13 May 5/17/26 Mark 4:35-41 “Arhhh…There Be Monsters!”
5/17/26 Mark 4:35-41 “Arhhh…There Be Monsters!”
I think that we live in quite a world today. When I was a kid, we just had gotten electricity. We got a TV shortly before I started school. That was a real treat. We got maybe two stations and they were not even from this country. All school work was done the old way where you had to show all your work. There were no computers or calculators. Our phone was mounted on the wall and had a crank, not even a dial. There are many other things that I could tell you about but I hope you get the idea. I am old. We worked hard on the farm. We probably had to walk to school and it was uphill both ways. My dad would watch the barometer to tell what the weather would be like for that day. The funny part about it is that he was just as accurate as our modern weather forecasters. However, the storms of life are a different matter.
Life wasn’t and isn’t easy and lots of things demand our attention. This is where we are in this today’s reading. Let’s see if we can see our way clear of any storm that may come up without being afraid.
Do you remember a few years ago when a series of movies called, “Pirates of the Caribbean” came out? They were a blockbuster series for about 2-3 years about Captain Jack Sparrow and his band of reckless pirates. I enjoyed these movies just because of the escape factor. There was not much about these movies that was real. Anyway, in one of these movies, the evil captain of the “Black Pearl” said this to another character: “Arhhh…there be monsters!” I don’t know what this meant in the movie but I would guess that it was for them to be afraid of monsters.
According to Jeff Strite, this line has been around for years. There is an old mariner’s chart or map from the year 1525 that explains this. The chart is of the North American coastline. It was drawn from descriptions of sailors who had been in the area. It included where there were good harbors and where there might be hidden reefs and dangers. Then there were strange places on this map that were blank. In the blank spaces were these words; Here be giants. Here be fiery scorpions. Here be dragons. In other words, ‘there be monsters.’ We have always had a fear of the unknown. Sometimes it’s a healthy fear and sometimes it’s irrational.
This passage has been preached many times because it’s very important. So let’s set it up a little. First of all, we know from before that the crowds have been following Jesus. He can’t get a minute to Himself and He is tired as its evening. To put this in terms of how John might put it, the darkness is coming. So He tells the disciples that they should go to the other side of the lake or the Sea of Galilee. Remember that some of the disciples were seasoned fishermen. They knew their way around on this lake and much of their fishing was done at night. So far nothing is that big a deal.
Most of the time we read this and think of only Jesus in the boat with the disciples but the Scripture tells us that there were other boats that joined them. This had to be like a modern day rock n roll star scene where the stars are mobbed where ever they go. Jesus left the crowds behind except for those who had a boat. These followers chased Jesus in their own boats. It doesn’t tell us how many there were but it could have been a flotilla of groupies!
Suddenly a furious storm comes up. The Sea of Galilee was prone to storms like this because of the surrounding mountains, heat and cold and several other factors. I would guess that the disciples had seen many of these quick storms but this one was particularly bad. Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat and the waves are breaking over the front. The boat is being swamped and everyone is in danger of losing their lives. Or are they?
This terrible storm is all over them and Jesus is still asleep in the back of the boat. One thing that experts like to do is inject their own bias into a narrative like this. There are different ways you can interpret this but I’m going to give you what really happened. Are you ready for this revelation? Everywhere Jesus went, He was mobbed. Yet He continued to preach and teach. He healed and helped all people He met. The reason He didn’t wake up in this storm is because (are you ready for this) He was so tired. Because He was human. I hope that makes sense.
Ok, enough fooling around. The disciples wake Jesus up by saying, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” At this point they had been traveling with Jesus and they knew some of the things that He was capable of doing. The water is coming over the top of them and these seasoned men were in fear for their lives. Basically they cry out to Jesus, “Don’t you care? Don’t you even care about us?” The problem the disciples are having here is that their focus is on the wrong place. They are focused on themselves, not Jesus. This may sound a little harsh but that is the first thing happening here.
We need to remember that storms like this will come in life. You cannot live life without storms. We have storms of unemployment. We have storms of illness and bad health. We have storms of divorce and broken marriages. We have storms of too much rain and poor crops. You name it and there has been a storm. One of the things that happen when we are in the midst of storms is that we don’t notice that others are also in storms. Everyone has storms. When you are in the midst of illness, you don’t notice that your neighbor is not working. When you are broken by family crisis, you don’t notice a good friend is hungry, that they don’t have enough food. When we are in a crisis like this we are just like the disciples. Our focus is in the wrong place.
People, Jesus has never promised that we would never have storms in life. As a matter of fact He tells us just the opposite, there will be storms. He has never said that He would solve any of your problems for you. He never said He would heal you, feed you or clothe you. His promise has always been that He will be with you. He will never leave you. This is where we get mixed up.
