Preached by Pastor Jeff Hamling

January 24, 2021

Mark 4:35-41

While You Were Sleeping

Introduction:

The image of a ship being tossed about in a storm is a universal, evocative one. It appears across the board in literature, in paintings, in movies, and in multiple places in the Bible.

In fact, when the early Christians started building their own church buildings, they called the inside of the building where people sit “the nave.” “Nave” comes from the same root word as “navy.” It means ship. Christians saw the church as a ship on the sea tossed about by a storm.

Because this passage is loaded with application and gospel imagery, I want to just walk through it one verse at a time, so we don’t miss any of the nuances. I will read a verse, explain it, and then move on to the next.

Begin with v35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”

Earlier in the chapter, Jesus was teaching a large crowd on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. He now wants to cross over the eastern side. This is a non-Jewish region, an area where Gentiles lived.

Crossing the Sea of Galilee was a bit risky at times. While it was only 7 miles wide, it was known for its sudden, violent storms.

Just to the north was Mount Hermon—9200 ft high. The Sea of Galilee was 700 ft below sea level. The cool winds from the mountain would clash with the warm air above the sea and cause impressive thunderstorms and squalls.

Jesus’ desire to cross over to the eastern side of the Sea, is a reminder that Jesus has come not just for Israel and the Jews—but for the whole world. Jews and Gentiles.

Next: v36: Leaving the crowd behind, [the disciples] took [Jesus] along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.

Jesus had been teaching on the shore from a boat. This provided a buffer so that he wasn’t crushed by the crowds. But now that it was time to go, the disciples hopped in and began taking Jesus to the other side.

What’s striking about this verse is that it includes a detail that’s really not important to the rest of the story. It mentions, “There were also other boats with him.” We don’t hear about these boats again. We aren’t told what happens to them. The mention of these boats is an incidental detail—a nonessential part of the story.

Scholars of ancient literature calls details like this “irrelevant details.”

So what? Why’s this important? Because these same scholars point out that when ancient writers were making up legends—fictional stories—they NEVER included irrelevant details.

Today, authors of fiction do this all the time in order to make the story seem more realistic. But authors NEVER included irrelevant details in the ancient world if they were fabricating a story. They only used these kinds of details in true, eye-witness accounts.

This fact, that this passage includes the verse, “There were also other boats with him”, is an indication that this is NOT a made-up legend. It’s the mark of a real, historical, eye-witness account: We are reading about an event that actually happened.

37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.

For the Jews, the sea symbolized the evil that stands to undo creation.

In Genesis 1, the Bible begins by telling us that there was nothing but darkness over the surface of deep waters. This is a symbol of unorganized, unhabitable, chaotic forces. The whole point of Genesis 1 is that God overcomes these forces.

Or again, in the book of Daniel—Daniel has a dream where 4 destructive beasts