Tiger Woods Is in a Category by Himself
Professional golf is probably not the most popular sport among us this morning. But I bet almost every single one of you can name at least one professional golfer. Out of approximately one hundred and fifty pro golfers, most of us have heard of one, Tiger Woods.
You may’ve heard that Tiger won the Master’s Championship last weekend. The story of his win was big news because Tiger last won the Masters in 2005. Fourteen years passed before the world’s greatest golfer won the world’s greatest golf tournament.
Tiger’s win last week is being hailed as one of the greatest comeback stories in sports history. Tiger’s father died in 2006, leaving him empty and searching for answers to life’s biggest questions. In the last thirteen years, Tiger tried to find “safe harbor” in training with the Navy Seals. He became a nationally certified skydiver. He indulged in extramarital affairs, costing him his family. He suffered many injuries, undergoing two major back surgeries. He wondered if he’d ever play the game of golf again. The golf world thought he was done.
But then, last weekend at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, Tiger Woods won the Masters.
How did Tiger recover from all that he’d been through and get back to the top? How did he go from talking about retirement to winning the most prestigious tournament of the year? Many would say, and I’d agree, that it’s because Tiger is in a category by himself. His ambition and will and natural ability and experience come together to create one of the greatest athletes of this generation. Someone who wins their first golf tournament at age four is in a class by themselves.
Tiger Woods doesn’t fit nicely into our categories. There’s a measure of awe and wonder when we see or hear about what he’s done.
Who Is Jesus?
So it is with Jesus Christ. What do you think about him? What category do you put him in: nice guy who did good things, religious teacher, prophet, scam artist, crazy, or Lord of heaven and earth?
As we’ve been studying the Gospel According to Mark, we’ve seen Mark draw us into the story of Jesus’ life in order to make us ask the question: Who is Jesus? Who is this One who teaches with authority (1:27)? Who is this One who says he can forgive sins (2:7)? Who is this One who confronts the religious leaders, casts out demons, eats with sinners, says his followers are more important than his family, and speaks in parables?
Mark wants us to come to terms with who Jesus is. But he makes it clear that we won’t be able to fit Jesus neatly into one of our boxes. If we try to fit Jesus into our categories of what’s possible, we’ll fundamentally misunderstand him. Like Tiger Woods, Mark wants us to know that Jesus is in a category by himself. Unlike Tiger Woods, Mark wants us to know that Jesus has no weaknesses and is supreme over everything.
In the next section of Mark’s Gospel, Mark tells of Jesus’ power over nature, over demons, and over disease and death (4:35-5:43). These accounts are meant to help us answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” and meant to lead us to one conclusion: Jesus is the Lord of heaven and earth.
The Boat
The first account shows us Jesus’ power over nature (4:35-41). Verses 35-36 say that the disciples and Jesus got into a boat to go to the other side. We know what this boat looked like because archeologists discovered a boat buried in the mud on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in 1986. Carbon 14 dating technology tells us that the boat was from the exact time period of the New Testament. The boat is 27 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 5 feet high. The boat could carry fifteen passengers and was propelled by four rowers. There was a platform in the stern (back) of the boat, for sitting or lying down. This is the kind of boat Jesus and his disciples were in. It wasn’t the titanic. It was relatively small and thus susceptible to big storms.
The Storm
Verse 37 tells us what happened when they set off on their journey. A “great windstorm arose” while they rowed to the other side. The topography of the land here is important to understand. The Sea of Galilee sits 700 feet below sea level and is surrounded by hills and mountains. Thirty miles to the north is Mount Hermon, standing at over 9,000 feet. Cold air coming from Mt. Hermon and warm air coming from the desert to the east and the Mediterranean to the west collides and produces windstorms over the lake all the time.
The text says that the storm struck at evening (v. 35), which was unusual because the worst winds usually occurred during the day. This is why most of the fishing done on the Sea of Galilee is done during the day. The fact that this storm arose at night helps explain why the seasoned fishermen among Jesus’ disciples were so afraid.
Mark says the storm was a “great storm.” The word for “great” is “mega.” This wasn’t just a storm, it was a “mega-storm.” It was unusually large and threatening. It was so windy that the waves were “breaking into the boat.” Their boat had low sides, so it would’ve been vulnerable to high waves. This explains why the boat “was already filling.” They were taking on water and starting to sink.
