SUFFERING KING: THE BOOK OF MARK:
Seeding The Kingdom: Mark 4:35-41
Pastor John Nicholas
Sunday April 26, 2020
Based the details that are contained in this story it looks to be one that is told by a person that was there. It is quite possible that Mark himself was in one of the boats.
The end of a very busy day
The day that started in Mark 4:1
Mark 4:1 (NASB95)
Parable of the Sower and Soils
1 He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.
He had taught by the sea and the boat that he had preached from will show up again
He had told them to listen
To hear
Mark 4:9 (NASB)
9 And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The parable of the soils
He had told them about the seed
Hear and listen
He had told them about the mustard seed
Hear and listen
Mark 4:33-34 (NASB)
33 With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it;
34 and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.
Mark 4:35–41 (NA28)
35Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὀψίας γενομένης· διέλθωμεν εἰς τὸ πέραν.
And he said to them on that day, when it was evening let us cross over to the other side
Jesus had finished the day with the teaching of the mustard seed
Let us leave the crowds and cross the sea of Galilee
He had preached and taught and it was time to go
It was evening
A safer time to travel – the sea was generally calm in the evening
36καὶ ἀφέντες τὸν ὄχλον παραλαμβάνουσιν αὐτὸν ὡς ἦν ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ, καὶ ἄλλα πλοῖα ἦν μετʼ αὐτοῦ.
And leaving the crowd they took him as he was in the boat and other boats were with him
- He leaves with the disciples, in a boat, and there are other boats with Him
- The same boat that was mentioned in Mark 4:1
- The sea of Galilee
- And remember many of the disciples are fisherman/sailors
- Many witnesses to what will happen are there
- In 1986 the hull of a fishing boat was recovered from the mud on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, about five miles south of Capernaum. The boat—26½ feet long, 7½ feet wide, and 4½ feet high—corresponds in design to a first-century mosaic of a Galilean boat preserved in Migdal only a mile from the discovery site, and to a sixth-century mosaic of a similar boat from Madeba.
37καὶ γίνεται λαῖλαψ μεγάλη ἀνέμου καὶ τὰ κύματα ἐπέβαλλεν εἰς τὸ πλοῖον, ὥστε ἤδη γεμίζεσθαι τὸ πλοῖον.
And a storm of great wind developed, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already being filled (with water)
- Even though it was a safer time of day the sea of Galilee is known for sudden and violent storms
- It is surrounded by high mounts
- It lays 600+ below mount Hermon
- This is a tempest, a sudden storm that would break out in the sea
Epeballen – beating on, thrown against/in the boat - violent
- The waves are beating against/into the boat
- The boat is being swamped by the water
- The situation is grave
38καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἐν τῇ πρύμνῃ ἐπὶ τὸ προσκεφάλαιον καθεύδων. καὶ ἐγείρουσιν αὐτὸν καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· διδάσκαλε, οὐ μέλει σοι ὅτι ἀπολλύμεθα;
And He was in the stern on the cushion sleeping. And they woke Him and said to him, “teacher is it not a concern (don’t you care) to you that we are perishing?”
- Jesus in the stern
- Perhaps a cushion for non-fishers
- Or the leather/cloth cushion for the rower/s
- Is it of no concern to you (Rogers, 75)
- The problem is this
- They have witnessed Jesus save/heal all these other people
- They are perceiving, based on their experience with the sea, that they will die
- The storm is that severe
- Jesus you have helped others, don’t you even care about us?
- The problem is this
- We are in the process of perishing (Rogers, 75)
- The sea represents death
39καὶ διεγερθεὶς ἐπετίμησεν τῷ ἀνέμῳ καὶ εἶπεν τῇ θαλάσσῃ· σιώπα, πεφίμωσο. καὶ ἐκόπασεν ὁ ἄνεμος καὶ ἐγένετο γαλήνη μεγάλη.
And He woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “be quite, be silent.” And the wind stopped (abated) and there was a great calm.
- Jesus, again, demonstrating who He is – God
- He exercises full control over the wind and the sea
- Jesus saying, Siopa and pephimoso – be silent, be dumb
- The wind stops
- And the waves are calm
- Done now not at some point later
- When has anyone seen the see go instantly calm
- This is something that is unseen and unknown
- Exodus 14:15,16 -the sea is parted
- Jonah – 1:15 – thrown into the sea and it calms
- To calm His creation is nothing to Him. It is the mere will of God that the storm would stop raging
- It points to Jesus being God
- He is doing the things of His Father
Exodus 14:9-16 (NASB)
9 Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
10 As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord.
11 Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?
12 Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
The Sea Is Divided
13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.
14 The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.
16 As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.
Exodus 14:21-28 (NASB)
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.
22 The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
23 Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea.
24 At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion.
25 He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.”
27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.
40καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· τί δειλοί ἐστε; οὔπω ἔχετε πίστιν;
And He said to them, “why are you fearful? (do you) not yet have faith?”
