WHY ARE YOU SO AFRAID? Mark 4:35-41

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1 WHY ARE YOU SO AFRAID? Mark 4:35-41 INTRODUCTION: Last week, storms rolled through the Greater Chicago area, including Crown Point, IN where our daughter and son-in-law live, along with our two granddaughters. Starr, who is five, is afraid of thunder and when the storm was at its worst, her mommy could hear her in the other room, obviously awake and distressed. Cherish went to the door of the girls room and listened briefly; she wanted to find out if Starr was talking in her sleep or if she was awake. As she listened, Cherish heard Starr praying, "Dear God, could you please stop the thunder it makes me so scared. God, PLEASE!" I wish I could have been there to scoop Starr into my arms, cuddle her and comfort her and ask, Starr, why are you scared? It s only thunder. It s just a noise. Why are you so afraid? It reminds me of a time when Jesus disciples were afraid of a storm and that is exactly what Jesus asked them: Why are you so afraid? Jesus had been teaching by the Sea of Galilee. He drew crowds so large he had to get into a boat and push out from shore so the people could hear him. After he finished teaching, Jesus had the apostles push out further and head for the other side of the lake. Sometime after they started across the lake, Jesus, seated in the back of the boat, fell asleep. Soon a storm arose that threatened to swamp the boat and drown them all. The wind blew, the waves surged and broke over their boat, yet Jesus slept on. The fearful disciples woke Jesus and accused him of being uncaring about their plight. Teacher, they cried don t you care if we drown? That is so like us. When we go through the storms of life, most of us cry out, Lord, you don t care. If you really care about me, I wouldn t be in this storm. So the disciples asked, Teacher, don t you care if we drown? In response, Jesus asked them why they were so afraid. The disciples probably thought that was a nonsensical question. Why are we afraid? The wind is buffeting our boat, the waves are about to submerge it, we are in danger of capsizing and we think we may drown and you ask us why we are afraid!?! Page 1 of 5

2 What about you? Why are you so afraid? The stock market is tanking. The nation lost its AAA credit rating. Several nations hate us. Terrorist are out to kill us. Cancer stalks us. Experts tell us that, due to climate change, we ve made the earth almost uninhabitable. Yet Jesus asks, Why are you so afraid? I suspect that when we see how Jesus addressed the disciples and their fears, we may learn how he addresses us and ours so let s look at the text of Mark 4: That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, Let us go over to the other side. 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, Teacher, don t you care if we drown? 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Quiet! Be still! Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? 41 They were terrified and asked each other, Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him! I. THERE WERE TWO KINDS OF BOATS (4:36) In Mark s record of this incident, he notes that the disciples put Jesus in a boat and headed for the other shore and that there were other boats with them. The image I get is of a small flotilla of boats starting to cross the lake. Somewhere along the way, a fierce storm blew up. I am told that such tempests were not uncommon on the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater lake on earth at approximately 700 feet below sea level. At its widest points, the lake measures 13 miles from north to south and 7½ miles from east to west. The Sea of Galilee is known for its violent storms, which can come up suddenly and be life-threatening for any who are on its waters. These tempests are caused by the situation of the lake in the Jordan Rift with steep hills on all sides. The cooler air masses from the surrounding mountains collide with the warm air in the lake s basin. Winds sometimes funnel through the east-west-oriented valleys in the Galilean hill country and rush down the western hillsides of the lake. The most violent storms, however, are caused by the fierce winds which blow off the Golan Heights from the east. One such storm in March of 1992 sent waves ten feet high crashing into downtown Tiberias and caused significant damage to the city. Page 2 of 5

