Whose
Idea Was It?
The key to understanding this
story lies in one important question. If you know the answer to this
question, then you know what this story is about. If you don’t know the
answer, or if you skip over it, the meaning of this story will be lost to you.
Whose idea was it to get in the
boat in the first place?
Go back and read the text. The answer is
very plain. When evening came, at the end of a long day of ministry, after
Jesus and his disciples had spent hours ministering to the needs of people,
after giving and giving and giving of themselves for the needs of others, it
was Jesus himself who said, “Let us go across to the other side.” No doubt his
disciples were glad to hear that word because they were very tired. Mark 4:1-2 says that such a large crowd
gathered to hear Jesus teach that he had to get in a boat and teach them while
they pressed to the edge of the water. It had been like that everywhere they
went. Crowds came to hear the Master. Sick people came to be healed. The
confused came to find hope. On and on they came, day after day, wanting to hear
Jesus, desperately wanting to be near him. Helping hurting people, if
you really care about them at all, will cost you everything you have. Serving
others takes a toll on the spirit. Who among us has not gone to bed at
night so weary from phone calls and meetings and a day spent solving difficult
problems and trying to untangle the problems of others that we wanted nothing
more than a good night’s rest? When you have given all that you have, rest is what
you need. And I do not doubt that the disciples were glad to hear that they
were going to go to the other side of the lake. Several of them were fishermen
who knew the Sea of Galilee intimately. And that night the skies promised
smooth sailing from the west to the east. They had made that journey themselves
many times in their fishing boats and they looked forward to a few hours of
rest.
It all started very well. As the boat left the
western shore, the lake was so calm that Jesus decided to go to sleep in the
stern, resting on a cushion. Suddenly a great storm arose, the wind rushing
down across the mountains and through the Arbel, whipping up the waves and
causing them to come crashing into the boat. As the water entered, the
disciples furiously tried to bail it out but the water rushed in faster than
they could bail it out. The little fishing boat bobbed like a cork as wave
after wave crashed into it. Nothing could be more terrifying than to be on a
boat in the blackness of night as it takes on water and slowly begins to sink.
“Lord,
Don’t You Care?”
Finally, the disciples woke Jesus
up, asking him a question that to us may seem impertinent, but it is one we
have all asked in moments of desperation: “Do you not care that we are perishing?”
Lord Jesus, don’t you care that my child is sick?
Lord Jesus, don’t you care that my marriage is
falling apart?
Lord Jesus, don’t you care that my friends have
deserted me?
Lord Jesus, don’t you care that I have no money?
Lord Jesus, don’t you care that I feel so alone?
Lord Jesus, don’t you care that I want to give up?
Lord Jesus, don’t you care that my husband has
died?
Lord Jesus, don’t you care that I lost my job?
We have all asked that question in a million ways a
million times. We never question the Lord’s compassion when things are going
well. But God’s compassion is not measured by our circumstances nor is
his kindness limited to our understanding. God cares just as much when the
tempest is raging as when the seas are calm and the sun is shining. His mercy
is not limited to the sunlight nor this mercy to the stillness of the waves.
When he awoke, Jesus spoke three words: “Peace, be still!” Eugene
Peterson offers this colorful paraphrase: “Awake now, he told the wind to pipe
down and said to the sea, ‘Quiet! Settle down!’ The wind ran out of breath; the
sea became smooth as glass.” And just like that the storm ended. I find it
encouraging that the text says Jesus rebuked the storm—not the terrified
disciples. To them he simply said, “Why
are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” Implicit in those
words is a lesson we all need to learn. The disciples were afraid
because they were men who were used to being in control of life. They knew
how to handle hard situations. There wasn’t a weakling among them. And yet,
when put in a life-threatening situation beyond their control, their faith
turned to fear. Instead of putting them down, Jesus simply says, “Have you
still no faith?” The answer is yes and no. They had faith in Jesus. They truly
believed in Him. But their faith, though real, was not yet full-grown. And how
do you get the faith that enables you to survive the storms of life? The
only answer I know is to get in the boat with Jesus and ride with him wherever
he wants to go.
Where there are no storms, there is no danger.
Where there is no danger, there is no fear.
Where there is no fear, there is no testing.
Where there is no testing, there is no learning.
Where there is no learning, there is no growing.
Where there is no growing, there is no faith.
Here is the shorthand version:
Where there are no storms, there
is no faith.
No storms, no faith.
Few storms, a little faith.
Many storms, much faith.
No
Shortcuts
So it is for all of us who follow
Jesus. There are no shortcuts along the pathway of spiritual growth.
The storms of life are not a detour.
They are not a mistake.
They are not a trick or a trap.
They are not sent to cause to destroy you.
Your storms are sent by God to cause you to reach
the end of yourself so that you will cry out to the Lord in utter desperation,
“Don’t you care that I am perishing?” And in that moment—not before it, but in
it, when the water seems about to engulf you and all that is dear to you is
lost—in that moment, the Lord rises and says, “Peace, be still!”
So that you will not miss the point, let me repeat
it one more time. Who told them to get in the boat in the first place? The
answer is Jesus. It was his idea all along. Did he know about the
storm in advance? Of course he did. And he told them to get in the boat anyway.
Did he warn them in advance? No, because that would have ruined the lesson they
needed to learn.
All of us have moments—most of us have many of
them—when we feel utterly alone and forgotten by God. When life tumbles in
around us, even after we have tried to serve God to be the best of our ability,
there are moments when we feel that God has left us completely.
There is no avoiding those moments of utter
despair.
Sometimes we bring them on ourselves by the choices
we make.
Sometimes they come because we have done what the Lord
told us to do.
Sometimes the storms of life seem to come out of
nowhere.
The
Choice We Must Make
In those moments we have a choice
to make.
Either we choose to believe that the Lord sent the
storm to us for his own purposes or we choose to believe that the Lord has
abandoned us and left us to our own devices.
I do not believe we can manipulate God into
avoiding the storms or somehow making them suddenly disappear. If
anything, this story is meant to teach us exactly the opposite. Sometimes
our path takes us into the storm. Sometimes we see the clouds gathering and
know it is coming. More often the winds suddenly rise up and our life, which
had been so well-planned, suddenly turns upside down and we begin to sink
beneath the waves.
Jesus is the Lord of the wind and the waves.
When we calls us, we get into the boat.
When he sleeps, we toil on.
When the storm comes, we cry out to him.
When he awakes, he calms the storm.
When the storm is over, our faith is stronger.
Are you in a storm at this very moment? You are not
there by accident but by your Father’s design. He does not intend to hurt you
even though you feel like screaming because your pain is so great. You
are not alone though it feels that way now. You may have lost everything,
but you have not lost the Lord. He is still with you though you cannot see him
or sense his presence.
Fear not.
Keep believing.
The Master of the sea is by your side. When the
time has come, he will say, “Peace, be still,” and the storm will run out of
breath and the sea will become like glass. Eventually the day will break and
the sun will shine again. And when you look back, you will see that you faith
has grown stronger by the storm you passed through.
What a Christ we serve!
Even the winds and waves obey him!
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