this?

**I remember on my wedding day, there was the threat of rain all day

-And a lot us throughout the day, were fervently praying that God would hold off the rain for us long enough to have our short outdoor ceremony

-Brothers and sisters, that is not what Jesus does

-Jesus doesn’t pray to God for better weather like you and I do

-There are wonderful stories of God’s people praying to God for his favor in the weather and God powerfully and miraculously answering!

-But this occasion right here in the text is different than every other instance in human history, because Jesus does not pray for better weather, He commands better weather

-He doesn’t pray for calm, He demands calm

Who can do that? God, that’s who can do that

Psalm 104:7 (NKJV)

At Your rebuke the waters fled;

At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.

Psalm 107:23-29 contains this:

Mark Explanation of the Text

Some went out on the sea in ships;

they were merchants on the mighty waters.…

They reeled and staggered like drunkards;

they were at their wits’ end.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,

and he brought them out of their distress.

He stilled the storm to a whisper;

the waves of the sea were hushed.

Only God can speak to the wind and the sea, and they obey

-Brothers and sisters, in the span of 2 verses, Mark has given us the blazing and glorious light of the Incarnation

-Jesus is overtired, yet omnipotent

-He is sleepy, yet supreme

-Exhausted, yet the Emperor over all

He is the God-Man

The Nicene Creed, on the most foundational creeds in church history from 325 AD states: [We believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Brothers and sisters, this is the glory of the Incarnation, and it matters in your life

“how?” you might ask

That brings us to our second question, which is actually two questions:

Mark 4:40 NKJV

But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

“Jesus, don’t you care what’s going on in my life? Doesn’t my heartbreak about my family, or that health struggle, or my desire for a relationship, or the dire straight of my child or grandchild mean anything to you?” you cry

“Why are you so fearful?” says the Savior

“How is it that you have no faith?”

Brothers and sisters, have no fear: if you’re a child of God, then you can be assure that the God-Man is with you in your trials and hardships right now

-He not only is truly God, possessing all authority, all wisdom, all power, and all majesty and glory

-But He’s also truly Man, understanding completely what it’s like to condescend and to live in the ups and downs, the goods and the bads, the exhilarations and the monotonies of life

**I was reminded once again these past few weeks leading up to the election that one of my favorite things is when celebrities lecture me on who to vote for

-Regardless of what political party that they’re for or against, there’s nothing more tone deaf than a multi-millionaire movie star who hasn’t been to the grocery store or drove a car for 20 years telling me what I should care about in a political candidate or lecturing me for hurting the environment by driving my car to work

-The reason that many of us find that so abrasive is not because it’s wrong for people to be rich or to have opinions when you’re rich

-but it’s annoying when someone pretends to that the know what it’s like to live a lower-middle class life when in reality, their life doesn’t look remotely like mine, nor has it in the past couple of decades

-Brothers and sisters, you are not serving a tyrannical god sitting in his luxurious palace who rolls his eyes at your small, human problems, demanding that you be better and get over it

-No, if you’re a Christian, you serve a God who clothed Himself in human flesh, a God who came through the womb of a teenage girl, a God who had ordinary parents, a God who had 5 or 6 siblings, a God who went to school, a God who spent hours toiling to make a living and support his widowed mom, a God who bought groceries and attended weddings and funerals

-A God who Hebrews 4:15

Hebrews 4:15 (NKJV)

in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

But not only that, He’s the God of the Universe who commands waves to cease and winds to die down

-He’s the God who splits the Sea and stops the earth from spinning

-He’s the God who speaks trillions of stars into existence

-He’s human and understands your weaknesses, and He’s God, and has infinite power to help you

**imagine that you were out one day in Charlotte, and you went out to eat, and you looked to the side and found out that Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, was sitting at the table next to you

-imagine that you strike up a conversation with him, and you really hit it off

-He invites you to come over to his house and have dinner with his family

-Over dinner, you begin sharing your story with him and you both come to realize that you two have eerily similar stories

-He grew up in the same kind of town you did, had similar interests and hobbies, has the same number of siblings you did, and even had gone through some of the same hardships you had gone through in life

-He was truly someone who understood you and what you’d been through in life

-At the end of dinner, he looks at you and he says, “I’m going to take care of you from here on out. Whatever you need help with in life, I’ll make sure to be there for you and look out for you.”

-Can you imagine what that would be like?

-Can you imagine having someone who really understands you and your struggles, and who also has almost unlimited resources to give you aid

-Brothers and sisters, we have that and so much in Jesus Christ

-He truly understands what it’s like to be human:

-Have you lost a loved one? So has He: Jesus’ earthly father Joseph probably died at some point between the time Jesus was 12 and 30

-Have you ever had family struggles and tensions? So has He: Jesus own brothers didn’t believe in Him and his family one time came to get him because they thought he was crazy

-Have you ever toiled long and hard at work to provide for your family? So did Jesus, more than likely being a carpenter for many years before His ministry

And when we think that Jesus doesn’t care, when we cry out, wondering how could he let this happen to us, Jesus turns to us and says, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

-Brothers and sisters, some of us need to hear that this morning, don’t we?

-Sometimes we forget just who it is that our Savior is and that He’s bound Himself to us with an everlasting covenant if we’re His people

Question #3:

-This then brings us to the last verse of our text, and the last question that is asked

Mark 4:41 NKJV

And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

-That word “exceedingly” is another word for “great” and is the same word that’s used three times in this passage

-First, there is a “great storm” in verse 37

-Then, there’s a “great calm” in verse 39

-And finally, there is a “great fear” in verse 41

-The storm has died down, but the fear has ramped up for the disciples

-This is a good kind of fear, a healthy fear

-We’re not told what Jesus does next:

-Perhaps he grabs a bucket and begins bailing the remaining water out of the boat

-Or perhaps he lays back down, desiring to grab some more sleep before he arives at the shore and casts thousands of demons out a possessed man

-But we do know what the disciples do:

-They’ve been with this man for a while now, but they look at one another, utterly stunned and speechless until one of them utters these trembling words: “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

-A great question indeed

-I told you that Mark begins His gospel by saying: Mark 1:1

Mark 1:1 NKJV

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

But that phrase, Son of God, also closes this book to

-The climax of the gospel of Mark occurs when Jesus, blody and naked, hanging on a tree cries out with a loud voice and breathes his last

-The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom

-And a Roman centurion, standing nearby, observing all of it, sees Jesus cry out and breathe his last and says, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”

That’s who this Man is.

He is truly Man.

And He’s truly God.

And He would soon go to the cross as the God-Man and die and take the wrath of God on Himself to pay for our sins, demonstrating His love toward us as sinners

And brothers and sisters, that changes everything in your life

-You’re going to leave here today, and all your problems, heartaches, and worries will be there waiting for you when you get to your car and when you head home

-But Jesus is going with you

-He’s going home with you to face the financial trials

-To face heartbreaking situation you’re dealing with

-To face the loneliness you feel right now

-To face the family tension

-To help you as your heart breaks for your unsaved loved one

-Brothers and sisters, take heart and be ministered to this afternoon from the words of our brother Mark which are inspired by the Holy Spirit Himself

-Jesus, the God-Man, the Word made flesh, is with you . . . and He does care