Who Do You Say That I Am? "The Lord of Creation"

Can I just say for the record, I hate snow. I hate it.

I'm not. I don't even think Jesus would like snow. I don't. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know.

Hey. Over the last few weeks, we've been walking through the Gospel of Mark and we have put these very specific lenses on to read the story that's in front of us. We're trying to see who Jesus really is. And this matters immensely to us because Jesus is going to ask this question. We're going to get into this next week.

Who do you say that I am? And what we do with Jesus is the most significant thing, the most significant decision that we will make in our lives. Who do you say that I am? And the goal of this study is more than just familiarity and being able to regurgitate scripture and data, but it's to look at how he lived and how he spoke and how he treated people and what motivated his heart and with what authority and power he did things. All so that we can move beyond just what we think about Jesus and we can decide what it is that we actually believe about Jesus.

Because what we actually believe about Jesus at the end of the day changes how we live, how we make decisions on a daily basis. From the opening lines of the Book of Mark, he leaves no doubt where he stands. He believes that Jesus is exactly who he claims to be. The long awaited Messiah proclaimed in the Old Testament. A very different kind of king with a radically new kind of kingdom that he's ushering in.

He is the one who has come to rescue people from sin and from death and restore them to peace with and in the Father. Through Mark, we've seen that Jesus is the Son of God. He is deity. He is co equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and he is co eternal with them. We've seen him as a disciple maker.

But he doesn't just make disciples then. He calls us, his disciples to be disciple makers too. We've seen him as a healer with power and authority over demons, every kind of sickness and even sin itself. A healer who heals, sometimes physically and always spiritually. We've seen him as an incredible teacher, one who speaks in parables so that he can reveal those hardened hearts and so that we can be rewarded when we lean in and ask questions with curiosity.

And he can answer more and more. And today we'll look at two incredible stories in the Book of Mark that show us that beyond the power to heal and beyond the power to Forgive and save. He even has power over creation, nature. In both of these stories, Jesus calms a storm. Each of them is an impressive show of power, but they also uncover another layer of his identity and raise up some deep questions for us to be asking, too.

And like we said two weeks ago, he wants us to lean in with these questions that might even feel like he might be ashamed of us to ask. And he wants us to ask them because he rewards that curiosity. But before we dive in, let's pray.

Father Jesus, Holy Spirit, we ask for you to teach us today through your word. Please use me as your mouthpiece to speak your message to your people and till up the soil in our hearts and our minds and our ears to make us receptive. And I pray that you will cause these seeds to germinate into fruit that's eternal in Jesus name. Amen.

Story 1 Mark 4, starting in verse 35. That day when evening came, he said, Jesus said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side. He meant the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along. Just as he was in the boat.

There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, teacher, don't you care if we drown? He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, quiet, be still.

Then the wind died down and it was absolutely calm or completely calm. He said to his disciples, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each other, who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him.

So Mark opens this section with that day when evening came. What day? We're talking about the same day that we talked about two weeks ago, where Jesus spent all this time speaking and teaching in parables, spent all this time with the people, and then spent a bunch of time with his disciples as they asked lots of questions. And he explained all of it to them. And it says, they took Jesus along just as he was.

That's a curious phrase, but when you look at the Greek, I think it clears the whole thing up. It just says, jesus was already in the boat. Now, Mark doesn't tell us all of this explicitly, but I think it makes a lot of sense that Jesus just was like, hey, boys, it has been a long day. How about we get away from the crowds? We go to the other side of the lake, and we'll just get Some rest.

I'm going to head over. Meet me at the boat. And by the time they get back, he's asleep because he's exhausted, because he's in a human body that needs rest. And so he falls asleep. And they get in the boat and take him just as he is sleeping.

I think that's what that means. And they don't wake him up. They head over. So they head out onto the lake with Jesus asleep in the boat. And this crazy storm comes.

Now, the first question I have is, if some of these guys are professional fishermen and they spend every day out on this lake, don't you think they'd be like, looks like a storm coming to me, boys. Maybe we shouldn't go out on the. You know, like it's like a bad movie or something. Like they should know. Well, I am certainly not a weather expert.

No surprise there. But I have read that the Sea of Galilee still today is known. It's notorious for fast forming, unexpected storms. The Sea of Galilee is actually a freshwater lake. It's the lowest lying lake in the entire world.

