COV LIFE BLOG

Mark 4:35-41 – Jesus: A King to be Feared

This passage isn’t about storms. Not physical storms. Certainly not metaphorical storms. Does this passage have application towards those things? Absolutely. But Mark didn’t put this passage in his account of the gospel to comfort you in the face of the storms in your life. In fact if you walk away from this passage feeling comforted, you might have missed the point altogether. Just look at how the disciples walked away from the actual events:
 
“They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
 
You see this passage isn’t about storms. It isn’t about comfort. It’s about fear. And it’s about the One who deserves the most fear. The disciples response wasn’t one of comfort. They didn’t relax. No, instead they walked away still afraid. This time very much afraid. Note Kevin DeYoung’s insight on this passage:
 
A great windstorm became a great calm which filled the disciples with great fear. The only thing more frightening than being in a small boat in the middle of a big storm is being in a small boat with a man who shouts at big storms and succeeds.
 
Can you imagine actually being there and seeing Jesus speak to a storm and having it cease immediately? While Jesus is not one for the believer to be scared of, it ought to strike a holy reverence within our hearts as we ponder the great marvelousness of our Lord. It’s much like C.S. Lewis’s description of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardbrobe:
 
“Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”…”Safe?” said Mr Beaver … “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

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SCRIPTURES FOR THIS SUNDAY
Read Mark 4:35-41. Do you feel the majesty of Christ permeating this Scripture? Is it your regular habit to marvel at Christ? How can you grow in your marvel of the one who has power even over nature?

SONG FOR THIS WEEK
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty by Joachim Neander