The Perfect Man of Faith

Who is this?

(Mark 4:35-41, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 11, 2018)

[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?”

Jesus in the boat—sleeping through a dangerous storm...

This world is full of danger. To us, it all appears to have no master. Two of our ministers in Northern New England Presbytery, Jason Wakefield and Jon Taylor, were riding on an elephant in Nepal a few years ago when the animal was inadvertently separated from the rest of the herd for a moment and decided to eject them, leaning hard first to the right and then to the left. The Nepali driver gave our men a nervous thumbs up to signify that everything was OK, but that did not prove convincing to the Americans. Another former minister in our Presbytery, Tim Andrews, was in the bow of a whale watching vessel near Hampton enjoying the beautiful day watching a few far off whales when a Jaws look alike suddenly opened his gaping mouth right near him. Every proprietor throughout life's adventures will try to calm our nerves and convince us that all is well. Yet we can see the panic in their eyes. And what if the sea itself is the beast?

The true Master was in a boat in Galilee. He had directed the itinerary of His disciples, but later, He did not appear to be in charge or the source of stability when “a great windstorm arose.” Even earlier, the Bible says, “leaving the crowd, they took Him with them in the boat, just as He was.” There were other boats with Him since so many were following Him wherever He went, so others were in danger along with His closest friends. Suddenly the boat was filling with filling with water from the waves that were crashing over the sides. Where was Jesus? In the stern, asleep on a cushion, trusting.

Does He care?

The others in the boat woke Him up in a great panic. They skipped some obvious and important questions about His knowledge, power, and love. (Here are a few interesting ones: Did He know that this would happen? Did He plan it? Was He able to stop it? If He had knowledge and ability over the weather, why did He ordain this experience? Did He love them? How was this crisis an expression of that love?) When they woke Him up they went to the lowest standard of basic human decency for others in a crisis: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

On a side note, we cannot help but think about the Old Testament prophet Jonah who brought trouble upon his fellow travelers through His own rejection of the will of God and was fast asleep in the inner part of the ship when he was about to sink. But Jesus was no Jonah. He was obeying God and not running away from Him. His shipmates were not pagan sailors, unknown to Him, making a living taking people to Spain. The disciples of Jesus represented the beginnings of the new kingdom of God who would themselves be the “foundation of apostles” in the temple of the Holy Spirit that Paul talks about in Ephesians 2:20. Their names would be written on the “twelve foundations” of the wall of heaven that John wrote about in Revelation 21:14. Yes He cared about them. He would pray for these men in John 17 on his way to the cross where He would lay down His life for them. On top of that, He had all knowledge and power in His divine nature, but in His human nature He was tired and was taking a nap.

Is He able?

The question of His ability that they had not asked was answered definitively by the power of His words after He woke up. He “rebuked the wind.” He gave a command to the enormous beast that was the Sea of Galilee: “Peace! Be still!” Did it work. Oh yes! “The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”

Jesus was able to do this and much more. They had questioned even His basic human decency in their panic, but now He had a couple of questions for them: “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”

Who then is this?

Even after Jesus demonstrated His amazing mastery over the wind and the waves, the disciples did not find this turn of events immediately comforting, but instead they were obviously extremely unsettled. Some of you may have seen the same modern film I did years ago, a true story about an epic storm that sunk a fishing vessel off the coast of Massachusetts. The end seemed to me to be a ridiculous lie. A few hardened sailors were using their last gasps of air laughing to each other about the good fight they gave that storm. No, they would not have been calm in that situation. And beyond death, mankind has an even bigger fear that we can barely talk about. Almighty God.

Witness Jesus' friends after the storm. “They were filled with great fear.” They could not even talk to Him honestly about what was going on. He was out of their league. They said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

The mystery of faith in Christ

Christ displayed His authority over the wind and the waves. What does this tell us about Him? He may appear to be sleeping through the storms of this challenging world, but we should have no doubt that He cares and that He has both the power and the will to overturn all evil. The fact that we doubt is the cause of much of our fear.

Consider this fact: Jesus will make everything obey.

Even now He governs the elephant, the whale, and the restless sea. He even stilled the just demands of divine holiness and truth. We will one day find perfect stability in His voice. Even now, it would be wise to leave here with more faith in Him rather than less. That would help us when we are confronted by the fact that we are not Almighty God.

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 83 – That they may seek Your Name

New Testament Reading—Hebrews 12 – The city of the living God