It sits 700ft below sea level, and then surrounding it on all sides are mountains and cliffs that rise 2 to 3,000ft up all, all the way around. And so I guess what happens. I'm explaining this like I actually know what I'm talking about. I guess what happens is the cold air from the higher elevations, it falls down and rushes down the hills and it collides with warm air on top of the water. And immediately these storms can pop up and they go from a calm, nice day to a storm where the waves are now 6 to 12ft high.

This is a big storm.

Mark describes this storm as a furious squall. He uses the Greek word for a big storm. And then he adds a modifier on top of it, another word. It's the word where we get our word, mega. And he wants us to understand this is a big, big storm.

So it's a mega, big storm. File that away because we'll come back to it. And Jesus is asleep. But things get bad. They get bad enough that these experienced fishermen are legitimately scared for their lives.

Mark says the boat is being swamped. It's getting filled up with water. And so they wake Jesus up and they say, I'm sure, very calmly, teacher, do you not care if we drown now? I imagine it's more like Jesus, what the heck, man? We're dying over here.

You do something. What's wrong with you? How could you sleep right now? Waa. Right this is what's going on.

So Jesus gets up, it says he rebukes the wind and waves, which is the same word that is used to describe the way that he rebukes and casts out demons and evil spirits. I find that interesting because wind and waves aren't beings, they're not spiritual beings, they're not physical beings. And yet he speaks to these inanimate things and they become completely calm again. Mark uses that word, mega. He said it was a mega storm.

And then Jesus speaks and now it is mega calm. He says it's mega calm, complete chaos to immediate peace. It's not like the storm left as quickly as it showed up. Jesus turned it off by speaking. This is without question a miracle.

And as he speaks and commands the wind and the waves and they obey him, I cannot help but hear this little echo from creation where Jesus was there speaking land and water and wind and weather into being. And all of creation still knows his voice and must obey. But then Jesus turns to the disciples and he asks, why are you so afraid? The real language is there, is much stronger. It's basically, why are you such cowards?

And he asks, do you still have no faith? Nice warm, blue eyed, feathered haired Jesus, do you still have no faith? More literally, after everything you've seen, has your faith still not arrived? Has it not grown? And notice how the disciples respond to this.

They don't cheer, they don't celebrate. They're not like high fiving going, Jesus, that was awesome, thank you. They're terrified. Not of the storm, they're terrified of Jesus. These guys have watched him heal the sick, they've seen him cast out demons, they have heard him teach with incredible authority and all of that they can handle.

But now they're looking at each other and saying, wait a second. He speaks in the wind and waves obey. What kind of power are we hanging out with here? And then in true Mark fashion, he leaves everything untied, leaves us with all of our questions and he says the end and just moves on. And lots of things happen in chapters five and six.

We're going to skip ahead of a lot of these to the end of chapter six when we get the second story of Jesus calming a storm. And between these two stories, Jesus casts out more demons, he raises a little girl from the dead, he does lots of preaching, he heals many others, and then he sends out his disciples two by two to preach. And he gives them power and authority to heal and cast out demons. Like, this is a good time. That's awesome.

So somewhere in the middle of all this, the disciples find out. They get message that Jesus cousin John the Baptist, has been killed by King Herod. And I imagine for the disciples as they go and they bury his body and they come back to find Jesus to tell him. There's this massive mix of emotions, like, I don't know how long it was that they had gone out, but a couple weeks. These have been the most incredible weeks of their lives.

And yet they know they've got to go tell Jesus that John is dead. And so they got this mix of excitement and grief.

And all this sets the stage for what comes next. Verse 31. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat. That's Jesus and his disciples. Jesus said to them, come with me by yourselves to a quiet place in and get some rest.

So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. And so they're exhausted, they're hungry, they are grieving the loss of John the Baptist. They hop in a boat to head to the other side of the lake again to get away from these people. But apparently people have caught wind of where they're going and they run ahead of him by foot to get there. Now, when you look at a map of the lake, it's tall and skinny, and the widest point at the top is only eight miles across.

And so they were on the northwest end of the lake and they were headed somewhere over to the northeast end of the lake. And so you can actually take a boat or you could go by foot north across the coastline to get there as well. And that's what people do. And they're running along and they're like, jesus coming. Jesus is coming.

Jesus is coming. And so they head over there and they're just going for a quiet afternoon on the lakeside. And as they pull up, more than 5,000 people are already there waiting.

You've been there. It's been a long week and it's Monday. You're exhausted. You just want to sit down and close your eyes for a minute. And then the doorbell rings.

