Text: Mark 4:35-41
Date: June 27, 2021
Event: The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
Mark 4:35–41 (EHV)
35On that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” 36After leaving the crowd behind, the disciples took him along in the boat, just as he was. Other small boats also followed him. 37A great windstorm arose, and the waves were splashing into the boat, so that the boat was quickly filling up. 38Jesus himself was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?”
39Then he got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still lack faith?”
41They were filled with awe and said to one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
Do You Still Lack Faith?
“Do you trust me?” Aladdin asked that to Princess Jasmine at least twice in the animated Disney movie I grew up with. Notably, he asked her this just before she climbed onto the impossible flying carpet. Of course, at that time, he was deceiving her and pretending to be something that he wasn’t, so as the audience perhaps, we’re saying, “You shouldn’t!” But she did, and off they went to see a whole new world, set to a catchy musical number.
We face all sorts of difficulties in this life that God has promised to take care of us through and even work good from. Yet, how often do we face those troubles doubting God’s ability or willingness to help and solve them and do what he said he would do? Probably more often than we like to think. But still, at the beginning of troubles, God reaches his hand to us and asks, “Do you trust me?” Or, to take us more into our lesson, at the end of trouble when we doubted and fretted and worried, he speaks as he spoke to his disciples, “Do you still lack faith?” By God’s grace, we will leave here today more trusting of God’s promises and abilities to help and protect us than we were when we arrived.
Our Gospel takes place just after our Gospel for last week. Jesus had been teaching the crowds with parables like the hidden growing seed and the tiny mustard seed. There were so many people gathered that Jesus had to get onto a boat and push off from shore to be heard better. We have just a sliver of his teaching recorded for us in the Gospels. I know what I feel like some Sundays when Bible Class leads into Worship and leads into Catechism or a meeting. But that’s nothing compared to what Jesus had done that day; to say that Jesus would have been exhausted is an understatement.
So, after he was done teaching, Jesus suggests that they all take some time to recharge. Jesus said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” And so they all got into the boat and left. They took Jesus into the boat “just as he was,” which probably means beat and exhausted, and went out across the Sea of Galilee.
You know what it’s like to be so tired you can’t see straight, and when you finally, mercifully, get to lay down, you’re just out. Well, that’s Jesus here. He finds a quiet place in the stern of the boat and is just out, a good reminder that our Savior while being true God, is also a true human being.
The seasoned fishermen are doing the sailing, and Jesus is resting. Until that is, his sleep is broken by terrified faces and shouts crying out to him. The wind is howling, water is actually filling the boat. It would have been wildly disorienting to wake up to that scene. A storm had arisen while Jesus slept. It was a storm so great that these men who spent most of their professional lives on this body of water feared they might die. Their panicked question to Jesus is half-accusing and half-asking, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?”
Jesus gets up and, bafflingly, speaks to the wind and the water. He rebukes them for being so stormy and scary. And what is the result of Jesus’ stern talking to these forces of nature? “The wind stopped, and there was a great calm.” I love that phrase, “a great calm,” the polar opposite of what Mark wrote two verses before, “a great windstorm.” The storm had been so large that the calm in its wake seems almost heavy as well. Jesus had totally undone what had caused the fear in the disciples’ hearts.
But Jesus, perhaps still groggy or exhausted, with sleep in his eyes, speaks to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still lack faith?” That feels kind of harsh at first blush, doesn’t it? “Jesus, these men just feared for their lives! Is now the time the criticize them?” Well, yes, actually, to make the long-lasting point Jesus is trying to make.
Let’s unpack what happened here. While Jesus was asleep, this storm arose. The disciples probably figured they could handle it; they had likely been in hundreds of storms before. But then it got worse and worse; the situation got more and more dire. They found that everything they tried failed. They had no solutions, no ability to do much of anything. The problem proved greater than they had first anticipated. And so, perhaps because they were out of other options, they come to Jesus, “Don’t you care that we are about to drown?”
Before we really harp on the disciples too much, let’s commend them for just a moment. Because they did show some faith here, didn’t they? Jesus was not an experienced sailor. They were not looking to him to show them how to handle a boat in the storm. They looked for his help to save them from the storm (although it doesn’t seem like yelling at the wind was what they were expecting). So, they needed help, and they knew Jesus could help, so they come to him. That is commendable.
What is not commendable, and what seems to be the lack of faith that Jesus is addressing, is that they didn’t trust that Jesus would do anything or didn’t trust that he actually cared about their problem. It's right there in the question they asked, right? Did Jesus care? Of course he did! As their friend and teacher, Jesus cherished them. As their Creator and Savior, he loved them beyond any human love.
