16

Calming the Storm
(Mark 4:35–41)

On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus 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?” And 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. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (4:35–41)

The Scriptures boldly declare the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle John explicitly states that truth at the outset of his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1–2; cf. v. 18). Seven centuries earlier, the prophet Isaiah declared of the Messiah, “His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). In recounting the birth of Christ, Matthew cited the Old Testament to explain that “‘they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us’” (Matt. 1:23). After Jesus’ death and resurrection, upon seeing the risen Savior, Thomas enthusiastically addressed Him as, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). The apostle Paul said of Jesus that “He is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15) and “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9 NKJV). Consequently, believers are those who eagerly await the return of “our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13).

As the incarnate Word of God (cf. John 1:14), Jesus Himself repeatedly affirmed His divinity. He often referred to Himself as the “Son of Man” (cf. Matt. 8:20; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:22; John 9:35–37), a messianic title derived from Daniel 7:13–14 (NKJV), where the “one like the Son of Man” appears as an equal with “the Ancient of Days” (cf. Matt. 25:31; 26:64). He similarly described Himself as the “Son of God,” a title clearly indicating His divine nature and eternal union with God the Father. As He explained in Matthew 11:27, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” In John 5:25–26, speaking of His divine authority, He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.” After receiving word that Lazarus was seriously ill, Jesus told His disciples, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it” (John 11:4). At His trial, when His enemies asked Him, “Are You the Son of God, then?” Jesus replied, “Yes, I am” (Luke 22:70; cf. Mark 14:61–62).

Jesus similarly asserted that He was from above, having eternally preexisted in heaven before being born in Bethlehem. On the day after feeding the thousands in Galilee, He asked the crowds, “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?” (John 6:62). A short time later, He told His enemies, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23). In the upper room, He explained that same truth to His disciples, “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father” (John 16:28). His high priestly prayer echoed that heavenly refrain: “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).

As God in human flesh, Jesus gladly assumed the prerogatives of deity—claiming to do what only God can do. He maintained His absolute sovereignty over the eternal destiny of every human soul (John 8:24; cf. Luke 12:8–9; John 5:22, 27–29). He declared Himself to be Lord of the Sabbath (Matt 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5), and claimed the power to answer prayer (John 14:13–14; cf. Acts 7:59; 9:10–17), the right to receive worship (Matt. 21:16; cf. John 5:23), and the authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:5–11). He referred to God’s angels as His angels (Matt. 13:41; 24:30–31), God’s elect as His elect (Matt. 24:30–31), and God’s kingdom as His kingdom (Matt. 13:41; 16:28; cf. Luke 1:33; 2 Tim. 4:1). Jesus even took the covenant name for God (Yahweh or “I Am”) and applied it to Himself. One such example is found in John 8:58, where He told an audience of hostile Jewish leaders, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am” (cf. John 13:19; 18:5–8).

Jesus’ enemies knew exactly what Jesus was claiming, which is why they attempted to stone Him for blasphemy (John 8:59; cf. 10:33). As the apostle John recorded, “The Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18 NKJV). It was, in fact, His claim to be the Son of God that provided the religious leaders with the legal grounds for His execution. As they explained to Pilate, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God” (John 19:7; cf. Matt. 27:43). In spite of His enemies’ threats, Jesus never backed down from that claim or its implications. Because He was God in human flesh, He could boldly declare, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30); “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me” (12:45); and “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (14:9–10).

Jesus not only declared His deity, He demonstrated it powerfully through His miracles. The supernatural works of Christ include turning water into wine (John 2:1–11), frequently casting out demons (Mark 1:21–27; Luke 4:31–36, etc.), arranging miraculous catches of fish (Luke 5:1–11; John 21:4–11), creating food for thousands of people (Matt. 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–15), walking on water (Matt. 14:22–33; Mark 6:45–52; John 6:16–21), causing a coin to appear in a fish’s mouth (Matt. 17:24–27), and healing all kinds of sickness and disease (Matt. 8:16–17; Mark 1:32–34; Luke 4:40–41, etc.), from crippling paralysis (Matt. 9:1–8) to withered hands (Matt. 12:9–14; Mark 3:1–6; Luke 6:6–11) to blindness (Matt. 9:27–31; 20:29–34; John 9:1–12) to speech handicaps (Matt. 9:32–34) to deafness (Mark 7:31–37) to leprosy (Luke 17:11–19) to the reattachment of a severed ear (Luke 22:50–51). Jesus also raised dead people to life (Matt. 9:23–26; Mark 5:35–43; Luke 8:49–56; Luke 7:11–17; John 11:1–45). Incredibly, this list is only a representative sampling. In fact, Jesus performed so many miraculous signs that John concluded his gospel with these words: “There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25; cf. 20:30).

