Who Then Is This? (Mark 4:35-41)
Who Then Is This?
Mark 4:35-41
Introduction
Adoniram Judson, America’s first foreign missionary, spent most of his life in Burma. Judson lost several wives and many children. But at one particular point, he fell into a deep despondency after the death of his wife, Ann. Shortly after Ann passed away, so did her newborn daughter, Maria. He was not with them when this happened. He was so broken over these losses that he sunk into deep depression. He would retreat to the jungle, which was dangerous due to the tigers that were there, and spend weeks in abandoned places. He said, during this time, “God is to me the great Unknown. I believe in him but I find him not.”
Jesus is already hard to comprehend. His person is intricate and complex. Simply his humanity is fascinating enough to study. He is the focal point of all history. His claims are sometimes hard to digest. His death is frequently offensive. His resurrection is nearly unbelievable. He is already a great mystery—a great Unknown.
This is compounded in suffering. A faith that is already difficult, in a Savior that is glorious beyond our comprehension, surrounded by a fallen world desolated by sin is a recipe for fear. In the midst of such seasons, this story confronts us with two questions, both of which come to us on the lips of the disciples: Who is Jesus? And does he care?
If we are to derive comfort from him in suffering, we must know who he is so that we can be confident that he cares.
Brief note on reading the gospels devotionally. The gospels are New Covenant documents, even if the events that are reported in them took place under the Old Covenant. Thus, the gospels are books for us.
We are not meant to merely understand what happened to the disciples in the story, but we are meant to see who Jesus is for them and therefore, who Jesus is for us. So, while we should assiduously avoid moralizing spiritualization (e.g., “Jesus calms the storms in my life”), we should regularly pursue gospel-oriented application of these stories to ourselves (e.g., Jesus is God for us, and therefore cares about us even when he appears to be asleep).
A rich story. Full of contrasts. The sleeping Jesus in the raging storm. The trusting Jesus and the fearful disciples. The great storm before the great calm. The disciples fear of the storm and their fear of Jesus. Jesus depicted as tired, weak, and frail and Jesus depicted as powerful, commanding, and worthy of trust. The bold and impetuous faith of going to Jesus for help and the insufficient, half-hearted faith which continues to fear even when he has shown us that he is for us.
It is a complex story. It combines many strands of theology from the OT, and develops them in a new and surprising way. It combines heavenly divinity with earthy realness in a way that almost no other account does.
A bridge story, connecting the story of Jesus’ teaching with the following stories. Several themes run through the coming chapters. Fear vs. faith. Death, and rescue from it. The stories that follow are living illustrations of Jesus’ teaching in chapter 4. Notice how 4:35 begins with the words, “On that day.” That’s unique to Mark, and he draws this out purposefully. It was the very day when he had taught the parables that he calms the storm. Why? Because in the same way that the parables both reveal Jesus and conceal him, so also do his works. And, in the same way that we hear the parables by faith, so also we see Jesus in his words by faith. The disciples must believe Jesus in order to know who he is, and consequently to cast out fear.
And so we see the gospel in this story revealed through the eyes of faith. And let us unfold these realities in three different parts that encourage us to see who he is and therefore trust in his care.
I. Jesus Directs His Disciples (4:35-37)
· Jesus is setting the stage for what is to come.
· Mark does not say what Jesus’ aim was in crossing the lake.
· There are several possibilities. Not only does Jesus have a divine appointment with the Gerasene Demoniac. He also has another lesson to teach his disciples. He must teach them to apply what they have heard.
· This is where we have an advantage over the disciples. Who controls the weather? Jesus. If Jesus calms the storm, then where do you think the storm came from in the first place?
· The storm provides the application point “Were you listening? Will you believe? Do you trust me?”
o Were you listening when I talked about hearing and embracing my word?
o Were you listening when I said I would reveal myself?
o Were you listening when I taught you to come with your measure?
o Were you listening that this doesn’t happen by human strength?
o Were you listening when I said that the kingdom of God will surely grow?
· Thus, he directs them (v35) “Let us go across to the other side.”
· See, the Lord often teaches us, then leads us through things which prompt us to do what we have learned.
o Head knowledge alone will condemn. It is that knowledge which percolates into action which is saving—and Jesus knows this. He is not a teacher cramming our head with information, but a personal trainer feeding us food which we then use in exercise.
· Psalm 107:23-32 almost tells this story exactly. They venture upon the sea and are caught in a storm, only to cry out to God for help. When he delivers them, it provides the occasion of their praises and thanksgivings.
o Mark’s twist is that the God who stills the storm is also in the boat.
· So, I think that Jesus directs them to cross the sea that they may learn to trust him, and in learning to trust him they might come to know who he is, however slowly and haltingly.
