On Jesus Asleep In My Boat

Mark 4:35-41 PHILLIPS   On the evening of that day, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.”  So they sent the crowd home and took Him with them in the little boat in which He had been sitting, accompanied by other small craft.  Then came a violent squall of wind which drove the waves aboard boat until it was almost swamped.  Jesus was in the stern asleep on the cushion.  They awoke Him with words, “Master, don’t You care that we’re drowning?”  And He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, “Hush now!  Be still!”  The wind dropped and everything was very still.  “Why are you so frightened?  What has happened to your faith?!’ He asked them.  But sheer awe swept over them and they kept saying to each other, “Who ever can He be? – even the wind and waves do what He tells them!” 

From the Jesus Storybook Bible:

“Jesus stood up and spoke to the storm.  “Hush!,” He said.  That’s all.  And the strangest thing happened….  The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice.  (They had heard it before, of course – it was the same voice that made them in the beginning.)  They listened to Jesus and they did what He said.   

Immediately the wind stopped.  The water calmed down.  It glittered innocently in the moonlight and lapped quietly against the side of the boat, as if nothing had happened.  The little boat bobbed gently up and down and there was a great quiet all around.  Then Jesus turned to His wind-torn friends.  “Why were you so scared?” He asked.  “Did you forget Who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?” 

Jesus’ friends were quiet – as quiet as the wind and the waves.  And into their hearts came a different kind of storm.  “What kind of man is this?” they asked themselves anxiously.  “Even the wind and the waves obey Him!” they said because they didn’t understand.  They didn’t realize yet that Jesus was the Son of God. 

Jeus’ friends had been so afraid they had only seen the big waves.  They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, they had nothing to be afraid of.  NO MATTER HOW SMALL THEIR BOAT OR HOW BIG THE STORM.  [Excerpted from the JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE] 

Observation 

This lake was familiar to them, and was their usual fishing grounds.  As fishermen, they knew how to handle a boat in rough water and how to judge the weather to know when a storm was coming.  This storm surprised and frightened them with its intensity and their inability to control the situation.  If they were panicky and terrified, it was surely a wild, violent and powerful storm.  Surely they would have thought it strange that Jesus could remain asleep in the chaotic buffeting of this storm, but they were so focused on the wind, the waves and the water washing into the boat that they had stopped thinking. They did expect Jesus to save them if they could wake Him up!

Jesus was teaching them to move their thinking, their understanding, out of the natural – what is humanly possible – into the supernatural – what is possible for God.  When it came time to feed the 5000, Jesus would take a meager and insufficient little boy’s lunch and supernaturally made it more than enough for everyone to eat and be filled.   When the incurably sick came, Jesus would heal every disease, changing them from unclean to clean by His touch.   This stormy trip would prove to be another lesson in allowing Jesus to be in control regardless of the circumstances.   

So, here Jesus gives them a dose of truth and grace by asking, “Why were you scared?  Did you forget who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?”  Then, instead of bringing the boat under control, He calms the sea.  He wanted them to understand, to embrace, that all needs, all circumstances, all storms, all insufficiencies, all scary situations are subject to God’s power and authority in and through Him.  “Jesus’ friends had been so afraid they had only seen the big waves.  They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, they had nothing to be afraid of.  NO MATTER HOW SMALL THEIR BOAT OR HOW BIG THE STORM.” 

Impact On Me 

“Why were you scared?  Did you forget who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?”  These are questions I revisit in every scary storm of life, every time when there is not enough, every time sickness threatens, every time evil seems to be winning.  So many looked forward to 2021 as a new year where we could leave the stormy times of the past few years behind – years filled with pandemic, death, rioting, rising crime rates, conflict/anger, injustice, political infighting, misinformation/conspiracy theories, war and every other disruption of our “normal fishing grounds”.   So far, 2021 has proven to be more of the same.

For any student of history, all of these are not new; they are part of the human condition, repeated over and over from ancient times – the legacy of that first mutiny by Adam and Eve in the Garden.  Paul tells us that all creation is groaning along with us on our life journey until our hope is fulfilled (Romans 8:22-25 Phillips). The only guarantee now of security and peace in my life, the only foundation on which hope can be built amid the chaos of this world, has been, continues to be and will forever remain this same Jesus that calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee all those years ago.   

So, when I am buffeted by a storm, I need to stop to revisit the questions above and remember that all creation (seen and unseen, emotional/physical, natural/supernatural) is subject to Him.  “The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice.  (They had heard it before, of course – it was the same voice that made them in the beginning.)  They listened to Jesus and they did what He said.”  Jesus has promised to never leave me or forsake me so He will always be in my boat.  Whether He is awake or asleep, when I think my boat is about to be overwhelmed by the storm, I need to go back and sit down next to Jesus, trusting that we will make it to the other side – regardless of the intensity of the storm along the way. 

Prayer

Lord, You are the Creator of all that exists.  You have all authority and power in heaven and earth.  You are executing Your plan created from the foundation of the Earth regardless of how it looks to me.  It is overwhelming to realize the You love and care for me in spite of all I am and do.  How many times have I given in to my fears and run in panic to You or even away from You.  Yet, You still rescue me.  What kind of love is this?  Holy Spirit, renew my mind so that my thinking can move from the natural to the supernatural, that I may see with the eyes of Jesus and understand with the Father’s heart.  Teach me to walk fully in Christ, functioning in my perfect place in His Body, equipped with the weapons of His warfare and always choosing Your side of every battle, keeping my eyes on Jesus regardless of the circumstances swirling around me, content to ride out every storm sitting next to You as You sleep in my boat.  Make it so, in the name of Jesus.