Mark 4:35-41
Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday, June 23, 2024
“Even the Wind and the Sea Obey Him”
I noticed this about myself on a recent drive up into northern Arizona: no matter how many times it happens, I am intrigued whenever I see a boat. I would see boats hauled on trailers on the freeway, and I would think something like, “That’s a nice-looking boat. They are probably going to have a good time. I wonder where they are going.” I suppose I think that way because boating is not a big part of my life right now. Maybe you can relate. Maybe you just find me stranger than you did before. But here’s my real comparison: I do not have the same level of familiarity with boats and bodies of water as did the disciples in today’s Gospel account from Mark 4. You probably don’t either.
Several of the men Jesus called to be his disciples were fishermen. They had a business of going out on their boats and lowering their nets and catching fish. In the first chapter of Mark, the Gospel records how Jesus saw Simon, Andrew, James, and John when they were dealing with their nets and boats and business. And Jesus called them to follow him with the explanation that he was going to have them fish for people instead. And they, and others along with them, followed Jesus.
As these men followed Jesus, they saw him do amazing things. He healed diseases. He drove out demons. He let people walk who couldn’t before. He forgave people and taught people and answered questions and amazed many. Jesus often had a crowd of people around him. He did at the time of our verses. Jesus had been teaching the people with parables about the kingdom of God. He had been teaching so many people that to give himself space, he had climbed into a boat and pushed out a little way from the shore so that he could speak as the people gathered along the shore. We’re not told for sure, but it may have been the same boat that Jesus and his disciples left in that evening.
We are told that they left to head to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. This was the sea in which the fishermen disciples had their business. Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth was in the region of Galilee, near the sea. Jesus spent a lot of time on the shores and in the cities near this body of water. Crossing the sea was not something out of the ordinary for his disciples. They were experts. Some other small boats also followed them because those people were not ready to stop listening to Jesus.
But there was a problem. A serious storm came up on the Sea of Galilee very suddenly. That was something that happened frequently enough. But remember, these were experienced fishermen. They knew boats. They knew storms; they knew the sea. And still they were terrified. This was a serious storm. The winds whipped around. The waves crashed over the sides of the boat. The boat was filling up with water. The men were panicked. They were not used to this.
And, incredibly, Jesus was asleep. Well, not for long. The disciples woke him up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?”
What a question! Jesus cared enough to call these men to follow him. He cared enough to let them see the most amazing things they had ever seen. Paralyzed men picked up their mats and skipped away. Demonpossessed people gained their lives back. Sick people were well in an instant. And Jesus, who was doing all those things, took the time to talk to these men and explain the parables he used to teach others about the kingdom of God.
Maybe the disciples didn’t know yet all the things that we know about Jesus. We know that he cared enough to leave heaven to live among these men. We know that he cared enough that his whole life was headed toward a sacrificial death on a cross. We know that he cared enough to become a true human being like us, with all that means—like getting tired, so tired from a day of teaching that a rocking boat in the storm didn’t even interrupt his sleep. But they wake him up and ask, “Don’t you care?”
What were those disciples thinking? On some level, they must have known that Jesus cared. They certainly knew that he had some unique abilities. They were following him because they expected him to accomplish important things. They were even learning more and more about God’s kingdom. But what did they expect
him to do? They are surprised by what he actually does, so it seems they may have expected something else. Did they want him to help bail water out of the boat? Did they want him to be as hysterical about the situation as they were? Were they just jealous that he was still asleep? Did they even stop to think about what they were doing, since they were so afraid?
When the whole matter was resolved, Jesus rebuked those disciples. He asked about their fear and criticized their lack of faith. And that gets to the heart of the issue. The disciples appear to us to have some sort of faith. Apparently, they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Savior. That’s why they were following him. That’s why they cried out to him in their desperation. But their desperation doesn’t really fit with faith, does it? Their fear doesn’t really fit with faith, does it? In that moment, the disciples didn’t take all that they had heard and learned and witnessed and apply it to their particular situation. The demoncontrolling, disease-defying Teacher had promised them that he had a plan for their lives. He was going to make them fishers of people. He couldn’t allow them to perish in a storm.
But in that moment, in that circumstance, the disciples did not listen. They did not remember. They did not apply the word of their Savior to their situation. They cried out in terror instead. And I can relate. And I suspect you can relate, too.
The storm in your life might not be an actual storm. Maybe there is something else that causes fear. But does the storm in your life lead you back to Jesus? Do you take those opportunities to go back to his promises? Do you give a shining testimony to anyone who would witness your life that you know Jesus is your Savior and you know he promises not just to help you through things now but ultimately to bring you safely to heaven? Or do you act like these disciples did? Do you try everything you can think of to help yourself and remedy your situation? Do you cry out to Jesus only when he seems like your last option? Do you look at your life and ask, “Jesus, don’t you care?”
Not only does Jesus care, he is also able to help. Then he got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Jesus kept his promise. He showed he cared. Those men would serve him as fishers of people. They would go out with his message about the kingdom of God, and they would preach about that man, who is also God and who showed it by controlling the wind and the sea that he had created. They would preach about that man who cared about the whole world enough to go to the cross for every sin, for every weakness of faith, for every cry of desperation, for every fear. In the moment, the disciples could barely express their emotion. They were filled with awe. They asked the question: “Who is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him.” The answer is obvious. Jesus had made it obvious, and the disciples finally took what was being taught and displayed and applied it to their own lives and their own situations.
And that same Jesus whom the wind and the sea obey is with you in every situation you face. There will be storms in life. There will be opportunities to take what you have learned about Jesus the promises you have heard from him and to apply them to your life. Sometimes Jesus calms the storm, like he did for the disciples. He may take you out of what seems like a helpless or hopeless situation. But that’s not his promise to you. His promise is to work things for your good. His promise is that he will never leave you or forsake you. His promise is to strengthen you to face the storms. Maybe your storms will be like Job’s. Maybe something you love will be taken away and it won’t really make sense, and God will want you to know that it doesn’t need to make sense to you because you’re not him. Maybe your storms will be like Paul’s, and the storm won’t be quieted until your ship runs aground on some island. No matter what, your storms will end when Jesus fulfils his final promise to you, to bring you safely to his side in heaven.
For now, keep going back to those promises. Keep being fed by his body and blood. Keep marveling that even the winds and the sea obey him. And then remember what else that means: even the financial markets and political affairs obey him. Even disease and disaster obey him. Even death and hell obey him.
You might think about that the next time you see a boat. You might consider it the next time you witness a monsoon storm. You can rest assured of this truth that comes down to us from our gracious God: he is with us through all the storms of life, and even the wind and the sea obey him.
The Text: Mark 4:35–41 (EHV)
35On that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” 36After leaving the crowd behind, the disciples took him along in the boat, just as he was. Other small boats also followed him. 37A great windstorm arose, and the waves were splashing into the boat, so that the boat was quickly filling up. 38Jesus himself was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?”
39Then he got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still lack faith?”
41They were filled with awe and said to one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”