Daniel N. Lee

My goal (not resolution) for 2012 is to read an average of 2 books each month, or at least 24 books over the course of the year. So far I’ve done pretty well. Here’s where I am:

By this time, I hope you are beginning to notice just how clever of a writer Mark really is. The way sews the story of Jesus together is so fluid and full of motion. This story is going somewhere and you can tell it. But then in chapter 6, he devotes a large portion of the text to a flashback!

We are told in Mark 1:14 that John was put into prison, but it’s just left at that…until now.

I think it becomes clear that Mark has purposefully held off the story of John’s death until now in order to compare Herod’s feast with Jesus’ feast. Let’s take a look.

Mark begins in 6:14 by introducing “King” Herod. This must have been a bit tongue-in-cheek because Herod at this time was not a king. When King Herod the Great died around AD 6, Rome divided the territory between his sons. The Herod in this story was not a king, but more of a viceroy over about 1/5 of the kingdom. His title was Herod the Tetrarch.

Herod was not truly a king, yet threw a big party in his palace.

Jesus was the true King of the Jews, and he provided a feast in the desert.

It was Herod’s birthday when he threw this party. Jews didn’t typically celebrate birthdays, chalking it up as a pagan practice. So from the beginning, this feast is wrought in paganism.

Jesus provided a feast for hungry people out in the wilderness which was in line with the prophecies in Jeremiah 31 – that Israel would find rest in the desert.

Herod’s party guests included governors, military leaders, and all sorts of high-ranking, well-to-do men.

Jesus held a feast for peasants – working class, rugged, peons with no political power whatsoever.

Herod made sure to have plenty of wine, alcohol, rich food, and even provocative female dancers to entertain the men.

Jesus could only give them grass to sit on, some bread and fish to eat, his teaching, and his compassion. And that was enough.

Herod, in a drunken stupor, abused his authority and made extremely regrettable decisions.

Jesus never let his power and authority get to his head. He could have taken advantage of his authority on a number of different occasions, but he never did.

Herod’s party could never offer any kind of lasting satisfaction.

Jesus gave enough that everyone was satisfied, both physically and spiritually.

Herod’s party ended in bloodshed and the death of a prophet.

Jesus’ feast ended in peace and the rise of The Prophet from God.

Herod’s party actually resembles the festival put on by King Balshazzar of Babylon in Daniel 5. The very night of this party, the Meads and the Persians invaded, overthrew the Babylonian Empire, and set up their own dynasty.

Jesus’ feast closely resembles the story in 2 Kings 4:42-44 when Elisha, the prophet of God, took 20 loaves and divided the bread among 100 other prophets until all were satisfied (and there was more left over!). It is also reminiscent of the time when David and his men were on the run from King Saul and ate the holy bread from the Tabernacle (1 Samuel 21:1-6).

Herod’s party represents the absolute BEST that the world has to offer – “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die!” (1 Corinthians 15:32) It’s a life that will never satisfy. It’s food that will always leave you hungering for more. It’s wine and drink that will only leave you thirsting. It’s hollow and empty.

Jesus’ feast represents the absolute BEST that heaven has to offer – “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:32-35).
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The invitation to both feasts is open to you right now. Which party will you attend?

The miraculous feeding of the 5000 is the only miracle other than the resurrection that is recorded in all four gospel accounts. It can be found in Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; and John 6:5-15. The fact that this miracle is in all four gospels not only testifies to the authenticity of the event but also to its importance. And by reading each account on its own merits, it seems like an interesting miracle but hardly something as exciting or powerful as, say, raising someone from the dead. But when you piece them together, you begin to understand what exactly is going on.

First, Matthew tells us that there were 5000 men “besides” women and children. The word translated “besides” more frequently means “without” or “apart from.” That understanding makes a lot more sense given that Matthew is the only one to mention women or children – simply to say that these men didn’t have them! If women and children had been present, it would have been more in line with Luke’s style to mention them.

So, there were 5000 men who did not have wives or children.

