³⁵On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. ³⁷A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. ⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (NLT)

Welcome to the ‘Pew…Today we will spend some time with a very familiar account of Jesus calming the waters and the storm as He traveled to the far side of the lake. THE Lake of Galilee was notorious for its storms. They came on quickly and were terrifying. A writer describes them like this: ‘It is not unusual to see terrible squalls even when the sky is perfectly clear, on these waters which are usually calm’. It has been written this storm tested the faith or lack of faith of the disciples. Fact is that anyone that undertook the trip across the lake was always liable to encounter such weather. While we are here it might be appropriate to ask ourselves if we can recall a time when our faith was really tested? It is important to remember that these disciples were for the most part simple men and they by this time had seen and heard much, maybe a little more than they could process. As we take a little more time to absorb the words in these verses, the wealth of information we find here helps us to better appreciate the Good Book and what the writer of Mark has left us. While we would not have thought it mattered, in that time apparently it was important where a person sat. When inviting guests to join you for meal it was the custom to seat them in order of their importance and standing in the community. We know that it was a custom that a Rabbi stood to preach and sat to teach. Jesus was seated in the stern on a small cushion, as was the custom extended to any distinguished person.

In Mark 1:25 when Jesus encountered a demon possessed man,  he used the same two words in this verse to address the storm…the rain, wind and the waves. It is relative to compare them because when Jesus spoke the demons obeyed.The people in Palestine believed in those days, the evil power of the demons were at work in the realm of nature. But there is much more here. We know that the storm was quelled by the spoken word of Jesus. Those in the boat were astonished, they marveled at the power of Jesus… they saw it as a physical miracle, it happened at that moment…perhaps never again. William Barclay sees it in a symbolic sense and here is one of those thoughts worthy of consideration and learning. Once those in that boat heard Jesus command the storm to cease and realized Jesus was with them a sense of peace entered their hearts. For us today it can mean that to travel through this life with Jesus, we too can have peace in this life. Even in the midst of the storms of this life we can have peace with Jesus.

Thank you for reading this and I hope it fosters a desire to study the word even more.

Life is Good

jk