Jesus had just finished teaching on the mountain top after several hours. One of his most famous sermons which we now know as the Sermon the Mount. While he was descending he was approached by many people asking questions about his sermon. He was also approached by many who wish to have healing.
Slowly coming down the mountain he turns none away. He answers their questions, many times via a parable. Those with illnesses or injuries he quickly heals. Eventually, he makes his way to Capernaum where he was greeted by a Roman Centurion. The officer calmly comes up to Jesus and asks him to heal a young servant at his home. Jesus tells the Centurion to lead the way. Astonishingly, the Centurion tells Jesus it isn’t really necessary as he, the Centurion, was not worthy enough for Jesus to visit his home. No, the Centurion tells Jesus, just tell me that my servant is healed and I will be satisfied. I know that you have the power and authority to heal my servant. Just tell me my servant is healed and I will leave for I believe and have faith in your word.
I believe and have faith in your word! Such a simple statement, yet so powerful. Even more remarkable is that this is from a soldier of a heathen nation. A nation that believes and worships many gods. A nation that believes their Emperor is a god and worships him too. Jesus rewarded this Centurions simple belief and healed the servant right then and there. The Centurion accepted Jesus’s word the servant was healed without question and returned to his home.
After entering Capernaum Jesus went directly to Peter’s home. Peter’s mother in-law was in bed ill and had a high fever. Calmly, after hearing this Jesus went into her room touched her and she was immediately healed. A bit of humor was inserted in this retelling by Matthew in chapter 8 when he states that the mother in-law immediately got out of bed and began serving Jesus and his disciples a meal.
Although this is a bit humorous it is also instructional. Why? Because the woman had faith in what Jesus did and immediately responded by demonstrating that she was healed by serving the Lord, literally.
So, here is Jesus at Peter’s home. It is late in the day and it had been a very long day with preaching, answering questions and healing many individuals. Yet, outside Peter’s house was a great multitude still demanding Jesus’s attention. When Jesus stepped outside and saw how many people were there he turned to his disciples and told them to head to the lakeshore and prepare a boat for departure.
While the disciples quickly made their way to the lake, Jesus calmly led the multitude that had been waiting outside Peter’s home slowly towards the lakeshore while answering the many questions with a series of parables; The parable of the mustard seed, the parable of the sower, the parable of the light under the blanket.
When he arrived at the boat he was exhausted after such a long day. He had traveled far, spent many hours teaching and healing and he could see that there were still many in need. Yet, he himself needed rest. He directed the disciples to head across the lake towards Gadarene. While the disciples prepared the boat for departure, Jesus walked to the stern, grabbed a pillow and laid down. Soon he was fast asleep.
The first part of the journey across the lake was uneventful, however a sudden squall popped up. Something that is rather common on the Sea of Galilee as it is surrounded by mountains and valleys. The mountains act like a wind tunnel, and when the wind blows down through the valley’s a breeze of five miles per hour could turn into a vicious storm with winds up to 60 miles per hour in a matter of a few minutes.
Apparently this is what happened. The disciples, many of whom were seasoned fishermen, were now confronted by a severe storm. The Bible tells us they were in the middle of the lake. If we take this literally, that means they were two miles from land on their port and starboard sides and a little over 6 miles from their destination in front of them.
As seasoned sailors I am sure they took all the necessary actions to rig the boat for a storm. Meaning they lowered the sails, brought out the oars so they could keep the boat heading into the waves so they would not be swamped. They began bailing the water from the hold over the side so the boat would not sink due to the weight of the water that sluiced over the sides of the boat from the wave activity.
Yet, all these responsible actions were not enough. The storm became more vicious, the boat began to pitch and roll more forcefully. The water pouring into the boat was happening faster than the disciples could remove by bailing out with their buckets.
In short, the disciples quickly went from assured they could handle the storm to worried, then to anxious.
From anxious to troubled
From troubled to distressed
From distressed to frightened
Let us turn to our scripture for today found in Mark 4 beginning with verse 35:On that day, when evening came, He said* to them, “Let us go over to the other side.”
36Leaving the crowd, they took* Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.
37And there arose* a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.
38Jesus Himself 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?”
39And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.
40And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no faith?”
