Mark 4:35-41: “After Preaching & Teaching
All Day Jesus Starts To Cross The
By
1.
INTRO:
2.
In our last study, we looked at verses 21-34 of Mark chapter 4.
2.1.1. We discussed Jesus’ “Parable
of the Crop”.
2.1.2. Then, we discussed Jesus’
kingdom ‘Parable of the Mustard Seed’.
3.
In our study today, we are going to look at verses 35-41 of chapter 4,
and the story of Jesus’ first calming of the sea to spare His disciples:
Mark 4:35-41, “35 On that day, when evening
came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other
side.” 36 Leaving the crowd, they
took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with
Him. 37 And there arose a fierce
gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat
was already filling up. 38 Jesus Himself 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 got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became
perfectly calm. 40 And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no faith?”
41 They became very much
afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the
sea obey Him?””
4.
This is the first
of two times that Jesus’ calmed the waves of the sea and saved His disciples. The three synoptic gospel writers also write
of a story that happened later on in which the disciples were crossing the sea
by themselves when a storm came upon them and they thought they were going to
perish, and then Jesus came walking up to them and stilled the storm. Peter walked on the water in that story.
5.
We read that it was ‘on that day’ which this story
happened. What day, the day that Jesus
had been teaching the things Mark has recorded prior to this. We have seen that Jesus was teaching the
multitudes many parables all throughout this day. Mark includes Jesus teaching the parables of
The Crop, The Lamp, and The Mustard Seed on this day. He evidently taught all of His kingdom
parables as well, and perhaps many other things as well. So, Jesus had had a long and arduous day of
ministry and when the evening came He told the disciples to get in the boat He
had been teaching them from, and cross over the
6.
When we think of the price that Jesus paid for us, we tend to think of
6.1.
We believers need to follow Jesus’ example and live our life for the
faith of others! When we consider the
fact that we cannot take anything with us past this life except the ones we win
to Christ (and the crowns we earn), then it is only the smart thing to do for
us to be rich in the things that make for eternal life.
7.
Jesus told His disciples, ‘Let’s go over to the other side’
(that is to the east side) of the lake as the sun was going down. Jesus was tired and the multitudes had
pressed so much upon Him, that He and the disciples didn’t make any
preparations to go over to the other side of the lake, they just went as they
were. And, it says here that concerning
Jesus, they took Him ‘just as He was.’ Jesus didn’t
even grab a tunic, and they probably all got very cold on the water that night
when the wind and the waves rose up.
8.
In the book of Hebrews, we read that Jesus was tempted in all ways that
we are, yet without sin, and therefore He sympathizes with us in our
temptations and trials. Here we see that
Jesus understands what it is like to be tired and exhausted. Further, He understands what it is like to be
exhausted in the work of God.
8.1.
When you are
exhausted, then be aware that God understands what you are going through.
9.
Ministry is a consuming work and does take a toll on us. When we lay our lives down for others in
Christ’s name, it does take exhaust us.
There are always people around us who do not know the Lord, and if we
are concerned for their souls and eternal destination, then we too will become
exhausted at times.
10.
Jesus was exhausted, and just as all of us need rest a times, so He too
needed rest. We see here that Jesus ‘was in the stern, asleep
on the cushion’. Down in the stern (back) of the boat, Jesus
slept amongst the nets and equipment, and He had room to lay down upon a
cushion that was down there. As the
storm brewed and the wind and the waves pounded fiercely upon the boat, Jesus
slept peacefully the rest of the godly.
10.1.
One of the huge blessings of being a disciple of Christ is that we have
“the peace of God which surpasses comprehension.” In the midst of the storms of life when
others find no place to be able to rest, we are able to rest. Isaiah wrote about how that the wicked (those
who don’t know the Lord) do not have peace in their life: Isaiah
48:22, “22 “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.” We need
God’s peace to endure the storms of life, just as Jesus had on this day.
11.
Harper’s Bible Dictionary tells us that the Sea of Galilee in Galilee
of northern
12.
Twice in the gospels the disciples get into trouble on the lake because
of these storms, and Jesus in both situations calms the storm and saves their
lives.
13.
As the winds
began to blow on this evening, the waves began to grow in size and white
cap. Then, finally we find that big
breakers were coming over the side of the boat, and the boat began to fill up
with water: ‘the waves were breaking over the
boat so much that the boat was already filling up.’ The
disciples were not only rowing the boat now, they were bailing water. But, they were not keeping up with the water
that was landing in the boat.
14.
The disciples learned on this day that learning from Jesus and serving
Him does not exempt anyone from trials and temptations, in fact we should learn
to expect them as we serve the Lord. The
disciples went right from hearing Jesus teach and learning from and serving Him
into a boat and a storm comes up.
15.
When I was
growing up, our family often went on long boat trips and would fish and water
ski as we camped on the big lakes in
16.
Once when I had
been fishing outside the mouth of the Columbia River in WA state, we were heading
back into the river and as we were heading back over the bar a storm had begun
to come up, and the waves were growing higher and higher and the bow of our
boat would go over the crest of one wave just to crash into the trough before
the next, and the waves would come over the top. The captain told me that once on this same
trip in a storm he had seen a boat split right in two when the bow crashed down
over the crest of a wave.
17.
The disciples should have kept it in mind what Jesus had said to
them. He told them that they were going
to the other side of the lake, and when Jesus tells you to go to the other side
of the lake, you are going to the other side of the lake.
18.
The Bible Exposition Commentary states the following about how Jesus
planned to use this situation to teach His disciples: “Did
Jesus know that the storm was coming? Of course He did! The storm was a part of that day’s
curriculum. It would help the disciples
understand a lesson that they did not even know they needed to learn: Jesus can be trusted in the storms of
life. Many people have the idea that
storms come to their lives only when they have disobeyed God, but this is not
always the case. Jonah ended up in a
storm because of his disobedience, but the disciples got into a storm because
of their obedience to the Lord.”
19.
In the gospels,
we see that Jesus didn’t keep people from getting into trouble and
difficulties, and He didn’t fix their situation right away. He let them struggle for a while, and then He
would come and meet their need. We see that,
for instance, with the raising of Lazarus (He waited a couple of days before
coming after hearing Lazarus was very sick), among other stories. Finally, when Jesus arrived Lazarus had been
dead a few days, and Mary and Martha told Jesus that if He had only been there
that Lazarus would never have died.
Then, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and increased their faith. Jesus waits and lets us struggle for a while
so that He can teach us greater lessons after He has delivered us.
20.
We Christians
tend to think that our greatest problems are our trials and difficulties, but
this story reveals that our greatest problems are within us. Unbelief in our hearts is our biggest
problem!
21.
As the disciples were laboring, Jesus was sleeping. But, when Jesus slept as humanity, He
continued to watch over His people as God.
Many times in our lives as God’s people, when we get into trials it
seems as though the Lord is sleeping and not watching over our lives, and we
even find God’s people in the scriptures struggling in their faith about that,
as the Psalmist did in Psalm 44:23,“23
Arouse
Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever.” But, we need to realize that God does not
sleep and He is always keeping watch over our souls and aware of all that we
are going through as Isaiah wrote: Isaiah 40:28, “28 Do you not know? Have you not
heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord,
the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His
understanding is inscrutable.” Further, not
only did Isaiah write that the Lord Himself does not grow weary, he also says
that the Lord will give us strength and rest when we wait upon Him for it: Isaiah
40:30-32, “30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young
men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for
the Lord Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get
tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
22.
God never sleeps,
as this poem says:
There is an eye that never sleeps,
Beneath the wing of night;
There is an ear that never shuts,
When sink the beams of light;
There is an arm that never tires.
When human strength gives way;
There is a love that never fails,
When earthly loves decay.
23.
The disciples should have kept it in their minds the fact that the Lord
was in their boat. How can a person
really worry if they realize that the Lord of all creation is in their boat
with them? If Jesus is in your boat then
He is going to provide for you and protect you and really there is nothing you
need to worry too much about.
24.
Sometimes Christians can live as
what someone called “practical atheists.” Jesus is in their boat but they act just like
everyone else in the world who does not have Jesus in their boat. They don’t look to Him and His resources and
try to do everything in their own strength and abilities. We can be like the man who bought a ticket
for an ocean liner and then the day he boarded he stowed away down in an engine
compartment and stayed there in the most horrible of conditions. He did this because he didn’t realize that when
you bought a ticked on the ocean liner it came with a very luxurious living
quarters, and meals provided on top of that.
25.
I wonder if when
the disciples woke Jesus up if they were expecting Him to take His turn rowing,
or if they wanted Him to start bailing water too? Maybe they just wanted Him to pray for
them? Did they expect that if they woke
Him up that He might still this storm?
Luke adds to their words that they said to Jesus, “Lord, save us, we
perish.” That is a great prayer,
simple and to the point. Most
importantly it was directed to the Lord.
26.
The disciples
should have seen from the peace that Jesus had in the midst of this danger and
trial that they had nothing to fear or worry about. When we today see Jesus’ reactions amidst the
extremes that entered into His life, then we too need to learn not to fear and
lose our peace in our trials. The Bible
Exposition Commentary says, “Jesus was perfectly at peace, even in the midst
of the storm. This fact alone should have encouraged them. Jesus was in God’s
will and knew that the Father would care for Him, so He took a nap. Jonah slept
during a storm because he had a false sense of security, even though he was
running from God. Jesus slept in the storm because He was truly secure in God’s
will. “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep, for Thou, Lord, only makest
me dwell in safety” (Ps. 4:8).”
27.
In the 27th chapter of the book of Acts, we
read the story of Paul on the ship in a huge storm in the
28.
Mark tells us here that to still the wind and the waves
that Jesus, ‘rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.”’
29.
Mark makes a point here in verse 36 to say that there were other boats
that went with Jesus and the disciples to the other side of the lake: ‘and other boats were with Him’. The people in these other boats surely got
into trouble with the waves along with the disciples, and it must have been the
case also that when Jesus stilled the waves and saved the disciples in His
boat, that they the people in these other boats saw what Jesus had done and
were spared as well. The disciples boat
with Jesus in it symbolizes the church, small as it is, in relation to the
people of this world that is in rebellion against the Lord. When God works in our lives, people in this
world benefit as well and we have a testimony to them of the greatness and
ability of our Lord. We need to have
victory in the midst of our temptations and trials though so that we can be a
testimony to the lost people in our lives.
30.
When a storm hits a large body of water, the waves that are created
compound one another and they continue to bounce around and reflect off of each
other and other objects, including the shore, and it is quite some time after a
storm has left before the waves are completely calm and still. However, what we see here is that immediately
‘the wind
died down and it became perfectly calm’. The Pulpit
Commentary tells us that the Greek here that is used to say that the ‘wind
died down’ indicates that the action happened immediately even before the
action of Jesus speaking was completed.
In other words, the Greek says that the wind and the waves were
immediately perfectly still as soon as Jesus began to speak to them.
31.
In verse 40, we see that Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of
faith. Their response in this situation
of fear and then of accusing Jesus of not caring about them or watching over
them came about because of their unbelief.
Jesus challenges them, “Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no
faith?”
32.
After the disciples have seen what Jesus has done in calming the wind
and the waves, and then heard His challenge to them for their lack of faith,
Mark tells us that they again were ‘afraid’. However this time they were afraid because
they realized that He was God, they understood that only God could do such a
thing as He had done. Mark tells us, “Who then is this,
that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
The word translated
‘fear’ also means to show reverence and respect.
33.
CONCLUSIONS:
33.1.
Know that God does not sleep and
that He cares and is always looking down upon your life and aware of all of
your struggles.
33.2.
Realize that your great problems are within you, just as
Hebrews 3:12 describes them, “12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil,
unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”.
33.3.
You will encounter dangers and
trials, but know that if you do that Jesus is in your boat, and you need to not
be fearful but just ask Him to come to your aid and save you. Your boat won’t sink if Jesus is in it.
33.4.
Don’t jump ship just because the pressure of the storm
hits you.
33.5.
When you embark upon that which
you believe that the Lord has called you to do, and suddenly circumstances seem
to get out of hand and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel you
are in, then realize that if God called you to be there that He will be with
you and enable you to do what He has called you to do.