Storm-tossed waters are a frequently used metaphor for the turmoil of living.
In 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald went down, and songwriter Gordon Lightfoot recorded a haunting ballad in honor of and as a tribute to the ship and the men who lost their lives. He called it “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
The Edmund Fitzgerald was a giant ore freighter, 729 feet in length, and was the largest carrier on the Great Lakes from 1958 until 1971. “The Fitz,” as it was known, was labeled “the pride of the American Flag.”
On November 10, 1975, the Fitzgerald was hauling a heavy load of ore to Detroit, Michigan, when it ran into a severe storm. This storm generated 27-30-foot waves with a following sea. During the evening hours the ship disappeared from radar screens; apparently it sank in a matter of minutes. It now rests on the bottom of Lake Superior broken in two with the bow upright and the stern upside down still loaded with its cargo of ore and all 29 hands.
In Gordon Lightfoot’s ballad about the sinking of the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald, he asks: “Does anyone know where the love of God goes/ When the waves turn the minutes to hours?”
What a question; a question people have asked for years. “What is God doing while we are in peril?” Does he know/care what we’re up against?
[Do you feel God’s presence and love in the midst of the storms in your life?]
I. INTRODUCTION
1. In his gospel, Mark the evangelist shares the account of Jesus and the disciples caught in a terrible storm on the Sea of Galilee. His account bears the marks of one who experienced the event (Mark probably gleaned his information from Peter). Of interest is the extraordinary detail in the passage, which is uncharacteristic of Mark:
A. The precise notice of time; the unnecessary reference to the other boats that are present; vivid detail that “the boat was already filling”; the precise location of Jesus’ position (“in the stern, sleeping on a cushion”); the harshness of the rebuke implied in the disciple’s cry of indignation and terror, as well as their bewilderment. All these suggest an eyewitness report.
B. Come with me as we explore this miraculous event: OYBT Mark 4.
II. EXEGESIS (Mk. 4:35-41)
1. Jesus had been teaching the crowds gathered on the shoreline. The crowd grew so large that he gets into a small boat and drifts offshore a bit (4:2). When evening comes, he and his disciples set sail for the eastern shore of Galilee, leaving the crowd behind. The disciples include among their number fishermen who were experienced sailors, and the multitude is soon left in their wake as they move into deeper waters.
2. The Sea of Galilee is known for violent storms that rise and fade quickly, due to the topography that surrounds it. These storms are generally stronger in the afternoon than in the morning or evening, therefore, fishing is nearly always done at night. However, on the rare occasion that a storm arises at night, it is all the more dangerous . . .
A. Guess what; tonight a violent storm erupts. A storm so violent that waves beat the boat, break over the side, and begin to fill it with water. We can estimate the severity of this storm from the fact that apparently even the experienced fishermen are terrified.
B. While all this is going on, Jesus lies sleeping in the stern (rear) of the boat on the pillow customarily kept under the coxswain’s seat for those who are not involved in the actual sailing or fishing.
3. The disciples, stricken with panic fueled by indignation, wake Jesus, crying, “Teacher, are we to drown for all you care?” (Imagine this; the Son of God subjected to the rudeness of men).
A. Jesus gets up, rebukes the wind and says to the waves “Peace (i.e. quiet), be still,” and immediately the storm is completely (NIV) calm.
B. What do the disciples fear? Do they suppose that this Jesus, whom they’ve seen cast out evil spirits, heal the sick and mobilize the lame, will somehow die with them in a sailboat without ever waking up?
C. I believe Jesus’ slumber is no more than a test of the disciple’s maturing faith. Prior to this account, the whole of chapter four has been about faith, trust and spiritual maturity. Suddenly Jesus has an opportunity for an object lesson, and the disciples fail – miserably.
D. Cyril of Alexandria, who lived and wrote in the 4C AD, said it this way:
“And so he sleeps, leaving them in fear, in which their senses would be sharpened to perceive the significance of what was to come. For no one feels what takes place in another’s body as acutely as that which happens in his own.”
Some years ago, the Redhead and I were on a ferry from Martha’s Vineyard to the mainland on our way home from vacation. The sky was beautiful and the sea flat as we left Vineyard Haven, but about a mile out to sea, a storm arose. I can tell you that the difference between riding out a storm on land and at sea is significant. Our ferry, which was far larger than the little sailboat the disciples are in, was tossed around like a feather that floats through the air.
I thought about this account as I waited for God to say the magic words (Peace, be still!). I was convinced at the time that he was sleeping!
[Do you feel God’s presence and love in the midst of the storms in your life?]
4. Back to our story. After calming the storm, Jesus turns to the disciples, rebuking them with a question that is still pertinent in our day: “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
A. He refers specifically to faith in God’s saving power as it is present and released in his own person.
B. The disciples are so stunned by his miraculous calming of the storm that they do not even respond to his question. Instead, they turn to each other in amazement, saying, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
[The disciple’s failure to see God’s power and love in the midst of their crisis is tragic, but not unique. Do you feel it in the midst of the storms in your life? Many claim him as Heavenly Father yet tremble when storms come into their lives, as if they had no memory of his love and power in the past.]
III. CONCLUSION:
1. What is it that you fear? What storm is headed your way (or already here)?
A. Health problems? Financial woes? Family troubles? When are you thinking about when you lie awake at night?
B. Is the storm you are in too big for God to handle or too small for him to consider? Do you realize how much he loves you?
2. Don’t think Jesus was surprised by the storm. Don’t think it was the disciples who saved themselves by waking him. Their faith was being tested, before the Creator of the wind and waves would have his way with them. Maybe God is doing the same with you right now . . . maybe he’s asking, “Why are you so afraid?”
IV. CHALLENGE
1. Make it your mission to turn your fear into follow. Follow God as he amazes you with his power and love in the midst of whatever storm you are in. Turn it over to the one who is over all; the one who commands even the winds and the waves!
2. “Who is this?” the disciples asked. It is the one who asks “Why are you so afraid?”