41They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
One wonders how long the disciples tried to solve the problem of the storm by themselves. Did they debate turning the boat around and heading back to shore? Did they spend hours bailing the boat and only turned to Christ when they were exhausted? Did they argue about raising the sail or lowering it and attempt to row against the storm? In short, why did it take them so long to turn to Christ for assistance?
I am sure many of you have never been at sea and experienced the full fury of a storm. I unfortunately have had the distinct pleasure of experiencing a few storms at sea during my time in the Navy. My remembrance of my very first experience will always stay with me. I was on a carrier in the North Atlantic during a Northeaster in the middle of winter. Waves were breaking across the flight deck of the carrier. As a point of reference, the flight deck is about 50 feet above sea level. I was in sickbay, otherwise known as the medical clinic aboard ship and on this particular ship it is located at the stern. Myself and several others were laying down on the hospital beds with bed rails raised grabbing with our white knuckled hands onto the rails of the bed. The ship was being tossed about like a cork in a bathtub. Rolling and pitching from side to side and front to back. Several of us swore up and down the ship turned turtle a couple of times. Turning turtle is a Navy term meaning the ship completely turned upside down before righting itself. Many of us were too scared to even have time to get seasick!
In the midst of all this chaos a call came from the bridge (control center on a ship) that a Medevac had been scheduled for one of our sickest patients and we needed to gear up and leave immediately. Unfortunately, I was the duty medical person for that day. That meant I had to go on the Medevac! The storm was so bad that we could not launch a plane. Instead it was decided we would go by helicopter. I could not believe we would be taking off in a chopper in this storm while the ship was being tossed to and fro! The prospects of a safe flight were further dimmed when the Pilot presented me with a Wet Suit to put on. Then he and the Co-pilot also put on their wet suits. I can guarantee you that is not normal attire for a Medevac! Taking off from the ship was a bit harrowing with all the tossing and pitching. Normally, when taking off from a carrier with a helicopter one rises up and goes forward at the same time. Yet, in this case we had to rise up and move rapidly to our left (port) so that we would not run into the superstructure on our starboard side nor hit the forward part of the ship as it rose into the waves.
It was even worse when we returned the same day and landed. A carrier is an impressive looking ship sitting at the pier. They are approximately a thousand feet long, the flight deck is fifty feet up from the pier. When standing on the flight deck you will notice that it is over one hundred feet from port to starboard. It appears and is a very large ship. Yet, when you are several hundred feet above it in a plane or chopper it doesn’t appear to be much larger than a postage stamp. When you are trying to land on it in the middle of a blizzard even a postage stamp would appear larger than that small target you are trying to land on! Yes, it took several attempts. However, we obviously survived since I am here today.
The point is that a storm at sea is a very scary and humbling experience. Here I was on a US Navy carrier and all 3,000 men on that ship were scared to death. A carrier, being tossed around like a cork in a bathtub! How much more scarier was it for the disciples on that tiny fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee?
Yet, I have a question for those disciples. Now I must admit it is not an ordinary question. Instead it is one of those “How could you?” questions. You know, the type of question that isn’t really a question, but more of a rebuke. Similar to what your mother would ask when you came home from school proudly waving your Geography test telling your Mother, “Guess what Mom, I got an A minus on the test! I got all the questions right except for one.” Then your Mother with a big smile on her face asks if she can look at your test and as she looks it over she then turns to you and states, “How could you miss this one question? Of all the states to get wrong you decide to provide the incorrect answer for the one you live in? How could you?” How does one respond to that question?
So, I would ask the disciples, “How could you? After all the years walking side by side with Christ watching him heal a lame man, seeing a person who could not walk because of crippled legs suddenly getting up and tossing his crutches aside as he runs home. Or healing a man who had never been able to talk and listening to him suddenly sing the praises of Christ. Or how about the man infected with leprosy for years suddenly being healed with no scars? How could you forget all those miracles performed by Christ and now fearing for your life in the middle of a storm while he lies right by you calmly sleeping? How could you forget what kind of miracles He could perform?”
I have to remind myself at times that during the time of Jesus, most of the people, while not illiterate, were not very educated. Science was very simplistic. How the Earth worked was a mystery and often as not explained by the use of legends and fantasy. Indeed, for most people during those ancient times they believed the world was under the control of gods (little g), and demons. For example, Poseidon was the god of the seas. He sat at the bottom of the ocean and waited for the unsuspecting sailor to come by and snatched him up. So, the ocean, seas and lakes were mysterious and fraught with many dangers. If a storm cropped up it was because the gods were angry. If a ship sank it was because a leviathan snatched it up and dragged it to the sea bottom.