And then your boss calls, and then the baby needs a diaper changed. And then your wife asks when you're going to fix that thing. And then the kids need dinner. Now, most of the time, I either get super grumpy and whiny or. Or I'm just like, I can't no more.

I can't do it. I'm too tired. But as Jesus gets out of the boat, he sees this huge group of people There. And even in his exhaustion, even in his grief, even in his hunger, Mark says he has compassion on them because they're like sheep without a shepherd. And I love this about Jesus.

He has such compassion on them that he sets his own desires down and he pours himself out even more. And even more. He teaches, he heals. He performs the famous miracle of feeding over 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish from a kid's packed lunch. And after all this, the people are so excited about Jesus and what he's done and who he is and what he's saying that John tells us they want to take him by for force and make him the King of Israel.

Well, Jesus is not interested in this. This is not on his agenda. And most commentators say that what he does next is because he recognizes that the disciples are going to have a high tendency to want this too. Oh, you get to be the king and we get to be your people. That sounds awesome.

Let's do that, Jesus. And he makes them leave. Verse 45 immediately. Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

So Jesus sends the disciples off on their own. He says, guys, we'll catch up later at Bethsaida. And here's what happens next. Verse 47. Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake and Jesus was alone on land.

He saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn, he went out to them walking on the lake. I love that it's so chill, comma, walking on the lake. No big deal, right, comma, walking on the lake. Can you imagine that?

He was about to pass by them. But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, take courage. It is I don't be afraid.

Then he climbed into the boat with them and the wind died down. They were completely amazed. I imagine so. For they had not understood about the loaves. The loaves.

Their hearts were hardened. So many questions, so many things to point out. First, I want us to notice that Jesus sends the disciples ahead so that he can go spend time alone with his father. He's tired, he's grieving, he's hungry. And in the middle of his exhaustion and stress, he has this deep need to go to the source of his strength and comfort.

And the Bible shows us again and again and again. This is not a one off. This is a pattern in Jesus life. It's a rhythm for him. And it's worth saying out loud.

If Jesus, the perfect son of God, co creator of the world, if he regularly needed quiet time with the Father, unhurried to time with the Father, then surely we need that too. And notice how long this quiet time with the Father was. Most commentators agree that he probably fed the 5,000 somewhere at 4 to 6pm in the afternoon. And then not long after that, he sends the disciples away. And then by evening, Jesus is alone on the mountainside.

And then Mark tells us that he goes out to the disciples. Disciples shortly before dawn. The ESV translation says this is the fourth watch of the night, which is between 3am and 6am this means Jesus likely spent eight to 12 hours in solitude with the Father. And we struggle after 2:47 to stay focused in prayer, don't we? You don't.

I do. And again, if Jesus felt this deep need to make that kind of space for extended intentional time with the Father, and we want to be like him because we are his disciples, then this is a rhythm worth paying attention to and learning from. And maybe if we're exhausted or grieving or in distress or we feel like all we do is pour ourselves out for everyone else, the answer isn't to check out and distract ourselves with Netflix or a drink or vacation. It's to spend time with the Father. But there's something else happening at the same time.

Jesus is spending time with the Father. This entire stretch of time, the disciples are out on the lake, rowing against the wind, straining at the oars. That's a lot of rowing. That's a lot of exhaustion. I imagine they are frustrated and their arms are on fire.

And the whole point of going to the other side was to get rest. And now they're going back to the other, other side. And this is what they have to deal with. Can you imagine the exhaustion and frustration? And maybe you noticed what Mark said from where Jesus is on the mountainside?

He sees them. He sees them struggling. He sees them stuck in the middle of the lake. He sees them going nowhere. And for hours and hours he does nothing.

He does nothing. And then shortly before dawn, Jesus finally goes out to them. Surely this is supposed to put the question in our minds that we're not supposed to skip over. Why did he wait?

Why did he wait when he can so clearly fix their situation? Why does he just watch?

They have given their lives to follow him. They have given up their Livelihood. They are following him. They're doing everything that he's told them to do. Doesn't he care?

And even worse than that, he's the one that sent them out there. And whether he knew a storm was coming or he didn't know a storm was coming, doesn't he have some sort of felt responsibility for the people that he sent out onto the lake as they're dealing with this and struggling? Doesn't he feel some sort of guilt? Guilt? Why does he wait?

