Who Is This? Re-embracing a Jesus Who Can Do Anything
May 1, 2010 5:30 AM -0500
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Outline
Notes
Bibliography
Most Christians say they believe that Jesus can do anything, but how often do we fail to live like Jesus can do anything? Discover again a Jesus who can do anything, and dare to dream what He can and will do in and through you as a result!
Thesis: We have a tendency to doubt Jesus, but He has absolutely unlimited power to do anything as the Son of God.
Objective: Call believers to trust Jesus to have the power to meet our needs and enable us for astounding effectiveness.
- We have a tendency to doubt Jesus (35-39).
- We may be obedient in the little stuff (“Let us go over to the other side” (35); It's easy to be obedient when the command is something we trust ourselves to be able to accomplish.).
- We may be obedient in the popular stuff (“There were also other boats with him” (36); It's easy to be obedient when there are others who are out there with us, doing the same thing.).
- Storms will come (“A furious squall came up” (37); In life, it is pretty much inevitable that, eventually, it will get difficult to continue. Finances will get short, family will be strained, disaster will strike, and more, to the point that we are certainly overwhelmed.).
- Jesus is not overwhelmed (“Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion” (38); So often, in these difficult moments, it appears that Jesus is sleeping at the helm, but in reality, it's just that He's waiting for us to let him take control. He's never overwhelmed by the storms of this life.).
- We think He is (“Teacher, don't you care if we drown?” (38); Even though we have that knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, absolutely omnipotent, we nevertheless have a tendency, in the midst of crisis, to assume that He's letting us fail. Or, perhaps more critically, we assume that He's failing us.).
- Jesus is omnipotent (39).
- He answers us (“He got up;” Jesus responded when the disciples call, and He responds when we call, truly and earnestly relying on Him.).
- He commands creation (“rebuked the wind and said to the waves...;” Jesus is willing to command the wind and the waves – and all the rest of creation – in response to our call.).
- Creation responds (“Then the wind died down...;” It's one thing to tell the wind and waves what to do; it's something entirely different when they actually do it. When Jesus commands, the whole of creation responds. He can do anything, far more than we ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). The trick is, we have to ask!).
- Jesus wants our faith (40-41).
- He's hurt when we doubt (40; In Jesus' questions, you can hear more than a touch of pain. He wanted desperately for His disciples to trust Him, and He wants desperately for us to do the same.).
- He wants to earn our reverence (“They were terrified” (41); Jesus wants to be far more than just some quaint name that we throw around. He wants to be our real, living God.).
- He wants us to believe (“Who is this?...” (41); Jesus was looking for his disciples, finally, to believe that He was indeed the Son of (i.e., same as) God and to start acting that way.).
Ryrie
- (35) Jesus was headed to the east side of the lake.
- (37) "Violent storms often occurred because the valleys descending to the lake (700 ft below sea level) acted like wind tunnels."
- (40) "The disciples were rebuked for being afraid (lit., cowardly)."
- (41) "The word terrified refers to reverential, respectful awe for the Lord. In exclaiming, 'Who is this?,' though not yet comprehending fully, they acknowledged that He was greater than they thought."
Henry
- Notice that Jesus was resolved to go to the far side of the lake, where he knew he had work to do, even though storms were frequent on the lake toward evening.
- "Those that hope for a happiness in Christ, must be willing to take their lot with him, and run the same risks that he runs."
- "One may boldly and cheerfully put to sea in Christ's company, yea though we foresee a storm."
- "The ship that has Christ in it, though it may be tossed, cannot sink."
- "When Christ seems as if he slept in a storm, he is awaked by the prayers of his people; when we know not what to do, our eye must be to him; we may be at our wits' end, but not at our faith's end, while we have such a Saviour to go to."
- Henry notes the harshness of the disciples' plea to Jesus and says, "I know no excuse for it, but the great familiarity which he was pleased to admit them into, and the freedom he allowed them; and the present distress they were in, which put them into such a fright, that they knew not what they said."
- "They do Christ a deal of wrong, who suspect him to be careless of his people in distress. The matter is not so; he is not willing that any should perish, much less any of his little ones."
- "When without are fightings, and within are fears, and the spirits are in a tumult, Christ can create the fruit of the lips, peace."
- (41) terrified is actually "They feared a great fear"
Reflecting God
- (35-41) "Although miracles are hard for modern man to accept, the NT makes it clear that Jesus is Lord not only over his church but also over all creation."
- (35) "Jesus left the territory of Galilee to go to the region of the Gerasenes."
- (37) "Situated in a basin surrounded by mountains, the Sea of Galilee is particularly susceptible to sudden, violent storms. Cool air from the Mediterranean is drawn down through the narrow mountain passes and clashes with the hot, humid air lying over the lake."
- (38) "The picture of Jesus, exhausted and asleep on the cushion customarily kept under the coxswain's seat, is characteristic of Mark's human touch."
- (41) "In view of Jesus had just done, the only answer to [the disciples'] rhetorical question [of 'Who is this?'] was: He is the very Son of God! God's presence, as well as his power, was demonstrated. Mark indicates his answer to this question in the opening line of his Gospel. By such miracles Jesus sought to establish and increase his disciples' faith in his deity."
- Ryrie, Charles C. Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.
- Henry, Matthew. Commentary on the Whole Bible. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc6.Jam.iv.html
- Barker, Kenneth, ed. Reflecting God Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.