So, even though these men in that little boat caught in the middle of the storm had been walking by the side of Christ for many, many months, when that storm hit suddenly, their first thought most likely was not about Christ and the dozens of miracles He had performed. Instead, it was about the depths of the mysterious sea and the possibly angry leviathan that was ready to snatch them to their doom. Man has always been more terrified of the unknown than the known. An example we see on our TV’s everyday during this present pandemic.
So, we have frightened sailors in the middle of the lake. Waves crashing over the sides of the boat, their sails tattered and useless, the hold of the boat filling up with water faster than they can bail it out. They finally turn to Christ for assistance in their desperation and what do their astonished eyes see? A man calmly sleeping in the bottom of the boat with his head resting on a pillow!
Men frightened for their very lives, scared they are about to drown. Everywhere they look they see large waves crashing down. The sky above their heads black if it was midnight and not late aftermoon. The wind howling like a pack of banshees and there lying as peaceful as a babe in his mother’s arm lies Christ sleeping! One can only imagine what thoughts were racing through the disciples mind as they tried to grapple with the confounding sight of Christ sleeping through this wild storm!
So, with much trepidation they shake Him awake and ask Him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we are about to drown!”
In essence, these men look to their Lord and Savior and ask a “How could you?” question; “Teacher, how could you? Don’t you care whether we live or die”?
How did Christ react? Mark 4:39 tells us Christ calmly got up, stepped to the side of the boat, raised His hand and spoke, “Silence! Be still.” Suddenly the wind stopped shrieking, the rain suddenly stopped coming down in buckets and the waves sto[[ed their roiling action and became calm. Christ then turned to his disciples and asked them a “How could you” question: “Why are you so afraid? Don’t you have any faith yet?”
Now, remember that these men had been traveling with Christ all that day before getting on the boat. They had listened to his Sermon on the Mount, they had watched him heal the sick, lame, and mute. They had listened to his parables and even questioned him on the meaning of a couple and received explanations.
These men were good Jews. They had been to the synagogue while growing up. Had their Bar Mitzvah. Learned the Torah and Talmud. Studied the scriptures of their time and read about David, Abraham, Noah and Ruth.
Most likely, they could quote many of the Scriptures from memory such as Psalms 89:9 “You rule over the majestic sea; when its waves surge , you calm them.”
Or how about Psalms 93:4 “More than the sound of surging waters, the majestic waves of the sea; the Lord on high is majestic.”
These men had seen the power of the Lord, they had read and studied about him. Yet, in the time of peril they forgot all!
Interesting thing about life, there are days when everything is calm and peaceful and then there are those days when all the storms of heaven and earth are seemingly raging about our heads. When those days come how do we respond? I believe the latest population total for the USA is 335 million. I would venture that as many people living in the US today would be a good representation of the many ways we could possibly respond. The big question though is, “are they the right responses?”
Over the last several months many of us have been following the latest storm to befall us, the Covid 19 Virus, otherwise known as the Coronavirus. We first heard about it when China announced they were quarantining an entire city of 11 million people in Wuhan, China. Wuhan is a city in Hebei province. Hebei is also the province where Beijing, the capital of China is located. It is also the province where a few years ago Karen and I spent half a summer teaching English.
We have watched various countries and leaders taking a myriad of measures to contain the virus and protect the citizens of their country. But, like many storms the efforts of man has had very little luck in controlling the storm. Meanwhile, we have read in the news and watched on TV how the terrified people have responded to this new storm.
Some people have followed the dictum of “every man for themselves.” Others have raced into the storm to help others while most have run the other way. Scientists have scrambled to their labs and microscopes trying to find a cure. Doctors, nurses and hospitals have scrambled to prepare their facilities to absorb the onslaught of patients they expect to inundate their facilities. During this time in the US over 9,000 medical workers have contracted Covid 19 while 27 have died.
Cruise lines, airlines, resorts and restaurants have decreased the amount of personnel working, closed facilities, decreased the number of flights or number of cruises offered often by as much as 90%. Countries have closed ports and borders. The world has been holding it’s breath.
