| "That day when evening came, [Jesus] said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 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. 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 4:35-41 Things I love about this passage - - The disciples thought Jesus didn't care, but they were wrong
- Jesus wasn't phased by the storm at all - he knew that he had complete control over it
- Jesus REBUKED the WIND!
- Better still, when he rebuked it, it listened!
- He told the waves to stop and they did!
- 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?' - fear seems justified in this situation, but it's actually not. When you're in a boat with someone who has the power to change the weather it is absolutely ridiculous to be scared of a storm
- The disciples were just as scared afterwards when they saw his power as they were in the first place when they thought that he didn't care and that they would drown.
Imagine being there. Imagine watching as nature listened to a man's voice telling it to be quiet. 'Quiet! Be still!' The wind died down. It was completely calm. I had to speak on this passage at our youth club on friday night, and as I was preparing it I was so struck by the fact that Jesus could do this. He could control the weather! My friend Jenny was just telling me about how she had a really nice week off last week, saw family and friends and also went to West Wales for a bit. And one of the high points was that the weather was so great. But imagine if it had been awful weather - rain, wind, floods - and she had phoned me up and said "Alison, this is awful, my holiday is ruined, it's just a disaster! Is there any chance you could tell the weather to stop being so horrible? Could you make it sunny for me?" THERE IS ONLY ONE PERSON WHO CAN CHANGE THE WEATHER!!! It is not me. It is God. The idea of me being able to change the weather is absolutely ridiculous... but Jesus could do it! "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" Jesus is God. That's why he can change the weather. Nature went wild for Jenny in my imaginary example and I had to say 'Sorry Jenny, there is NOTHING I can do, you'll just have to get your wet weather gear on'. Nature went wild for the disciples on a lake 2 thousand years ago and Jesus said 'stop' and it relented. If this is true then there is no-one we can trust more with our lives The question is, do we really believe that it is true? And if so, are we living like it is true? |