And Mark's made it abundantly clear already that Jesus is powerful. We've watched him feed thousands. We've watched him calm a storm already. He had such compassion on these people. It doesn't make any sense that it's because he's unable to help them or because he doesn't have enough compassion.

That's who he is.

Why did he wait? I think he intentionally waited to let them struggle. He lets them row and row and row and row until they are spent. Not because he enjoys watching them, but because he knows what's coming.

He knows what they don't know, which is in just a short time, following him is going to cost them everything, even their lives. He knows. And there's something they can't understand until they reach the end of their own trying and effort. No amount of rowing harder will ever be enough.

What they need most isn't stronger resolve, isn't to dig in, but it's a deeper confidence in who he is. And so he waits on purpose.

And I think if we're honest, we can either look back or maybe we're living right now in a moment where we're frustrated that God's not stepping in when he could so clearly solve this.

Don't you even care if we drown, God?

Don't you even care? And we're rowing and we're praying and we're rowing and we're working and we're rowing and we're squeezing our faith and we're trying in every way to trust harder. And still nothing is changing. Don't you even care if we drown now by God's grace? Some of us can look back and we can see some of these moments in our lives that they were not moments of abandonment.

They were moments of formation. Formation that came not because the storm disappeared, not because the situation suddenly improved, but because of our understanding of who God is deepened because we stopped trusting in our ability to row harder. And we learned, often painfully, that faith isn't built when God flexes His muscles and proves to us how powerful he is it's learned when we understand who he is while the wind is still raging.

And that's why he waits.

Not because he's distant, not because he's indifferent, not because he's unloving, not because he's not powerful enough to help, but because he's forming in us a faith that can stand when our effort runs out and the wind is still blowing.

Which leads us to why Mark is really what Mark is really showing us here. This story isn't ultimately about the storm. It isn't even about the disciples. It's about who Jesus is and how he reveals himself when our strength is gone.

And actually, how he shows up matters just as much as when he shows up in this story. Now, besides Jesus miraculously walking on the water, which is already incredible enough, there are at least two significant things just kind of hiding under the surface that we can miss if we're not paying attention. First, Mark tells us that Jesus was about to pass by them. That seems odd to me. Matthew and John tell this story as well, and they tell it like Jesus just was headed toward them as Jesus was approaching the boat as he came near them.

So what's happening? Because Mark is the only one that includes this detail. And at first glance, it sounds strange or contradictory, like, which is it? Why would Jesus be about to pass by them? This doesn't make sense.

But I don't think this phrase is accidental and I don't think it's casual. In the Old Testament, passing by is the language used when God reveals himself. So when Moses asks, can I see your glory, God? And he says, hide yourself in this rock and I will pass by you. He does the same thing with Elijah.

He passes by him. So I don't think Mark is saying Jesus almost missed the boat. I think he's echoing this Old Testament imagery to show us that Jesus is revealing himself like God the Father, like Yahweh himself did with Moses and Elijah. Now, this one detail might not sound like enough. It might sound like a bit of a stretch to get to that conclusion.

But. But combined with this second detail and one more thing that we're going to talk about in a minute, I think it makes a compelling package that shows us that Jesus isn't just coming to rescue them, he's coming to reveal more of himself to them. The second detail is what Jesus says when he speaks to them. As they're panicking, they think they're seeing a ghost. Jesus calls out, take courage.

It is I. Don't be afraid. And we read that we're like, hey, guys, no big deal. It's just me. Chill.

But in the original language, what he says is, ego ami. I am.

I am. That's the name that God gave to Moses. When Moses said, when I go to ask Pharaoh to release the people, who do I tell him sent me. And he says, you tell them I am sent you. This is no happenstance.

And while the disciples still don't grasp all of this in the moment for sure, I think Mark wants us to see it. This moment is about far more than rescue. In fact, it never says the disciples needed rescued.

In fact, they are not in danger. No description of the boat filling up with water. This time, they're not afraid of the storm. They're afraid of him. And notice too, that Jesus reveals his identity before the storm stops.

The wind is still blowing. The boat is still rocking. The exhaustion and the noise are all still there. And in the middle of it, Jesus says, I am so don't be afraid. And unlike last time, where he commands the wind and waves to stop, this time he just steps on the boat.

And his identity.

And his presence are all it takes for peace.

Mark closes this story by telling us that the disciples were completely amazed. I would imagine so. For they had no understanding about the loaves. Their hearts were hardened. What did the loaves have to do with him saving them from the storm?

