Word of Salvation – Vol. 36 No. 36 – September 1991

 

Jesus, Stiller Of The Storm, Saviour Of The Perishing

 

Sermon by Rev. Henry Pennings on Mark 4:35-41

Reading: Psalm 46, Mark 4:35-41

 

Beloved in Chirst,

Let’s all go on a cruise today.  Not in a cruise-liner, but on the Sea of Galilee, with the disciples, and, of course, with Jesus.  We’ll look on, listen, observe and learn.

It has been a long, hard day for Jesus.  A day of teaching, a day of telling and explaining parables.  Jesus has taught that the kingdom of God can be compared to a small mustard seed which, when it is nurtured, becomes the largest of all garden plants with such big branches that the birds of the air can nestle in its them and rest in its shade.  Yes, the kingdom of heaven grows and becomes like that.  We’ve heard many other parables today.  But evening is now approaching.  The shadows are lengthening.  Time to stop for the day and obtain some rest and to pray awhile.  What a lovely evening for sailing.  So quiet and peaceful.  Just enough wind to fill the sails.

‘Let’s go over to the other side,’ Jesus says to His disciples.  ‘Good idea,’ they replied.  The disciples feel that they can take the lead for a change.  After all, Jesus is a teacher, they are sailors.  He’s only the son of a carpenter, while most of them are sons of fishermen for many generations.  They’ll take Jesus along.  They’ll lead Him and care for Him for a change.  They’ll tell Him where to sit.  Now He’ll need them rather than they will need Him.  They’ll show Him how to sail.  It’s a stretch of water they know better than they know themselves.

Soon enough Jesus is on board and, a little later, He is fast asleep in their care.  Isn’t that a mark of good smooth sailing?  We can see it all from our vantage point.  The disciples sailing, and Jesus sleeping.  How peaceful the evening is.  Perfect!

Soon the weather becomes even calmer.  Will the disciples need their oars to reach the other side that night?  Their main worry, though, is that this sudden complete calmness can become the calm before the storm.  They’ve all experienced that many times on that stretch of water.  Jesus is still fast asleep, and His disciples are getting just that little bit concerned.

Suddenly it strikes.  A little wind soon becomes a gale.  Little ripples in the water become bigger and bigger waves.  We hear the disciples say to each other, ‘…quick take that main sail down.  Hurry, or we’ll be swamped.  And trim that small sail as best you can.’ … ‘Peter, keep bailing!  Andrew, hang on up there…!

Jesus is asleep.  His head rests comfortably on some old sailing gear.  And the storm rages on.  No, it is getting even worse.  The sea is heaving.  They can’t steer the boat and they cannot keep her into the wind anymore.  One moment the rudder is submerged, but the next the small boat is tossed so high that it is right out of the water.  The disciples have never experienced any storm like it.  They are afraid.  Afraid that they will not survive it.

Jesus rests and sleeps calmly.  The disciples are as scared as they have ever been.  And you and I, who are observing all this, note how embarrassed they are that their Master and Teacher is so fast and peacefully asleep.  How in the world is it possible?

At last, in desperation, they yell out to Jesus.  We can hear what they say as it has been put into verse, and as it is sometimes sung:
            Master!  The tempest is raging.
            The billows are tossing high.
            The sky is o’ershadow with blackness.
            No shelter or help is nigh.

Their desperation is seen in the question which is almost an accusation:
            Carest Thou not that we perish?
            How canst Thou lie asleep?
            When each moment so madly is threat’ning.
            A grave in the angry deep?!

Jesus is roused by their shouting.  Not, mind you, by the wind.  Not by the storm, but by the desperate screams of His disciples.  It’s their anxiety their fear of death by drowning, that awakens Him.  Fully awake and alert, He stands up in the tossing boat.  He looks at the storm, and He speaks to it:
            The winds and the waves shall obey my will!
            Peace, be still!
            Peace, be still!
            Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea,
            Or demons, or men,
            Or whatever it be,
            No water can swallow the ship where lies
            The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies!
            They all shall sweetly obey my will.
            Peace, be still!
            Peace, be still!
            They all shall sweetly obey my will!
            Peace, peace, be still.

