Jesus the Storm Silencer

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. (Mark 4.39)

Have we ever invited Jesus into our lives, more fully into our present situation only to encounter an unexpected storm? With embarrassment we find ourselves pleading with Jesus to act on our behalf, the tempest raging in our life is too great for us. The disciples took Jesus with them into the boat, trained fishermen, professional boatsmen, and yet they rediscovered their human frailty and inability to handle the forces of nature.

We do not find ourselves literally in a boat with Jesus clinging for our lives, but we do encounter those cloudbursts in our souls where we desperately need Jesus the storm silencer to speak, “Peace! Be Still!” And He is there. He is ready, but are we? Knowing the response Jesus gives his disciples, questioning their faith, we avoid turning to Jesus until the last possible moment. We don’t want to hear those stinging words from Jesus, but the windstorm will only grow stronger and our escape from danger smaller.

Jesus understands our weakness. We invited Him into the boat, but He entered into it knowing the storm ahead. Jesus is not sleeping but awaiting us to cry out to Him. Jesus the storm silencer is waiting for us to seek His Lordship in our storm. Do we need to reach our breaking point before we will recognize that Jesus cares for us and is ready to calm our anxiety within His sovereignty? Jesus will speak peace into our souls even while we are still in the center of the sea, the middle of our situations.

Jesus, help me fix my eyes on you and abandon my pride that keeps me from experiencing your peace in my storms.

Jesus the Sower

The one sowing sows the word. (Mark 4.14)

Jesus, the mysterious parable pronouncer, didn’t fit people’s cultural image of the Messiah. He didn’t ride into Jerusalem on a warhorse with the sunlight shattering the sky. He didn’t rage against the Roman sympathizers or call for the oppressive Empire’s blood. Instead, He sat calmly on the rolling waves of the Sea of Galilee and told of a farmer who went out to sow seed.

Today, we would say this sower didn’t follow the best practices of the farmers almanac or engage in a way the 4H would recommend. He scattered the seed over generously beyond the bounds of his field. No wonder the religious leaders of Jesus’ time were furious. They carefully weighed out exactly ten percent of their spices, and here Jesus’ sower was lavishing seed on unworthy soil. Their stingy hearts rejected the incomprehensible generosity of God. What they saw as waste was Christ’s very definition of grace.

And what did the sower sow? What does this parable show us about Jesus? The sower sows the word. The sower sows the message, the good news of restored life, the gospel of the Kingdom. And Jesus is not selective where His Word goes or who receives it. He does not scatter the seed of His message only on the visibly ready soil. No, Jesus sends it far and wide, liberally and generously beyond the boundaries of the field.

Not only that, but Jesus the sower invites us to sow this good news everywhere with Him! He does not confine our witness to the walls of the corner church or the places we think are fertile soil. Jesus draws us to His side and shows us all the fields, hills and cliffs still waiting. He generously blesses us with His good news and invites us to see it multiply among all people.

Jesus, open my eyes to the landscape around me. Help me to sow generously among all peoples, even those I would refuse to share with, in all places, terrains and occasions.

Jesus the Parable Proclaimer

And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them (Mark 4.2)

We underestimate how confusing Jesus was during His earthly ministry. We almost begin to assume that because the crowds of thousands followed Him across deserts and up mountainsides they all responded to His message. We sanctify not only the humanity of Christ but also that of His audience. Besides those pesky Pharisees and doubting Sadducees surely everyone in Jesus' audience was fully conscious that they were meeting with God Himself... but such was not the case. They came for healing, for release, for mystical meals and divine wonders, but many of them went no further than witnessing Jesus' supremacy as a spectator sport.

Fully aware of this Jesus placed His words of truth into parables, truth-filled stories and illustrations to confound the proud and ignite the humble, to confuse the spectators and eternally free the searching. We take this reality for granted with our generations of commentary and easy access to information. At times even the closest disciples didn't understand what Jesus was saying. It should be no shock to us then that Jesus will speak to us today through parables. Jesus the parable pronouncer will use the adventures of our own lives, the unusual experiences of our daily existence.

Are we listening? In the pressing crowds around Jesus are we there to reap some magical advantage, to demystify Jesus' divinity with doubt, or to experience the presence of God with us? Jesus is speaking. He is proclaiming His truth in the mundane and miraculous of our biographies. Are we listening?

Jesus, give me ears to hear and eyes to see the Word you are pronouncing in my life.