Would You Get Into a Boat With Jesus?

A story that begins in Mark Chapter 4 comes at the end of a long day of preaching. Jesus has spent the day teaching a large crowd by the sea. We pick up the story in verse 35.

On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself 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 got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” – Mark 4:35-41 (NASB)

The disciples get into the boat and Jesus promptly goes to sleep. He’s exhausted. The winds pick up and a storm threatens. The disciples wake him in an panic. Jesus speaks to the wind and the waves and they are instantly calm. Then Jesus rebukes them for having no faith. The disciples are amazed that He has so much power over the storm.

If they had been listening they would have saved themselves a lot of stress. They had been sitting under the teachings of Jesus for a while and he had explained the parables to them. They knew they could trust him.

But they missed what he said in verse 35. “He told them, “let’s cross over to the other side.”  He didn’t say, “let’s go out into the middle of the sea and be drowned by a storm.” What he told them was that they would arrive safely.

Like the disciples, we often miss the promises Jesus makes to us. If we would just listen, we would know that the safest place in the world is in a boat with Jesus, even if it appears He is asleep in the stern in the middle of a storm.

Why? Because He has already told us we will make it to the other side.