Jesus Calms a Storm

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he 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?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Mark 4:35-41 NBC : Power over nature (see Mt. 8:23-27; Lk. 8:22-25). The first of the group of miracles is a ‘nature’ miracle. Jesus, who had already shown himself Lord over demons and sicknesses, now showed himself Lord over nature. The story is full of vivid eyewitness details (e.g. the cushion of v 38). We can almost see the storm on the lake and the terrified disciples (was this meant as a picture of the persecuted church at Rome, or in our lands today?). The frightened disciples rebuked Jesus by implication (38), and then he actually rebuked the wind and storm, and they obeyed his word of command (39). None but the Creator himself could have done this. In the OT God alone is the one who causes storms and calms them. The disciples only half grasped the truth and were too terrified to express it (41). The chief lesson for us is Jesus’ rebuke to his disciples for their lack of trust in him. We must learn to trust completely, even if our obedience to him leads us into storms, whether persecution or anything else. (It was Jesus, not the disciples who had suggested crossing the lake; they were not out of his will.) Sometimes we assume that storms show disobedience, but this is not always so.

Some will say that this is ‘spiritualizing’ a miracle which dealt with the calming of an actual storm on the lake. They feel that we should trust Jesus to calm actual storms and save us when we are travelling. Of course, God can do whatever he wills, but he did not calm the storm for Paul (Acts 27), although Paul was a man of great faith. The disciples on this occasion had little faith, so the calming (or not) of a storm does not seem to depend on faith, but on God’s will. God strengthened Paul to endure the storm in quiet faith. Sometimes God saves us from trouble; sometimes he saves us in trouble; sometimes he saves us from death; and sometimes he uses our death to glorify his name. Should we expect to be able to rebuke wind and waves, as Jesus did? According to the gospels, only Jesus did ‘nature’ miracles (for only Jesus is God), and there is no hint that he ever gave this power to his disciples. Only God can do God’s work.