Likewise, as we mentioned, they seem to come to Jesus as a last resort. I guess we don’t know how long the storm was raging before someone went to wake up Jesus, but the Holy Spirit doesn’t go out of his way to make clear that waking Jesus was their first reaction. Now, surely when the storm first arose, and they thought they could probably handle it, they wanted Jesus to rest the best he could and didn't want to disturb him. But when it was clear that this was going from bad to worse, why did they not come to Jesus first?
The more we’re circling the disciples’ motives and actions, the more uncomfortable this gets, right? If we walk away from today’s lesson thinking, “Oh, those disciples. So silly and forgetful!” we have missed the point entirely.
We are the disciples, aren’t we? We face troubles in life—storms of the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual—and what do we do? We grit our teeth and try to bravely solve it ourselves, without even giving a thought to God’s promises and power. Then, when things get out of control, and we realize we can’t solve this problem on our own, we almost turn on God, right? “God! Don’t you care that this thing is happening? Will you fix it? Can you fix it?”
Oh, and there it is. How often do we doubt that God can do anything about our problems? How often do we doubt that the all-powerful Creator of the universe can do something to help us? Or maybe it’s not really doubt about ability—we know that he is omnipotent after all—perhaps it’s more about desire or willingness to help. Sure, God could help; he can do anything. But will God do anything at all about the current problem? That’s when doubt sets in. And that’s when Jesus asks, “Do you still lack faith?”
Can I tattle on myself for a moment by way of an example? Last week, one of our members wisely suggested that we have a prayer for rain in worship, which we did. And yet, as we had that prayer, do you know what subtle thoughts flashed through my head? I knew what the weather had been. I knew the calendar, where we are in the seasons. And I knew what the weather forecast was for the coming week. I didn’t quite think these thoughts exactly, but I came close to thinking, “Why are we praying for this? It’s not going to happen.”
“My dear under-shepherd,” the Good Shepherd says to me, “do you still lack faith?” I guess so. As if the all-powerful Creator of the universe couldn’t overcome a traditional rainy-season / dry-season timing. As if he who produced supernatural droughts and ended them in spectacular blessing throughout the history of his Word couldn’t here, in our day, bring rain in our need. As if this one issue, for some reason, was outside of his capabilities or willingness to do something, even to do something surprising.
Now, did it rain this past week? No. But that doesn’t mean that God is unable or unwilling to help. It’s simply that he knows better than what we do what is best for right now. He knows what he’s doing and will provide what we need when we need it. He tells us to pray in the day or months of trouble. So, we see a need for rain, and we pray for rain. Sometimes his response to those prayers make sense to us; other times, they are entirely bewildering.
I don’t share this because I want you to think your pastor is a spiritual buffoon. I share this because I think it’s a microcosm of all of our lived experiences. We’re in continual storms, and we doubt God’s willingness to help. How many times have we faced a problem that we just never prayed about it? Or prayed about it once and then never returned to our Savior again? Do we still lack faith? Yes. God asks, “Do you trust me?” and often our answer is, “Well, kind of, but not really…”
My brothers and sisters, look at what our God has done for you. In your sin, you were truly hopeless, in a storm you would never weather. You would die in that sin-storm, and that death would be eternal in hell. Jesus roused himself, obeying his Father’s will, to come and be our Substitute and our Savior. By his life, death, and resurrection, he rebuked sin, told death to stop, and silenced Satan. We are freed from our sin because Jesus calmed that eternal storm.
So, if he was willing and able to do that, what do you think about those other problems that are not small but undoubtedly smaller by comparison? Does Jesus care about you? Of course he does! Will he do what you want him to do? Maybe. Will he do what you need him to do? Absolutely.
So don’t come to your Savior as your last resort; make him the first line of defense when the wind starts howling and the water starts splashing. Don’t come wondering if he cares or if he can do anything. Come in the certain confidence that no matter what the problem or how deep the hurt, your Savior can and will bring calm to that storm and work good from it. It may take a long time to understand that good, but that is what he promised, and that is what he will do.
Lord Jesus, we do so often lack faith. Send your Spirit to calm our troubled hearts and keep us ever focused on you as our Savior and Storm-calmer. Be with us in good times and in difficult times to comfort, heal, and encourage. Help us to be your hands and mouths to bring your comfort to those around us. Amen.