That kind of supernatural power over creation, repeatedly demonstrated by Jesus throughout His ministry, has only one explanation: it belongs to the Creator Himself. As the New Testament declares of Jesus Christ, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:3). The apostle Paul echoed that truth in Colossians 1:16, where he said of Christ, “by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him” (cf. 1 Cor. 8:6; Heb. 1:2). The miracles of Jesus were but a small glimpse at the infinite power He possesses as the Son of God.

This miracle (Mark 4:35–41) comprises another occasion on which the supernatural power of Jesus was dramatically displayed. Though His disciples had seen Jesus heal countless people, and though each healing was itself a vivid demonstration of His divine power, they had never before experienced anything of this magnitude. They knew He had authority over demons and disease. Yet, they were wholly unprepared for the show of unbridled omnipotence about to be manifest. The account may be divided into four parts: the calm before the storm, the calm during the storm, the calm after the storm, and the storm after the calm.

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. (4:35–36)

It had been a long day of preaching to vast throngs along the shores of the Sea of Galilee near the city of Capernaum. Jesus had been teaching in parables—using analogies about soil (vv. 3–20), lamps (vv. 21–22), and mustard seeds (vv. 30–32)—to illustrate powerful truths about the kingdom of God. Though the crowds were unable to understand the meaning of Jesus’ parables, due to their unbelief (cf. v. 13), the Lord was careful to explain “everything privately to His own disciples” (v. 34).

On that day, when evening came, Jesus said to His disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” From the vicinity of Capernaum, on the northwest tip of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus and His followers headed for the eastern shore. The multitude that had gathered to hear Jesus preach earlier that day was so massive that, in order to effectively address them all, “He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land” (Mark 4:1). As night began to fall, the Lord again used a boat to distance Himself from the throngs of people still assembled on the shore. Traveling to the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee, where there were no major cities and thus fewer people, would allow Jesus and His disciples to get some reprieve from the massive multitudes. Yet, there was another reason Jesus intended to cross the lake. He had a divine appointment to keep in “the country of the Gerasenes” (Mark 5:1). There He would compassionately deliver a man possessed by a legion of demons (cf. 5:1–20). So, leaving the crowd, the disciples took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was.

The boat was likely a small, open fishing vessel owned by either Peter and Andrew or James and John. Though these two pairs of brothers had left fishing behind in order to follow Jesus (1:16–20), they retained their boats (cf. John 21:3) and used them to serve Jesus when He had need of them (cf. Mark 3:9). The boat was not large enough to transport all twelve apostles and others of Jesus’ followers, so other boats were brought to accommodate those who were with Him.

It should be noted that the word “disciples” (mathētēs), used in 4:34, is a broad term that simply means follower, learner, or student. It encompasses all of those who had shown enough interest in Jesus to follow Him for a time. Though some of these disciples were genuine believers, most would eventually fall away (John 6:66; cf. Luke 9:57–62). Jesus used the illustration of rocky and thorny soil (Mark 4:16–19) to demonstrate that superficial interest in the gospel is not sufficient for salvation. The faith of genuine disciples, like the seed in good soil, takes root and produces lasting fruit, meaning that true believers’ lives are characterized by obedience and perseverance. The Lord would later reiterate that point “to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine’” (John 8:31). False disciples are those whose love for Jesus “will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved” (Matt 24:12–13). For these disciples who accompanied Him in the boats, Jesus was about to display His astonishing divine power designed to move them to genuine faith in Him.

The Sea of Galilee is known today as Yam Kinneret. In Scripture, it is variously referred to as the Lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1), the Sea of Chinnereth (Num. 34:11; Josh. 13:27) or Sea of Chinneroth (Josh. 12:3), and the Sea of Tiberias (John 6:1; 21:1), after the main city on its western shore, which was named after Tiberius Caesar Augustus. The sea is in reality a large freshwater lake, measuring approximately thirteen miles long by seven miles wide. Sitting at about 690 feet below sea level, it is both the lowest body of freshwater on earth and the most significant geographical feature of Galilee. Though partially fed through underground springs, the lake gets most of its water from the Jordan River, which runs from north to south—from its source near Mt. Hermon (at an elevation of 9,232 feet above sea level) and its terminus at the Dead Sea (at 1,400 feet below sea level). Even today, the pristine water of the lake not only provides drinking water for local residents, it also supports a thriving fishing industry.

Shaped like a harp, the Sea of Galilee sits roughly thirty miles east of the Mediterranean Sea. The Jordan Valley in which it is situated is part of the Great Rift Valley that runs some 4,500 miles from Syria through the Red Sea and down the east coast of the African continent to Mozambique. The steep hills and cliffs that encompass the Sea of Galilee make it vulnerable to high winds, which can cause sudden, violent storms to develop on the lake. As cooler air travels down from the northern Golan Heights, it collides with the warm air in the basin of the lake, creating turbulent conditions that are intensified as winds force their way through the ravines and canyons of the upper Jordan Valley. In 1992, one such storm generated ten-foot high waves on the lake, causing flooding and damage in the city of Tiberias.

