Mark - Lesson 6...Continued from page 1

DAY THREE:  Faith Tested and Confronted

Please carefully read Mark 4:35-41 and answer the following questions.

1.  We need to remember that the events of our past three lessons all took place in the same day!  In view of that, what did Jesus want to do at the end of the day, and how did they follow His wishes (v. 35, 36)?

NOTE: “They took Him along in the boat as He was” means that they took Him without previous preparation; remember also from the context (Mark 4:1) that Jesus was already in a boat teaching.  That other boats went along, probably holding His closest followers, is only mentioned here in Mark, and this incident is the only time we read of Jesus actually sleeping.[vii]

2.  What unexpected thing, at least for Jesus’ followers, happened as they crossed the Sea of Galilee (v. 37)?

3.  Sudden storms on the Sea of Galilee can happen easily due to its location and climate.  This one though was a whopper.  Both Mark and Luke use the word lailaps to describe this, meaning cyclonic or hurricane force winds; in describing the same incident, Matthew used the word seismos, which is a violent upheaval like an earthquake (we get our words seismic and seismograph from it).  This picture of the storm in Mark is most vivid in Greek, as it seems to personify the sea storm as though it were a raging monster!  What was the contrast between the disciples and Jesus to this in their reactions (v. 38)?

4.  What did Jesus do about the storm raging on the sea and also in His disciples’ hearts (v. 39, 40)? 

NOTE: When Mark recorded, “‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm” (v. 39), he meant that Jesus told the sea to be silent, be hushed, and be muzzled like a wild beast; the verb tense of be still indicates Jesus told it to be muzzled and stay that way.  Ceased means the sea sank to rest as if exhausted, worn out by the labor of its beating. 

5.  How did they react to this (v. 41)?  Also compare how Matthew (8:7) and Luke (8:25) record this.  What is the obvious answer to this rhetorical question?

NOTE: Feared exceedingly literally means they had mega fear; they feared a great fear.  When Jesus asked them why they so fearful, He used a word were meaning timid and cowardly fear; they just couldn’t seem to comprehend this yet.[viii]

Scripture Memory:  Try to fill in the missing words in the blanks below, by memory if at all possible, and then review the passage several times today.

But He said to them, “Why are you so __________________? How is it that you ______________ no ___________________?” Mark 4:40 (nkjv)