- Essentially saying to them, “Haven’t you seen who I am, don’t you know who I am?”
- Mark 4:11 – to you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God
- Can you see?
- Do you understand?
- Do you know that I know exactly what is going on?
- That I know that you are perishing?
Mark 4:11 (NASB)
11 And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables,
- The fickleness of human nature on display
- How much can they see and still doubt
41καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν φόβον μέγαν καὶ ἔλεγον πρὸς ἀλλήλους· τίς ἄρα οὗτός ἐστιν ὅτι καὶ ὁ ἄνεμος καὶ ἡ θάλασσα ὑπακούει αὐτῷ;
And they feared greatly, and began to say to one another, “who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
- The fear is natural for them
- They have seen God’s power first hand
- Jonah needs to be mentioned
Conclusion
What do you hear in this story?
Is it about travel?
Is it about sailors on a rough sea?
Is it a story of men getting caught in a storm?
Or men unprepared for the storm?
What does this mean for us?
Number 1
it is the true story of Christ with His disciples and other followers as they traveled across the sea of Galilee
It is the true story of Christ standing atop His creation and exercising His complete control over that which He created
And it is the story of men perishing
Number 2
It answers the questions of the church in Rome
Does Jesus care about our suffering?
The answer is yes, not only does He know and care, He went to the cross for those that believe
Number 3
It answers our issue too
We are perishing
But it is not a storm at sea
But it is a deadly and dangerous
This storm that is causing us to perish is one of our own making
SIN
- Sin – it is not about comparison of our sin to others sin
- That the smallest sin condemns us to death before a righteous and a holy God
- That God is so otherly that are sins are sins are a direct afront to God
- When we live under our decisions – autonomy – meaning self law/rule
- As R.C. Sproul said, “it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of a holy God who is wrathful.”
- When we sin, when we chose our ways, regardless of the size of the sin, we our throwing ourselves in an ocean of God’s wrath
- And we have no solution, no remedy for our desperate situation of sinners before a righteous and holy God
- We cannot save ourselves
- The situation its so dire that we will certainly die
- 1 John 3:4 – those how practice sin are lawless
- For we are lawless, unrighteous sinners
- And …
- Romans 6:23 – the wages of sin is death
- We are being cast about by a raging sea of our own sin that will kill us
- That is causing us to perish
- And our faulty thinking about God and sin
- Ocean of wrath
- Do You God care that we are perishing?
1 John 3:4 (NASB)
4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
Romans 6:23 (NASB)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
BUT…
We see who Christ is in this story
He is the GOD Man – fully God and fully human
He does those things, which the Father does
Psalm 46:1-3 – God is our refuge
Psalm 46:1-3 (NASB)
1 God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.
And the disciples sought him at the moment of perishing
Nahum 1:4 – He rebukes the sea
Nahum 1:4 (NASB)
4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
He dries up all the rivers.
Bashan and Carmel wither;
The blossoms of Lebanon wither.
The power of God is on display fully
What are those who are being persecuted under Nero thinking?
Perhaps it is like the disciples
Don’t you even care that we are perishing?
Don’t you even know that we are perishing?
Don’t you know that we are being tortured for your name?
Do you care?
And the answer is yes, Jesus knows and Jesus cares
Yes God knows and God cares
We may not think that God cares or knows because:
We work in a dead end job
Our relationships are bad
We just were fired
There is a pandemic
I have cancer
And that is a big part of the issue
We see God on our terms but that is a big mistake
God is not like us and He points it out to us
Turn to Psalm 50:21
Psalm 50:21 (NASB)
21 “These things you have done and I kept silence;
You thought that I was just like you;
I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.
You see this is the issue of God’s promises
He never promised that you would have an easy carefree life
He never promised that by believing in Him that you would be popular and successful
He never promised you a successful career
Or a well paying job
Or a picture perfect marriage
Or a long life
Or that you would not have affliction
Or that you would not experience pain
He never promised that you would not suffer and die
He did promise that He would take away the punishment for sin
He did promise that He would remember our sins no more
Isaiah 43:25 (NASB)
25 “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake,
And I will not remember your sins.
He did promise a dwelling place with Him in eternity
You see God does know that we are perishing under the weight and eternal punishment of sin
And He has solved the problem
Jesus is the one who heals the sick and the lame
Who cleanses the leper!
Who calms the sea!
And goes to the cross to suffer and die in our place for our sin
God hears our prayers and knows what is happening in our lives
Who knows that we are perishing!
1 Thess 1:10 – Jesus saves us from the wrath to come
1 Thessalonians 1:10 (NASB)
10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
This does not mean that bad things won’t happen here
But it does mean that God has provided for our sin problem
That He saves
God’s love is revealed in the calming of the storm
Rev 21:1 – no more sea
Revelation 21:1 (NASB)
The New Heaven and Earth
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
Do you know that you are perishing?
