believe it or not

Mark 4

35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples,

"Let's cross to the other side of the lake."

36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out,

leaving the crowds behind

(although other boats followed).

37 But soon a fierce storm came up.

High waves were breaking into the boat,

and it began to fill with water.

  38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion.

The disciples woke him up, shouting,

"Teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown?"

  39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves,

"Silence! Be still!"

Suddenly the wind stopped,

and there was a great calm.

40 Then he asked them,

"Why are you afraid?

Do you still have no faith?"

  41 The disciples were absolutely terrified.

"Who is this man?" they asked each other.

"Even the wind and waves obey him!"

Have you ever been out on a lake in w boat when a bad storm blows up out of nowhere?

Or maybe on a river?

Or how about even the ocean?

Yeah... it can be pretty compelling.

So, that's what happened to Jesus & the disciples.

And this was at night – making it even more compelling (read: scary big time).

And the boat was filling up with water = even more scary.

I find it interesting that Jesus was supposedly ASLEEP in the back of the boat.

Asleep...

with His head on a pillow.

(I wonder why Mark mentions the pillow?)

So the disciples wake Jesus up – probably not very gently.

And they shout at Him – interesting, isn't it that they shouted - & question whether He cares that they're all going to die.

And Jesus basically tells the storm to shut up.

And it does.

Then, in so many words, Jesus asks the disciples if they thought He was gonna let them die?

Mark says the disciples kinda whispered to each other something like “who the heck is this guy?!”

Wouldn't you have loved to have been in the boat after the storms goes away? Talk about awkward! ;-) LOL

Whenever I read an account in the Bible of something like this, I sometimes am reminded of people who say that Jesus was a good man with good ideas, or a great example of love, but was not the son of God.

How do we get around the fact (if you believe this account) that Jesus just basically said, “yo! Turn it off!” and the raging storm quit, just like that.

Now, I've known some pretty amazing people, with some pretty amazing ideas.

I've also known some people who had incredible capacities to love the unlovely.

But I ain't never known anyone who could snap their fingers & a raging storm would quit.

I've said all that to say this...

Jesus is the son of God.

He's not just a good man.

He doesn't just have a lot of nice ideas to share.

He's not just a good example of how to love people.

He's God, who went on to die for us, & save us from ourselves.

Only God could tell a storm to stop & it happen, just like that.

That is, if we believe the account Mark gave.

But if we don't believe it, what other things that Mark said about Jesus could we choose to not believe.

And before we know it, we don't believe anything about Jesus.

So we must believe the accounts & who He claimed to be.

Or we can not believe, making Jesus not who He said He was.

I choose to believe.