Secondly, Mark and Luke tell us that the men sat down in groups of fifties and hundreds. Now image there are 5000 strangers at a concert and the band wanted everybody to organize into groups of 50s and 100s before they could pass out free t-shirts to everyone in the crowd. How long would that take?! You’d be there for hours! Unless you are already organized somehow into your groups…

So there were 5000 unmarried, childless men who were probably pre-organized into groups of 50s and hundreds.

Third, I bring a snack with me to the office when I come into work. When I’m taking a road trip, I always bring something with me in the car. I make absolutely sure I have provisions for myself at all times. Why in the world would 5000 men go out on an all-day excursion without bringing any of the necessary provisions? Maybe they thought they shouldn’t carry any more than was absolutely necessary…

5000 unmarried, childless men who were pre-organized into groups of 50s and 100s without any extra or unnecessary loads to carry.

Finally, John tells us at the end of his account that the men wanted to make Jesus their king! Okay, I’ve NEVER wanted to place someone in authority over me and thus place myself into submission to someone simply because they gave me a free meal. Miraculous or otherwise, it would not make any sense whatsoever for these men to make Jesus king after getting a meal. Unless they had already decided that they were going to make him king beforehand…

When you put all the accounts together, we see that there were 5000 men without wives or children who had already organized into groups of 50s and 100s who brought no extra provisions and who were going out to meet their King.

Jesus fed an army.

These guys were militia men who had organized from all the little towns scattered throughout Galilee. They were ready to crown Jesus their king and march on Jerusalem to overthrow the Roman occupation in their country!

As we’ve seen throughout Mark’s book, people have been asking the question, “Who is this guy?” That very question has been asked twice already in chapter 6 – by folks in his hometown and by Herod the Tetrarch. And now it is being asked by men across the region – men who are fed up with the way their country is being run, who are done with being oppressed, and who want nothing more than to take up arms against the Roman Empire. Who is this man? He is the Messiah, the One whom God would send, the descendant of David and rightful heir to the throne of Israel in Jerusalem. And now is the time to make him King, bring our forces together, and take Jerusalem back by force!

The text says that each of them ate and was satisfied, literally stuffed. But I’m sure they went home with dissatisfied spirits. Jesus broke the bread, distributed the meal, and dismissed them. That was that.

I can imagine it was a little disheartening.

Jesus would go on to say to Pilate before his crucifixion, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

It always seems to happen.

That youth rally, that summer camp, that mission trip was AWESOME! God was truly at work. The worship was incredible, the speakers were passionate, the service projects were inspiring and humbling. Now you’re on the top of the world. God’s Spirit is alive and active inside you. You feel like you can do anything through God’s power, and you’re ready to change the world!

And then you go home.

Back to where people know your past. Back to where people have seen your failures. Back to where the worship is just routine, the preacher is old and irrelevant, and life is WAY to busy to volunteer or serve.

And the fire dies.

I’m positive that everyone who is involved in youth ministry – students, ministers, and volunteers – has experienced this sometime is his/her life. For some it happens multiple times every year. You are taken from this great spiritual high, then you suffer withdrawal-like symptoms, and if you are not careful it can even spiral down into a deep sense of loneliness and depression.

If it’s any consolation, Jesus had a similar experience in Mark 6.

Jesus had just performed a series of the most amazing miracles anyone has ever witnessed. He gave proof to those around him that he is Lord over disaster, demons, disease, and death. He raised a little girl from the dead! Do you realize what the means?!

I don’t know what was going through the minds and hearts of the disciples at this point, but I know I would be thinking, “This guy is unstoppable! There’s nothing he can’t do. We’re really going to change the world!” That miracle-infused 24 hours would have blown any summer camp out of the water. I would be on top of the world if I were one of the Twelve!

And then Jesus goes home. He and his disciples pay a visit to Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. These people knew him. They knew the scandal surrounding his conception. They knew he didn’t go through the rigorous rabbinical training. They knew he was trained as a carpenter – the equivalent of a modern construction worker.

He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath and began teaching. Nothing too out of the ordinary for Jesus. However, this was not Jesus the Rabbi. This was not Jesus the miracle worker. This DEFINITELY wasn’t Jesus the Messiah. The was Jesus the Carpenter!*


Some were amazed at his teaching, but others simply got offended. That’s just like some people, isn’t it? Who are you to be telling me what to do?! What makes you so special?

