One of my favorite Bible Stories is in Mark 4, the storm on the Sea of Galilee. I’ve been studying it this week as it is part of my message for tomorrow.
Jesus had a long day of teaching the crowds and as night was falling he told his disciples to get in the boat and go to the other side, a trip of about eight miles. Mark tells us what happened when they obeyed him and got in the boat and started for the other side. “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?’ 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 4:37-39 NIV]
Isn’t that the most amazing picture of Jesus! He was so physically exhausted that within minutes he was fast asleep on a cushion in the back of the boat. Wind is howling all around him, waves are coming into the low-sided boat. I imagine the disciples were also shouting orders to each other to “bail!” And He sleeps through it all.
In their fear, the disciples must have shaken Him awake. They chide Him for what appears to be a lack of concern for their welfare. He arises, then amazingly, rebukes the wind and speaks to the waves and they obey His word. It suddenly becomes eerily silent and calm.
Ps 148:7-8: “Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding…” [NIV]
The disciples were more afraid in the calm then they were in the storm. They would know that only God can command winds and waves to obey. This Jesus, exhausted in His human body, fully man, was also fully God with the power of the Creator to command His creation. No wonder they were “terrified.” [Mark 4:41]
