Jesus Is With You | Mark 4:35-41
Thursday | October 01, 2020 |
Mark 4Jesus Is With You
By Pastor Emlen Bailey
Mark 4: 35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he 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?” 39 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. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
The Gospel of Mark is filled with great moments of action. This scene in chapter 4 feels like it could be from a movie. The description used by the author helps me to feel like I was there in the boat soaking wet with the rest of the disciples. It is almost that Mark described it so viscerally in order to justify the fear that he and the other disciples were experiencing in a small boat in the middle of a raging storm.
While I, and probably most of you who are reading, are not sailors, we do have times where we are facing really big storms. And what do we do in those situations? Of course, we get afraid! Now our storms can be financial storms, physical storms, or even emotional storms. But no matter what we are facing, Jesus is there in the boat with us. He is encouraging us to have faith!
I have read this passage many times. When reading it, my big takeaway used to be, “I need to have the faith to tell a storm to call down.” In turn I have tried speaking to my issues and commanding them to go away. Well, I don’t know if you have ever tried commanding a bill to be paid when you don’t have money, but it doesn’t work as well as I would like it to. But I think what Jesus was teaching the disciples in this moment is to have faith that HE WAS WITH THEM IN THE STORM.
Jesus is with you in that storm.
The disciples definitely needed to understand this because they had some pretty enormous storms to face in their future. The people in this boat were the ones who were martyred for their faith many years later. And I haven't heard a story of a disciple telling a jailer, or an executioner that they needed to be calm. No, we hear stories of them rejoicing that they were so close with Jesus. He was with them in their storm.
I sincerely hope that none of us are going to have to face anything as dire as martyrdom in our lives on Earth. But we will have to face some pretty big storms. There will be moments of dire financial straits. Let me encourage you, Jesus is with you in that storm. There will be times where we are facing a difficult diagnosis. Let me encourage you, Jesus is with you in that storm. There will also be times of extreme depression and loneliness. So, let me leave you with one last encouragement. Jesus is with you in whatever storm you are facing. Learn to find Him!AuthorPastor Emlen Bailey