· He leads us, but sometimes the paths he leads us on are dark and stormy.
o Psalm 23: Even though I walk through the deep darkness, you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
o How do we learn about the comfort of God apart from walking in the valleys of darkness?
o How do we learn that he can calm the storm without the storm?
· This is not to cheapen the glories of this text. It is to say that knowing who Jesus is creates trust, but we do not trust him apart from opportunities to trust him.
· Jesus does this only for his disciples – v36, “Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.” They didn’t stop on shore. Tired, taught out, they took him right then and there.
· They left the crowd on the shore and ventured onto the sea—the realm of mystery, where Jesus reveals himself in obscurity. And his disciples are with him.
o Notice, they are doing the navigating, but he is the leader—they are with him.
· But a windstorm arises.
o Historical Background
· It threatened to kill them—threatened drowning.
· But, notice, Jesus is asleep.
o Could be because he’s tired—teaching is exhausting!
o But I think this also points to the deep trust that Jesus had in his Father.
o Psalm 3:5 – “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me.”
o Psalm 4:8 – “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”
o Psalm 121:3 – “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.” We sleep because he doesn’t.
o Proverbs 3:24-26 – “If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.”
· Jesus slept deeply because Jesus trusted perfectly. It’s what the disciples, in one respect, should have been doing.
o This, then, is another part of his direction/leadership. He leads us by being a perfect example for us.
o Why did he take on flesh? It was not only to be the offering for sin, but also to provide in his own perfect life and example for how we are to live. Jesus’ sleep is instructive, not only about his complete and full humanity, but also about what it means to have faith. The faith that Jesus will momentarily call for, he perfectly exhibits himself, according to his humanity.
o 1 Pet 1:23, he “continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” In this context, we might say that he entrusted himself to the one who is perfectly sovereign over all time and events.
· Here we run into the mysterious union between a full and complete divine nature and a full and complete human nature dwelling together in one Person.
o Jesus is asleep in the boat, even as Jesus is Lord of Storms
II. Jesus Protects His Disciples (4:38-39)
· Jesus not only leads his disciples, he not only directs our paths into the right way, but he also protects us in those paths.
· One of the most glorious things about the Christian faith is that, it is as though Jesus is always standing next to us.
· One of the most valuable things from my childhood is that I always felt that I could go wake my mom up during the night if I needed to.
· In their panic, the disciples arouse Jesus from his deep sleep.
· Understandably, they speak words which, under normal circumstances, they may not have said.
· They rebuke: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing!?”
o Teacher – the one who unlocks the parables for us, who gives us the mysteries of the kingdom of God
o Don’t you care that we’re dying? You’re asleep! Don’t you care? Are you concerned at all with the fact that we all might drown? Why are you sleeping?
· No doubt, this was a kind of faith in Jesus. It was, according to the parallels, a “little faith.” While their faith was not as perfect as it might have been, it still was living faith. They went to him. They woke him. They cried out to him.
o Jesus does not direct us to have perfect faith but true faith.
o We will never trust him perfectly in this life, but we must trust him truly.
o He is always willing to overlook our accusations if we have even a measure to true faith.
· And overlook them he does! What a patient Savior!
o Rather than confronting their impetuous accusation, he immediately rouses himself, rebukes the wind and speaks to the sea and there was a great calm.
o Unlike the false gods which Elijah mocked, whom they try to rouse but cannot wake, the disciples rouse Jesus, and he awakes and acts on their behalf. Jesus is the true God.
o “Rebuke” Psalm 104:7, the waters flee at the rebuke of Yahweh.
o Peace, be still – subduing the creation with similar language which subdues demons.
· He protects them. He saves their lives in this moment.
o Isaiah 43:1-6 cannot help but jump to the mind.
· As you’ve already guessed, the OT has a lot to say about calming storms
o Job 38:11
o Psalm 29:3-4, 10-11
o Psalm 89:9
o Psalm 93
o Psalm 148:8
o Prov 8:27-31
o Nah 1:4
o Isaiah 50:2
o Many of these and others draw on the theme of the Exodus, which is God rebuking the sea so that his people can walk safely to salvation.
· The point is clear: the one who rules the sea, rules everything because the sea is the most unpredictable, the most unruly, the most dangerous, the most treacherous place. But because Yahweh made it, he can rebuke it and make it still in order to save his people from danger.
· Jesus calming the storm is not mere act of supernatural power. It is a claim to be Yahweh, and therefore also a claim to be able to save.
· Yet how will he save us? By becoming one of us and descending into death for us, much like Jonah. Remember, very similar story arc—but Jonah is thrown overboard, and descends into the heart of the sea, which he interprets as a kind of descent into death itself, only to be brought up and “resurrected” by being vomited up on the beach, only to result in the salvation of Gentiles. But this does not happen to Jesus. Where is the death? Where is the resurrection?
