Mark 4: 35-41


A mother walked in on her six-year old sobbing in his room. "What’s the matter?" She asked. "I’ve just figured out how to tie my shoes," the son answered. "Well, honey, that’s wonderful. You’re growing up. But why are you crying?" The mother asked again. "Because," he said, "now I’ll have to do it everyday for the rest of my life." Troubles, crisis, and tribulations are something we have to deal with everyday of our lives. In a sense, this young boy knows about the nuances of life.

This boy may know about the meaning of life since he knew that on top of having to tie his own shoes for the rest of his life, he would have to overcome every obstacle of his life on his own. During the course of our lives, many tribulations and obstacles come our way. We may get laid off from a job that we might thought secure, or troubles may descend on a household that seemed peaceful and tranquil; or worse yet, the curse of disease may stricken bodies that previously thought were healthy and impenetrable. In short, our lives are composed of series of crisis, near-crisis and setbacks.

In the September 5th edition of the American volume of the Korean Daily, an interesting article graced the cover. A woman who won the $18 million jackpot in the lottery in February of 1993 declared bankruptcy after depleting her sudden wealth. The woman in question was Janite Lee, sixty years of age, of St. Louis; in her bankruptcy statement, she declared that against her $18 million in assets, she had a liability of $25 million, putting her $7 million in debt. This woman, who is Korean by ethnicity, declared that as of July 5, she had total assets valued at $700 in two bank accounts to her name, and that she did not have any cash on her at that time. Janite Lee, after winning the jackpot of the lottery, opted to receive $620,000 after-taxes annuity for 20 years.

After winning her great prize, she donated countless amount of money to the School of Law of Washington University at St. Louis, to various political organizations, and to a number of Korean societies and organizations. For example, she donated $1.5 million to the library of the Law School at Washington University; in 1997, she donated the 31st highest amount for political contribution in history to the Democratic Party; and over the past three years, she made $277,000 worth of political contributions. She purchased a $1.2 million luxury home in the suburbs of St. Louis shortly after winning the lottery. In the end, Janite Lee ended up passing over the rights to her lottery winnings annuities to someone else to partially offset her debts; yet, over the past two years, she ended up spending additional $5 million, with her winnings being a collateral. It is often said that people who reap sudden windfalls, such as the lottery, often find themselves in the middle of great tribulations and problems; for this Korean woman, this predication was no exception.  

What should we do when crisis looms over the horizon during the course of our lives? In today’s scripture, it is recorded that when the boat that Jesus and His disciples are on get caught in the midst of a great storm, subjecting all who were on the boat to the verge of certain death, Jesus chastises the wind and the water to calm the seas. Contents similar to today’s scripture also appear in Matthew 8: 23-27, Luke 8: 22-25, and John 6: 16-21; considering the fact that this account appears in all these gospels, we can surmise that this miracle that Jesus performs carries a profound and important implications. Today’s scripture teaches us the three steps or dispositions that we must take when a sudden crisis looms over our lives.  

First, there are times in our lives where great tidal waves of tribulations and gusts of problems visit us. Look at verse 35 of today’s scripture. After explaining the truth of Heaven through various metaphors, Jesus boards a boat that was heading to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee at dusk. This seaway was about 13 miles in length and 7.5 miles in width; furthermore, hills and knolls of various heights and the 9,200 feet peak of Hermon Mountain surrounded this seaway, in particular. Due to these geographical features, the Sea of Galilee, which is a calm body of water on most part, became a wind tunnel when the cold gust blew from the west. When this happened, violent waves and uncontrollable winds blew across the water, creating one of the most violent storms over water that people have seldom seen.

The important fact is that this same storm blew across the Sea of Galilee despite the fact that Jesus was on board the boat, going across the waterway, putting the boat and its crew at great danger and peril. This statement from the Bible confirms the fact that crisis may visit us, despite our leading of faithful and moral, religious lives. Believing in Jesus does not afford us the luxury of complete and total immunity from dangers, crisis, or pains associated with life. Like other people, those who believe in Christ may be faced with crisis that may be difficult to overcome or withstand. The critical issue centers on the person, or the entity that captains our boat when we are faced with crisis.  

During the days of Christ, in the Near East, the oceans and seas were often construed and understood as territories of angry gods. When violent storms and rough waters appeared, the ancient people often thought that gods were at war; victory for these gods, as the people believed, often rested on who can calm the waters and the winds. The command of Jesus, as illustrated in verse 39, when He "arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!"" is very similar to His command in Mark 1, verse 25, when He expels the demon by saying "Be quiet, and come out of him." To reiterate, Jesus understood the violent seas and the wind to be the work of Satan or some other demon; therefore, He rebukes the wind and the waters to become calm. Therefore, when the violent storm, rough waters, or gusting winds visit our lives as some form of crisis, we, as Christians, need to understand the nature of these crises in spiritual terms. The crises do not befall us as result of some bad luck or misfortune; rather, we need to understand that these crises are actions and doings of Satan, in order to harm the people of God.  

