The price of unbelief can be very high… very high indeed. One of the absolute best ROFL places in all of the Scripture can be found in Mark’s Gospel. If you need a good laugh, this is a spot that you should have bookmarked. You need to put a smiley face in the margin. This Scripture just cracks me up. If you ever wondered if Jesus had a sense of humor, you need look no further than Mark 4:39.
The story of Jesus calming the storm has long been a favorite of mine. For a lot of reasons. If you don’t rush the story… if you slow down and take a moment to really examine the human component… This story is rich in detail, in drama, in humanness. And it is dotted with subtle comedy. But no where is that comic relief more clearly demonstrated than in verse 39. You are going to love this.
You know the story. In order to get a break from the massive press of the crowds of people surrounding him, Jesus and his closest friends get in a boat and head out with a small flotilla to “go to the other side” of the 7 mile wide Sea of Galilee. While Jesus is sleeping in the stern quarters, a sudden and severe early evening squall begins to batter the vessel… to the point that it was being nearly swamped by the rouge waves. The many men, some of which we can safely assume were able seamen / sailors / fishermen by trade, woke Jesus with this: “Don’t you care…”
This question is worthy of our interest. Their question, “Don’t you care…”, is a clear indication that they believed that Jesus could save them, but for some reason they questioned his caring enough to do so. I could write an entire article on this alone, but prefer to press on to the “most hilarious” thing Jesus ever did, which teaches us the “price of unbelief”.
Now if I had been Jesus, it is at the point in the story where they wake me up that I would have begun messing with them. I would have slowly gotten up. Stretched a bit. Rubbed my eyes. Gotten a drink. Looked for my lost sandal. I would have taken my sweet time. While the panicked sailors were trying to drag me topside, I would have been…”Hold on… What’s your hurry… I’ll be there in a second…"
Fiiinallllllly…. In verse 39 it is recorded that Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the waves… Here it comes… are you ready… “BE STILL”. I write this in all caps NOT because I think that Jesus was standing out there on the wet and windy deck screaming at the waves and the wind – it could have just as easily been a barely audible whisper from his lips, but simply to call your attention to specifically what he said. Here is what is recorded were the results of his command: The wind died down and it was completely calm. Did you see it? COMPLETELY!!!! COMPLETELY CALM!!! Don’t you just love it?
What? You missed it? O.K., Vern. What kind of vessel were they in? A boat, you say. I know. It was it boat. But… What kind of boat? Think….. There ya go! A SAILBOAT!!! They didn't have a 250 HP Evinrude strapped to the back of that boat. No sir. It was a SAILBOAT.
Jesus questions their total lack of faith and their fear… and then… (I know the Bible doesn’t say this)… He turns around and heads below to finish his nap… leaving them in the middle of a huge Lake, in a sailboat, with NO WIND!!!!! A small little fleet of sailboats, floating together, now dead in the water!!!
Who has the nerve, after his clear statement of disappointment, after his rebuke, to go back and request, “A little wind, please… a light breeze to fill the sails.” I ain’t gonna ask him. Are you? So, standing there on the deck, looking up at the limp sails, what are they to do? Go dig the oars out of the storage locker… and start rowing. I can't help but wonder how long they stood there staring at the wilted fabric hanging from the mast before they resigned themselves to the unpleasant task that awaited them. Can you see the guy kneeling at the base of the mast begging God for a little wind? Can you imagine the smack being spoken among them?
“Somebody go wake him up again and ask him to help us again.” “Look at the fine mess we’re in now.” “Great! Now we get to spend the next 3 hours rowing.”
Can you imagine the complaints being shouted across the water from boat to boat. “Hey… what’s going on?” “Has anybody got any extra oars?”
What is my point? Sometimes when we are in the middle of a storm, we ask God for divine intervention. And, sometimes he responds. And, sometimes we might have been better served by riding out the storm, trusting him in the gale.
One thing is for sure… the disciples had plenty of time to discuss it, while they spent the rest of the evening rowing to the distant shore. And I sort of imagine Jesus, as he drifted back to sleep, smiling to himself as he thought about the lessons being learned on the deck above him that evening.