And then Jesus speaks a truth that resonated to preachers throughout the centuries: “Only in his home town, among his relatives, and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”

And then we’re told that Jesus could not do any miracles there. Not that he wouldn’t. He couldn’t because of their lack of faith. He had just come from stopping a storm in its tracks, defeating an army of demons, curing and incurable disease, and even bringing a dead girl back to life…and now he can’t do anything more than heal a few sick people.

A lot of us may have been tempted to throw in the towel. That would have been enough to make me question my entire ministry. It can be devastating to our faith when we come back home on fire for God and we’re met with a sense of apathy or even pessimism.

But it didn’t stop Jesus. It didn’t even slow him down. And he wasn’t going to let it slow down the Twelve, either. Jesus kept on preaching and performing miracles, and he even sent the Twelve out in groups of two to keep spreading the message about the kingdom to whomever would listen (6:7-13).

So what should we do when we come back from a retreat or youth rally with a spiritual high? Keep on keeping on. Don’t let people keep you from worshiping God with all your heart. Don’t let eternal pessimists pull you back down to their level. Don’t let the mundane and the routine keep you from looking for the extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit.

And most importantly, don’t lose sight of God and his purpose for you.
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*[A couple additional notes on this passage. The Catholic Church exalts Jesus’ mother, Mary, as an eternal virgin. They refer to her as “The Virgin Mary,” implying that Mary remained a virgin even after Jesus’ birth. But clearly from this passage and others (See Matthew13:53-58 and Luke 8:19-21), Jesus obviously had physical brothers and sisters. If they had been the children of Joseph and another woman (which was not a common practice in Jesus’ day, plus Joseph could not have afforded more than one wife), then they would not even be Jesus’ half-siblings. There would have been no relation whatsoever. So Mary had other children – none of whom were conceived miraculously like Jesus.


Also, Matthew says the crowds referred to Jesus as the carpenter’s son (Matthew 13:55), whereas Mark’s account simply says, “the carpenter.” There has been some speculation that Joseph died somewhat early on in Jesus’ life. This would explain why only Mary is mentioned, and she is almost always with her other sons. Jesus, as the oldest, would be in charge of providing for the rest of the family in the absence of the father. It can be assumed that Jesus was indeed apprenticed to his father in the carpentry skill and took over the family business when Joseph died. Jesus began his ministry around the age of thirty – probably because his brother(s) were now old enough to take over in his absence. This would also explain why Jesus assigned John to watch over his mother as if he were one of his own brothers (John 19:26-27).]

¹³ For you created my inmost being; 
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 
   your works are wonderful, 
   I know that full well. 
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you 
   when I was made in the secret place. 
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 
 ¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body. 
All the days ordained for me 
   were written in your book 
   before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139

All of this talk about The Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood has really got me (and a lot of people) thinking again about the issue of abortion. I had somewhat unclear views and beliefs about abortion for a while, but recently I have settled on my stance.

Transport yourself back 2,000 years into the first few centuries AD. The Greeks, the Romans, and many other Pagan cultures practiced rampant infanticide. It was legal, and even encouraged, to dispose of babies with any birth defect or were simply deemed “weak.” It was also common practice to dispose of female babies.

They would get rid of these babies by various methods. Some parents would go so far as to sacrifice their child to whatever god they were worshiping. Parents–burning their children alive–on an altar–to a false god.

Other parents would slit their child’s throat and let him/her bleed out. Some would drown their baby so that the water would muffle his/her screams. Still others (more commonly) would simply take their child out to the town dumb and leave it to die in the elements.

If your stomach is churning right now, good. That means you have a heart and a soul. You are probably thinking, “I can’t believe anyone would do that!” or “What were they thinking?”

And this was a normal/expected part of life. Why? Because a child was viewed as the property of the father to do with as he saw fit. If the child was diseased, disfigured, weak, or the wrong gender, he could simply eliminate the problem. Children were the property of the parents.

I would encourage you to read this article: Pagans, Christianity, and Infanticide, by Christopher Price. It’s an eye opener!

