A Great Storm

[Mk 4:35-41; Mk 5:1-20]

These days there is a great agitation, an unrest or turbulence in the fourth dimension. It reminds me of a storm like the one in Mark 4, “…a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves….” Where the disciples were in a panic, and Jesus slept on a pillow in the aft of the boat. They were on their way to help a demonized man who lived in a graveyard in a gentile area called Gadara.

Here Jesus is, at the end the a full day of teaching, and healing multitudes. He is tired. He gets in the boat and says to the disciples, “Let’s get away. Let’s go to the other side of the lake” — it’s about five miles to the eastern shore.

It is interesting that Mark mentioned, “And other boats were with him.” That says there are witnesses on the scene and that gives credibility to the story.

Mark 4:35-41 (paraphrase) –[35] Along toward evening Jesus said, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake.” [36] And they set sail and started across the lake, leaving smaller boats behind. [37] And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was filling up with water. [38] All this time Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a pillow made of an extra suit of clothes. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are all going to die out here?” They wanted him to at least panic, too! [39] And he awakened and surprised them by commanding, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and suddenly there was a great calm. [40] He said to them, “Experienced fishermen, screaming like little girls, why are you so afraid (#1169, cowardly, faithless)?” [41] And not realizing that he spoke to demonic forces causing the raging storm and the sea, they were fearful (#5399; to be in awe of, to revere) and said to one another, “My God, he is awesome, even the wind and the sea obey him.”

We must never forget that we live in a fallen world, and that, as the Scriptures tell us, the whole world is in the grip of the devil and his agents. This includes the physical world as well. Behind the disasters we hear of so often, and sometimes experience – earthquakes, famines, floods, droughts, tornadoes, and hurricanes. These are oftentimes a satanic attack upon people. Jesus understood this, and he did not rebuke the wind, but the one who stirred it up.

Jesus lived in the constant realization, as the Apostle Paul said, that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, wicked spirits in high places” (Eph 6:12), who are able to affect humanity at various levels of life. It was these spirits Jesus rebuked.

So he is addressing the spiritual, invisible world here. The result was a great calm. People become afraid – because they don’t understand the fourth dimension. They don’t understand the spiritual realm, they lose faith. Faith is always the answer to our fears, regardless of the situation.

They had forgotten the things he taught them in the Sermon on the Mount about the extent of God’s care for them: “You are much more valuable than flowers and birds. God cares for them; will he not much more care for you, O ye of little faith?” Mt 6:30). After all, they were in the same boat; their fate would be his fate; and yet in a panic, they had forgotten this. Remember whenever you are in trouble, with Jesus on board, the boat will not sink, and the storm will not last forever.

Mark 5:1-20 (paraphrase) –[1] None of them even dared to ask Jesus for just a little wind to power their boat. So they rowed two thirds of the way in the stillness of the night. As they came to the other side of the sea to the country of Gadara they began to hear cursing and screams of torment. [2] As Jesus stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. [3] He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, [4] for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he twisted the chains apart, and broke the shackles in pieces. He had supernatural demonic strength. No one had the strength to subdue him. [5] Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

[6] And when he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell down before him. [7] And crying out with a loud voice, the naked and wounded man said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” [8] Jesus said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” [9] And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” [10] And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. [11] Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, [12] and they begged Jesus, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” [13] So Jesus approved, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and drowned in the sea.

What a commotion! After all the squealing, grunting, and splashing there in the moonlight, the disciples are looking at 2,000 dead hogs glistening in the water all around their boat. [14] The hog farmers were running through every city in that part of the country, telling what happened. Curiosity and fear motivated the town’s people to come, even at night, to see what it was that had happened.

[15] And they came to Jesus and saw the man, who had been demonized by the legion of unclean spirits. Jesus gave the man his “pillow,” and now the man was sitting peaceful, clothed, and in his right mind. The people had seen a great miracle, and yet they were afraid. [16] And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demonized man and to the pigs. [17] And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. In the end the people would rather have demonic screams coming from the graveyard in the middle of the night, than healing and deliverance. After all, he had totally messed up the local economy.

[18] As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might come aboard as well. [19] And he did not allow it, but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” [20] And he went away and began to proclaim throughout the ten nearby cities, how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone (except the pork producers) marveled.

At sunrise the disciples had to row the boat out of the herd of 2,000 dead floating hogs, filled with a legion (6,000) of demons. I have a picture of Peter, moving dead pigs out of the path with a boat oar in order to get under way. I wonder if there was even a breeze as their morning departure slowly began? It is time to go back five miles across the sea and deal with another crowd. Being a follower of Jesus is not easy.

The people saw this deliverance. It was evident to them that here was a man set free. But they are hit in the most tender part of their anatomy — their pocketbook. And instead of rejoicing, they plead with Jesus to leave (If they refuse to rejoice with you in your testimony, they are none of his, but goats). Society is always doing this. We see it in our own day. Politicians say fossil fuels are polluting our world and we must all ride bicycles or drive electric cars. Yet it takes fossil fuels to recharge the electric cars. To follow man’s ideas, and especially to rely upon the government, it’s always discouraging. Jesus must be our Lord!

The Decapolis was a group of ten Greek cities on the eastern side of the sea of Galilee, including Damascus. Today, this area is called the Golan Heights. This Gentile community is where Jesus commanded this man to go and bear witness. Among the Jews, he told them not to say a word, to keep from being overwhelmed by people mobbing him, making an orderly ministry impossible. But here among the Gentiles he sent this man back. What a pattern of witness he established! He told him to go home, and not to go around from door to door explaining the plan of salvation, but simply to tell his friends what happened to him. That is what a witness is. I am not against evangelizing, but we need to understand that witnessing and evangelizing are two different things.

This man was sent to be a witness, to tell people what had happened to him. And what a story he had to tell — of how he had lived in anguish and torment, how he had been against all of humanity, a menace to anyone who came by, angry and hostile and rebellious; and yet Jesus had set him free, given him peace and joy! No wonder that as he went about in all these cities, men marveled at what they heard.

What do these two events have to do with our lives? I believe Holy Spirit inspired Mark to put these together to help us realize that Jesus is Lord.

No matter whether the enemy threatens us or frightens us through some circumstance or event outside us, like the storm was for the disciples. Or whether it is something rising from within — some habit, attitude, some long-standing hostility or resentment we hold against another. Even if it is some demonic influence that tears us apart, making us restless and discontent.

Whatever it is, Jesus is Lord. These stories tell us; if we have trouble from the inside or the outside, he reigns now in our lives. So if his question to us during the coming year is: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” We will always remember that Jesus is Lord!

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for power over all the events in our lives, over all the forces which influence us. As we enter the new year, thank you, Lord, that Holy Spirit is in the same boat with us throughout this new year. You are here with us to comfort and strengthen us, to reassure us, and to take us through whatever storms may come.

We know you will not stop every storm from coming, but you will take us through them. And we know that whatever forces strike from within us to distress or frighten us, you enable us with victory over them. And now we worship you, and we think of the greatness and glory of the Father who sent to us, his Spirit to live in us. Thank you. In the Name above all names, Amen.

God bless you my friend,

— Dwight Hammond