Miraculous stilling of Sea of Galilee

Dear Friends:

This Sunday we are considering a very famous passage, the miraculous stilling of the Sea of Galilee by Jesus during a violent storm (Mark 4:35-41). The storyline is simple enough. Jesus has just finished teaching the disciples about the meaning of His parables on the Kingdom of God (we talked about this last week). In a nutshell, Jesus said that the Kingdom of God progresses slowly and subtly, powered by God and using the talents and abilities of God's disciples.

Now we are about to see the Kingdom, subtle as it is, break through dramatically into the lives of those disciples. Jesus invites the disciples to embark with him across the Sea of Galilee to the "other side.", i.e. the land of Gad. Gad's reputation was not a good one. It was a place populated by non-Jewish pagans and strange forces. Sure enough, as we continue to read in Mark, Jesus and His disciples do indeed encounter a strange thing in Gad -- a man who was possessed by a Legion of demons! But even this strange land needed Jesus, and so they went.

While on the lake, this tiny boat in which they journeyed was caught in a violent windstorm. The disciples were terrified, and they go to Jesus (who is sleeping through the whole thing!), awaken Him, and ask Him "Do you not care if we perish?" He stills the storm, amazing the disciples, and they wonder "Who is this man, that even wind and sea obey Him?!"

These are key questions. For when we are faced with the storms of life, we often wonder of God, "Do you not care if we perish?" My loved one sick. My marriage is a wreck. My job is threatened with extinction. How often have we thrown these angry words to Heaven, convinced that the evidence indeed shows that God doesn't care if we perish?

But the way we answer the second question determines how we answer the first one. Who is this Man? Do we see Him as being the Lord of Life, who loves us more than we can imagine, and who is always close as our very breathing? If so, then we know He cares what happens to us. This Sunday, we're going to talk at length about some of these matters. I'll see you in church.