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Have you ever seen this painting? It’s Rembrandt’s imagining of the scene we find in Mark 4 where Jesus calms the storm on the Sea of Galilee. It’s dramatic, ,isn’t it?
Lets have a quick look at the characters in the painting:
This fellow here (bottom right) seems to be sea sick: hanging over the edge of the boat, clutching his head. I feel like this bloke has no ability to really respond in any way except the way his body is reacting. He can’t help out, he probably can’t comfort anybody, he’s just there trying not to make a mess.
And then we have the fellow in white. I don’t know what he’s doing. Maybe he’s fallen and hasn’t got back up yet, maybe he’s so terrified he’s frozen there. Whatever he’s doing, it’s not having a lot of impact on the situation.
Up around the mast we have some disciples who are busy. These men are probably the experienced sailors of the group and I suspect the storm is far too big for them to really gain control of the boat but they are doing what they can: Getting sails down, making things as safe as they can and maybe trying to get into a position where they will be able to recover if the conditions ease.
We also have the disciples who have woken Jesus up, I think these guys are experiencing the fear that shows up as anger. They say “teacher, dont you care if we drown?”
It feels as if they are almost accusing Jesus of abandoning them.
And now let's see what Jesus is doing.
Jesus has recently gathered his disciples, he’s done some healings and driven out some demons and on this day he’s been preaching. Then he suggests this trip across the sea and everyone gets in the boat and Jesus goes to sleep. There are people who say he is asleep because he’s just plain old tired and there are those who say his sleepiness is all about showing how unconcerned he is. Anyway, he’s asleep and this storm comes up and it’s a huge storm . the waves are dumping into the boat and the wind is howling and things are really bad.
Now, some of the disciples are fishermen and they’re probably used to boats and storms but the writer is telling this story to the Jewish people who were not sea going people and in fact they have stories about monsters in the sea: we have the leviathan appearing in the Psalms and in Job. And there is the story of Jonah being tossed out of a boat into the belly of a fish so the audience to this story have the understanding that he sea is scary and it’s dangerous and then to add to this scary, possibly evil sea, these fishermen are so scared that they grab Jesus and they say “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
So there’s a cultural understanding that the sea is scary and it’s a kind of metaphor for evil and Mark is telling this story where even the fishermen are terrified.
We need to note at this point that the disciples called Jesus “teacher” So far, they had seen him preach and heal and exorcise demons but he hasn’t revealed exactly who he is yet. The disciples are thinking he’s a teacher or maybe a shaman.
So, back to the boat, the terrified disciples wake Jesus and there’s actually no hint that they know he can do anything about the storm “teacher don’t you care if we drown?”
They just want him to be awake while they are suffering through this, they want to know that this experience is shared.
And Jesus gets up and the bible says he “rebuked the wind” Now some commentators who are more scholarly that i am have said that the use of the word “rebuke” doesn’t suggest there are demons but to me there is an echo of the times when Jesus rebukes satan so it’s possible that the writer of Mark is suggesting that Jesus is chastising an evil presence.
And after rebuking the wind, Jesus says to the wave “Quiet”
“Be still”
And they did. The wind died down and it was completely calm.
Who would have imagined or expected that? The raging storm had just stopped.
Jesus is showing, for the first time, that he is God. He shows it by commanding the wind and the waves to be still. It’s not something a teacher, a wise man or a healer can do. It’s supernatural and the people knew that only God has command of the elements and that the earth recognises the voice of Jesus because it was his voice that commanded their existence to start with
Jesus’ authority as God is demonstrated in his words: the command “Be still” sounds like a reference to psalm 46 “Be still and know that I am God”
Jesus is , I think , the original genius of literary references and I’m sure these devout Jewish people recognised that “Be still” led them directly to Jesus identity.
Jesus has demonstrated who he is by his words and by his actions,
He has stilled the earth itself by speaking. He has unleashed God’s sovereign power. The kingdom is right there, right here
He has verbalised who he is by his reference to the psalms
And as we look back to the start of the story, we see that his authority is also demonstrated by his timing. He is God, he knew the storm was coming before he got in the boat, he chose this time to go out on the sea and go to sleep.