Second, we need to deeply think about what actions and dispositions we will take when crisis visits our lives. When turbulent waves and violent storm smashing into the boat, all the disciples were thrown in the midst of great confusion and chaos. They simply did not know what to do. As stated in verse 38, when Jesus was asleep soundly on a pillow in the stern, the disciples wake Him in the midst of great chaos. It is ironic that these disciples, who were experienced fisherman and seamen by trade, ask Jesus, a carpenter from Nazareth, for help when meeting a great storm out in the sea. Crying "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" they create great commotion in the middle of turbulent sea. The problem is that despite the fact that Jesus is right next to them, the disciples were trembling in fear. We, ourselves, often proclaim that we believe, deeply, in Jesus; yet, when some crisis or misfortune visit us, we are often startled or at a loss with regards to what to do next. We often tremble like we have no faith, despite the fact that Jesus is right next to us.  

The story of John Wesley, when he traveled by a ship, named Simmonds, across the Atlantic from October 14, 1735 to February 5, 1736, is all too famous. This ship carried not only the Wesley siblings, but also many passengers, to include 26 Moravians. John Wesley records, in great detail, the crisis that befell the Simmonds from January 17 to 25, 1736, in his diary. When the great storm and violent waters slammed the ship and ocean water seeped in between the planks, all passengers, to include John Wesley, were caught up in great hysterical fear. Surprisingly, however, the Moravians showed not a trace of fear and displayed an unusual calm and peace not even a blink of an eye in the midst of such a chaotic situation. Wesley’s diary records the following calm and peaceful disposition of the Moravians:


In the midst of the psalm wherewith their service began the sea broke over, split the mainsail in pieces, covered the chip, and poured in between the decks, as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sung on. I asked one of them afterwards, "Was you not afraid?" He answered, "I thank God, no." I asked, "But were not your women and children afraid?" He replied mildly, "No; our women and children are not afraid to die."  

It is well known that after this incident, and this encounter, Wesley linked being a good Christian with the disposition of being fearless in the face of death. "Why do some Christians fear death while others do not?" is perhaps the most important question that gave Wesley the greatest torment during the course of his life. Today, let’s ask ourselves what disposition, or attitude, we will take on when a certain inevitable crisis loom ahead of us.  

Third, when crisis befall us, we need to wake our Lord and ask Him for His help. Despite the fact that the violent winds and turbulent waters may claim the lives of all people on board the ship, Jesus is soundly asleep. In the Old Testament, sleep appears as an important image. Proverbs 3: 23-26 illustrates peaceful and deep sleep as a sign of faithful trust in God. When God loses interest in His people, He is often portrayed as falling asleep while not looking after and protecting His people. Therefore, Psalms 44: 23-26 depict God as falling asleep when His people are faced with certain dangers and pains and His people waking Him up to ask for help. "Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever." Therefore, the image of God giving peaceful and tranquil sleep to those He loves (Psalms 127: 2) and the image of sleeping God being awakened by His faithless people, of whom He has lost interest gives deep spiritual meaning to the soundly asleep Jesus who is 100% human and 100% God and His disciples, who try to wake Him in the midst of great dangers.  

Jesus, who, in a sense, is human like us, had the firm belief that God will protect Him in the midst of the great storm; unlike His trembling disciples, He was sound asleep as if nothing was happening. On the other hand, on the eve of this great crisis, the disciples are waking Jesus, who, in a divine sense, is sound asleep due to the lack of interest in the plight and predicament of His disciples, their lack of faith and trust in the Lord and God.

 The fact the Jesus is soundly asleep in the stern on a pillow vividly shows the humanity and divinity of Jesus. As a human, Jesus had absolute faith in God; therefore, He could afford to sleep without worry on the eve of the looming crisis. On the other hand, Jesus, as divine God, pays no attention to His disciples and their lack of faith; while asleep due to lack of interest in their predicament, He is awakened by the desperate disciples. Jesus, after waking up, calms and rebukes the seas and the wind by commanding "Peace, Be still," as if chasing some demons from an afflicted spirit.  

To the disciples, after the storm had calmed, Jesus criticizes their lack of faith. In verse 40, He states, "why are you so fearful? How is it that you have not faith?" To this question, the disciples answer, fearing greatly, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" acknowledging the great power of the Lord, who controls everything and all creations. However, the miracle Jesus really wanted to show is not the miracle of calming the storm, but the miracle of calming the disciples in the midst of the storm. His real objective lay not in defusing the crisis; His real purpose lay in teaching the disciples the art of maintaining their bearing and calm in the midst of such crisis, out of complete and absolute faith in God. The spiritual lesson of today’s scripture lies in the fact that no matter the dangers and crisis that loom ahead of us, those who believe and trust in God can maintain their peace and safety.

James Moody stated that "I’d rather be in a rocking boat with a calm Jesus than to be in a calm boat with a shaky captain." It is true. Being with Jesus in a crisis and dangerous situation is better than being in a seemingly safe situation without Jesus. Trust and believe in the fact that God will give us the strength and ability to overcome all tribulations and obstacles. God will surely help us all. Amen.