When Jesus and the disciples began their journey, conditions on the lake were ideal. According to Luke 8:23, they “were sailing along,” indicating that a steady breeze propelled the boats without anyone needing to row. Jesus, understandably exhausted after an arduous day of teaching and ministering, “fell asleep” (Luke 8:23) in the stern of the boat. Though He was fully God, Jesus was also fully human. He became hungry (Matt. 4:2; 21:18), thirsty (John 4:7; 19:28), and tired (John 4:6). That He needed to sleep is an indication of His true humanity. Yet, the Lord’s yielding to sleep had a purpose beyond much-needed rest.

THE CALM DURING THE STORM

And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus 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?” (4:37–38)

The tranquility of their journey across the lake ended when, suddenly, there arose a fierce gale of wind. Lailaps (fierce gale) describes the violent gusts of a powerful storm. Mark added the adjective megas (“great”) to the noun lailaps in order to intensify His description of the hurricane-like tempest. Luke, in his account of this event, reported that the winds “descended” on the lake (8:23), to convey that they were racing down the slopes and whipping across the surface of the water. Matthew describes the violent shaking of the storm by using the word seismos, from which the English word “seismology” is derived (8:24). The ferocious winds quickly turned the surface of the lake into a raging, convulsive sea. The waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Though the disciples undoubtedly bailed out the water as fast as they could, “the boat was being covered with the waves” (Matt. 8:24) so that “they began to be swamped and to be in danger” (Luke 8:23).

In the midst of the violent tempest, Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. As the storm raged around Him, He remained asleep. Not even the severe rocking of the boat, the thunderous roar of the wind, or the sloshing water in the boat awakened Him. Presumably soaked to the bone, Jesus slept soundly on the hard wooden planks with only a small cushion as a pillow for His head. Perhaps nowhere else in Scripture is the humanity of Christ more dramatically juxtaposed with His deity. The one sleeping in the stern of the boat, exhausted after a day of intense ministry, is the very one who would awaken to stop the massive storm with a word.

As many as seven of the disciples were fishermen—including Peter, Andrew, James, and John. They had spent their lives navigating the lake and were intimately familiar with what their boats could endure. That they were terrified by the wind and the waves underscores the extreme nature of this storm. To these seasoned fishermen experienced with the conditions on the lake, it became obvious that their own efforts were no match for the powerful tempest, and they panicked.

Frantic and afraid, they came to Jesus, woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Matthew notes that they called Jesus “Lord,” and Luke records that they addressed Him as “Master.” Such variations do not imply any contradiction between the gospel accounts. Rather, they reflect the pandemonium of the situation. As the frenzied disciples sought to awaken Jesus, trying to be heard over the roar of the howling wind and crashing waves, some cried out, “Master,” others called Him, “Lord,” and still others shouted, “Teacher.” They were shocked, perplexed, and flustered that He was still asleep, seeming not to care about the dire circumstances that threatened their lives. Reflecting on the disciples’ question to Jesus, the Puritan commentator Matthew Henry remarked:

As Matthew Henry observed, the disciples had no legitimate reason to question Jesus’ care for them or their situation. They had witnessed the divine power of Jesus and had followed Him long enough to know of His genuine love for them (cf. John 13:1). But, in their terror, their faith and steadfastness were replaced by fear and doubt.

In their despondency, the disciples would have done well to recall the promises of the Old Testament. A number of psalms are particularly relevant to their traumatic situation. In Psalm 65:5–7, David wrote:

In Psalm 89:9, Ethan the Ezrahite similarly expressed:

The unknown author of Psalm 107 offered these words of comfort and praise:

In response to the desperation of His disciples, Jesus was about to accomplish a literal fulfilment of those verses. That He cared about them and their circumstances would soon be made dramatically clear.

THE CALM AFTER THE STORM

And 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. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (4:39–40)

Having heard the frantic cries of His disciples, Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” In Genesis 1, the pre-incarnate Christ established the boundaries of the seas with nothing more than a word (Gen. 1:9–10; cf. John 1:3; Col. 1:16). On this occasion, He similarly used a simple command to restrain the waves and restore calm on the lake. The word for hush comes from the same Greek word that Jesus used earlier when He commanded a demon to “be quiet and come out of him” (Mark 1:25). In the same way that Jesus rebuked spiritual powers, and they obeyed Him, so natural powers submitted to the authoritative command of their Creator.