You say that you have been praying and God doesn’t answer. Or you might think that God is far away from you. There is absolutely no truth to these types of statements. The problem lies in you. You are looking for God to solve all your problems. The next time this happens to you and it happens to all of us, I want you to change your thinking. Praise God for being with you in these hard times. Look to Him for comfort in hard times. When you take your eyes off yourself and put them upon God, things will change. Try this next time. Jesus cares about you deeply. To say otherwise is just to fool ourselves into a pity party. Jesus cares and loves you more than you will ever understand.
As we move to the 2nd question, notice what He tells the wind. “Quiet! Be still!” Then the storm instantly went away. If anyone knows how water works in the sea or large lake, then you know that when a storm suddenly calms and goes away, it takes bit before the waves settle down. But that isn’t the case here. Instantly the sea was calm.
Then He asks the disciples, “Why are you so afraid?” Granted, they hadn’t been together for a real long time at this point but they should have come to realize who Jesus was. So far the disciples had played along with Jesus. They understood a little bit about Him. This question is 2 fold. Why are they so scared when they have God right with them and why are they so afraid to grasp and follow the God of the universe?
I’m going to by-pass the first part of this because it is only human to be afraid in situations where we might die or something very bad might happen. It’s a defense mechanism that kicks in. However, our best defense is trusting in Jesus. The maker of the universe is with you at all times. The better question might be this “Why are you so afraid to face life, when you always have Jesus right with you?” We have been shown over and over just who Jesus is. We all know exactly what God can do as seen by this story. Let me rephrase that. There is nothing that God cannot do except something that is evil. Yet I get the feeling that most of the time our faith is nothing more than lukewarm at best. Why is it that you are afraid to follow?
I know that God will talk to you and tell you to do something to get out of whatever problem you have. You have to listen for His voice and obey when He does talk to you. God does work spontaneous miracles where He just does something and it is done. However, most of the time, He will work through you or someone else. He is looking for obedience. What happens most of the time is that you think you are strong enough or good enough to fix it yourself. Guess what? You aren’t even close.
If you are trained in the ways of God, then you don’t even have to skip a beat when a crisis comes. You are always in prayer with God. You know what He feels like. You can just do what He tells you without even thinking. If you can’t do this, then you need to work on your prayer time a little more. We aren’t even close to being strong enough to withstand much of anything by ourselves. Out here in a farming community, we should all be able to see this a little easier than our brothers and sisters in urban areas. But then again, they can see urban things that we cannot.
Now this doesn’t mean that you can never be afraid. Jesus asks, “Why are you so afraid?” This is the type of fear that paralyzes us. This is the type of fear that makes us do irrational things. We need to always have a little fear because we were made that way. Fear can protect us but too much isn’t good for us. I have a little fear every week when I get up here and preach. However, I have a whole lot more trust in Jesus than fear so that I can do these things without much problem. A little fear is good. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is good. But crisis fear is not. Trust in Jesus in all that you do and you will soon find that many fears will fade away.
The last question that Jesus asks is, “Do you still have no faith?” If you follow the progression here you will see that the disciples start out by insulting Jesus when they ask if He cares for them. What an insult! Then Jesus shows them that He cares by calming the storm. Right after He asks them these two soul searching questions. That is the question that I will ask you today, “Do you still have no faith?”
One of our problems is that we think Jesus is the great wish granter. He is the captain of making wishes come true. Well, He does this sometimes but not that often because our wishes are about us and not to further the Kingdom. I would say that this is the fault of our disposable society in which we live but it doesn’t matter. What matters is how we change this in ourselves. You have heard me say this many times. You have to read your Scriptures daily. You have to pray daily, at least. You have to worship every week. If you find yourself at a distance from God, try to remedy it by doing these 3 simple things.
The more we are in contact with Jesus, the less fear we will have. The more we worship our living God, the more confidence we will have. The more we learn about Jesus and all the wonderful things He did, the larger our faith will become. Jesus Christ never came to this world to make it complicated for us. He may be sleeping in the back of the boat but He is aware of all things that are happening around you. Don’t ever be afraid to go to Jesus with any problem whether large or small.
At the beginning of this sermon I told the story about an ancient map at the British Museum in London. Now I will tell you the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say. Before the map made its way to the British Museum, it was the prized possession of a British explorer by the name of Sir John Franklin in the 1800’s. But in spite of its value, Sir John Franklin was offended by the fear that the ancient mariners had. And so he scratched out the inscriptions. And in place of the phrases that had once read: * “Here be giants!”* “Here be fiery scorpions!”
* “Here be dragons.” He wrote these words across the map: “HERE IS GOD.”
People, here is God. Here is God. Here is God. He is even in these empty seats that are out there someplace. He is everywhere and everywhere looking for you to help with your gifts and all else that He has given you. Yes, there are storms and they are fierce. But I have never found one where God was not a great comfort and help. Things usually don’t turn out the way I want and that is ok. They turn out the way God wants. Remember that, especially when you are in the storm. With God you will see the far shore. You may end up in Seattle and not Los Angeles so be prepared to change course a little. Jesus has the course plotted for you. Trust in Him in all things and follow His lead. Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us. Let’s pray.
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