Miracles: Calming Chaos

We are looking at the Miracles of Jesus,

there are a lot of them

the ones that are included in Scripture are only a small fraction of the ones he did.

which means that they have been specifically chosen to illustrate something about Jesus

His power, His purpose, his mission, and his heart.

Last week we looked at Jesus’s first Miracle, turning water into wine

and saw how it illustrated the purpose of Jesus’s ministry - the transition from the Old Covenant to the new.

This week we are looking at two miracles that are always placed side by side in the gospels, but at first glance do not seem to have anything to do with each other.

The Calming of the Storm and The Demoniac

In all of the synoptic Gospels, Matthew Mark and Luke, these miracles are always placed together.

And my very first sermon at Port City Faith I specifically talked about these two miracles, and so I hope to present another layer to the text today.

Mark 4:35–41 ESV

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

This is one of the most iconic of Jesus’s miracles, calming the storm, showing that Jesus has authority over nature, that he can control the weather if he wishes.

THe Storm comes while Jesus is asleep

the Sea of Galilee is located a few hundred feet below sea level, and its surrounded by hills on all sides,

which makes it really hard to see incoming weather,

and the storms can pop up out of nowhere, and if you are in an old fishing rowboat, even upon seeing the first signs of a storm it can be very hard to make it back to shore in time.

I was on the Sea of Galilee once on a boat, and we were called in and out trip was cut short because a fog started to appear, and a few minutes after we were safe on shore there were already 6ft tall waves.

So the storm is raging the wind is blowing the boat is taking on water, and Jesus is asleep.

His disciples wake him up, probably thinking he can help bail water out of the boat, and instead he gets up says two word, “peace be still” and suddenly the storm stops

And the disciples ask “Who is this? that Even the wind and Sea obey him.”

Now the Old testament was clear that God is able to control the weather, going so far as to even echo the disciples situation

Psalm 107:28–29 ESV

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

Now the disciples had seen Jesus do many other miracles at this point, and they are still asking who this is, or what sort of man is this?

Like Hello? this is the guy who changed water into wine, and you think he can’t control the weather?

THis is the guy who heals people with a word and you think the waves aren’t supposed to listen to him

Except that’s exactly the point

Is it alright if i get a little academic with you today?

In the Ancient Middle East there was a common myth, not in the jewish communities, but in all the nations that they had contact with, It was believed that the Sea was an agent of Chaos, that there was a Sea Monster, a chaos dragon that stirred up the seas and caused storms.

The Bible even talks about this Chaos monster - in Hebrew it is called the Leviathan. - it is described in great detail in the book of Job

and this creature was the creature that the chief gods of these other nations had to defeat.

Now in the Bible it was believed that the leviathan was just another part of God’s Creation, a giant creature that ruled over the Sea, but was subservient to God alone.

Psalm 104:24–27 ESV

O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it. These all look to you, to give them their food in due season.

So When Jesus is able to stand up in the middle of the storm, one could look at him as reigning in the chaos monster

So to the disciples and the surrounding peoples, Jesus just did something only God or a god could do.

And that brings us to the next miracle.

Mark 5:1–9 ESV

They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

From the disciples standpoint this is terrifying: they just crossed the lake, their rabbi just told the storm to go away and it listened, and now they are on the other side of the lake and a wild naked man comes out of the hills screaming that Jesus does not torment him and says that he has a legion of demons

a Roman legion is around 4-6000 people. this guy is messed up.

But think of it from the demoniac’s perspective, which is something the gospel writers want us to think about, because they give the man’s backstory.

HEre is someone who has thousands of voices in his head constantly, they are so terrible that only pain seems to drive them away, and he has left behind any connection he had to civil life.

and one day there is a sudden storm on the lake, which he can easily see from his hillside, and there is a boat in the middle of the lake, and someone on that boat stands up and silences the storm and still the waves with a word.

Someone just defeated the chaos monster. and the voices in his head are all terrified, because if this person can still the leviathan, then what can he do to them?

And the voices know the man’s name. Jesus, son of the most high God.

the Man runs and bows down to Jesus, and though the demons twist his words, He is simply asking Jesus to free him from his torment.

Mark 5:10–20 ESV

And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

In the Book of Luke’s account the Demons beg not to be sent “to the abyss” that would be to Hell,

Jesus allows them to enter a large heard of pigs, - unclean animals by Old Testament standards, and then the pigs taking on the chaos of the legion of demons rush down a cliff and drown themselves in the lake.

The Demon possessed man is free for the first time in a long time

and when the people come to see what had happened he is dressed and in his right mind.

And they are afraid,

just like Jesus’s disciples were afraid.

But they ask him to leave.

See these two miracles are actually the same,

One leads to another If the demon possessed man hadn’t seen jesus calm the storm he would not have approached him.

But they are also Jesus doing the same thing.

In the first Jesus calms the storm and reigns in the chaos monster of the sea

in the second Jesus drives out demons that have turned a man into a chaos monster.

and the chaos in his mind comes to an end.

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Church - Jesus can calm both the storm of life that we face, and the storms that our in our minds.

We all have storms in our lives, times when the chaos of life seems overpowering,

Just when things look good something horrible happens, every day throws a new curve ball at us.

With Jesus we can weather the storm, and get through the problems.

Jesus went through all the trouble of going across the lake to help that one man,

Because after he helps him he gets right back into the boat.

If Jesus is willing to risk the storms of life both physical and spiritual to help one man, how much more is he willing to do to save all of us?

And if we are called to be like Christ, that’s what the word Christian means

How much are we willing to go through to help bring peace to the chaos of those around us?

First Look to Jesus, The one who calms the storms.

Find one person that you can help.