3 While Jesus and the disciples were on the Sea, one of these storms blew up. The small flotilla of boats was caught in the tempest all of them were. I have to believe that the people on all of the boats were afraid. Certainly the disciples were, but they had a distinct advantage over the other mariners that day: they had Jesus in their boat. The others had every reason to be afraid because they were alone in the storm. The disciples had no reason to fear because Jesus was with them in the storm. My friends, in this life, storms are inevitable. Your job is eliminated. Your spouse asks for a divorce. Your child is rebellious and disrespectful or worse. The doctor gives you an unfavorable diagnosis. A loved one dies. The storms of life are inevitable and unavoidable. Having the Master on board is optional. Since you know you are going to face storms, why would you choose to face them alone? In a few minutes, we are going to offer an invitation to allow Jesus to come aboard and, in fact, to pilot your boat. II. THERE WERE TWO KINDS OF REBUKE (4:39-40) After the disciples awoke Jesus and accused him of not caring, Mark says, He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Quiet! Be still! Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? I would suggest to you that Jesus delivered two rebukes. First, he rebuked the wind and the waves and told them to be quiet and to be still. And at once they were. The raging wind died down and the dashing foam became a glassy sea. Then Jesus rebuked the disciples for their fear and for their lack of faith. Jesus intention was to calm the storm and he intended to calm the disciples, too. The source of calm for the troubled twelve was faith, trust, confidence in the Lord. Folk, where there is an abundance of fear, there is an absence of faith. Scripture says that no sparrow falls from the sky without the Lord knowing about it and then the Bible reminds us that we are much more precious to the Lord than sparrows. There is nothing that happens to you that God does not know about. Not only does God know about your storm, He cares. He loves you and nothing will come into your life that has not first passed through a nailscarred hand. It is even better than that: God knows about your storm, He cares that you are going through it and His Son is with you in the midst of the storm. Page 3 of 5

4 Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? To develop courage in the storm, strengthen your faith in the Lord. III. THERE WERE TWO KINDS OF FEAR (4:40-41) Mark tells us that after Jesus calmed the storm, They were terrified and asked each other, Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him! At the beginning, the disciples feared the storm. Their boat was being buffeted and they were in danger of being swept overboard and drowned. It was natural that they would be frightened. We can all understand that and identify with it. In their fear, the disciples cried out to Jesus. Jesus scolded the weather and the conditions became calm. I find it quite interesting that then they feared their savior. As you probably already know, the New Testament was written in Greek. In Mark 4:40, when Jesus confronted the disciples and asked them why they were so afraid, the word he used for fear is the Greek word deiloi meaning timid, fearful or even cowardly. In the face of the storm, they were cowardly and Jesus asked them why they were being such fraidy-cats. After Jesus calmed the wind and the waves, we read that They were terrified and asked each other, Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him! This was a different word. The word for being cowardly is deiloi. The word for terrified is phobeoh. In fact, the word is repeated. Literally, the verse says that they feared a great fear. As I said, the word for the terror the disciples felt after Jesus calmed the storm, is the Greek word phobeoh. That is the root from which we get our word phobia. A phobia is defined as a sense of horror. The disciples were horrified with a great horror because of the power that Jesus had demonstrated that dark and stormy night. As we use the term, a phobia is often an irrational fear. There are people who are afraid of clowns, people who are afraid of public speaking, people who are afraid of heights and spiders and almost anything else you care to mention. If forced to face their fears, people will usually have to admit that their fears are overblown and out of proportion to any threat that they are facing. For these disciples to be terrified of Jesus with great terror, was an irrational fear. There was no reason for them to recoil in horrified horror in Jesus presence. But they did. Page 4 of 5

5 It certainly makes me wonder what they hoped would happen when they woke Jesus in the midst of the storm. Don t you care if we drown? What did they want him to do? Maybe they hoped he could give them some sailing lessons so they could do a better job of riding out the storm. Did they wake him so he could fret and worry with them? They may have been frustrated or even angry that, while they were terrified with great terror, Jesus was peacefully sleeping. I don t know what the disciples expected when they woke Jesus, I just know what he did and that demonstration of his power filled the disciples with fear. CONCLUSION: I am confident that everyone here is in one of three places: you may be in the midst of a storm, you may have just come through a storm or you are about to go into one. The storms of life are inevitable and unavoidable. While you cannot prevent the storms, you can prepare for them. You can invite Jesus into your heart and you can enjoy the comfort of his presence in the midst of the storm. William Orcott Cushing ( ) served as a pastor for many years. He was well known as a very kind and compassionate man whose love for Jesus was acted out daily towards his fellow man. After pastoring several large churches, Cushing suddenly was told that, due to a medical condition, he could never preach again. I m sure Cushing felt like he had been hit by a storm. Broken in spirit, he cried out to God. God did not give his voice back to him but He did open his eyes to see a different way to preach: God gave him the gift of writing. In all, William Orcott Cushing wrote more than 300 gospel songs, which have touched more hearts and lives than his sermons ever had. Perhaps Cushing s best known song is Under His Wings. It speaks of the peace of Christ in the midst of the storm. Would you like a piece of his peace? Then come as we sing. INVITATION: #620 Under His Wings Page 5 of 5