Mark finishes the story telling us that after Jesus stopped the storm, he said to the disciples “Why are you so afraid. Do you still have no faith?”
The disciples were terrified and asked each other
“Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Today you might not have Jesus in your boat. You might be saying to him “Don’t you care that I’m drowning?” or maybe he is saying to you “why are you afraid? After everything you have seen, where is your faith?”
Let’s listen to this song and consider what is happening in our conversation with Jesus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxLV4zRmhm8
8 comments:
Your only comment thus far to a post about prayer is from someone who doesn't believe in prayer! You're a good person, and your posts deserve more attention than that.
Last week, I noted that you had put up a new post, and I have looked forward to reading it ever since. Now that I have read it, I can't think of anything of interest to say because even if I believed in the existence of an all-wise, all-just, and all-merciful deity, I would also believe that virtue alone would lead him to perform virtuous acts. However, an event occurred last week regarding which I must admit that prayer might have made a difference....
As you probably recall, I am from the state of Mississippi, which is infamous for hurricanes and tornadoes. Last week it was hit by a mile-wide tornado that stayed on the ground for 59 miles and killed 26 people. The following video is of a Mississippi weatherman warning people of the likelihood of a tornado. While on the air, he was watching Doppler Radar when an update came through which enable him to see an actual tornado approaching a small town. Realizing that people who were then alive might well be dead within minutes, he became so upset that he prayed on the air. Ordinarily, I would have objected to this, but because his behavior was entirely spontaneous and borne of enormous distress, I was touched by it. When I later heard interviews in which local residents people claimed that his prayer saved their lives, I considered the claim absurd until I heard their reasoning. Specifically, people in places like Mississippi become so accustomed to tornado warnings that they often ignore them. However, when people who were watching this particular forecast saw how upset their weatherman suddenly became and then heard him praying on the air, some who would not have ordinarily sought shelter did so, making it completely believable that their weatherman's prayer might have saved their lives. Here is a link to the video, but only the first 30-seconds of so of it is related to his prayer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssdOB6q_Pgc
Hiya Snow,
Thank you for your encouragement. I no longer seem to have ideas for subjects for this blog so I use it as my filing system. When I am asked to preach, write a devotion or what have you, I put it on this blog so I can easily find it again and if anyone else is interested, that's a bonus.
I'm glad you still find it worth reading even if you don't agree.
I've been out of range of phone and internet services and hadn't heard about the hurricane. That's a lot of lives lost. And now today I heard of another through Little Rock. Is it a particularly fierce storm season?
I am often suspicious of public prayer but as you say, a spontaneous outpouring in a moment of distress would seem to be pure in motive.
I'm so glad the weatherman prayed and people were motivated to take action, it's an unexpected way for prayer to work but if it saved lives, I don't care much about what is expected :)
I'm about to go watch the video.....
I hope you're well and happy (enough)
Hi Kylie
A thought provoking post. I spent a lot of time praying while away, and do at home. Lots of uncertainty and potential 'stormy waters'. I do trust in His grace and plan though, even if it doesn't fit in with my own. As they say, we make our own plans, and God chuckles.
Have a wonderful week.
"As they say, we make our own plans, and God chuckles."
The Biblical god never laughs except in scorn, yet if he holds our planning ability in such contempt, why didn't he imbue us with greater planning ability? I am also at a loss to understand how it is that your faith in God's compassion appears to be unaffected by your awareness that he even while he is laughing at the limitations which he himself imposed upon us, millions of children and trillions of other creatures are howling in pain and misery due to the evil that he also created: "I make peace, and I create evil..." Isaiah 45:7
It’s a powerful piece
I love the light
Gary,
I didnt receive notification of your comment, sorry!
have a good week, hopefully not too many troubles ;)
John,
Thanks for dropping by! My other blog "ecelectica" is probably more your speed xo
"My other blog "ecelectica" is probably more your speed"
That's true, John. It's not obvious, but Kylie designed this blog for people with learning disabilities.
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