Mark 4:35-41

Parallel Texts: Matthew 8:23-27; Luke 8:22-25

Right after Jesus wrapped up His teaching in parables, He was tired and ready to leave, so the disciples joined Him in the boat, and they began to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. As they were rowing, a storm came up and the boat was nearly swamped by the waves, as Jesus slept.

A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

Mark 4:37-38

We might expect that the disciples of Jesus would have been exempt from storms, drowning and danger, but they weren’t. We might expect that the Son of God is never hungry, thirsty or exhausted, but He was; He was tired enough that this great storm didn’t wake Him up. In the midst of the storm, the disciples, filled with fear for their very lives, did a smart thing; they awakened Jesus and brought the situation to His attention― I’d say we can learn from this.

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

Mark 4:39

Jesus, so entirely human in the last couple of verses, was now entirely divine and intervened in nature. He was human, He was divine, and now as the Word that caused all of creation to come into existence, rebuked the storm.  Pretty smart of those disciples to take their storm to Jesus, wouldn’t you agree?

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Mark 4:40-41

I think Jesus’ remark is less a criticism of the disciples, and more an underscore of what He spent the day teaching about the Kingdom. In that little boat was the Kingdom Incarnate, along with the very men who would take the Kingdom to the world. Can’t they see that God’s eternal plan isn’t going to fail because of a storm? Well, maybe they didn’t have the whole picture just yet, but we do have the whole picture.

Here we are, little mustard seeds for God to use in a mighty way to further His Kingdom. We will endure storms throughout our lives, but those storms will not divert us from our purpose… will they? If our purpose and God’s purpose are in sync, we have nothing to fear.