David Bahn – Reflections

Mark 4:35-41

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”⁴¹ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

There are – to my way of thinking – several reasons that a storm at sea would push me toward panic, and away from faith. The main one is the sheer terror of waves crashing over the side of the boat and the apparent need simply to stay alive, much less afloat! Sometimes life presents challenges and terrors that put faith on the back burner and the desire and need to survive on the forefront of life. In the milliseconds before an auto crash, I’m more likely to be thinking about the imminent physical danger than about spiritual things – unless, I guess, it’s clear that I’m about to die.

So Jesus’ question here to his disciples puzzles me. “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” Am I to understand by this that if the disciples had faith they could have stilled the storm? Or shall we conclude that true faith renders natural catastrophes impotent? I’m not certain either of those conclusions are called for, but my initial conclusions point me that direction.

Perhaps a more careful look at this event will shed better light. There are three questions set in these few words. Only one is by Jesus – though it is a double question. The other two are by the disciples and these betray their lack of faith, or the barest form of it. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” betrays a deep lack of faith. These words are actually accusatory: Jesus doesn’t care. He’s asleep in the middle of their crisis. The disciples rail at his failure to wake up.

The deepest doubts or the most grave lack of faith is to deny God’s love, providence, and ultimate promises in the face of worldly calamity or terror. It may be understandable, but it is the substance of unbelief: that God is not good, that he does not care, that there is no hope. These are the conclusions that would bring the disciples to Jesus with such a question.

Their later question, “Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?” is a commentary on Jesus’ true identity as God in the flesh. Remember God’s God-to-man talk with Job? Among the questions God asks him had to do with who is able to control the waves and the waters and who is not. Jesus has not simply offered a demonstration of faith writ large. This is a demonstration of the divine power of God at work in Jesus. Jesus didn’t expect the disciples to still the storm. He did expect them to come to him in faith. I wonder what that might have looked like…

Mark 4:26-41

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

³⁰ And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹ It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”⁴¹ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”