He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
The story about the sower of seed recorded in chapter 4 summarizes the mixed results Jesus himself got while on this earth. We, who live 2,000 years later, who have such events as Christmas and Easter marked plainly on our calendars, may easily miss the sheer incredulity that greeted Jesus in the flesh.
Neighbors: They have watched Jesus play in the streets with their children, growing up. He is simply too familiar for them to believe he is sent from God. “Isn’t this the carpenter?” they ask. “Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? ...What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles!” (6:2-3)
Family: Not even Jesus’ family can easily reconcile the wondrous and the ordinary. Mark casually mentions one time when Jesus’ mother and brothers arrive to take charge of him because they have concluded that “he is out of his mind” (3:21).
Religious Experts: The scribes and Pharisees, who pore over the writings of the prophets, should have the clearest notion of how to recognize the Messiah. But no group causes Jesus more trouble than these scholars. They criticize his theology, his life-style and his choice of friends. When he performs miracles, they attribute his power to Satan and demons.
The Crowds: Common people seem unable to make up their minds about Jesus. One moment they judge him as “demon-possessed and raving made” (John 10:20); the next, they forcibly try to crown him king (John 6:15)
How could Jesus, God’s Son, worker of astounding miracles in broad daylight, go unrecognized? The incident that ends this chapter may provide a clue. When a storm nearly capsizes the boat transporting Jesus, he yells into the wind, “Quiet! Be still!” The disciples shrink back in terror. What kind of person shouts down the weather as if correcting an unruly child?
This scene helps convince them that Jesus is unlike anyone else on Earth. Yet it also suggests a reason for their confusion about him. Jesus has, after all, fallen asleep in the boat from sheer fatigue, a symptom of his human frailty. And the Son of God, the creator of weather, is- but for this one instance of miracle- one of weather’s victims.
The early church will argue for three centuries about exactly what happened when God became man, but their creeds do little to dispel the sense of mystery. In a way, Jesus is just like everyone else: He has a race, an occupation, a family background, a body shape. In a way, he is something entirely new in the history of the universe. In between these two statements lies a mystery that can never be explained away.
Neighbors: They have watched Jesus play in the streets with their children, growing up. He is simply too familiar for them to believe he is sent from God. “Isn’t this the carpenter?” they ask. “Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? ...What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles!” (6:2-3)
Family: Not even Jesus’ family can easily reconcile the wondrous and the ordinary. Mark casually mentions one time when Jesus’ mother and brothers arrive to take charge of him because they have concluded that “he is out of his mind” (3:21).
Religious Experts: The scribes and Pharisees, who pore over the writings of the prophets, should have the clearest notion of how to recognize the Messiah. But no group causes Jesus more trouble than these scholars. They criticize his theology, his life-style and his choice of friends. When he performs miracles, they attribute his power to Satan and demons.
The Crowds: Common people seem unable to make up their minds about Jesus. One moment they judge him as “demon-possessed and raving made” (John 10:20); the next, they forcibly try to crown him king (John 6:15)
How could Jesus, God’s Son, worker of astounding miracles in broad daylight, go unrecognized? The incident that ends this chapter may provide a clue. When a storm nearly capsizes the boat transporting Jesus, he yells into the wind, “Quiet! Be still!” The disciples shrink back in terror. What kind of person shouts down the weather as if correcting an unruly child?
This scene helps convince them that Jesus is unlike anyone else on Earth. Yet it also suggests a reason for their confusion about him. Jesus has, after all, fallen asleep in the boat from sheer fatigue, a symptom of his human frailty. And the Son of God, the creator of weather, is- but for this one instance of miracle- one of weather’s victims.
The early church will argue for three centuries about exactly what happened when God became man, but their creeds do little to dispel the sense of mystery. In a way, Jesus is just like everyone else: He has a race, an occupation, a family background, a body shape. In a way, he is something entirely new in the history of the universe. In between these two statements lies a mystery that can never be explained away.
1 comment:
Jesus always reveals the more intimate examples of His power, privately, to those who are in the boat with Him.
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