And it is still!  The waves subside.  The wind drops.  Continued bailing soon sees the inside of the boat completely dry.  The sea is again the disciples’ friend.  In a moment, at the command of Jesus Christ, it is completely still.  The sails can again be raised.  And, in that stillness, we hear what Jesus has to say to His disciples; to those fishermen who had sailed these waters for generations.  He asks them a question.  ‘Why are you so afraid?  Do you still have no faith?’  They have no answer.  But there is fear in their voices as they say to one another, ‘Who is this?  Even the winds and the waves obey Him!’

This is the end of this episode.  We can leave Jesus and his disciples as they sail into the distance, safely to the other side of the sea…  But, of course, we cannot leave the disciples’ question unanswered.  ‘Who is He?’ they had asked.  ‘Even the winds and the waves obey Him!’

The song-writer got it right.  ‘No water can swallow the ship where lies the master of ocean, and earth, and skies.’  That’s another aspect of the greatness of the Son of God which His disciples have to discover.  No depths of the ocean, and not even the depths of death can hold the Master of the whole of God’s creation.  It’s said of Jesus in John 1: ‘…without Him nothing was made that has been made.’  From moment to moment He caused all things to be and to remain, and He controls perfectly.  No-one and no-thing can harm the Son of God against His will.  He cannot be arrested, tried and crucified, until He gives Himself into the hands of those who want to cause Him harm.  Nor can nature harm Him.  The disciples might be the experts in the area of boats, fishing and the sea, while He, it was supposed, is only the son of a Nazareth carpenter.  Nevertheless He is the creator of the winds and the waves, the storm and the calmness, and their master in all circumstances.  While Jesus is only a passenger in that fishing boat, at the same time He is also her captain.

That’s the answer to their question, ‘Who is He?  Even the winds and the waves obey Him!’

But then it’s also necessary to answer Jesus’ own question, ‘Why are you so afraid?  Do you still have no faith?’  It’s a question that applies equally to us who were only observing these things from a distance.  And it applies, both to the disciples and to us, not only when we are in a boat in the middle of a huge and frightening storm.  It applies to the whole of our lives, in every conceivable situation.  ‘Why are you so afraid?  Do you still have no faith?’

The promise of Scripture for all believers is that we are always totally in His care.  He is the Good Shepherd who cares for the 99 sheep, but also cares for the one sheep when it strays.  There are some almost hopeless situations in life.  But there is no situation so hopeless that we are no longer in the care of Jesus, the Lord of all of life and all its circumstances.  With the psalmist everyone who belongs to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, can say, ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.’

Do you have no faith?’ Jesus asked His disciples.  He also asks us that question.  Will there ever be a time when even one hair falls from our head without the knowledge and care of the Saviour?

Will anything ever happen, in this world full of sin and the results of sin, which can separate a believer from the love of God in Jesus Christ?  It’s true that we face many trials and awful experiences, and that we, finally must all face our own death.

But has not Jesus, the master of ocean, and earth, and skies, won the victory over sin, and even the victory over death?  And has He not given us a share in that victory?  We have been raised with him and been seated with him in heavenly places.

If Jesus’ death is our death, and His resurrection life is our life, then who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?  (Romans 8:38,39)

So when our sins or our circumstances threaten to overwhelm us, let us call out to Jesus:
            Master, with anguish of spirit, I bow in my grief today.
            The depths of my sad heart are troubled,
            O waken, and save, I pray.
            Torrents of sin and of anguish.
            Sweep o’er my sinking soul.
            And I perish!  And I perish!
            Dear Master, O hasten and take control.

Looking to Him and calling on Him, He will hear us and show us His salvation.  And we will sing:
            Master, the terror is over.
            The elements sweetly rest.
            Earth’s sun in the calm lake is mirrored,
            And heaven’s within my breast.
            Linger, O blessed Redeemer,
            Leave me no more alone.
            And with joy I shall make the blest harbour,
            And rest on the blissful shore.

What is your only comfort in life and in death?  May this be your comfort:

            That, with body and soul,
            both in life and in death,
            you belong to your faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ.
            Jesus, the CAPTAIN of that boat!

Jesus, the LORD and MASTER of your life!  Jesus, the VICTOR over death!

AMEN