Wednesday Thought -- January 2, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.  There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  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?’  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?’  They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this?  Even the wind and the waves obey him!’” (Mark 4:36-41)

Jesus got into a boat with His disciples and started across the Sea of Galilee.  A violent storm arose, so violent that it even scared the fishermen among them.  Their lives were in danger.  Yet, Jesus slept in the front of the boat.  He wasn’t scared.  When they woke Him and expressed their fear, He acted, He spoke to the wind and the waves and they were still.

If I were caught talking to the wind and the waves, people would consider me crazy.  And the wind and the waves wouldn’t listen to me.  I don’t have the authority to make them do what I want them to do.  There was, and is, something remarkable about Jesus!  The disciples asked the important question:  Who is He?  If the wind and the waves listen to Him and obey Him, then who is He?

In Mark’s Gospel, we’ve already seen Jesus heal the paralyzed and the leprous.  We’ve seen Him drive demons out of those who were oppressed.  We have heard Him teach in ways that no one had ever taught before.  We’ve seen Him have such influence over people that He could just speak the word and they would leave their jobs and their lives and follow Him wherever He went.  And now we’ve seen Him calm a violent storm.

There was, and is, something remarkable about Jesus!  He is no ordinary human being.  He isn’t a prophet like those we’ve met before in the Old Testament.  There had never been anyone like Him – and there never will be!

His, by Grace,

Steve