Men In A Boat

"He wasn't worried about a boat full of water causing it to sink."

JESUS SENT THEM across the sea. “Let US (including Him) pass over (complete the journey) unto the other side (Mark 4:35).” He didn’t exclude Himself, but He would travel with them the distance. Here, He is the Shepherd, committed to walk THROUGH (in one side and out the other) the valley WITH YOU. Here, He is Emmanuel. It was His authority that commanded it done and their obedience that caused them to set out.

“And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even AS HE WAS in the ship.” Even as He was. How was He? Well, we’re told that “a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full (Mark 4:37).” Notice, the wind was the cause of the waves, and the result of the waves was that the ship was full of water. Notice also, the ship did not sink, though it was full. And where was Jesus, and what was He doing at this moment? Verse 38 says, “And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow.” In a ship full of water to the point trained fisherman were panicking, in the height of a windstorm with tremendous waves, Jesus is asleep on a pillow. Remember the boat was afloat.

There are, in nature, these little bugs that float on the water’s surface. Because of the structure of their bodies, they do not sink, but skate back and forth. They are perhaps the size of the center of your palm. But a bird, just say your standard duck, when it enters the water, it has to swim. The same goes for other animals, such as rodents. A man in the water does not float unless he knows how to lay back and release his tension. However, in the midst of a windstorm with great waves, this wouldn’t work.

Jesus did not walk on the water in this story but consider the analogy. Here, He was asleep in a boat full of water, with a pillow, nonetheless. The Jesus-robe was wet, water is splashing on His face. The disciples are carrying on in fear, getting more and more distressed. Do you remember when Jesus met Peter and his brother at the lake and told them to go back out and cast their net? They’d been toiling all night and had caught nothing. Instinct was to give up, but this man had asked them to do something strange, so they obeyed. And when they pulled in the net, they had a great catch of fish, so much so that their nets threatened to break.

(Jesus did this miracle again after His Resurrection: “And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes (John 21:6).”

When Jesus fed the multitude, He multiplied a small amount of bread and fish, a known quantity, into enough to feed thousands. When Israel was in the desert wandering back and forth, the presence of God, who was with them, sent manna from heaven for them to eat. Actual provision appeared out of nowhere, that which they could not see becoming what they could. This is the description of faith (Hebrews 11:3). It didn’t matter how impossible it was, when Jesus blessed the bread, He knew it would become many. When God promised manna, the next morning the people found it lying on the ground.

Jesus told them to cross the lake then He laid down and fell asleep, so much so He wasn’t awakened by the wind nor the waves nor the water that He was floating in. He didn’t hear the sound of the wind, nor the splashing of the water, nor the disciples carryings on. Some say He was just that tired, and that could be. But they had been with Him, as awake and active as He was, yet they now had to row. Exhaustion may have caused Jesus to sleep, we can say that, but faith caused Him to stay asleep.

Not faith in Himself. Though He was God, He lived as a man and without the Spirit of God who was in Him and upon Him, Jesus could do nothing. Just as He’d multiplied the bread with faith in the Holy Spirit to do the multiplication, and just as He’d laid hands on the sick, the lame, and the blind believing by faith in God’s power to perform the healing, He wasn’t worried about a boat full of water causing it to sink.

We see this when the disciples shook Him awake. They had to physically shake Him for Him to stop sleeping. “Master, carest thou not that we perish (Mark 4:38)?” He cared. He’d told them to go across the lake, and He had a reason for going there. The Father was sending Him to set a man free from a slew of demons. He wouldn’t die in a boat. He’d been sent to die on the cross, and men would have to choose to put Him there. Jesus wouldn’t have died in that storm if the boat had sunk, nor would anyone with Him. He’d selected them, including Judas, to follow Him and learn His ways so that they would be apostles to the church after He’d risen.

Logic flies out the window in a moment of pressure, and yes, calling this a moment of pressure is a little too light. In reality, there was a windstorm and a boat full of water and their Master was sleeping and, Hey, get up and do something! But Jesus’ response was about their fear and lack of faith, not the storm. The same Spirit that would raise Him from the dead, had multiplied the fish in Peter’s net, had caused manna to form in the dew on the ground, and multiplied loaves to feed a multitude. God can suspend natural law. He created it.

He'd caused a donkey to talk. He’d caused two lepers to sound like an approaching army. He’d parted the Red Sea and the Jordan River so Israel could cross on dry ground. He’d fell as fire from heaven on Elijah’s water-soaked altar. He’d caused an axe head to float. Then there was the dead man tossed on top of the prophet’s bones who then came back to life! Could the God who’d in a day made every creature in the ocean and on the land actually do these things? Why are we asking this question?

Because when He awoke, Jesus spoke to the wind. He rebuked the cause of the waves first. Then He spoke peace to the waves, that which had been in unrest, and there came a great calm. The boat’s still full of water, mind you. But what the disciples saw now was the Creator. Here was God the Word in the beginning both with God and as God. He’d been Jesus, the Master, asleep in the boat. He was the Author of all things standing in the stern with peace surrounding them.

What made Him Savior was that there was no more wind, and the waves had calmed. People like to blame natural disasters as an “act of God,” but the act of God calmed the waters and rebuked the wind. The act of God sent the Son of God to earth to die for all men. The act of God raised Him in a new glorious body, without blood, and He lives forever. The act of God took a group of disparate men and sent them out to preach the gospel filled with the same Spirit that had done all these things.

History for them was not simply a story to remember or speculate upon. History to God is a testimony of what He can do and will do for those who believe in Him. For those who walk by faith. Not as a struggle. Get rid of your struggle-along mentality. Stop thinking you don’t have enough faith, you don’t know how to use your faith, and the natural law says you can’t get over this. Jesus went on to walk on water, after feeding the multitude, a tremendous miracle, and they were surprised (Mark 6:47-52).

Jesus is THE MEASURE OF FAITH. We each of us have all of Him and so more than enough to believe for the impossible. Manna from heaven, if need be. Or the calming of the wind. Or a coin in a fish’s mouth. The devil has downplayed the miracles of heaven so that we settle for what we can see with our eyes and touch with our hands. We refuse to believe until we can put our hand in His side. But doubting Thomas repented and believed afterward. And so should we.

“And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41)

Image by wal_172619 from Pixabay


----------
Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com