“Who Is This?”
Text: Mark 4:35-41
6-23-2024
In the name of Him who calms the storms of our lives, dear friends in Christ. In 1977 I left my home in Michigan and over the subsequent years, all those people I knew so well lost track of me. Even at my home church. So when I preached there 17 years later, some of those people were rightfully asking the question: "Who is this?" Not only had I changed in my physical appearance but some of them were surprised (or shocked) that the Seminary had allowed a rascal like me to enroll to become a Pastor. As we look at the Gospel lesson for today, the disciples knew Jesus and yet we find them asking that question about Him after He had calmed the storm: "Who is this?" And it's a question that we as Christians need to keep asking ourselves day after day as we follow Christ. Do you really know who He is? Or have we tried to limit Him by what we think we know about Him?
This question of identity followed Christ throughout His ministry. Lots of people thought they knew who Jesus was and what His mission was, but none of them truly understood. There were several groups of people who asked the big question about Jesus: "Who is this?" Let’s look at the three main ones: the Jewish leaders, the everyday people, and His own disciples.
It's obvious that this question was constantly on the minds of the Jews in power. A prime example of this was when He cleared the temple. Do you remember what these Jewish leaders asked after He disrupted their crafty business scheme? "On whose authority are you taking this action?" In other words, "Who do you think you are, Jesus?" His response is so strong and confident that they walked away asking our theme question: "Who is this?" Whoever He was, the folks in power didn't like Him and they set their minds on eliminating Him.
The average everyday Jew was asking something similar. Already back in chapter 1, St. Mark reports that the people were amazed at Jesus because “He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” The people of His hometown thought they knew all there was to know about the man Jesus. They knew His earthly family and had seen Him grow up. So when He came back around as an adult and began to reveal that He was the long-awaited Messiah, they also asked, "Who is this?"
Now, the tone of voice used by these first two groups of questioners was definitely different. The Jewish rulers asked the question of Jesus in a derogatory sense. Kind of like, "How dare you upset the apple cart?" They were sure they knew everything there was to know about God, and Jesus didn’t fit the mold. They figured, “Yeah, He might be a messenger of the Lord. But God in the flesh? No way!” They had built a neat little box in which they thought the Messiah would or should fit in. When Jesus came as the Savior and the very Son of God, well, they just couldn't swallow that. It was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
The common everyday people had a different approach and reason behind their question of "Who is this?" They weren't upset with Jesus. Rather, they were amazed by Him. And because of that they were at least in the ball park as they tried to understand who Jesus really was. Unknowingly, they had pinpointed what that difference was—it was the authority behind His words. The realization of that fact paved the way for some of them to finally see and believe in Jesus as the true Son of God.
The third group is Christ's own disciples. Our text is pretty clearly on how far they had come in their understanding of Jesus. By the time of this incident out on the sea they had already seen Him turn water into wine. They watched Him heal the sick and crippled. He had even displayed His power over evil spirits as He cast them out. Which raises a question: When the demons left the person, they often cried out that Jesus was "The Holy One of God." The disciples heard this. So why, after the storm had been calmed, did they ask “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
Before we get carried away criticizing these men, let’s try to understand where they were coming from. Yes, they had seen Jesus perform all those miracles. But that's exactly what they expected of the Messiah. They had been told that the one to come would be like Moses and Elijah. These 2 men had indeed done many miracles in the presence of the Israelites. So it isn’t a surprise that the disciples saw Jesus in the same light and the same capacity as those highly honored men of God. But it became clear to them out on that stormy sea that they had underestimated who Jesus really was.
You know, God sure has a sense of humor when how He goes about getting our attention and strengthening our faith through testing. You may not think that a storm is a very humorous way of doing this but picture the scene and maybe it'll change your mind. Here's a group of men; many of whom grew up in, on, and around boats. Most of them were accomplished sailors. They had been through plenty of storms out on the Sea of Galilee. Knowing that, Jesus does the logical thing. He shows complete confidence in their skills by lying down and drifting off to sleep. Keep in mind, Jesus was a carpenter by trade.