The result was instantaneous. In a moment, the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. The towering waves vanished, the howling gusts were silenced, and the surface of the lake became like glass. As Charles Spurgeon expressed, “There was no trace of storm another moment after He had been awakened. The most blustering of the conflicting winds slept like a babe in its mother’s bosom. The waves were as marble” (Charles Spurgeon, “Christ Asleep in the Vessel,” sermon no. 1121, July 13, 1873). When Christ rebuked the wind and the waves, they did not subside gradually until calm was restored. Both disappeared immediately. The storm may have arisen suddenly, but it vanished even faster than it came. Mark’s use of the word megas (meaning “great,” translated perfectly) indicates the absolute stillness that now characterized the Sea of Galilee.

With the storm gone, Jesus turned to address the astonished disciples—who undoubtedly stared back at Him wide-eyed with mouths agape. The Lord said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (cf. Matt. 6:30; 14:31; 16:8; 17:20; Luke 12:28). Having silenced the literal tempest, Jesus turned His attention to the winds of fear and the waves of faithlessness that had been raging in their hearts (cf. James. 1:6). The answer to Jesus’ first question is implied by the second: the reason they were afraid (from the Greek word deilos, meaning cowardly or timid) was because they still had no faith. They knew He possessed divine power, having seen Him perform miraculous healing for many others. Yet, when their own lives were at stake, the inadequacy of their faith was exposed.

Clearly, Jesus intended to teach the disciples a critical lesson: that they could trust Him even in the most treacherous and helpless situations. Even after Jesus’ ascension, they would need to be reminded of that truth. As the author of Hebrews reminded his readers, “He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,’ so that we confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?’” (Heb. 13:5–6). The apostle Peter similarly encouraged believers to cast “all [their] anxiety on Him, because He cares for [them]” (1 Peter 5:7; cf. Ps. 55:22). Writing to the Romans, Paul expressed that same kind of confident trust in the permanence of divine love: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39).

THE STORM AFTER THE CALM

They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (4:41)

Understandably, the disciples marveled in extreme amazement (cf. Matt. 8:27). There was only one explanation for what they had just witnessed. The realization of that fact triggered a storm of wonder in their hearts that greatly overshadowed any momentary terror they had experienced during the storm on the lake. These men had encountered storms on the Sea of Galilee before. None of them had experienced the kind of supernatural power that Jesus displayed on that day. Mark’s explanation that they became very much afraid could be literally translated, “they feared with a great fear,” emphasizing the intensity of their astonishment. The realization that the Creator was in their boat was far more frightening than any terror they might face outside their boat.

They knew only God possessed such power. In their shock they asked one another a question to which they already knew the answer, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” Later in Jesus’ ministry, after He miraculously walked on water, the disciples would articulate their answer: “Those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying ‘You are certainly God’s Son’” (Matt. 14:33).

Fear is the natural response for sinful human beings to exhibit whenever they are in the presence of God. As Abraham acknowledged after speaking with the Lord, “I am but dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27). Job responded similarly after witnessing God’s power, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5–6). When Samson’s father, Manoah, realized that the Angel of the Lord had appeared to him, he “said to his wife, ‘We will surely die, for we have seen God’” (Judg. 13:22). Upon seeing a vision of God, the prophet Isaiah declared his own demise:

Ezekiel saw a vision of the glory of the Lord and “fell on [his] face” (Ezek. 1:28). Daniel similarly, “fell into a deep sleep on [his] face, with [his] face to the ground” (Dan. 10:9). In the New Testament, Peter “fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!’” (Luke 5:8). The apostle Paul, confronted by the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, “fell to the ground” and was temporarily blinded by His heavenly glory (Acts 9:4, 9). When the glorified Christ appeared to John on the isle of Patmos, the apostle “fell at His feet like a dead man” (Rev. 1:17). As these examples illustrate, even a small glimpse of the glory of God is overwhelming (cf. Ex. 33:19–21). When Jesus’ disciples realized that God was present with them in the boat, they too were overcome with fear at the thought of His power and holiness.

Though this incident exemplifies the divine glory of Christ, as the Creator and controller of the natural world, it also reveals His compassionate care. In the midst of a frightening storm on the lake, and in spite of the disciples’ failing faith, the sovereign Savior rescued His followers. Similarly and obviously, believers today can rest confidently in the fact that, through all of life’s storms, the omnipotent Lord of creation is willing and able to deliver those who trust in Him. That does not mean Christians will never face trials (cf. James 1:2–3); but when they do they can rest confidently in the promise of Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Armed with that faith-filled perspective, believers are able to obey the command of Philippians 4:6–7: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The apostle Paul, who penned those words, endured the many trials of his ministry with that very confidence. Thus, even as his life came to a close, Paul could resolutely declare, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Tim. 4:18). As the words of the hymn Our Great Savior (written by John Wilbur Chapman in 1910) so eloquently express: