Mark 4:35-41
Great, Greater, Greatest!
Our word for today is great. It’s a word that might be overused today, probably because everyone wants to be considered “great” in some way. Though that’s not the way the word works. Great is a qualitative word, that is, it’s the measure of something that surpasses normal. Great is the word we attach to people who become the best of the best. It’s attached to movies that shatter the box office. It’s attached to many different things that we believe are “above normal”. But I want you to consider what made these things great in the first place. Not everything is great, even if we say it is. Great is meant to assign recognition to certain achievements or accomplishments. That is, in order to be great, it also means struggles. Great accomplishments demand great struggles. We don’t celebrate everyone counting to five. Rather, if we want to encounter greatness, we must be willing and ready to endure suffering first. It’s the trials, struggles, setbacks, and suffering that makes an achievement more valuable… or “above normal”. It’s no different with faith either. Many people ask God for a greater faith, a stronger faith, yet balk at the idea of suffering. But we can’t have one without the other. If we want a great faith, one that makes people marvel, then we can also expect some great trials. It’s like the common saying, steel is forged by fire or that diamonds are forged under immense pressure. Faith isn’t an insurance policy that you have just in case. It’s more like the trophy you receive after it’s been tested and proven firm.
In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus takes his disciples into a boat on the sea where they encounter a “great windstorm”. Right when the disciples are most afraid as any normal person would be, our Lord surprises them with something beyond normal. For so we shall learn:
OUR GREATEST TRIALS REVEAL OUR GREAT LORD!
I.
This wasn’t the first miracle Jesus had ever done. The disciples had already seen Jesus do things that were impossible, like curing a leper, casting out demons, healing a lame man, and so on. They knew Jesus had quite the capability to amaze them. But if you noticed, none of Jesus’ first miracles have to do with nature or weather. It’s all human oriented and to some extent, considered “small scale.” Even before Jesus, there are numerous accounts of miraculous healings from the Old Testament. But this, this was different. Consider what we read, “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling,” Mark 4:37. It was a great windstorm, far worse than most storms these fishermen-disciples had seen. It was so great that their boat was already taking on water in the middle of the sea so that the disciples feared they would drown. Now, don’t get me wrong, put any one of us in their position and I think we’d all be just as terrified (or more so) than they were. Yet, amidst all of this, we all read, “But [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Mark 4:38. This was their last-ditch attempt to save themselves. As we all realize, no matter how normal their fear was, we learn that their fear was misplaced.
Great “windstorms” will arise in our lives too. There’s no telling when they’ll happen or where they’ll come from. Just like the actual one in the story, they will appear out of nowhere. When these storms arise in our lives, we’ll probably have much the same reaction as the disciples. Our fear naturally takes over because we’re afraid our end is near, either figuratively or literally. Things like job loss, major health crises, or splintering of friends or family. One day everything may be fine and the next, a great storm is upon you. But we must learn from the disciples that no matter how normal fear may be, storms are also a testing of faith. The storms of life are times where we should lean heavier on God than ever before so that faith may prove true. Not that every storm is a testing sent from God, but every storm is in some way a testing of faith. It’s a chance for us to put fear aside and stand on the faith and trust we have in Jesus.
II.
Once Jesus was awoken, what becomes of the “great windstorm”? It turns into a great calm! There’s no cloud left in the sky, no waves, no rain, no storm. In calming the storm, Jesus did what no one else has ever been capable of. For this was Jesus’ deliverance of the disciples from the storm. Without such a storm, the disciples never would have seen such a great calm. Just as we read, “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm,” Mark 4:39. By calming the storm, Jesus also was revealing who he truly was. Every Jew knew that only one person could hold such authority over the weather… God almighty, the creator of the universe. Jesus showed that he was Lord over the wind and the waves. He showed his disciples that he was greater than the great windstorm. This is the other function of storms. They reveal. They show us not just how strong our faith is, but how strong our Lord is when we see his mighty deliverance from our present afflictions.
But there’s one more “great” in our story. Great fear. The disciples become greatly afraid, not at the storm, not at their peril, but at their Lord. When Jesus calms the storm, the disciples are left in awe and great fear as they begin to recognize who’s in the boat with them. As we read, “And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?” Mark 4:41. The disciples’ first response to Jesus’ deliverance is fear… fear because they know they’re sinful man now in the presence of Almighty God. But this is also the basis of faith. We should fear God knowing that he has every right to condemn us and toss us into hell. Yet… Who is this? He’s our savior. He’s the one who has come to deliver us from every storm in life by leading us into the great calm of faith. The greatest storm we face is the storm of sin and death. But as great a storm as it is, we indeed have a greater Lord who offers us the greatest deliverance. For Jesus went to the cross to die for you and me. He joins us in this boat so that by his death and resurrection, he may speak his peace into our life. When we come to the full realization of who this is in the boat with us, Jesus shall lead us into a great faith… a faith that can stand up in every storm and even in the face of death.
When we encounter the storms of life, may our faith, not fear, shine through… our faith in the great deliverance given us by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! For we know that no matter the storm we face, Jesus is there with us and will see us into the greatest calm by giving us eternal life! In Jesus’ name! Amen!