Now, think about it. If you were in that boat when the storm hit would you have voted for waking up the carpenter or would you turn to the experienced sailors? But here's where the spiritual training of the disciples paid off. They too saw something very special about Jesus and they knew He was empowered by God. So actually, it was a pretty smart thing to go and wake up Jesus. However, the words they chose weren't too smart: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” But we all know how unintended words rush out of our mouths in an emergency. Anyway, Jesus awoke to address the problem. St. Matthew tells us that Jesus then did what any amateur boater knows you shouldn't do: He stood up in the boat.
In the Greek He speaks just two words to calm the sea, and it obeyed Him immediately. I'm reminded of how my Dad would tell us kids about my grandfather at the dinner table. He wouldn’t tolerate any idle chatter by his children. He would bang the table with his hand and sternly say in German, "Still jetzt!" Roughly translated: “Be still now!” That didn't mean you finished your conversation and things slowly got quiet. It meant immediate obedience and immediate silence. That's what happened when the Lord told the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Actually, a better translation would be, “Silence! Be still!”
Now these disciples began to see a glimpse of the bigger picture of who Jesus really is. They were awestruck by this display of power over nature for two reasons. To start with, of all the miracles they had witnessed this was the first one that directly affected them. It was their lives which were in danger, or at least they thought they were. This brought the reality of Christ's power to them personally. Second, they saw something very different in this miracle. Whenever Moses or Elijah performed a miracle involving nature, they had to first pray to the God who was the Creator of it. Jesus didn’t have to do that. That's why the disciples said in astonishment, "Even the wind and the sea obey Him!" Why didn't Jesus have to pray before this miracle? The answer is that He was, and is, the very same God who created this world. He therefore had the authority to issue a command to the things He had created, and they must obey. Suddenly the light bulbs began turning on in the heads of those disciples.
It’s obvious that the disciples finally realized the true answer to their question of "Who is this?" about Jesus. Remember how Peter responds later on when Jesus asks him "Who do you say that I am?" He said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Peter, and all the disciples, had gotten that far and yet they hadn't grasped the whole truth. Even after Christ died and rose, His followers still didn't totally see who Jesus really was. They had progressed, but it wasn't until Pentecost that they finally saw the bigger picture. It was then that they got the answer to their question of "Who is this?" And it was revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. That fuller knowledge of who Jesus was and what He had done was the fuel which launched the Christian Church into all the world.
So, how does all this affect you and me today? Well, as I said at the beginning, we also need to be asking ourselves the question "Who is this?" when it comes to Jesus Christ. Do you see yourself falling into the thinking of any of the three groups we looked at? You might want to say that you don't fit into the first two groups. But ask yourself, "Do I try to limit Jesus with my puny understanding of Him?" What about when we treat God like a Sugar Daddy or an ATM machine? In essence we're saying "God, I expect you to act a certain way and give me whatever I want whenever I want it." We may not say it in those exact words but that's really what we mean. When the storms of life hit and something bad happens or we have a great need, we sometimes sound like the disciples when they said, "Lord, don't you care about us?" Like when people say, "How can a loving God allow this or that to happen?" We've set up a series of manmade hoops that we expect God to jump through to prove that He really is God. His response to this foolish thinking is the same as what Jesus said in that boat, "Peace! Be still!" And then He says, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” This happens regularly in the lives of believers. I’ve witnessed this and experienced it myself many, many times as both young and old, members and friends, get a shocking diagnosis of cancer or some terminal illness. Right away my mind cries out, "Lord, don't you care? Why should this happen to such a young person or a such a nice person?" And God’s loving response is: "Be still, and let me be God. Trust in me by the gift of faith that I've given to you."
Christian friends, God certainly wants us to learn more and more about Him. Why else would He send His Son to earth and reveal Himself through the life and death of Jesus? But as we learn and understand more about Him, be careful not to place barriers around that growing knowledge. We mustn't allow ourselves to stop asking "Who is this?" about Jesus. Not with doubt but by faith. As long as we’re asking that question, we can be sure that we aren't closing our minds to God and making up our own ideas about who He is. Then our faith will be able to grow. Then we will be able to see Jesus for who He really is and that is our Lord who can calm the storms of trouble in our lives and our Savior from sin, death, and damnation. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!