Mark 4:35-41 Teacher, Don’t You Care?
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 19 & 20, 2018, Mark 4:35-41
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Day 1
That day, when evening had come, he told them, “Let’s cross to the other side.” So they left the crowd and took him away in a boat without making any special preparations. Other boats were with him. A violent windstorm came up, and the waves began breaking into the boat, so that the boat was rapidly becoming swamped. But Jesus was in the back of the boat, asleep on a cushion. So they woke him up and asked him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to die?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind, and told the sea, “Calm down! Be still!” Then the wind stopped blowing, and there was a great calm. He asked them, “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith yet?” Overcome with fear, they kept saying to one another, “Who is this man? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
(Revelation of God) The disciples were constantly mystified, confused, and/or awed by Jesus. We are told by Isaiah that Jesus had no beauty that would attract people to him. “For he grew up before him like a tender plant, and like a root out of a dry ground; he had no form and he had no majesty that we should look at him, and there is no attractiveness that we should desire him. (Isa 53:2)” Yet the disciples were attracted to Jesus. He was unpredictable to them. They never knew what He would do next. He condemned the people and ways that their culture had taught them to respect and praised people and ways that their culture ignored or despised. He was a respectful, peaceful rebel, but He was not in rebellion. He was the Messiah, but He did not conquer or speak against the Romans. He would spend hours in the night in prayer and in the morning come to them with new marching orders. Now, He does more unexpected actions.
(Understanding the Text) The time was the evening around sunset. Jesus wanted to go to the other side. This was probably the only way to get away from the crowd for a while. I didn’t understand why Mark who says so little said that they did not make any preparations, but when you think that they were trying to get away from the crowd, it might mean that they were making a quick exit before the crowd realized what they were doing. I keep being reminded of rock stars slipping away from crowds of screaming fans. I can picture Jesus teaching the crowd and quietly murmuring to Peter to get all the disciples ready and get in the boat so they could go over to the other side and get away from all the people. I can see the disciples sort of whispering to each other or simply nodding a head toward the boat. I can see them quietly drifting toward the boat trying to appear innocent as Jesus keeps the attention of the crowd. I can see Jesus working His way toward the boat as He taught and getting in. I can picture the disciples casting off as soon as Jesus was in the boat before the crowd realizes what they are doing. Maybe the men on the boat laughed at their successful escape satisfied that they had fooled the crowd and gotten away. (Maybe later when Jesus walks on water, the crowd had gotten wise to this trick and that’s why Jesus sent the disciples off while He dispersed the crowd.) It says that other boats were with them. Does that mean that some of the crowd followed, or does it mean that the 12 + 1 men and maybe women too, needed more than one boat to get them all across the sea?
(Application) This translation says that He calls the disciples cowards, but when I looked at the Strong’s translation, the word is timid, not coward. I do not think He was using the negative meaning here. He was trying to ask them why they were afraid when He was with them, and why they had waited so long to wake Him. They spent a long time trying to do it themselves and losing faith in themselves as they failed. That loss of faith in themselves translated over to a loss of faith in Jesus. My application to my life is that when I am failing, it means that I am depending on myself instead of bringing the issue to God and trusting Him to take care of it.
Day 2
(Understanding the Text) F. F. Bruce’s commentary says that Jesus was sleeping on the boat’s cushions which were “provided for the guest of honour, and placed at the stern, away from the splashing of the waves” (page 1162). I read some place else where the writer speculated that this storm might have been demon-inspired because it says that Jesus “rebuked” the storm which is what He also did to demons. Other writers make a big deal that the disciples were experienced on the water, so for them to fear, this storm must have been extra bad. I’m not sure as I do not have the experience on this lake or lakes in general. I remember being at Lake Tuttle Creek and watching the wind-driven waves and thinking that I would never want to be out in a boat on the lake if this was normal.
