Mark 4:35-41 (ESV)

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

At the end of the day, after Jesus taught the crowd, he wanted to cross over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He took the disciples with him, and they all got into a boat. Many of the disciples were professional fishermen, so for them, a trip across the Sea of Galilee was a very ordinary activity. These experienced fishermen took charge of the boat, wanting to give Jesus the break he needed, possibly lifting him directly out of the boat he was teaching from and into theirs. Verse 37 states that a furious storm suddenly broke out on the sea, and the waves were actually crashing into the boat and filling it with water. The disciples, though experienced mariners, were totally stressed out. They woke Jesus up and told him they were all going to die (v. 38). During the commotion, they probably wondered, “How in the world is Jesus sleeping through all of this? Is he totally disconnected from reality?” Jesus must have really been tired! He passed out on a sailor’s cushion in the stern of the boat. When the disciples woke him up, he rebuked the wind and ordered the sea to be still. Can you imagine what this was like for the disciples? Surely their jaws all dropped. Then Jesus turned to them and asked, “Why are you so afraid?”

The disciples didn’t realize yet that Jesus was God. They were beginning to get the picture, and after this incident they all asked each other, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” They should have answered their own question, “This is God.” Even though we know who Jesus is, we can become afraid like the disciples in the storm. We know that as Christians, Jesus is with us, but we can begin to panic when it looks like the storms God allows in our life are out of control. We must remember that just as he calmed the roaring sea, Jesus has the ability to rebuke the trials and struggles we are going through as well. In difficult and scary situations, let’s continue to trust in him. After we ask Jesus for help, let’s be confident that he is able to do whatever is best for us. We don’t want him to ask us, “Have you still no faith?”