This past March I returned from Colorado after spending five weeks visiting my parents and taking care of my father after heart surgery. On Tuesday, the 10th of March I flew back to South Carolina leaving on a flight at 7:30 am. At Noon on the same day the Governor of Colorado announced a State of Emergency for the state and closing many businesses. Of course, I was oblivious to this fact. I did notice when I was at the airport in Colorado Springs prior to flying out it was unusually quiet. The plane I flew out on had 90 seats, yet it was only 2/3rds full. Very unusual for a puddle jumper, especially one going to a large airport like Houston where my connecting flight was. Now, Houston was busy, just not as busy as expected for a major hub. My plane parked at gate 8 of Concourse A. Concourse A had 92 gates which meant I had to walk pass 84 gates. I needed to make my way to Concourse B to my connecting flight which was coincidentally also at gate 8. Walking the length of Concourse A led me to the central terminal and the tram that would take me to Concourse B. Only three people occupied the same car I did which is very odd for such a large airport. We all stood several feet from each other. At the time I attributed this unusual situation to the natural reaction of strangers.
My plane out of Houston was also only 2/3rds full. Not until I got home did I know what the Governor of Colorado had announced concerning the State of Emergency. Later that week on Friday, my youngest daughter called me in her capacity as a medical doctor and informed me that I should not attend church since I was over 60 and could be a carrier of the virus. I should self-quarantine until the 5 day incubation period was over before heading into crowds.
I know my daughter was protecting not only me, but also my fellow parishioners. I also know my daughter was facing the inevitable fact that soon she would be arms deep in infected people as she is responsible for the three Surgical ICU’s at the hospital she works at. The same ICU’s that was readying itself to accept the sickest patients possibly infected with Covid 19. She had many worries confronting her, yet she took the time to take care of me.
Oh by the way, do you want to guess what my 87 year old father’s response was to the Governor’s announcement? He immediately headed to the store to stock up on ice cream since he and Mom would need to quarantine themselves for an unknown period of time. Ever practical my father!
So, a storm rages over our head. Our responses are varied. Some of us are worried while others are calm in the face of this storm. Surprisingly, there are some people completely oblivious to the virus despite the near constant news blaring from radios and TV’s. Others, are saying it is a hoax. Amazing!
With all that is happening around us it is very easy to believe that we are fast approaching the End Times. It is also easy to become terrified and worried about our safety and the safety and health of our loved ones. So, how should we react? Like the disciples did on that small boat on Galilee? Or, do we put our full trust, faith and our very lives in the hands of our Savior?
Let us look at Mark 4 again. Jesus tells the disciples to “cross to the other side.” After giving his orders Jesus then goes to the stern of the boat, lays down and falls asleep. Seemingly leaving everything in the capable hands of his disciples. Notice, He did not say, “let us go to the middle of the lake and drown.” Nor, did he imply that their journey across the lake was dependent on good weather only. No, Jesus gave directions to cross the lake and was confident that his plan would not be sidetracked by a storm or any other calamity.
However, did you ever consider this might be a test of his disciples faith? Think about it, we are often put in situations where our faith is tested. If we are being tested does it not stand to reason that the disciples would also have been tested?
Recall if you will the test Peter went through when Christ was crucified. Christ warned Peter that “before the cock crows you will deny me three times.” Peter vociferously claims that he would never do that, yet what happened on that day of crucifixion? Peter denied Christ three times and once he realized what he had done he went and hid in shame.
Today, the scourge of Covid 19 besets the land. Over a two and a half million people world wide have been infected. Over eight hundred thousand infected and 42,000 deaths in the US. Many of us can already state that someone in our family and/or one or more of our friends have been infected or passed away because of Covid 19. Is it possible that our faith is being tested? We are told in Romans 8:18 “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward.”
So, the thought I would like to leave you with today as we sit in our homes sheltering from the storm that rages outside our door, let us consider what glory awaits at Christ’s Second Coming. Know that Jesus waits to welcome us with open arms. Let us remember that we must put our complete and total faith in our Lord and Savior. But also remember that we will be confronted with trials and tribulations to strengthen our faith and remind us where our faith must be placed. Even so, Christ will not abandon us in our time of strife for He will always be there to protect us from the storm.
