Sermon Tone Analysis

Bible Verse

Mark 4:35-41

My message for you is to gird and ground you for the year 2022.

I have titled it “Not by Sight, Keep Your Sight”

To give you a new, fresh, perspective of Jesus

It is to encourage you to move through the year with peace at the forefront of your mind knowing that Jesus is with you.

It is to remind you to turn your attention to Jesus and put Him at the centre

Context

The synoptic gospels i.e., Matthew and Luke present similar account of this event

There are unique nuances in the way Matthew (Matthew 8:23–27) and Luke (Luke 8:22–25) presents this event when compared with Mark

Matthew’s account has summarised feel to it.

It is concise, abbreviated, and succinct.

Luke’s account speaks from the position of a third party.

It is loose, approximate, and relative.

It seem’s a bit removed.

But Mark’s account is vivid having a semblance of an eyewitness testimony.

It is direct, impactful, detailed, individualized, circumstantiated, authentic, and specific.

These nuance is what makes the text so personal and human.

You can feel it and associate with it.

As a nascent Christian, I am learning to walk or realistically and sincerely crawl in the spirit.

When a baby walks for the first time, he/she needs to hold the hand of the parent for support or he/she needs to lean on some support structure.

You often notice that what the baby is leaning on is stable, firm, sturdy, reassuring, secure.

The baby implicitly trusts that object.

However, after 1 or 2 falls, while holding the object, the baby cautiously still leans on the object but this time in a more intentional manner for support.

The disciples had their sight on Jesus but did not have their sights on Jesus because they were nascent

There are nuggets that I want to exposit to you from this text for the application in your lives

Let us Cross Over to The Other Side

Jesus gives an instruction to cross over to the other side and the disciples willingly follow Him

They were crossing over a body of water called “the sea of Galilee”

The sea of Galilee is surrounded by two mountains, the mount Arbela and the Golan Heights and these are responsible for creating the winds that blow over the lake and produce ferocious storms.

The lake itself is located 690 feet below sea level; it is 15 miles long and six miles wide

In our lives, to get to a desired destination, we need to cross over something.

We may need to put in extra effort to make that crossing

Sometimes, crossing over entails making big and bold decisions and this does not come without its risks and hazards

Yet in 2022, God is telling us “Let us cross over to the other side” but it does not mean the crossing will be all together smooth

When the disciples got into that boat with Jesus, they must have felt really pleased, happy, joyous and excited.

After all the Messiah is here in my boat, they must have said

They were doing the thing that had always done all their lives i.e., sailing a boat across the sea.

So, no big deal here.

But this time they were with Jesus!

This may sound reassuring, but not quite as we shall see...

The Lailap

The word windstorm is transliterated in Greek as lailaps: meaning “a sudden storm, hurricane, whirlwind”

Barely had they started their journey, trouble struck!

Verse 37 say that a great windstorm, a Lailap (a sudden storm, hurricane, whirlwind), arose and the waves were spilling into the boat but notice the next verse, verse 38, says “But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow”

The stern is the rear part of a ship

In these boats the place for any distinguished stranger is on a seat placed at the stern, where a carpet or cushions are arranged

What is most intriguing in this is the fact that He, Jesus, sleeps comfortably in this raging tempest - this is a paradox, an anomaly!

How is it that He is able to sleep in such a manner?

Why was he sleeping so soundly?

It can’t just be that he was too tired because that kind of storm will wake up the dead!

He was able to sleep so soundly because | But that He is the creator of all creation and His creation cannot supersede the Creator.

Therefore He slept because of [what I call] the Untroubled Serenity of Divine Omnipotence

Don’t You Care?

The NIV version translates as:

In all to that commotion, the disciples did not recognise the Untroubled Serenity of Divine Omnipotence

There are times when it feels like it’s just one thing after another.

It makes you wonder if God is on vacation and He’s not close to you after all.

This is because our sight of Jesus is clouded and blurred by the trouble

We call out but we don’t hear a response.

Then the questions begin:

Don’t you care if we perish, don’t you care if we drown!

Don’t you care…

Can’t you see my hardship…

Can’t you see my pain…

Can’t you see my struggles…

Can’t you see my hurt...

Can’t you see my fears...

I personally suffer from anxiety.

I worry a lot.

I worry because of uncertainty.

I worry if things I do or plan does not go the way I want it to go.

I worry what might happen if I loose my job, I will not be able to look after my children and buy them beautiful things.

I worry about my health, I worry about my wife, I worry about my kids, I worry about my brothers, I worry about the church.

I just worry!

I have adopted a technique where daily I meditate on this text and one word that come out is PEACE!

The word is Siōpaō” - (see-o-pah´-o) in Greek meaning “to be silent, keep silence, hold one’s peace”

Jesus wakes up and says “Siōpaō” - (see-o-pah´-o) be silent, keep silence, hold your peace!

Peace - Hush - Quiet!

The question is, Who was He responding/replying to?

He responds, not only to inanimate things, i.e. the wind, but to animate things, the people (disciples)

Don’t you care if we perish, don’t you care if we drown!…HUSH

Don’t you care…HUSH

Can’t you see my hardship…HUSH

Can’t you see my pain…HUSH

Can’t you see my struggles…HUSH

Can’t you see my hurt…HUSH

Can’t you see my fears…HUSH.

He is not just speaking to the situation, but he is speaking to you as well…saying HUSH

Jesus then asks a difficult question; “Why are you so fearful?”

This is akin to asking a swimmer, “why are you wet”

Illustrate the swimmer conundrum

Imaging taking your son, daughter, friend, or any one at all to the swimming pool.

You watch he/she get into the water and you cheer/praise them as they swim the whole length of the pool.

When they come out they, you then ask them, “Why are you wet?”

Literally, this question is absurd but theologically it is very significant

To understand, let us back track:

The disciples have just been to church…they have heard the sermon…they are excited by the sermon…but when the real test comes…Jesus asks the difficult question; “Why are you so fearful?”…answer: because the tribulation, cares, worries, fear makes the word unfruitful

Jesus completed the lesson and then gave His disciples an unexpected examination!

They had listened to the Word of God, and that Word should have increased their faith (Rom.