Original Post Published 3/8/2012
Allow me to draw your attention to Mark 4:37-41:
37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat,
so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern,
asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him,
so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern,
asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him,
“Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,
“Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
“Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you
have no faith?”[d] 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said
to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind
and the sea obey Him!”
have no faith?”[d] 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said
to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind
and the sea obey Him!”
Now, I’ve read those words approximately a hundred times, and I’m guessing everyone else has too. And I’ve always gotten out of it what the disciples did–wow, did you see that? The wind and waves obey Him! This Man rules the weather!!
Which is awesome. Truly, amazingly awesome.
I’ve also been struck before by His rebuke of the disciples–they’d just witnessed an amazing miracle when He fed the 5,000. But they still didn’t quite get it . . . and Jesus calls them on that, on their lack of faith.
But as I was reading this section on Monday, something new hit me.
He didn’t have to do any of that. Ever pause to consider that? It wasn’t His time to die. He still had a whole lot to do. There was no possible way that the storm was going to hurt that little boat with its most precious cargo, and Jesus surely knew it. He had no fear, and it wasn’t just because He knew He could calm the storm–it was because He knew it wasn’t a threat.
And yet.
When his friends, his disciples wake him in a panic, what’s his first reaction? He calms the storm. He doesn’t first try to explain it to them. He doesn’t roll his eyes and go back to sleep. He calms the storm. He does that for them–not to prove He can, but because He loved them. Because He didn’t want them to fear.
And, maybe, because He knows they wouldn’t have heard him until that fear was gone.
I don’t know why I’m constantly amazed when I realize how far out of His way our Lord goes for us, but it hit me anew here. Jesus could have done any number of things in this situation, and no matter what He had chosen, we know the outcome would have been a safe arrival on the other side. He could have done any number of things that resulted in the disciples seeing His glory.
But He chose the one that calmed his friends. That soothed their fears. And then, then he reminded them to have faith.
Thank you, Lord, for knowing me so well. For knowing that when the storm’s upon me, I can’t remember the sunshine was ever there. For knowing that clutching for you is, sometimes, all I can do. Thank you, Lord, for making it all I need to do.
Because You calm the storm. And then You remind me that it was in Your hand all along.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.