Dealing with Fears: Mark 4:35-41: Jesus Calms the Storm

The story of how Jesus calmed a deadly storm on the Sea of Galilee helps us understand how Jesus can quiet the storms in our lives.

MARK 4:35-41: JESUS CALMS THE STORM

Read Mark 4:35-41.

BACKGROUND

To understand this story in the way that the disciples understood it we need to look at the attitude of the Jewish people toward the sea.
Maybe you have enjoyed vacations by the sea. Most people do.
We like sea stories, pictures ships and ocean waves, and songs about the sea.
There is a family in our church who never come to church in the summertime because they have a sailboat and they spend their summer sailing.
But the ancient Hebrews feared the sea. To them the sea was an emblem of chaos.
In the story of creation, we read that the earth was first covered with raging waves.
Then God raised up the land as a home for humans, a place of fruitfulness and beauty.

In Psalm 107.23-30 the psalmist speaks of God’s salvation in terms to the stilling of a storm. The psalm gives a vivid picture of the terror of a storm at sea. Let me read part of that psalm to you:

“Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded, and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven,
they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men,
and were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress;
he made the storm be sill,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad because they had quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.”

The Sea of Galilee is really just a large lake, but it is a treacherous lake.
The Sea of Galilee is in a deep depression like a bowl, surrounded by hills and mountains.
The wind passing over the highlands around the lake, comes swirling down a hundred gorges and narrow valleys into the deep pit where the lake lies.

A traveler writes about a young fisherman he met who sniffed the air and looking south, said that a storm was coming. He told how recently three men had been lost at sea and their bodies had not yet been found.
That is the background for the story we read from Mark’s gospel.

I. Now let’s consider what happened that day.

A. Earlier in the day the sea had been calm as glass.

Jesus was teaching beside the sea, and when the crowd became too big for people to hear well, Jesus got into a boat and pushed out into the water a ways and sat in it while he talked. The glassy sea merely amplified his voice.

B. But now it was evening and they set out to cross the lake.

They got to the middle of the lake and it was dark.

A had been a busy day. Jesus was exhausted. As soon as he got into the boat Jesus put his head down on a cushion in the stern of the boat and went to sleep.

Then the storm hit. The disciples were terrified. They were sure they were going to die.

Now remember: at least four of Jesus companions in the boat were experienced fishermen.
They couldn’t bear to see Jesus sleeping.
They woke him, saying, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

C. Jesus opened his eyes, got up—and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!”

And the wind died down and the sea was completely still.
We read that Jesus “rebuked the waves.” He saw in this storm an evil power.
And amazingly, not only did the wind stop blowing but we read, “There was a great calm.”

II. But there’s a deeper meaning in this story

A. Each of Christ’s miracles is an acted-out parable that illustrates in the physical world what he does in the spiritual world. Each miracle story has a deeper meaning

When Jesus made the blind to see he wanted us to see that he is the Light of the World.
When he made the deaf to hear he wanted to show us that he can open our ears to the voice of God.
When he made the lame to walk he wanted to show the people that he could give people strength to live for God.
And when he raised the dead he wanted to show us that he has the power to raise up his people to eternal life.

Jesus knows that life is filled with troubles, sometimes terrifying experiences.
Even though we Christians know that Jesus is with us, sometimes doesn’t it seem like he’s asleep?
We cry out, “Don’t you care if we perish?”
Does God really care?

But this story tells us that Jesus is always with us, even when we doubt.
It tells us that he won’t let the storms of life destroy us.

B. Now notice the strange effect this miracle had on Jesus’ friends.

Jesus said, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Jesus was disappointed with his friends for their lack of faith.
Fear is the opposite of faith.
The stronger our faith, the better we handle our fears.

Then after the calm they were afraid—but in a different way:
“They were filled with awe.” The Greek says, “They feared with great fear.”

III. This story contrasts bad fear which comes from mistrust of God and good fear which comes from an awareness of God’s greatness, and holiness, and wisdom, and power.

A. The Bible says, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”

When we are overwhelmed with a sense of God’s greatness and goodness, we hate the sin in our lives.
When we know God’s greatness, we love God and we want to live for him.

B. v41: “They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!’”

They were afraid because they suddenly realized how little they understood of who Jesus was.
They learned something great about Jesus that day.
They knew he could heal diseases.
They thought of Jesus as a man with wonderful powers.
But now they see in Jesus the Great God himself.
They had forgotten that a minute before they had feared for their lives. Now they are filled with a different emotion, the sense that they are suddenly in the presence of God himself.

CONCLUSION

I take this story as the story of my life, and your life.
Cry out to him in your storm. Hold fast.
Complain to him, if you need to…”Don’t you care, Lord…?” but keep praying.
Think of Jesus as being in your boat with you.
Jesus says, “Fear not. I will never leave you or forsake you.”

Pray for strong faith.
God is great enough to keep us in the storm and see us through to the other side.
God is great enough to receive us into glory.

“O soul are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s life in a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in his wonderful face,
And the cares of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.”