King of Nature

This morning, we come to a new section of the Gospel of Mark. For the next two chapters, Mark sets out to prove that Jesus is the Sovereign King of the Universe. To do that, he tells three extraordinary stories of Jesus’ ministry. In those stories, we find that Jesus is the king of nature, king over all authority, and king of life. By God’s providence, we come to these three proofs as we enter the Christmas season. In this season, as we reflect on the birth of the Messiah, these stories will help us in understanding better who this Messiah is.

    Today, we find that Jesus is the king of nature. This past Friday wrapped up the 29^th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP29, as it is called in the media. For 29 years, leaders from around the world, along with celebrities and lobbyists, have flown in their private jets to some metropolis or another to discuss measures that each country can adopt to reduce the carbon emissions of the world so that the average temperature of the world will not rise more than a couple of degrees in 100 years. Every year, we are told of the disastrous consequences of failing to come to an agreement on climate change, and every year, the commitments made by the nations involved are mediocre at best. We are told, if we fail to stop climate change, whole species will die, nations will be swallowed up by the oceans, hurricanes will destroy whole sections of Florida, and human abuses like racism and slavery and war will only flourish. This alarmism has become so routine, that no one even notices anymore. After all, the Associated Press reported, as early as 1989 that “entire nations would be wiped off the face of the Earth by 2000.” Twenty-Four years beyond that prediction, and people are still building beach front property in most nations. Modern man is delusional to think that we can somehow control the weather and climate, that we can steer away from world-ending disaster. Climate is not a set of nobs to turn at will. But, we are not alone in our assumptions about nature. Mankind has always sought to control and predict it. The ancient pagans offered sacrifices to the gods in hopes of a better yield for their crops. The Greek king, Agamemnon, infamously sacrificed his own daughter to the goddess Artemis in hopes of regaining favorable winds that his troops might sail to Troy. The sailors taking Jonah to Tarsus sacrificed to their various gods in hopes of calming the seas. Yet, for all of our strategies and studies and science and sacrifice, we cannot tame nature. We cannot, because we are not sovereign. We might be intelligent, but we do not completely understand this world. We might have strength, but we do not have the power to direct this world as we wish. The pagans were actually mostly right – if nature can be controlled, it would take a god. Or rather, it would take the God who made it. This leads us to Mark 4:35-41. From this passage, see two points: The Doubting Disciples and the Divine Messiah.

In verses 35-38 we see the doubting disciples. Mark tells us, after Jesus taught this crowd along the sea of Galilee, he has his disciples push out from shore to head to the other side. As they our sailing across, in the middle of the night, a great windstorm arises and batters the boat. The Sea of Galilee is around 700 feet below sea level, and it is surrounded by mountains. These two features mean that the winds can swirl in the bowl that forms the sea, causing hurricane-like conditions. These storms, even today, are unpredictable and catastrophic. Just such a storm rises up as the disciples are sailing, and it creates a desperate situation. Everyone on board is frantically fighting for life – everyone except Jesus. Mark tells us that Jesus, in spite of the wind and the waves, is asleep in the stern of the boat. 

At some point, the disciples notice that Jesus is sleeping through the commotion, so they grab him, shake him, and scream, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” This is a strange question because, as we will learn later, they did not believe that Jesus could actually do anything about their situation. They weren’t appealing to him for help, but for sympathy and commiseration. As the old adage says, “Misery loves company.” They felt that Jesus lacked compassion, that he didn’t rightly value the nature of their situation, that he could at least be praying and crying while they fought to save the ship. The disciples, in this moment, represent every human in his natural state. We all are truly helpless and frail when facing the awful power of nature. What can a man do, truly, in the midst of a flood? How can a woman withstand the force of a tornado? All anyone can do is hold tight to what we can find and wait for deliverance.

But, in all of this, Jesus shows not a hint of fear. This leads us to the second point: the divine messiah. In verses 39-41 we find that Jesus wakes up, rebukes the storm, and the wind immediately stops. Then, he turns to his disciples and asks, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” After all they’d seen (the power over demons, the healing of the sick), they still didn’t understand who Jesus was. But this miracle led them to ask, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” You see, no scholar, no magician, no pagan priest could ever speak to the wind and stop it in its tracks. Only the creator of the universe could do that. The creator could speak to the seas in Genesis 1 and command it to separate and bring forth land. The creator could shut the door of the ark and bring up water from the great reservoirs of the earth to flood it. The creator could work through Moses to divide the Red Sea so that the Israelites walked thru on dry ground. The creator could stop the flow of the Jordan River so that the nation could cross into the promised land. Only the Creator could do all these things, and only the creator could speak to this storm and expect it to obey his every word.

In this miracle, Jesus proves himself to be the Divine King of Nature. He is sovereign over this world. The wind hears his voice and stands at attention. In his hour of trouble, even the sun would go dark. And, at his resurrection, the ground would shake and the stone would roll away. Our right response to this power should be the same as the disciples. It says, in verse 41, that they were filled with great fear. This is the same fear that the shepherds felt as they stood in awe of the multitude of angels that announced the birth of the Messiah. This is the same fear that the guards, in Matt. 28, felt as they stood paralyzed before the resurrected Christ. The sovereign power of Christ demands our reverence and fear.

It also demands our faith. If Jesus is the sovereign king of nature, then we should trust him, especially when we have no power over our situation. What a testimony it is when a terrible storm hits a community, and there is that one house that isn’t even touched, and the family can testify to God’s protection. But, equally so, what a testimony it is when a house is leveled, and the family stands outside and says, “You know, I praise the Lord because, all of this is just stuff, but we have the Lord and that’s enough.” We can only have that kind of faith if we believe in a sovereign God. That is the God we worship, so may we trust him in all things.