Read Mark 4:35-41
From a small boat secured off shore, Jesus had taught
the multitudes that crowded along the shoreline. When he wasn’t teaching, he
was explaining what he taught to the disciples. It had been a long demanding
day. Finally, Jesus sent the crowd on their way. He alone knew a storm was coming. They all
needed to get on their way before it hit. Storms were not unusual on the Sea of
Galilee. They could be quite violent as they came over Mt. Hermon, blasted
through the Hulah Basin and across the lake making it churn with incredible
intensity. Rather than seeking shelter for Himself and His disciples, He
directed them to set off across the lake as unbeknownst to them, he was taking
them on a field trip of faith.
They were happy to take Him wherever He wanted to go
and invited Him to make Himself comfortable. Verse 36 states “they took Him
along with them in the boat, just as He was.” The Greek word is paralambano, which means to receive,
accept, or embrace. “Just as He was” (hos
en – a continual or consistent state) speaks of the usual and familiar. They
accepted Jesus into their little boat and little lives with comfortable
familiarity. With familiarity comes predictability, established expectations
and unintentionally imposed limitations. But there was nothing “usual and
familiar” about that night or the Master they thought they knew.
Once they set off, Jesus promptly curled up on a
cushion and went to sleep. They were
fine with that. Most had grown up on this sea and knew what they were doing.
They had everything under control. Then the storm hit. Fierce winds threatened
to smash the boats into each other and then just as quickly force them far apart.
Everything they had always done wasn’t working this time. Fear set in. Jesus
slept. Huge wave swamped the boat. Fear intensified. Jesus kept on sleeping.
How could He sleep through all of this?
When they had His attention, they gave Him a fearful earful. “Do you
have ANY idea what is going on here? Don’t you care that we are all going to
die?”
What did they want Jesus to do - the practical or the
divine? Help bail? Come up with some great, logical solution? Hold their hands
as they all sink to the bottom of the sea? Instead, He gets up and, like we quiet
a noisy child, tells the wind, “Hush, be still.” Immediately the wind dies down,
the waves settle back into the sea and everything becomes perfectly calm. Well
not everything. They had a different
reason to be afraid. Who is this? This
was far beyond who they thought He was. It
was something bigger, much farther reaching and a whole lot scarier then they
ever imagined.
That was the purpose of the field trip – to stretch
their faith and give them a bigger, deeper, more accurate view of Him as God. They needed to see that He was not limited to
what they thought He should do, could do or would do. Jesus asked them “Are you still afraid? How is
it that you have no faith? What will it take for you to realize that nothing is
impossible with One who can meet your greatest need with a mere “hush”?” He
wanted them to assess what they had gained from this field trip of faith.
Making It
Personal
When your life is storm-free, do you tend to have an
“I can handle it” attitude?
How do you respond when God’s will for your life includes
unnerving, fear-provoking storms?
What is the positive aspect of being familiar with who
Jesus is?
What is the negative aspect of familiarity, especially
when it comes to dealing with storms?
How does it help knowing He is in your “boat” going through
the storm with you?
How do you respond when it seems
like Jesus is sleeping while you’re trying to deal with the impossible?
Why might He delay quieting the
storm?
How would it change your
response if you knew that His silence and delay was because He was at perfect
peace with His plan and purpose?
None of the disciples asked Jesus to calm the
storm. Why not?
What is the difference between
what you think God should do, could do, and would do?
How do these limit how you pray
and how you expect God answer?
If they only believed Him to be
a former craftsman, amazing teacher, and possible national deliverer, how would
this impact what they thought He should, could and would do in their sinking
boat?
Whom do you believe Jesus to
be?
How does this impact what you think
He should, could and would do?
What might God be trying to teach you about who He is
in the current or latest storm He took you through?
