Part 2
Mark 4:38:“The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’”
There were two types of calm displayed in this passage. Jesus calmed the wind and waves, but additionally Jesus himself was demonstrating a whole new level of calm when he fell asleep in the midst of the storm. The disciples, however, interpreted these two calming moments very differently. When he rebuked the wind and waves. They were terrified, perplexed and amazed that even the wind and waves obeyed Him. However, they interpreted his sleeping in the stern much differently. They mistook his calm for a lack of concern.
Why do we associate being calm with a lack of concern? Jesus was the only one in the boat not panicking. He wasn’t bailing water and he wasn’t wringing his hands and fretting. He wasn’t reacting the way they were reacting, so they misread him. They confused his calm with a lack of concern.
Have you ever felt that. Felt as though Jesus didn’t respond to your situation with the urgency you expected. Ever wonder why it’s so pressing to you, yet seems so unimportant to Jesus. Ever think, if there was ever a time for a miracle it’s now:
“When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”-Mark 4:39-40
When we talk about the miracles Jesus performed, this miracle certainly ranks in the top ten. He commanded the winds and waves to stop and they did. His power over natural elements was just one way that Jesus confirmed that He was who he claimed to be.
However, is it possible that we’ve misread the real miracle in this story. Is it possible that like the disciples we are waiting on him to change the conditions swirling around us. We are waiting on Jesus to stand up and rebuke the wind and waves in our lives.
Jesus was experiencing the same external influences as the disciples, but he wasn’t experiencing them on the inside. The physical storm surrounding the disciples created a storm inside of them. So that the storm on the inside was a reflection of the storm on the outside. What if we misread the miracle and the miracle wasn’t Jesus showing us that he had the power to command the wind and waves to stop, but rather it was showing us how to remain calm when the the storm around us seems overwhelming. What if the miracle was showing us how to keep the storm surrounding us from becoming the storm within us.
Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church
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