God in the Storm

As a youth pastor, a lot of what i do is aimed at Wednesday night's teen church service. Monday's are spent in staff meetings, and then in a daze trying to remember that great idea i had as i was eating lunch the day before, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are sermon prep time for Wednesday evening, before attention turns to Sunday on Thursday and Friday.

So this Tuesday morning, i was reading and thinking through Mark 6:45-56. In the aftermath of the feeding of the five thousand, the disciples get into the boat, and (yet again) get into trouble on the tranquil waters of the Sea of Galilee. And of course, as you know, Jesus saves them. He meant to 'pass by,' but when they cried out He told them 'it is I.' He'd just provided bread from nowhere, and now He's controlling the waters for the benefit of His people.

John gives us a detailed account of the day after in chapter 6. The crowds return, but there's no free food and no revolution on offer, so they all leave. All apart from the 12. Whatever happened that night on the boat made them stick around when the easiest thing in the world would be to leave with the crowds.

So what happened on that boat? Matthew and Mark seem to disagree at this time. Matthew tells us that the 12 cried out 'surely this man is the Son of God!' Mark tells us their hearts were hardened because they did not understand about the bread. 

What do we make of this, and what's the bread got to do with it?

Well we can piece it together this way. When they first saw Jesus, they didn't understand, but quickly after that, when they understood about the bread, they got it, and reacted as Matthew recorded. If Mark was writing in Rome it would make sense that he would want the first confession of Jesus as the Son of God to come out the mouth of a Roman solider wouldn't it? And Peter, Mark's source seems to go out of his way to shine the light on Jesus, and leave him the the rest of the disciples in the darkness.

But we still have to ask, what's the bread got to do with it? Well these guys grew up in Saturday School, they went to Junior Synagogue, or whatever, they were supposed to know their Old Testament. Maybe they started thinking, 'who provides bread from nowhere? Who controls the waves? Who passes by? Who says don't be afraid, it is I?'

Who provides bread from nowhere? The LORD in Exodus 16, and Jesus in Mark 6. 

Who controls the waves so His people have safe passage? The LORD in Exodus 14, and Jesus in Mark 6.

Who would pass by? The LORD in Exodus 33, and Jesus in Mark 6.

Who dismisses fear on the basis of being who He is? The LORD in Exodus 3 and Jesus in Mark 6.

No wonder, when the 12 understood about the bread, their hearts exploded in faith! Who else were they going to trust in the storm except Jesus, who lead His people out of Egypt? Who were they going to trust the next day, in the stormy loss of faith, except Jesus.

Jesus didn't come from nowhere, His track record is second to none. In the storms, we can trust in Him, just look at what He's already done.