Mark 4
MAR 4
Jesus, in His untiring service of love, entered into a boat and told the disciples to cross to the other side of the lake. "The same day, when the even was come, He saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side." Mark 4:35. The multitude surrounding Him was dismissed, and the boat with its precious freight left the shore. But Satan, "the prince of the power of the air," also knew of the contents of that little vessel. With a storm he tried to sink the fragile little craft with its cargo that was so obnoxious to him. This storm came from Satan, with God's permission, for the glory of His Son and the sifting of the disciples.
This storm was not like the storm in Jonah's case which came from God. What a difference between these two storms. In the latter, a self-willed servant of God was fast asleep, indifferent amidst the tempest caused by his own disobedience. Here in Mark it was the obedient Son of God, whose "meat" it was to do the will of Him who sent Him and to finish His work. The lowliest and most willing of all servants, He slept on a pillow in the hinder part of the ship amid the raging storm, while the furious billows entered the fragile vessel, threatening every moment to send it to the bottom.
But in that little ship there was One greater than Jonah. He slept "the sleep of the just." Here it is not the reasonable apprehension of a heathen shipmaster rousing the indifferent prophet Jonah from his sleep, but the unbelief of the disciples who thought only of their own danger.
Carest Thou not that We Perish?
With harsh reproach and rude hand they awakened their gracious Master from His well-deserved sleep! At that moment they were insensitive to who it was that slept so calmly and peacefully in the hinder part of the ship amid the storm. How could their boat, no matter how fragile, sink and they be drowned, with such a Pilot who was none other than the Creator of heaven and earth, the Son of the living God! Peter had owned Him as such, but how sadly he had forgotten it at that moment. "Master, carest Thou not that we perish?" What words addressed to such a Master!
As to courage of faith, the prophet Jonah was far superior to the disciples, though his eyes had not seen what theirs had seen, nor his ears heard what theirs had heard. Jonah had bidden the mariners to cast him into the sea. No doubt he believed that God who had sent him with a message to Nineveh, was able to deliver him again from the watery grave to accomplish his mission after he should have learned what God would teach him. But though Jonah was superior in that respect to the Lord's disciples in the little boat, how incomparably inferior in true grace, meekness, and lowliness was he to their Master and his own, who placed him in the depths of the sea in the fish's belly, and then deposited him safely on the shore.
Peace, Be Still
That gracious Master, aroused from His sleep in so rough a manner, now arose in His quiet majesty and power and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still." The wind and the waves were calm, as savage dogs lie down at the bidding of their master. These words of the Lord appear to show clearly that this storm came not from God, but had been brought about by Satan. In the former case Jesus would not have rebuked the wind. The cause as well as the intent why this storm was sent appears to be just the opposite to Jonah's case.
“And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it ye have no faith?" The gracious Master did not begin with rebuking His disciples as we most likely would have done in a similar case. He first rebuked the winds, then His disciples. First He removed the cause of their unbelief, then He reproved their unbelief: first grace, then truth. He dwelt among them full of grace and truth. So it ought to be with us.
“And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" Now at last they seemed to become conscious again of who it was that had slept so calmly in the hinder part of the ship, though they had daily heard His mighty words and works.
Do we not too often resemble those disciples in the ship? Like them we enjoy the peace after the storm, after the Lord through His wondrous and gracious intervention has once more strengthened and rebuked our little faith. But where is our peace during the storm? What do we know of the peace of Christ ruling in our hearts (Col. 3:15)? What do we know of that peace of which the Lord spoke before He left this world to enter into glory, through the sufferings of the cross, there to prepare a place for us? How much do we know of this peace amidst the storms of opposition in a hostile world, a peace of which the life of Jesus on earth was the perfect expression? (Psa. 16:8-11; Acts 2:25-28.)
Peace in the Storms of Life
May the Lord in His infinite grace keep and establish us in this, "His peace" in days of general earthquake, without and within. In these days in every sphere of life, be it religious, political, social, commercial or scientific, the storms of uncontrollable human passions are raging around us. It almost seems as if the prince and god of this world proposes to overthrow every divine and human foundation and order, to hurry on professing Christendom with increasing rapidity towards open apostasy.
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33.
A beautiful example of such a peace during the storm we see in the demeanor of the Apostle Paul on his voyage to Rome. He, like Jonah, was to go to the capital of the Gentiles with a message of warning and of mercy. He also, like Jonah, had gone his own way to Jerusalem, but not from the same selfish motive, though not excusable on that account. He also found himself in the fish's belly, so to speak, to be prepared for his mission to Rome as Jonah was for his mission to Nineveh.
J. von Poseck