As horrible as those practices were, have we really come any farther in the last 2,000 years? Unfortunately, no. A baby is still viewed essentially as the mother’s property to do with as she pleases, at least until the third trimester! Don’t want the baby? Does the baby have a birth defect? Would this baby ruin your life? Dispose of it.

Browsing through Planned Parenthood’s website is just as sickening as reading through the infanticide practices of the ancient Greeks and Romans. They try to sugar coat it, but it’s truly disgusting once you look past that.

• A tube is inserted through the cervix into the uterus.
• Either a hand-held suction device or a suction machine gently empties your uterus.

I’m no expert. I haven’t studied miracles in depth. I don’t claim to know all the answers when it comes to the power of God to act in real time. I’ve never witnessed something I could truly call a “miracle.” But there are a couple of things that have helped me get a better grasp on the idea of miracles, and I hope it helps you, too.

1) The two most important miraculous events to believe in would be the creation of the universe and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Consequently, these are the two most hotly debated miracles.

There is more evidence for these two miracles than any other. Just look around you. There are signs of created order all over the place! Scientists try and debunk the idea that the universe was designed by a Creator, but they do and always will fail to answer the question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?”

As for the resurrection, there is more historical and logical evidence for its occurrence than you may think. Most obviously is the fact that we don’t know where his tomb is! No other religion can say that about its founder. He’s not there! How else do you explain the complete 180 the disciples took from fear and disbelief to boldness which led to their deaths (see Luke 22:54-62 and Acts 5:41-42)? When Paul was writing to the church in Corinth, he mentioned there were over 500 witnesses to the resurrected Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Don’t believe me? Ask one of them! 500+ witnesses can make a pretty good case.

I could go on about that one, but that will come later.

My point is that if you can believe that God created the world and that God raised Jesus from the dead, then why would you doubt that he could heal someone’s disease? If you believe in the creation and the resurrection, all other miracles pale in comparison. The two biggest are also the two with the most evidence. If God created the world and Jesus was raised from the dead, what else could be possible?

2) It is important to understand what a miracle is. Unlike the common understanding, Jesus did not break the Laws of nature – he was simply restoring them. We know that Jesus was with God in the beginning and that he was part of the creation process himself (John 1:1-5). So when he came to earth performing signs, wonders, and miracles, he was simply ushering in the restoration of the created order.

Blindness, disease, hunger, pain, demons, and natural disasters were not a part of the original design. Sin came into the world through man and we took the whole creation down with us (see Romans 5:12ff). But when Jesus came, one of his jobs was to bring about the Kingdom of God – showing people that God is indeed in control of things and is working around the clock to put things right.

So a miracle is not anything unnatural at all. In fact a miracle is restoring creation back to its original natural state as God intended things to be!

Do you believe in miracles?

Sometimes it helps me understand Scripture better when I try and read the stories as if I were one of the original audience. And when reading the gospel accounts, it is especially helpful to read these stories through the lens of a first century Jew.

And this is incredibly helpful in the case of Mark 5 to uncover a secondary purpose in recording these stories.

Jesus’ first stop after calming the storm was the land of the Gerasenes. These were Gentile people who worshiped pagan Gods. They were not of the nation of Israel. They were not Jews. They did not worship YHWH. This should be the first red flag.

You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. Leviticus 20:26

The first person who meets them is a man with an “unclean” spirit who lives among the tombs. So not only was he possessed by an army of demonic/ unclean/ evil spirits, but he also lived in and around open graves full of rotting corpses.

Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. Numbers 19:16

Gentile nation (X)
Unclean Spirit (X)
Contact with graves and dead bodies (X)

That’s three strikes already! But it gets worse: They were right next to a pig field.

And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meet or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you. Leviticus 11:7-8

Herd of 2,000+ pigs (X)

It doesn’t get much more unclean than this for a good, orthodox Jew. But Jesus stands his ground and instead of taking the uncleanness on himself, he makes the unclean clean again.

Wait. What?

Then he heads over to the other side where there are crowds pushing in around him. He is on his way to heal a sick little girl of the synagogue leader when he feels someone touch him and absorb some healing power. He discovers it was a woman with a bleeding problem.

