Classroom on the Sea
For most of us, at least twelve years of our lives are
spent in the classroom. For those seeking graduate degrees, medical
degrees, Ph.D.'s and others, tack on an additional four years or more.
A man in pursuit of a Th.D., for example, can expect to spend ten
classroom years beyond high school. In the Christian life, God has
classrooms for his children. They're not made with typical building
materials, like brick, mortar, carpet, etc. They're seldom
air-conditioned. God's classrooms can be church services, one's job,
heavy rush-hour traffic, athletic contests, doctor's offices, hospital
beds and funeral homes. They defy conventionality. But they are both
practical and strategic. When God desires to teach his children a
lesson or provide a refresher course, he knows exactly how to set up
the classroom to achieve his aim. In Mark
4:35-41, we find a classroom on the sea. The context demands we see
this text as a classroom setting. Jesus had been teaching a multitude
from a ship for most the day while his audience crowded the shoreline.
He taught them in parables (4:33-34). After the multitude dispersed, he
expounded these parables to his disciples. “Expounded” is epiluo (epi = upon, luo
= to loose). It means (1) to unloose or untie that which is knotted,
bound, or sealed up; (2) to explain (what is obscure, hard to
understand). The verb is imperfect. Literal translation: “Jesus kept on
explaining to his disciples the meanings that were knotted up in his
parables.” Class may have been over for the multitude, but not for the
disciples. They were simply changing classroom venues for a different
kind of class. Let's call it a 'Pop Quiz' to test their response to
truth in the context of trouble. We can make at least four observations about this classroom experience. The first is demonstration.
The demonstration of which we speak involves a great storm in contrast
with a great calm and great power to make that transition. If you can
visualize a three-linked chain with great storm on one end and great
calm on the other, the connecting link would be great power. The force
of nature was subservient to the word of the Creator. Fundamental to
discipleship is gaining full appreciation of exactly WHO Jesus is, not
merely WHAT he says and does. Faith in the Lord Jesus
based on 'What' he does is inferior to faith based on 'Who' he is. John
2:23-25 says: “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the
feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which
he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all
men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what
was in man.” Jesus was unimpressed with miracle-based (what-based)
faith. But believing on Jesus as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world (John 1:29), is who-based faith. With such faith God
is well-pleased. This massive demonstration of power was designed to
teach the disciples eternal truth about their Lord. The second is that of accusation.
It's rather difficult to imagine anyone accusing Jesus of unconcern or
indifference to the troubles of his children. Nevertheless it happened.
“Carest thou not that we perish?” was the accusation the disciples
leveled at Jesus. Humanly speaking, their fear was understandable. The
boat was filling with water. The water was ballast. Ballast is the
prime enemy of a ship in rough seas. It allows waves to inflict greater
damage as they pound on the sides of a ship. There might have been as
many as fifteen men on board, including Jesus. Jesus was sleeping
(catching a well-deserved nap) after a long and exhausting day of
preaching and teaching. He was literally 'redeeming the time', taking
the occasion to rest a little before the next encounter with the
multitudes, but was accused of unconcern. With
this false accusation, we see the utter shortsightedeness and
selfishness of the faithless life. In the story, Mark gives us an
instructive detail in his acccount of the event. There were "other
little ships" (4:36) in the floatilla that followed Jesus. If the
disciples felt themselves in grave danger because of the strom, how
much more were those other little ships in peril? Yet there was no
mention made of "others" when they awoke the Lord. No one said:
"Lord, we know we're OK because you're on board OUR ship. But those
OTHER little ships have no such protection." The
lesson learned is those who dare accuse the Lord of
unconcern are themselves totally void of concern for others. For you and
me, who have the benefit of hindsight and our Lord's passion and
suffering on our behalf, the accusation of unconcern ought NEVER to be
a consideration when trouble comes. The cross is the ultimate proof of
God's everlasting love and compassion for mankind. Even so, the Lord is
still on the receiving end of false accusations. The third is that of revelation.
“How is it that ye have no faith?” That's quite a revelation coming
from Jesus. These men had heard the word all day. Since faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17), the absence of
faith on their part cannot be attributed to a lack of truth on our
Lord's part. To what then shall we attribute this 'no faith' condition?
This where the context provides the answer. Our
Lord's first parable was about the sower and soils. There was wayside
(hard, fallow) ground, stony ground, thorn-ridden ground and good soil.
The revelation was there was not one heart on board that ship that
constituted good soil. One could argue the storm choked out the word or
that the word had no root. The bottom line, according to Jesus, was NO
FAITH. No faith meant no fruit. No fruit meant no good soil. That's the
bad news. The good news is that fallow ground, stony ground and thorny
ground do NOT have to stay in that condition. All the men in that ship
three years down the road would be full of faith, Spirit-filled and
abundantly fruitful men. Post-Pentecostal fruit meant good soil that
had to go through a three-year process of being broken up and
prepared to yield much fruit. Another truth not to be overlooked
is that all good soil is not the same. Some good ground is more
fruitful than other good ground. If there had
been just one good-soil heart aboard that ship, what would faith
(fruit) have looked like? Well, we might have seen that disciple say to
his fearful comrades: “Hey guys, don't you realize we have the Son of
God on board? We are in no more peril than he is despite indications to
the contrary! As long as he's OK, we're OK! Let him sleep!” Perhaps we
might have seen that individual stand up and command the storm, saying:
“Cease and desist in the name of Jesus!” I am inclined to think Jesus
had this second scenario in mind. But either response would have been a
faith response. The fourth is that of fascination.
Upon hearing Jesus rebuke the wind and still the storm, their response
was: “What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey
him?” While the storm raged, they were “fearful” (4:40). After the
great calm, they “feared exceedingly” (4:41). The disciple's fear of
the supernatural now overshadowed their fear of the natural. This
is exactly the kind of fascinating effect all demonstrations of our
Lord's power should have on his disciples! Their focus went from the
peril of the storm to the person of Christ. Now that's a
healthy fascination for all of God's people! The phrase “what manner of” is from the Greek particle ara,
which comes from a verbal root with the sense of “to join, to be
fitted.” The particle itself conveys the idea of drawing a conclusion
as to what is being inferred. The disciples were literally wondering
what conclusion they might draw from what they had seen Jesus do? What
kind of man could fit or join with this display of supernatural
power?
We've all heard the adage about “the punishment fitting
the crime!” After this classroom episode, the disciples were
contemplating “the kind of man fitting the miracle!” This unique,
one-of-kind man, sleeping in the ship's hinder parts while the storm
was raging, whose word stilled the storm, was none other than the
God-Man, God in the flesh, the God of creation. This is the ONLY manner
of man that could possibly fit the miracle he performed. It's a
classroom lesson worth learning, both for them and for us.
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