Day 288 (Mark 4-5) - Year 8

Tara-Leigh Cobble (0:01)

Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara-Leigh Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

Today we open with Mark's account of the parable of the four soils. Then he immediately follows it with a question about the purpose of a lamp. You don't hide lamps, you display them. The fact that these two illustrations are given back to back seems to indicate that Jesus wants the light to go everywhere, the seed to go everywhere. Some people might hide their eyes from the light, some people might not use the light to see the truth at all, but the light shines in the darkness nonetheless. And the seed must fall even on the three bad soils, not just on the good soil. Jesus may be measured about the timing of his revealing, but he's clear on the fact that everyone who has eyes to see, everyone who has soil to receive will see and will receive, and they will respond accordingly.

Then Jesus spends several parables explaining the kingdom of God, not describing what the experience is like, but describing its unstoppable power despite its small beginnings. By the way, the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven seem to be used interchangeably in scripture. Jesus says the kingdom is like a seed that grows to full harvest, but no one knows how it actually happens, that it's like a mustard seed slowly taking over everything. Mustard seeds are tiny, but they grow to be huge and are practically impossible to kill. Jesus seems to be illustrating that his kingdom will have a slow and steady growth, but that no one will be able to stop it. That night, he says, let's get in the boat and go across to the other side. We've read this story before, but we focused mainly on the healing that happened on the other side of the water, not what happened while they were on the water. Since Mark spends a little more time on that story, we'll drop in on that part today. In general, ancient Jews did not like water. It's where all the bad stuff happened. Plus, the Sea of Galilee is an area where big storms can hit at a moment's notice. And now it's nighttime. So they've got at least three good reasons not to want to get in the boat. But they follow Jesus anyway. And wouldn't you know it, a big storm hits the Sea of Galilee, and the boat starts to fill with water. Meanwhile, Jesus is snoozing in the back. He's probably really spent from his big day of teaching, but this also demonstrates how peaceful a person can be when they trust the one in control.

They wake him up and accuse him of not caring about what's happening to them. Maybe you felt that way. But this storm was happening to him too. He was in the storm with them. And whether you know it or not, that's your story too. He bosses the weather around and tells it to calm down. Then he turns to the disciples and tells them to calm down too, except he probably says it in a much nicer tone than that. In fact, I ended up on a deep dive into the original language while studying this text and discovered something interesting. I've heard lots of people say Jesus rebukes his disciples here for their lack of faith. And maybe he does. He certainly addresses their lack of faith. But the text itself only says he rebukes the storm.

The word rebuke carries a certain tone and connotation. It's more than just addressing and correcting something. It carries the idea of righteous anger, of a sharp response. But with his disciples, he seems to have compassion on them in the midst of their fears. And even in the midst of their accusations that he doesn't care about what's happening to them. He reminds them to lean into their faith in him when scary things happen, to remember what they've learned about him already.

Here's something else I discovered on my deep dive into the word rebuke. It's used almost 30 times in the New Testament, but in the original language, it appears to be something Jesus never does directly to his disciples. Maybe once, but even that's not entirely clear. He rebukes the storm. He rebukes those who reject him as savior. He rebukes an illness, and mostly, he rebukes demons. In fact, the one time it could be considered that he's rebuking one of his disciples is when he's talking to Peter in Mark 8.33, and he says, get behind me, Satan. So I'm inclined to think Jesus actually was talking to Satan, not just calling Peter Satan.

Let me be clear, rebuking someone isn't wrong. In fact, later we'll read where Jesus gives his followers instructions on how and when it's fitting to rebuke each other. He certainly had reasons to rebuke the disciples himself, and he probably did, but it's just not anywhere in these pages. And in today's text, it seems that he leans into compassion, that he chooses not to rebuke them because of their fear, but to rebuke the cause of their fear instead.