When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean…and anything she sits on will be unclean… Whoever touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening. Leviticus 15:25-27

This woman has been bleeding for 12 years! Imagine, not being allowed to touch anyone or have anyone sit with you for 12 years. And she had the audacity to touch a rabbi, a holy man! She would have been severely punished for this offense. But Jesus didn’t become unclean. In fact, he made the unclean woman clean again.

Huh?

Finally, they get to Jairus house only to discover that his daughter has already died. There’s nothing that can be done, so they think. Then Jesus takes the girl by the hand and whispers softly to her.

Whoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days. Leviticus 19:11

But Jesus doesn’t become unclean. He replaces the unclean with the clean once again.

You see, to the Jew the cleanliness laws were set in place so that they could be holy, like God. But unclean always trumped clean. And unclean human always made a clean human unclean as well. That’s just how it worked. To become clean again there were a whole bunch of rites and rituals that had to be performed in the presence of a priest so that God could restore the clean state of the person.

How could a man come into contact with a graveyard, a man with an unclean spirit, a heard of pigs and still remain clean? How could someone be touched by a woman with a bleeding issue and still remain clean? How could anyone touch a dead body and not be pronounced unclean on the spot?

Who can make the unclean clean again but God alone? Exactly.

This is my 200th post! And of all my posts thus far, this one has the most important message. The implications of this post cannot be ignored.

Mark 4 begins by relating four of Jesus’ parables. It is Jesus’ longest teaching section in Mark’s gospel so far. And then, Mark describes four incredible miracles done by Jesus. Mark is very particular about the stories and the details he includes. It’s easy to take each of the following miracles on its own, break it down, and find the meaning behind it – like I did with my last post. But that is not what Mark intended to be done.

If you notice while reading through this series of miracles [Mark 4:35-5:43] occurs within the span of 24 hours. That night he calmed the storm. That morning he drove out the demon. That afternoon/evening he healed the woman with uncontrollable bleeding, and he raised a little girl from the dead. If I could go back and be with Jesus during just one day of his ministry, this would be it!

Like I said, Mark has a reason behind every detail, every description, every series of events in his gospel account. So what is tying these seemingly separate and distinct miracles together?

Here’s the first thing these stories have in common:
4:37   There was a natural disaster that nobody could manage
5:3-5   There was a demon nobody could restrain
5:25-26   There was a disease that nobody could cure
5:35   There was a dead girl – what can be done after death?

Think about it – we are still powerless about these very same things today! We can predict when and where the hurricane will hit, but we are powerless to stop it. We can do our best to rid ourselves of our own demons, but people still fall to temptations and addictions. We can treat the symptoms of cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS, and AIDS, but we cannot cure them. And people still die. When it comes to these very enemies – disaster, demons, disease, and death – we have no more power over them than we did 2,000 years ago!

Secondly, check out this next connection:
4:41   When the storm was calmed, the disciples were terrified
5:15   The townspeople were afraid when they saw the previously possessed man made well
5:33   The woman was afraid for her life when Jesus called her out of the crowd
5:36   Jairus was fearing the worst when he heard that his daughter had died

Our lives are often plagued by fear, worries, and anxieties. It’s a frightening thing to be under a tornado watch. It’s terrifying to think about the evil that continues to fill this world because of Satan and his demons. The fear itself in the face of a terminal illness can be crippling. And the fear of death is one of the greatest fears across the board of humanity. But when we, in our vulnerable humanity, come face to face with one who DOES have power over disaster, demons, disease, and death, it can be infinitely more terrifying!

Finally, notice one of the greatest similarities of these four stories:
4:39   With a word, Jesus stops the storm dead in its tracks
5:13   With a word, Jesus drives this army of demons out of the man and into a heard of pigs which then run into the Sea, thus destroying the demons
5:29   Without even knowing it, Jesus healed the woman’s incurable disease
5:42   With a gentle touch and a caring word, Jesus raised the little girl back from the dead

Jesus demonstrates complete control over the uncontrollable storm. Jesus tames the demon that nobody could bind. Jesus instantly heals the disease that couldn’t be cured. Jesus calmly stares death in the face and treats it simply as sleep.

