JESUS SEEN IN A NEW WAY WHICH CAUSED FEAR IN THE DISCIPLES

JESUS SEEN IN A NEW WAY WHICH CAUSED FEAR IN THE DISCIPLES

 

"And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?"  Mark 4:39-40

There, in the hinder part of the vessel, with His head upon the cushion (not a cushion, but the only one there), Jesus was asleep. The disciples were filled with mental uneasiness. The storm undoubtedly was of unusual severity, for these men were sailors who understood the management of their craft; but they were at their wits' end, and at last made their way toward the sleeping Jesus, and waking Him, said to Him: "Master, is it no concern to Thee that we perish?" Then quietly rising from His slumber, He looked out over the storm-tossed waters, and addressed the wind with anger: "He rebuked the wind." This is a very strong word. One of the earliest translators rendered it, "He menaced the wind." Morison, with that quaint accuracy which characterized him, says that the real force of the statement is, He rebuked the wind, and then addressing Himself to the sea, said, "Be muzzled." The peculiar quality of what happened was that of the suddenness of the change. The wind ceased; and the sea, which in the ordinary course of events would be a long time sobbing itself back into quietness, was almost immediately—to use the forcible thought of the Greek word—beaten back into levelness. Over the sea, and away to the mountains, and everywhere, with sudden swiftness there was quietness and calm. Then, looking at the disciples, Jesus said to them, "Why are ye fearful? Have Ye not yet faith? " They then forgot all about the terror of the storm in the new fear, a great fear, an exceeding great fear that possessed them, a fear that had its heart a sense of awe. They said one to another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"
 The story is suggestive in a hundred ways. Perhaps every preacher turns to it sooner or later, some often in the course of a life's ministry; and yet it is ever fresh, fascinating, forceful. It is so full of suggestiveness that it has inspired the poets also, and we have a rich collection of hymns expressive of its varied values. The story has values which make for new strength and new joy, however tempest-tossed man may be.
 The first value of the event to the twelve is revealed in this question, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" To understand their question we must observe with some care what they observed, the things that gave rise to the question. We will try to observe them from their standpoint as though in very deed we were with them in the boat and passing through their experiences. What did they see that day in Jesus that made them ask the question? The question was new, and one compelled by some new manifestation. These men had been with Him now for some time. They had seen Him in many circumstances. They had heard many different tones in that voice which in itself was all music. Yet something happened which made them say, "Who then is this?"
Then secondly, in order to understand them, we must pay special attention to their question. These remarks will indicate the lines of our meditation here. First, let us see Jesus as the disciples saw Him that day; secondly, let us see the disciples as they are revealed by the question they asked.
 Jesus as the disciples saw Hirn. For the sake of brevity, I will summarize everything by saying they saw Him asleep, and they saw Him awake.