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35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 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?” 39 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. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 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?”
35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 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?” 39 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. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 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?”
The New International Version Chapter 4
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 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?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
On sundays in youth group we’ve been talking about what it means to follow Jesus. One of the things that Jesus says over and over again in Matthew mark Luke and John is “Follow Me.” And so, Jesus asks us to follow him, but where is he taking us? Where are we going as we follow him?
One of the places that I think Jesus takes us to is this place where our faith is so big, our confidence in God is so big that in the midst of life and in the midst of difficult circumstances and situations, there’s nothing for us to be afraid of. One of the places we see this clearly is in Mark chapter 4.
Jesus had just finished teaching to a crowd of people and says to his disciples let’s go to the other side of the lake.
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up,
a terrible storm comes out of now where. The sky gets dark, the wind picks up, and it says and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.
So, the whole boat is filling up quickly with water, and you know, Peter’s cupping his hands and trying to get as much water out as he can, Judas is trying steady the ship, everyone’s scrambling to try and save themselves. And then it says
38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. All of this commotion is going on and Jesus decides to take a nap. I imagine after a little bit the disciples compose themselves just enough to realize that Jesus isn’t there, and once they realize this it says
The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” You can find this story in both Matthew and Luke, but I like the way that Mark words this. Teacher, don’t you care? Jesus, don’t you care if we drown? I think Mark’s wording shows the desperation and frustration in the disciples voice. This is how I react in hard situations. I think this is how most of us react when life gets difficult. “Jesus, don’t you care?”
And then it says:
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. The storm stops. Everything settles down. It’s completely calm and totally quiet and then Jesus looks at his disciples and he says: Why are you so afraid? Hmm, I don’t know, Jesus, maybe because there was a storm. There was a storm, the boat was sinking, some of us almost fell over the edge, we were panicking and scrambling to save ourselves, and you weren’t here. And Jesus is like, No no no, I know there was a storm, I know the boat was sinking, I know you couldn’t get out of this, that wasn’t my question. My question is, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? Do you still not believe that I care about you? Why does your faith still lack?
41 They were terrified, literally they “feared a great fear.” and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Their fear of the storm was big, but now their fear of Jesus was huge. Suddenly, they got this picture of who they were following.
And so, a couple of things stand out to me in this story:
Jesus knew there was going to be a storm, but he told the disciples to get into the boats and sail across the lake any way. Jesus knows the things we’re going to face in life, he knows the storms we’ll go through, he knows the heartache’s we’ll face, but see, the message of Jesus wasn’t Don’t be afraid, I won’t let bad things happen. Thats magic. The message of Jesus was Don’t be afraid when bad things happen. That’s confidence in God. A confidence that is so big, so sure of God’s love and protection that it overwhelms and overshadows our fear. The place God wants to take us is to that place where we wake up everyday and think “what would I do If i was so confident that God was with me?” What decision would I make as I face peer pressure, what decision would I make as I face friendship or relationships, what decision would I make in light of what people are saying about me, what decision would I make as I go to my job, what would someone as me do if I was absolutely confident in the God? What would I do if I was absolutely confident that God was with me? And Jesus says I want you to follow me because that’s where I’m going to take you. I’m not taking you to a place of denial, I’m not taking you to a place of magic, or a formula, or a scheme, I wanna take you to a place where your faith in me and your faith in your heavenly father is so confident that even in the midst of circumstances that should terrify you, you will not be afraid. So, the call for all of us is to follow Jesus, and when things get tough, we don’t have to be afraid because Jesus leads us to a confidence, a faith in him that is so big, that it overcomes and overwhelms anything we’ll ever face.
See, the message of Jesus wasn’t Don’t be afraid, I won’t let bad things happen. Thats magic. The message of Jesus was Don’t be afraid when bad things happen. That’s confidence in God. A confidence that is so big, so sure of God’s love and protection that it overwhelms and overshadows our fear. The place God wants to take us is to that place where we wake up everyday and think “what would I do If i was so confident that God was with me?” What decision would I make as I face peer pressure, what decision would I make as I face friendship or relationships, what decision would I make in light of what people are saying about me, what decision would I make as I go to my job, what would someone as me do if I was absolutely confident in the God? What would I do if I was absolutely confident that God was with me? And Jesus says I want you to follow me because that’s where I’m going to take you. I’m not taking you to a place of denial, I’m not taking you to a place of magic, or a formula, or a scheme, I wanna take you to a place where your faith in me and your faith in your heavenly father is so confident that even in the midst of circumstances that should terrify you, you will not be.