(Application) The fact that the disciples were experienced sailors was partially why they waited so long to wake Jesus. They thought that they could handle the situation in their own strength until the situation worsened. Their mistake was their fear. When they realized that they couldn’t handle the situation, they should have had confidence that their Master could. When they woke up Jesus, they should have been telling Him that the storm had worsened beyond anything that they could handle, and they needed Him to take over. Instead, they cried out to Him that they were in trouble and He did not even care. How many times do we blame God for trouble and say that He does not care when we should simply be confidently telling Him that the trouble is too much for us to handle and asking Him for help?
(Revelation of God) The waves were so high that they began to splash over the sides of the boat onto the people and into the open areas, yet Jesus still slept. He must have been exhausted from dealing with the crowds. These boat trips were probably His time of sleeping. This tells me that He caught naps when He could between the needs of the crowd and His disciples. He could only ignore His body for so long, so He slept when He had a chance. This was one of the examples of the advantages of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had become limited to time and place by His human body. He could not be everywhere anymore. His body needed sleep and food. He had self-control so that he was not at the mercy of these needs, but they were still necessities.
The disciples had seen miracles of healing and demons being cast out. They had heard wondrous messages that stirred their hearts and reached into their souls. They had had their minds stretched by Jesus’ teachings, but those minds still placed a limit on Jesus’ power. They still did not understand that while Jesus was no longer omniscient, he was still all-powerful through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not use His divinity here to accomplish wonders. He worked miracles through the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. The disciple’s fear and wonder at Jesus’ control of nature was because they had unconsciously still categorized Him as a modified prophet. While He had done great miracles, they had read of such miracles being done before by prophets. Even raising the dead was not new. Prophets had shown control over the elements like parting the Red Sea and turning back time, but Moses was special and they probably did not understand what a big miracle turning back time really is. Thus, in their minds, they may not have thought of Jesus as being as special as Moses. This episode forced them to recognize that they were dealing with someone new and different far beyond any prophets, even Moses, that they had ever dealt with. They still did not understand that they were dealing with the King of kings and the Lord of lords, but they were widening their view and realizing that they were part of something much bigger than they had ever thought.
(Understanding the Text) These experiences with Jesus, where the disciples saw how the elements obeyed Jesus, demons obeyed Jesus, disease fled from Him, and the dead were raised to life, would have given them the experiences so that when they were faced with threats and persecution after Jesus’ ascension, they could respond with confidence and faith in Jesus. They knew they were His and that He had the power to protect so that if anything bad happened to them, it was according to the will of God. They were gradually coming to understand that Jesus was not just a man with extra powers; He was God.
(Revelation of God) Jesus performed this miracle through the power of the Holy Spirit rather than through His own divinity. He lived on this earth as a human. He kept His divinity out of the picture. It was after the Holy Spirit came upon Him that He began performing miracles and signs. We can know this because the people of His hometown had no clue who He was and were astonished not only at His claims, but also His miracles. I think that we do not understand the wondrousness that happened at Jesus’ baptism. While God had not been totally separated at that time, there was a limitation on the togetherness. When the Spirit descended and Jesus was once again totally connected with the Father and Spirit, there must have been great joy in their hearts and in heaven itself among the other creatures of creation.
(Application) I think Christians might follow the same thought processes as the disciples. When we first accept Jesus into our lives, we think of Him as a powerful Savior who rescues us and performs miracles in our lives. As we grow to know Him, we start to realize that He is much bigger and more powerful than we thought, and we expand our idea of who He is. Later, we start to realize that He is even more, and we can barely imagine His immenseness. At that point, I think some people forget that He is also small. He can make Himself small enough to fit into every crack and crevice of our lives. I should not be fearful and think that God does not care. Instead I should have faith that God is both big enough and small enough to handle me and my problems. I should know that I am important enough to Him to keep track of and take care of and that He is capable of doing the same for all of creation at the same time.
(Prayer) Strengthen my faith so that I will always remember that You are both powerful enough to balance universes and my life also. Help me to believe that every part of me is important to You and that You have the capability to always be with me while always being with every other being in creation.