Jesus Leads Us into Storms to Show Us His Glory
Before we look at what happened next, let’s remember whose idea it was to go to the other side of the lake (v. 35). This was Jesus’ plan. He knew what awaited them out on the water that evening, and he led them out to sea anyway.
This illustrates a basic principle of the Christian life. Sometimes we find ourselves in a hard place because of sin or bad decisions. But many times, it’s the Lord himself who leads us into difficulties. The picture sometimes painted of the Christian life is that Jesus will come in and solve all our problems and protect us from all difficulties. We sometimes think of Jesus as a sort of “fixer upper,” someone who’ll come in and fix things and make things better.
But Jesus didn’t come to just fix our problems. Pastor Kevin DeYoung says, “You don’t need to be born again to want Jesus to fix your life. You do need to be born again to want Jesus to be Lord of your life.” In other words, everyone wants God to fix their lives. But only by a miracle of God will we submit to Jesus as the Master of our lives.
Sometimes Jesus leads his followers into a dark valley or a great storm in order to show us who he is. Suffering in the life of the believer is meant to give us more of what we need the most: a vision of the glory of God. So when trials and difficulties come, we should say, “God, thank you for bringing this into my life to remind me how great you are and how much I need you.”
“Teacher, Do You Not Care?”
This wasn’t the response of the disciples in the boat with Jesus that night (v. 38). Ironically, the only place in the Gospels that we hear of Jesus sleeping is in a storm. This tells us that at least one person in the boat that night had complete trust in God’s providential working over all things. Trust in God’s good plans tends to create serene sleep during storms.
The disciples were all but serene. They wake Jesus up and mildly rebuke him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” This is the way frustrated and desperate people speak. They call him “Teacher” even though Jesus’ teaching ability isn’t what they needed at that moment. They didn’t need him to preach a sermon to the storm! But they’d been with him long enough to know that he’d have the solution to a problem beyond their control.
Their question, however, reveals their lack of trust in Jesus’ goodness. “Don’t you care about us” may’ve been the cruelest question they could’ve ever asked him. The very reason why Jesus was in the boat, much less in the world, was because he cared about them. The reason he was going to die on the cross for them was because he cared about them. They, like us, were born under the curse of sin and could do nothing about it on their own. They were perishing in their sin and headed to an everlasting hell apart from God, yet Jesus came. Why? Because he cared for them. Because he cares for you.
God is the holy Creator of all things. He made you in his image. And even though you’ve rebelled against him, breaking his law and worshipping other gods, he still cares about you. This is why he sent Jesus to live a perfect life, die on the cross for your sins, and rise from the dead. Everyone who turns from their sin and puts their trust in Jesus alone will not perish but will live forever with Christ. God cares for you and doesn’t want you to perish. “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn and live” (Ezek. 18:32).
The disciples doubted whether Jesus still loved them. This storm led them to think that Jesus wasn’t really good and that he wasn’t really going to take care of them. We do the same thing when we doubt the love of God as soon as difficulties arise. We lose sight of the cross and get blown around by the storms of life. If and when you doubt Jesus’ love, just look to the cross. It’s Jesus’s way of telling us repeatedly and emphatically, “I love you.”
Jesus Talks to the Wind and Waves
Verse 39 tells us what happened when Jesus woke up. Jesus’ humility is seen here in that he didn’t get up and rebuke his disciples for their accusatory question. This same humility will be seen later when his disciples abandon and deny him but he goes to the cross for them anyways. Like Jesus, those walking in humility will respond to rudeness, abandonment, and rejection with a quiet love and a steady confidence that God is good no matter what.
Instead of rebuking the disciples, Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and sea. The “mega storm” turned into a “mega calm.” Notice that the change came about by the word of Jesus, not by some incantation or even a prayer. Jesus simply spoke and the water and the waves that have no ears listened and obeyed. Jesus talked to the wind like it was an angry heckler at a baseball game, “Sit down and shut up!” Just as God produced order out of chaos by his word in the very beginning (Gen. 1:2), so Jesus does here.
Jesus is doing what only God can do. This account is meant to remind us of Psalm 107:23-32 where God stirs up the sea and the sailors are terrified. They cry out to the Lord and it says that “He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed” (v. 29). Mark is telling us that Jesus can do that too. Just as God can calm storms and seas, so can Jesus.