· The story of the storm swirls around this mysterious Jesus, who is undoubtedly a man, and yet only does what God can do.
o He is a man
§ He sleeps. He speaks. He teaches. He plans. He directs. He gets tired. He eats.
o But he is God
§ He rebukes the wind. The calms the sea. He demands that all believe in him and repent.
· And what does this story, then, say about who this God is? Who is Jesus? Jesus is God—all the fullness of God dwelling bodily. But it is not only that, but Jesus is God for us.
· The incarnate God is for us—for he has become like us. He reveals God himself to us, for he is the fullness of God—and we must believe in him to see it.
III. Jesus Corrects His Disciples (4:40-41)
· Jesus not only directs his disciples into the right path, and not only does he protect them as God for them, but he also patiently corrects them when they prove faithless.
· V40 – “Why are you so afraid?”
o A searching question. A gentle word can break a bone, and I cannot imagine how this would have landed.
o Why do you continue to fear?
o Do you not yet see who I am? Do you not yet understand that I am Yahweh here to redeem you? That I am God for you? That if you are with me, you have nothing to fear?
o Why do you fear the storm? I can calm the sea and rebuke the wind. I certainly have the power to protect you, so why do you fear?
· Again v40, “Have you still no faith?” Literally, Do you not yet have faith?
o This doesn’t mean that they weren’t saved.
o In context, this refers to the fact that their understanding of him is still clouded. They must trust him to see who he is. But they do not yet understand who he is, and so they fear the storm.
· Why do we doubt Jesus’ care for us?
o Answer: we don’t really know his heart.
o We too quickly assume that because he seems to be asleep that he is therefore not at work, or that he has forgotten us.
· Our doubt arises from the fact that we do not yet know his heart.
· We do not yet know his heart because we have yet to see him more clearly through the eyes of faith.
o Fear would break the back of faith. But faith is the overcoming of fear.
· How do we see him through the eyes of faith? We hear and embrace and obey his word.
· Unbelief continues in us all as a kind of living death which resides alongside living faith. Every day we wake up prone to doubt God because we doubt his heart for us.
· But the very existence of the God-man—God in flesh, Jesus Christ—teaches us otherwise. God is for us, and therefore we may rest in him and sleep in the storms.
· Unbelieving as they may be, the disciples are beginning to see this, so they are “filled with great fear”—lit. they “feared a great fear.” Great fear broke over their hearts like the waves that had just crashed over their boat.
o They had just witnessed something supernatural—moments before terrified that they would drown, and now sitting on a glassy, mirror-like lake reflecting the stars.
· The question rages: “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
o The question is one of wonder, yet one of dull perception. They wonder at his strength, but they still have yet to put it together.
o Nonetheless, they are beginning to see.
· Remember, Mark has already answered this question in 1:1. So we know. But now the disciples are beginning to answer the question for themselves.
· In a way, this story thrusts us back to the beginning of the book and drags us through the memory of all that Jesus has done, and prompts us to reexamine the evidence and answer for ourselves: Who is Jesus?
· The unavoidable evidence is that Jesus is God for us. God with us. God as man.
o He follows in the train of Elijah.
o He baptizes with the Holy Spirit
o He summons and sends fishermen.
o He has the authority to teach his people.
o He heals fever and illness.
o He cleanses lepers.
o He has authority to forgive sin.
o He knows the thoughts of the heart.
o He has authority over the old and new covenants.
o He is Lord of the Sabbath
o He is the giver of the law.
o He is the gatherer of his people.
o And he is the stiller of the storm.
· The evidence is in, and it demands a verdict, and only one verdict can be rightly drawn: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the very presence of Yahweh, God for us.
· All other conclusions are stubborn unbelief.
Conclusion
So, who is Jesus? He is God. And now only is he God, he is God for us. He is God as man, God in human flesh, the deity dwelling bodily, God with us and God for us. Jesus is Yahweh—he commands the waves of the sea to be still and muzzles the wind with a word. Yet Yahweh is incarnate. He has condescended and taken on the form of a servant. He has become like us to tell us this: Jesus is God for us. God in Christ is reconciling the world to himself.
So, does Jesus care? If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have become man. He does care! He is God for us! We must know his heart, and we must bring our hearts to rest in him. We must be filled with the right fear—the trembling of love and faith—which sees him for who he is.
The incarnation is part of what we remember when we take communion together. Jesus says “this is my body” and “this is my blood.” He needed to take on body and blood to offer it for our life. So, this meal is also a way of remembering that Jesus is God for us. God in human flesh. God come to deliver us from death by the breaking of his body and the shedding of his blood.