When I was 15 I took a course at high school in how to drive a car. Drivers Education featured movies, texts, and lectures. At no time during this course did we set foot inside of an actual vehicle. Later, I took driver’s training where we tried out our skills behind the wheel. All this was in preparation for that big day when we went down to the Department of Motor Vehicles and got into our car with the person who would decide whether we were qualified to drive. In a way, our life as an apprentice of Jesus Christ is much like this. We hear the lectures and read the texts of Jesus. We see the movies of His parables in our heads as He weaves them. But it isn’t until we go out onto the streets where that information is tested.
That’s what the disciples of Jesus experience in Mark 4. Jesus lays out to them important spiritual truths that all lead in the direction of trusting and relying on Jesus and not on themselves. If faith is trust and reliance, then the opposite of faith is autonomy—relying on your own abilities. The experience of a disciple is to let go of autonomy and trust in Jesus. In the first part of the chapter He gives the story of the parable of the sower. This shows us that a well-plowed heart and receptive mind are keys to understanding and acting on the gospel. Next we see how that initial relationship grows, and then is tested.
21 – 23
Jesus’ disciples may have been wondering if Jesus was purposefully hiding Himself in these stories. So the Lord makes it clear that Jesus, the lamp, is not to be hidden away but set where it can illuminate the house. Jesus has been “concealed” but now that He is in the world it is His aim to “reveal” Himself—at the proper time. You too should not “hide” Jesus in your life.
24 – 25
Jesus is basically reiterating His earlier comment that those who will engage their minds and seek to understand, will get more understanding. But those who could care less, it will mean nothing to them.
26 – 29
When Jesus used the picture of the farmer and his seeds, the focus was on the condition of the soil. Here the focus is on the property of seeds—that when planted in good soil grow. The farmer doesn’t tell the seed how to do it and can’t make it happen; he can only provide a good growing environment. So with the gospel, we are farmers. We broadcast the gospel but how it takes root in someone’s life is beyond our manipulation. You are not responsible for the outcome, only for good planting. Jesus uses the symbol of the sickle, which represents the end judgment (Joel 3:13, Rev 14:15). Eventually, God will call an end to the spreading of the seed and will call into account everyone who heard.
In our lives, the gospel takes root if the soil of our mind is willing. When the Holy Spirit comes into a life given over to the lordship of Jesus, He begins to take control, slowly but steadily transforming us, as Paul says (2 Corinthians 3:18) “from glory to glory” into the character of Jesus. We can impede the growth or encourage it but we do not make it happen, but it will take place as a natural course of being related to Jesus.
The next parable shows us the extent of that growth.
30 – 32
The mustard seed was probably the smallest seed used in Jesus’ time in Palestine. The point of this story is that a very small thing (Jesus, the disciples, the gospel) can grow very very large. The mustard seed can produce a very large bush in just weeks with branches. While the parable of the seeds showed the type of growth, the mustard seed shows its extent—limitless. You can grow as far as you want. You can become as much like the Lord as you desire. With God, all things are possible! Also, no matter how small you might seem and how large the barriers to what God wants you to do, size in God’s kingdom doesn’t matter. In a moment, Jesus’ disciples are going to have a chance to test just how big that character was growing in their lives.
33 – 34
This section indicates that it was Jesus’ regular teaching method to use parables, but that what we find in the gospels is merely a selection of the many stories Jesus used. I like this because I personally like stories. Pictures of physical things are a good way for me to understand spiritual things.
Now we switch back to the action mode, with our ultimate action hero taking authority over the creation itself.
35 – 41
Jesus is headed to the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It’s a great exit strategy. When He was done teaching He simply sailed away! The boat was likely Peter’s who was used to sailing at night (that’s when they fished). The other boats detail was only added by Mark, probably from observations by Peter.
The Sea of Galilee is very unusual. It’s only 13 by 7 miles but is 680 feet below sea level and surrounded by mountains. The downdrafts created when warm air passes up over the mountains and, cooling, rushes down over the sea, can create horrible windstorms. Waves of 20 feet are not uncommon, though at night they wouldn’t have expected such a storm.
How tired must Jesus have been to sleep through the pitching of the boat, and the spraying of water? I find it interesting the words the disciples chose. They didn’t say “Lord help us.” They criticized His motivations. He had told them to go to the other side; didn’t he care about their plight? And this was no game. If these experienced fishermen were afraid, the danger was real.
Jesus arose and didn’t even speak to the disciples. Instead He spoke to creation and it instantly obeyed. Jesus then rebuked His men for being “fearful” which is cowardly fear. “Do you still have no faith” suggests that Jesus was doing incredible things to build their trust in Him, but they were not trusting, only being cowards.
The disciples were then “terrified” which is the Greek phobeo by which we get the word phobia. It can mean awe and reverence. Suddenly their focus had changed from worries about themselves, panic, and questioning their Master’s motivation, to awe and fear of being in the presence of God Himself. God can often surprise us in doing far more than we could ever ask or think. But they still didn’t understand who He was.
Conclusions
That’s a question all of us must answer for ourselves. Who is Jesus? There is much historical evidence to support the facts of these accounts. No one has been able to disprove their veracity. Who is Jesus? Just a good man? A psycho? Or God? And if God, shouldn’t we pay attention to what He says?
As the parable of the seeds shows us, spiritual growth is a natural but gradual process. Don’t rush it but expect to be going in the right direction. The disciples should have begun to get it after hanging around Jesus. That seed should have begun to grow pretty large in terms of faith and trust in Jesus, but it hadn’t. That’s evident by how they reacted in the boat.
I love the way Mark laid these out — first three parables about spiritual growth then a test of that growth. Is that not how it happens often in the lives of us Christians as well? The storms come as a way of helping us check in on the course and extent of our growth in Jesus.
Notice what Jesus did—if anyone in Palestine could have handled that storm it would have been this group of professional fishermen who were used to the lake and being on it at night. But He stretched them beyond their abilities to show them their need of relying on Jesus instead. Does God not do the same for us? Now, give the disciples credit: they experienced this but knew very little of who Jesus really was. But Mark writes this on our side of the cross, where we can understand our need to totally rely on Jesus, even when He brings us into a storm.
When Jesus is in your boat, you will get to the other side, though He may lead you into storms, not so you can flounder and drown but so that He can speak to you to trust, and speak to your surroundings to bring glory to God.
What storms face you? What is your attitude in them? Do you think God is distant and unconcerned, or do you look to Him in trust to get you through?
A final note of encouragement: taking the test is actually more important than if you pass, because we are all a work in progress. So: Receive the word, Watch the growth, Expect big change, and finally Lean into Jesus during the test.