Well, I don't think their hearts were hardened because of resistance. I think they were hardened because of incomprehension, because Jesus is far bigger than the categories and the containers that they could possibly put him in. The loaves weren't about food. They were a sign. Another echo.

Remember another time that God met people out in the wilderness and he provided a meal for them? Jesus is showing that he is that same God, the one who goes into the wilderness and provides bread, the shepherd king. And if they had understood that, maybe they would have understood the storm differently, too. But they compartmentalized the miracles instead of connecting them. And I think Mark wants us to see just how easy it is for us to miss the moments that God's revealing himself to us because the storm is loud and we're not paying attention.

Notice that both of these stories, they end without everything being neatly resolved for the disciples. In the first storm, they're left asking, who is this? And in the second storm, Mark tells us plainly, they still don't understand.

So what do we do with all of this? What does this mean for us today? Well, first, I think it reminds us that being a disciple of Jesus doesn't Mean having everything figured out about the Bible, about how God works, or even fully understanding who Jesus is. The disciples who lived with him didn't grasp it all the way. Discipleship is learning to trust him while our understanding catches up, believing that Jesus is always revealing more of himself beyond what we can comprehend and beyond the categories we're comfortable with.

And he's inviting us to follow him into those new places. Second, these stories challenge us. How we respond when the storm doesn't stop and our effort runs out. And our fatal flaw is the same as the disciples in this moment. They assume they're the main characters.

They're the ones suffering. They're the ones struggling. They're the ones in the middle of the storm, the ones the story revolves around. And when we read these stories, we tend to do the exact same thing. Place ourselves right there in the center of the story and interpret everything through our fear and our effort and our circumstances and our suffering.

Don't we, Jesus? Don't you even care if we drown? Don't you care that my marriage is hanging on by a thread right now and I'm not sure if he's coming back? Don't you care that my kid is sick in the hospital? Don't you care that Mom's in hospice?

Don't you care about my diagnosis, Jesus, I am drowning here. Don't you even care if we drown, Jesus?

And before we realize that, the story is quietly shifted and it's not about him, it's about us. It's about what we're going through. Our pain becomes the lens and our effort becomes the focus. It is all about us. But Mark keeps interrupting that instinct to pull us back to the center.

We are not the main character. The disciples are not the main character. The storm is not the main character. Our circumstances are not the main character. Jesus is the main character.

The point isn't just that Jesus can calm storms. And oh, can he calm storms. The point is who he is even when he doesn't calm the storm. And the invitation this week isn't to escape the storm or outwork it.

Maybe it isn't even to ask Jesus, don't you care if I drown?

It's to slow down long enough to ask God, could I be caught in this storm because you want to reveal something to me?

I don't like that question.

And yet this is exactly what Mark is showing us.

You know, in both stories, the disciples are caught in the storm because they obeyed Jesus.

Following him led them straight into the storm.

Jesus never promises that his presence his power or his identity will keep us from storms. What Mark shows us is something better, that Jesus can reveal himself to us in storms. And my experience is that often Jesus has far more to reveal to us about who he is in the storm than he ever does in the calm.

Now we're going to sing a song together that gives us language for living in this tension between faith and unanswered questions. As God seems to wait and watch while we struggle and while we suffer and while we row, and we row, and we row.

And if you're in the storm right now and you're feeling overwhelmed or exhausted or afraid, man, I want you to hear this. I don't know what he's doing and I don't know how long he'll wait.

But even when you can't see him, he can see you.

He sees you.

And my pastor's heart is just aching for all the stories I know. We're in this room and all the baggage and the wounds and the scars and the blood stained clothes from all the storms.

And Mark is showing us Jesus. He's right there. He's right there and he sees you. And who he is is enough.

Our prayer team is going to be on either side of the room. They'll be available to pray with you and for you. We invite you to come. Will you stand? We're going to sing and let's come and let's look for him to reveal more of himself to us.

This morning.

I want to read this from Isaiah 43. It's a promise.

It's a promise that God gave to his people in the middle of the storm. They are in captivity as slaves in Babylon, a pagan nation. They are in the storm and the wind is blowing and they are rowing and rowing and rowing and rowing and rowing. And he says this, but now this is what the Lord says. He who created you, Jacob, you put your name right there.

He who formed you. Israel. Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze. How, God, How?

For I am the lord your God. That's how. The holy one of israel, your savior. Let's sing.