PEACE BE STILL

Hello and welcome to yet another time with the Lord in the pages of His word; today, we will be discussing the synod theme. It is my prayer that God will grant us the peace we desire as we go through His word. Let us consider our chosen text Mark 4:35 – 39

And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

The story of the storm and the disciples of Jesus Christ happens to be one of the popular stories recorded in the Synoptic Gospels which portrayed the sovereignty of Jesus Christ over nature; it is a story that is being shared by the three Synoptic Gospels with each laying hold on a significant truth about God’s power over creation. However, we will rely on Marks account of this story to discover the mind of Christ.

In V.35 – 36 we were made to understand that Jesus was with the crowd teaching them the gospel truth but at a point, He felt the need to move away from the crowd to be alone with His disciples at the other side. Matthew recorded that Jesus took the decision to go to the other side of the lake because there was a great crowd around Him Matt. 8:18, this decision is therefore made in other to separate Himself from the crowd; a decision that is better explained as an invitation or a call to move away from the crowd for a journey to the other side. Jesus’s call to His disciples was a decisive call which received a prompt response by the disciples. As Christians today, there is need for us to move away from the crowd to the other side with Jesus. It is unfortunate that the Church today is romancing the world, our core values as Christians seems to be forgotten simply because instead of moving away from the crowd, we have pitched our tents with the crowd, living our lives in accordance to the world standards and system at the expense of our relationship with Christ.

The disciples of Jesus who were with Jesus at the point of this call responded promptly to the call and followed Him without looking back. Today this prompt response which characterized the early Christians seems to be lost among us because we do not want to move away from the crowd; we are pleased to be associated with the crowd, unlike Jesus who will always call on the disciples to a separate place where the crowd will not disturb their relationship and communication. The crowd here may be our worldly friends who cannot add value to our Christian life, it could be our addiction to home videos, social media and stuffs like that; it could also be our businesses which has denied us quality time with God, Jesus Christ demanded that they move away from the crowd to a place where the crowd cannot follow them.

In moving away from the crowd, Jesus decided to take the Galilean sea as the escape route, this particular sea is said to be 696 feet (212m) below sea level hence resulting in violent downdraft and sudden storms (windstom). Jesus understood that the sea of Galilee is always saddled with this aggressive storm and the disciples being fishermen also knew this fact about the Galilean sea but that did not stop them from following Jesus on the journey of crossing over to the other side through the stormy sea of Galilee.  From this we see the determination of the disciples to follow Jesus across to a place where they can be alone. But to the crowd, none of them tried to follow them not even one, perhaps their reason for not wanting to follow Jesus and His disciples may be because of the raging nature of the route Jesus Christ has chosen for the journey. Some of us Christians will desire to follow Jesus but not when He is journeying through a stormy path. We will like to identify with Jesus when things a rosy and blooming but the moment we have the slightest glimpse of danger on the route, we tend to draw back and follow another storm free route not minding what is the will of God over the route we have chosen to ply. The disciples of Jesus were ever ready to ply the stormy sea of Galilee as long the master is with them, this unwavering obedience to the call of Jesus from the deciples gave birth to the whole incident of PEACE BE STILL. But thinking about the storm and the obedient disciples, one may want to ask why did Jesus Christ allow them to experience the raging storm after they undoubtedly believed and followed Him?

In our present journey with Christ, at times we tend to ask questions like why me? why did God allow this to fall on me? Why is my issue this serious? Why is God not responding to my issues? This and some other questions saddle our minds whenever we are faced with issues that tends to try our faith. Some people in the midst of these challenges disappoint God; I have heard the story of a man that claimed that he asked God to give him money but he did not and when he asked the devil, the devil gave him. Many a times, the storms that comes our way while we live our lives for Christ move us away from Christ instead of moving us to Christ.

The disciples even though they were obedient in following Jesus, were compelled to face the raging storm. This is an indication that being with Jesus does not prevent storms of life from coming your way. The Neo-Pentecostals who believed that the Pentecostal power has being made available to make them prosperous and free from every ill situation has heretically lead many into believing that by accepting Jesus Christ into your life, you will be completely free and exempted from afflictions. But the reality of life is that these afflictions don’t go like that so when these Christian who believed that accepting Jesus Christ into their lives is a means of escaping odd situations pass through these situations, they tend to believe or think that Christ has departed from them; so they always turn to the another way for a solution to their problem.

The storm which Jesus commanded to be still is as same as the various situations that we face today even though we have a part with Christ, thus it will be important to note here that being in a relationship with Jesus Christ is not an exemption from temptations or trials. John 16:33 I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” As long as we live in this world we are bound to face divers kinds of temptations but the questions should be, when we face these temptations, how do we address them? We will look closely at the story of Mark now in other to draw out lessons that will help us even as we conclude.

V. 37 – 38 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

When the Storm arose, the disciples called on Jesus immediately to come to their aid. In our present time, Christians sometimes in the midst of temptations and storms, forget that Jesus Christ is the only one that can quench our storm; sometimes instead of calling on Him, we call on the problem facing us, we call on our family members who may not offer any solution but instead make jest of the situation, we often try to proffer solutions to our problems ourselves and in trying to do so, we go against the will of God. The disciples understood that the master who called them to journey with Him on that route was very much present with them. We will be making the greatest mistake of our lives when we think that Jesus Christ is not with us in the very storms of this life that we face, we will also be making a mistake if we think that Christ is not aware of the problem that is currently facing us. The disciple thought that Jesus was not paying attention to the problem that they were facing when they asked him saying, carest thou not the we perish? But the good thing is that they were with Jesus and they also called on Him.

As we conclude, I want to ask you these questions,

Who are you with in the journey of life?

Who do you call in the time of trouble?

Have you decided to move away from the crowd to the other side with Jesus? The crowd may constitute your secret life that reminds you how miserable a sinner you are whenever you fall into that sinful act, it may be a habit that you have become addicted to which has place you in a pitiful situation, it could be your company of friends which has influenced and is still influencing your life negatively. Jesus is saying to you, leave the crowd and cone with me to the other side.

PEACE BE STILL is Jesus's response to man’s unending suffering here on earth hence when we remain in Christ in our earthly journey, He commands His peace to reign in our lives in the face of storms.

May we never be found outside of Christ so that when He commands His peace upon us, we will be connected to receive it. Amen