Mark 4:35-41
Introduction
This story contains three themes:
• Extremes
• Rebukes
• And Faith versus fear
It also contains another example of Jesus’ authority.
Bear this in mind as we make our way through it.
Verses 35 to 36
In this story we are told about Jesus and the disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat in the evening. The boat was probably a fishing boat with oars and a sail. It was Jesus’ idea to go across the sea to the other side? This tells us that the disciples were doing the will of Jesus.
Keep that in mind as we go through the story.
Verse 37
As the disciples journeyed across the sea with Jesus, a storm arose. It was dark and windy and the waves were crashing over the side of the boat. The storm was fierce / furious / great / exceedingly strong. Picture it in your mind.
This is our first example of something extreme. Remember that I said at the beginning of the study that there was a theme of extremes in this story. This is no ordinary storm. It’s a great storm, a life- threatening storm. You couldn’t get a worse storm if you tried.
Verse 38
In this verse we see how Jesus and the disciples react to the extreme storm.
Jesus reacted to the storm by sleeping. The text doesn’t tell us why He slept but you might want to think about why He slept through the storm.
The disciples on the other hand reacted to the storm with fear and they were angry with Jesus. We know that they were afraid because Jesus said so in verse 40. And we know that they were angry by the way they spoke to Jesus.
In their fear and anger, the disciples woke Jesus up and rebuked Him. This is the first rebuke to take place in this story. Remember that I said at the beginning of the study that there was a theme of rebuking in this story.
They woke Jesus up because they were lacking in faith. They wanted Jesus to do something about their plight. They were angry with Jesus because He didn’t seem to care about them.
Have you ever been through a storm metaphorically speaking? If you have, then you will know that you came through it because Jesus was with you.
Have you ever rebuked Jesus? I know I have and I know others who have done it. How did Jesus react when you did this?
Let’s see how Jesus reacted in this story.
Verses 39 to 40
In these verses we see what Jesus does when the disciples wake Him up and rebuke Him.
The first thing that Jesus did was to rebuke the storm and command it to cease. This is the second rebuke to take place in this story.
Notice how the storm responded to Jesus. The sea became still and the wind died down. In other words, the wind and the sea obeyed Jesus. When the sea became still and the wind died down, everything became perfectly calm. We see this at the end of verse 39. It wasn’t just calm, it was perfectly calm, it was extremely calm. It couldn’t be calmer if you tried.
This is our second example of something extreme. What we see in this story is how Jesus took an extreme storm and made it extremely calm.
This is another example of the authority of Jesus. Not only does He speak with authority and have authority over demons, He also has authority over the earth’s elements. How great is our God!
Now, lets examine how Jesus responded to the rebuke of the disciples. Put simply, He ignored it. He could have defended Himself but He didn’t. When we get angry with Jesus and accuse Him of not caring or not doing anything about our plight, He just listens. This is what we call grace.
However, in this story Jesus does rebuke the disciples about something. And this is the third rebuke to occur in this story. Jesus rebuked the disciples over their lack of faith. Remember, fear is the opposite of faith. What Jesus wants the most from us is to have faith in every situation.
Verse 41
Verse 41 tells us how the disciples responded to the wind and sea obeying Jesus.
What was their emotional response to what Jesus did? They were afraid. They were very much afraid. They were extremely afraid. This is our third example of something extreme. In other words, the disciples were more afraid of Jesus stopping the storm than they were of the storm itself. You would think they would be calm and relieved that Jesus had calmed the storm.
Why do you think the disciples were more afraid when Jesus calmed the storm than they were when the storm was raging. I suggest that it was the fear of the unknown. We see this in the words “Who then is this?” spoken by the disciples.
They had never seen a man with such power and authority over the elements of the earth. This was way beyond anything that they had ever experienced before. There was something other worldly about Jesus. Only God could do such a thing.
They were in fact in the presence of Almighty God, a holy God. That is something awesome. If you are a Christian then you are in the presence of such a god now. Think about that.