The Overcoming Servant Series

SERIES: WALKING WITH JESUS

(Series adapted from Wiersbe’s Bible Exposition Commentary)

“THE OVERCOMING SERVANT”

MARK 4:35-5:43

OPEN

Two explorers were on a jungle safari when suddenly a ferocious lion jumped in front of them. “Keep calm,” the first explorer whispered. “Remember what we read in that book on wild animals? If you stand

perfectly still and look the lion in the eye, he will turn and run.” “Sure,” replied his companion. “You've read

the book, and I've read the book. But has the lion read the book?”

Fear is something that is common to all of us. We’re generally afraid when we’re not sure how things are going to turn out. Through the events in this passage, we see how we can better face our fears and overcome through Jesus Christ.

OVERCOMING STORMS

Max Lucado, in his book In the Eye of the Storm, relates the story of Chippie the Parakeet. He writes:

Chippie the Parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next

he was sucked in, washed up, blown over.

The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She

removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to

pick it up. She’d barely said “hello” when “sssopp!” Chippie got sucked in.

The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was

Chippie—still alive, but stunned.

Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the

faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering,

she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . . she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet

with hot air. Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written about the event contacted Chippie’s

owner to see how the bird was recovering. “Well,” she replied, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore—he

just sits and stares.”

It’s hard not to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . . that’s enough to steal the song from

the stoutest heart.

Mk. 4:35-41 – “That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in

the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don't you care if we

drown?’ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it

was completely calm. He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ They were

terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’”

“That day” refers to the same day that Jesus taught the parables of the kingdom we looked at last week. This storm was part of the day’s teaching curriculum. Jesus, being Creator and over creation, knew the storm would happen. The lesson of the storm is that Jesus can be trusted in the storms of life.

The storm occurs on the Sea of Galilee. It was a place where sudden violent storms are not unusual. But the storm that is described here must have been extremely fierce. Remember that at least four Jesus’ disciples are experienced fisherman. They were used to the storms that blew up on this body of water.

As they evaluate their situation, they are extremely frightened. They see the storm and determine they are not able to survive. Yet, as they look to Jesus, he’s asleep. He’s completely at rest in the storm.

How many times in our own lives, when the storms of life come crashing down on us, do we do like Jesus’ original followers and panic? How many times have we cried out, “Lord, don’t you care?”

We see from this event that he does care. He got up, commanded the storm to stop, and it did. But the problem was not with the storm. The problem was the lack of faith in his followers. Jesus asked, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

You see, it was their lack of faith that caused their fear and it was their fear that caused them to question whether Jesus cared about their situation. Lack of faith in God and what he can do causes the same problems in our lives as well. Heb. 3:12 warns us, “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.”