In the Old Testament, God alone possesses power over nature. Mark is giving us another example of Jesus doing what only God can do. In chapter two, we learned that Jesus has authority to forgive sins. Here we learn that he has authority over the seas. Mark wants us to recognize Jesus as God himself. Only God can control nature, so if Jesus can control nature, then Jesus is God.
Fear and Faith
The disciples struggled to see the God-ness of Jesus (v. 40). Jesus asks them why they’re afraid and lacking faith. This should be encouraging to us. The same ones who were given the “secrets of the kingdom of God” (v. 11) still lacked faith. Jesus had shown them many things, but they still struggled to trust him. Sounds like the story of my life! Maybe you can relate.
The disciples in the boat with Jesus were “insiders” but they still didn’t understand fully who Jesus was, nor would they until Jesus died and rose from the dead. But notice here that Jesus doesn’t rebuke them for their lack of understanding or knowledge, but for their fear and lack of faith. The word for “fear” here means “losing heart” or “cowardice.” Their faith was weak because their hearts were weak, not because they didn’t have enough knowledge.
Their lack of faith made them fearful, which made them unable to respond to this crisis with confidence in God, which is one of the marks of a true disciple. Trusting Christ during crises creates confidence for those who’re converted.
Fear is a greater threat to our faith than ignorance. Yes, the Bible commands us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). But growing in knowledge about Jesus isn’t the same as growing in trusting him. One of the ways we know that our faith is on the rise is when we notice our fears on the decline. Fears about the future, fears about what other people think, fears of failure, fears of loneliness, fears of being harmed, fears of being exposed, fears of being rejected, or fear of dying. These fears can strangle our faith, lead us to take things into our own hands, and lead us to doubt the goodness of Jesus.
“They Were Filled with Great Fear”
Though faith in Jesus does diminish fears, it also starts with a certain kind of fear. Trusting Jesus begins by seeing Jesus for who he is. The Bible describes this as “the fear of the Lord.” When people see God’s glory, they’re struck with fear in light of his greatness. This is what happens in verse 41.
Why were they afraid? Because they’d seen the power and glory of Christ manifested right in front of them. Just as lightning lights up the night for moment, giving us the ability to see everything clearly, so also did the disciples see Jesus’s glory clearly for a moment. Like lightning flashing on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus revealed his glory in a flash of divine power.
Verse 36 says that they took Jesus “just as he was,” but once they see a glimpse of who he really is, they were terrified. Notice that their fear was “great fear,” or “mega fear” (v. 41). Jesus’ nearness to them was not comforting. It was terrifying. Such fear is the appropriate response for anyone who comes face to face with the power and glory of God.
Sigmund Freud, an atheist, taught that humans invented God in order to cope with all the fears of life. But his theory breaks down when it tries to account for the God of the Bible. No one would invent a god who is more terrifying than the thing they want to tame. Why would we invent a god whose holy presence threatens us? We wouldn’t. Thus, the God of the Bible is not an invented God.
The Holy One of Israel
We may read this passage and think that the point is that Jesus can calm the storms in our life too. He certainly can do that. Sometimes he does calm the storms. But sometimes he lets them rage and calms his children who’re in the midst of them.
If Jesus calming the storms of our lives isn’t the point of this story, what is? The point is the question in verse 41. The disciples woke Jesus up that night, questioning his love for them. But within moments, their question changed. This is the question that each one of us must ask. Who is this Jesus? If he speaks and nature obeys, who is he?
The answer of course is the obvious one. Jesus is the God over nature, the Lord of heaven and earth. He isn’t a crutch for weak and fearful people. He isn’t just a prophet. He isn’t just a moral teacher. He’s unlike anyone who’s ever lived. Like Tiger Woods, he’s in a class by himself. There’s no compartment or category for him. If you want to follow him, you must take him as he is. Who is he? He’s the Holy One of Israel, the Maker of heaven and earth.
When the disciples realized that they were in the presence of the Holy One, they were consumed with fear. Sinful humanity is always threatened by the presence of the Holy. This is why people run from God and Christ – they’re afraid of his transcendent majesty. If Jesus were to walk in this morning, we wouldn’t go up and shake his hand and say, “Hey buddy, come on in!” We’d all fall on our faces and tremble at the sight of his glory.
The death and resurrection of Jesus tell us that God has come near to us, that he wants us to enjoy his glory and not just cower in fear, that he loves us and doesn’t want us to be afraid. Who then is this Jesus? He is the God who made you and wants to save you if you will trust in him.