What man can do these things?

The answer is implied in the question. No human has the power within himself to do these things. The key to understanding Mark’s purpose in telling these four stories like this can be found right in between the first two and the last two. When Jesus is giving final instruction to the man who just had the demon cast out, he says: “Go…and tell them how much the Lord has done for you…” (5:19)

Who did these things for him? The Lord.

The Lord was Israel’s word for God. Since they couldn’t say his name, YHWH, for fear of blasphemy, they would say Adonai, which is Hebrew for Lord.

So the man when back to his hometown and told people about what Jesus had done for him. This is crucial! If Mark did not want us to associate Jesus with Lord, he would have said, “So the man went away and began to tell…how much the Lord had done for him.” But he says the guy went and told how much Jesus had done for him.

The only explanation of this man’s proclamation, and indeed the only explanation for these miracles, is that Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God. Jesus is YHWH in the flesh. Jesus is Emmanuel – God with us.

Who can control the oceans but God alone? Exactly.
Who can have this kind of authority over demons but God? You’re right.
What can man do about incurable disease? Yes.
What can man do about death itself? Right on.

The answer is in the question. Jesus is Lord. He is Lord over disaster. He is Lord over demonic forces. He is Lord over disease. Indeed, He is Lord over death itself.

Jesus is Lord.

Jesus had just finished a long, hard day of teaching people who didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. Some preachers and youth ministers can relate to that… So after he had been teaching – standing up in a boat, in the sun, all day – he told his disciples to pile into the boat an head over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Keep in mind, four of these guys (Peter, Andrew, James, and John) were professional fishermen. Their entire lives had revolved around the lake. If it looked like a storm was coming, they would have waited to set out. But there was no indication that THE storm was in the forecast. In fact, this is probably what the lake looked like as they set off:

Calm. Serene. The sky turning from blue to yellow to orange, and the water doing the same. The calm before the storm.

As the sun went down, the wind picked up, storm clouds blew in, and things took a turn for the worse. Cool, dry air from the mountain range east collided with the warm, moist air from the lake – ingredients for mega thunderstorms. Sudden storms were not uncommon on the lake, so the professional fishermen should have known how to handle it. But they couldn’t. This was something bigger than they were used to.

Place yourself in that boat – 27 feet long by 8 feet wide with a mast, sail, oars, nets. Possibly thirteen men were occupying this small space while being rained on from above, drenched from the sides by the waves breaking over the boat. There is zero visibility as they yell out orders to secure the sails! bail out the water! tie down the nets! hold on to each other! brace yourselves! Where’s Jesus?!

He’s in the back of the boat…asleep…on a cushion…

Now I’ve slept through some thunderstorms, but this is ridiculous. You can sense the anger and frustration in the disciples’ voices: “Wake up! Don’t you care if we drown?!” We need all the hands we can get! Grab a bucket and start bailing! Do something! Anything!

Sometimes we forget who’s in the boat with us. They had seen Jesus heal people with all types of diseases. They had seen him drive out demons. All signs point to the fact that he is someone special, someone unique. But they didn’t make the connection that Jesus is Emmanuel – God With Us. The creator of the heavens and the earth – the second member of the Trinity – the Word made flesh – the Fullness of God – was there in the boat with them. And they think he would just let them drown?

This is just one of many instances in Mark’s gospel account where the disciples – those closest to Jesus – just didn’t get it. However, they only reacted how most of us tend to react when we go through storms. When things start falling apart around us and all we know is swept into chaos (darkness and the sea were common expressions of chaos, evil, and turmoil in the ancient world) – it’s easy to sit back and think that God doesn’t care. It’s easy to forget who’s in the boat with us and to forget that he is ultimately in control of everything.

He’s got it covered.

So he got up and rebuked the wind and the waves. Keep in mind, Jesus also “rebuked” the demons when he was driving them out. This was not a meek and gentle request. This was a stern command and chastisement, better translated, “Shut up and calm down!” And the wind immediately stopped, the clouds scattered, and not a ripple was left in the lake.

Jesus turned around and asked his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

And in this part of the story, we would expect the disciples to breathe a sigh of relief, praise God, and continue on their voyage. But note their reaction: they were terrified.

