Mark 4:35-41--Jesus Calms a Storm

Mark 4:35-41
English Standard Version
​
Jesus Calms a Storm
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?”

---

On the same day that Jesus had been teaching these parables all day, He told His disciples that He wanted to go on ahead of Him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  Maybe He needed to get away from the crowds, maybe He wanted to reach a different group of people, or maybe this is just where the Spirit was leading Him to go next and He obeyed.  There was a whole group of boats that went with them as everyone tried to follow after Him, however a great windstorm arose so that the waves were breaking into the boat and the boat was taking on water.

Where was Jesus during all this?  He was asleep on a cushion in the stern of the boat.  Not even this storm would wake Him up, probably because He was so tired.  He just needed some sleep, but He didn't get much because in the time of crisis, the disciples came to Him crying for salvation and asking Him, "Don't you care that we are perishing?'  What a thing to say to Jesus whose name means, "The LORD Saves" or "The LORD's Salvation."  Of course Jesus cares and wants to save you, but nothing in nature can take the life of Jesus or anyone who belongs to Him unless God allows it to happen.  That does not mean that we should be cavalier tempting God to let us die, but we should rest in the fact that if we are were God told us to be, then we need not live in fear.

Jesus got up and ordered the wind and waves (and I think the disciples), "Peace, be still!"  We know this is a miracle because immediately the wind stopped and the waves stopped.  The violates all the principles of physics that we know that tell us that there should have been some inertia energy left from the storm that the waves should have continued for some time after, but the Sea was immediately calm--in fact, it is described as a great calm.  I'm pretty sure this is one of those "you could hear a pin drop" moments because when Jesus said "Peace, be still," everything in nature listened to Him.

Then Jesus breaks the silence asking the disciples why they lacked faith and doubted?  They were no less safe in the storm than when the sea was at peace.  Didn't they see that Jesus was at peace and was sleeping?  That should have meant something to them.  They were filled with great fear (the fear of the LORD) and asked themselves who this is that even the wind and the waves obeyed Him.  They thought they knew Him, but He has revealed even more about who He is to them.  He is the Lord of all Creation, the Lord of Heaven and Earth.  He speaks, and everything obeys His command--even the things that we would say we are subject to because they are strong and powerful and no man can tame.  Next time we will see Jesus has power over the supernatural realm as well, and that too will provoke fear, but the reaction of the people will not be worship, but to drive Jesus away.  So we will see a difference between how His disciples respond to Him and how those who are not His disciples respond to Him.