Who Then Is This?

Scripture Reading: Mark 4:35-41 (ESV)

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”

And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Brief Thoughts on the Sermon:

In this passage Jesus demonstrates a kind of authority that only God possesses. With a single word he commands the wind and the waves, and the storm immediately obeys him. The disciples begin to realize they are not simply following a teacher or prophet. They’re in the presence of someone with divine authority over creation itself.

At the same time, the story exposes something about the human heart. When the storm came, the disciples assumed that if Jesus truly cared about them, he would never allow them to face such danger. Their fear revealed how quickly we question both the power and the care of the Lord when life becomes frightening or uncertain.

Yet the message of this passage is not that following Jesus keeps us from storms. It is that the one who is with us in the boat is Lord over the storm. The same Jesus who calmed the sea is the one who ultimately demonstrated his love through the cross.