They were afraid during the storm. But they were terrified after it.

Sometimes we forget who’s in the boat with us. They were confused. They thought Jesus was a rabbi, maybe even a prophet, but who can control the sea but God alone? The answer is in the question. For the ancients, and even for us today, the sea was a source of incredible, unmanageable power. No one could, and no one can control the sea. We have ways of protecting ourselves, but we can’t stop the hurricane from hitting land. We can’t divert the tornado. We can’t prevent the earthquake.

And if creation itself is this unmanageable, how much more so the Creator of it all? Jesus himself could not be managed, could not be redirected, could not be stopped. Jesus was on a mission, and nothing, not even the fullest expression of evil and chaos, was going to slow him down.

Before we start trying to tame Jesus and make him into something he is not, let us pause to remember that the Creator cannot and will not be wrangled, captured, or bagged and tagged by his own creation.

Don’t forget who is in your boat.

Have you ever really paid attention to the way Jesus taught people? Comparing Jesus and Paul in the area of teaching style is like those old Mac Vs. PC commercials. Paul is very black and white, doctrine-focused, very left-brained, Bible-nerd. Paul loved lists. He loved extensive, logic-filled arguments. This is to be expected since he was an up-and-coming Pharisee/lawyer. That’s just the way his brain worked and processed.

Jesus, however, had a much different teaching style. His favorite way to teach was through the use of parables. Jesus was a storyteller. But these were not merely fables or cautionary tales. They were multifaceted, intricate, truth-packed stories about the kingdom of God.

Mark finally lets us in on what Jesus had been teaching by recounting several of Jesus’ parables. In fact, Mark says that, “He did not say anything to them without using a parable” 4:34 (Nice double-negative, Mark!)

Jesus begins this section of teaching by inviting the crowds to “Listen!” (4:3). But this is more than a teacher calling his students to attention. This word, “Listen,” would have struck an immediate cord with the Jewish audience because it is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew, “Shema!” The Great Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) was the ultimate statement of faith for the Jews. “Hear (Listen), O Israel…” This would have immediately gotten their attention. Jesus was about to say something big. He was about to give them truth about the nature of God and his kingdom. Drum roll, please….

And then he tells about a small time farmer with a small patch of good land who raised a mediocre harvest (4:3-8).

And we’re surprise by how confused the people were?

Those closest to him didn’t even understand. He had to take his disciples aside and explain the meaning of this and every other parable. So if those who were around him 24/7 couldn’t fully understand his teaching without having him explain it, how could others in the crowd possibly get it?

That’s exactly the point.

Jesus tells these stories for a few different reasons:
1) It’s hard to argue about a story. Jesus isn’t laying out some systematic theology with points and subpoints which the religious leaders could then pick apart and spur on arguments and debates. He’s simply telling a story. Those who are open to it will seek further understanding. Those who would oppose his teaching anyway will leave with…just a story.

2) Similarly, Jesus is ushering in a true revolution. He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Deliverer, the King. There is no denying that. But he is not delineating a list of grievances against the Romans. He is not rallying troops with motivational speeches. He is not, in other words, leading a revolution like has been seen before. His revolution is not against Rome – it’s against Satan. He didn’t come to defeat men – he came to defeat death. To ensure that his message could take full root and spread far and wide, he had to keep his message somewhat veiled.

These first two points are made clear by Jesus’ use of Isaiah 6:9-10. He knew some would not, even could not get it immediately. And that was okay.

3) Most importantly, Jesus taught in parables to draw people out of the crowd. If all they wanted was see some miracles and hear some good stories, they got that and then left. But if they wanted true understanding, true depth, then they had to stick around and ask the teacher. Jesus was more than happy to explain the meaning of these parables to anybody who wanted to hear. Otherwise, they would just be on their merry way with a new story to tell.

The key is that a response is required by the listener. Just like the harvest is left up to the soil, it up to you to make the move. Are you content to just sit in the crowd waiting to see what happens next? Or are you ready to step out of the crowd and get up close and personal with Jesus so that you can really see what he’s showing you and really hear what he’s telling you?

It’s time to listen up!