Sunday, November 8 · Concordia Lutheran Church
Peace in the Boat
Jesus sends his disciples straight into a storm and sleeps through the worst of it, and the question they shout at him is whether he cares. The sermon answers that question at the cross, where the one who silenced the sea stayed silent for them.
The passages
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other small boats were also with him. A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled. He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and asked him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?” He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?” They were greatly afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Mark 4:35–41
Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters, these see Yahweh’s deeds, and his wonders in the deep. For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves. They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble. They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress. He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because it is calm, so he brings them to their desired haven. Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds for the children of men! Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders.
Psalms 107:23–32
Go deeper
Why did the disciples' fear not surprise Jesus, and what did he mean by asking about their faith?
These are fishermen who have ridden out storms on this lake their whole lives, and this one scared them past thinking. They woke Jesus with an accusation about his care rather than a plea for help. Jesus calms the water first and asks his question after, which tells you something about which came first for him.
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other small boats were also with him. A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled. He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and asked him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?” He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?” They were greatly afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Mark 4:35–41
Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters, these see Yahweh’s deeds, and his wonders in the deep. For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves. They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble. They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress. He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because it is calm, so he brings them to their desired haven. Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds for the children of men! Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders.
Psalms 107:23–32
When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him. Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves; but he was asleep. The disciples came to him and woke him up, saying, “Save us, Lord! We are dying!” He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Matthew 8:23–27
Why does the psalm describe sailors at their wits' end before God answers them?
Psalm 107 tells of men who go out on the sea and watch their skill come to nothing in a storm. They reel and stagger and cry out, and the psalm says God brings them out of their distress. The disciples were living that psalm without knowing it until the wind stopped.
Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters, these see Yahweh’s deeds, and his wonders in the deep. For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves. They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble. They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress. He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because it is calm, so he brings them to their desired haven. Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds for the children of men! Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders.
Psalms 107:23–32
Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress. He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because it is calm, so he brings them to their desired haven.
Psalms 107:28–30
He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?” They were greatly afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Mark 4:39–41
What does the cross show about whether Jesus cares when he stays silent?
The one who told the sea to be quiet let himself be accused without a word. He had the power to come down and did not. For the disciples in the boat, the answer to their question was always going to be that Friday and that Sunday.
He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and asked him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?” He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was a great calm.
Mark 4:38–39
He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth. He was taken away by oppression and judgment. As for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people? They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Isaiah 53:7–9
…who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:6–11
What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things? Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31–39