Rebuke: Mark 4:39-41
Imagine feeling the rebuke of Jesus upon your life. For most Christians, we would categorize it as a low spot in life. Who wants to disappoint the Son of God?
Yesterday, the story ended with the disciples being so afraid they accuse Jesus of not caring. Said like this, it sounds awful. After all, this is Jesus we’re talking about. He died for our sake. Who could show greater love for our life than Jesus? At the same time, the disciples were in a boat that was thrashing about and slowly filling with water. In the moment, Jesus didn’t appear concerned as He slept.
Accused of not caring, Jesus immediately steps up and makes a demonstration. The wind ceases. The sea calms. Jesus settles the argument right then and there. Not only does Jesus care, but He is powerful enough to do something about it.
Jesus doesn’t stop with rebuking the wind, however. Jesus turns to His disciples and He rebukes them as well. He asks if they have such little faith. I can only imagine how such a rebuke must have felt.
Human beings don’t always get it right. We make mistakes. We live in the moment. When we are under stress, we tend to get rather shortsighted. From the human perspective, the disciples’ reaction is perfectly normal. They were under pressure and thought they were going to die. Why not show a little panic and throw some misplaced blame at the Son of God?
Said like this, it sounds awful. It’s also honest. Jesus wonders why they display such little faith. It could be that Jesus is wondering why they have such little faith in Him. It could also be that Jesus is wondering why the disciples display such little faith by not doing anything about the situation themselves.
Unfortunately, making the decision to become a disciple of Jesus means we occasionally get things wrong. After all, if we didn’t make mistakes, why would we need to be discipled? When we get things wrong, we need to be corrected. When we get things wrong, we need to see our error. For growth to happen, we need to see what went wrong and then learn how to make it better. Nobody likes being reprimanded or critiqued, but it frequently is an important step in becoming a better person.
After Jesus rebukes the sea and rebukes His disciples, the disciples are filled with great fear. They are amazed at what Jesus did. I love the way Mark uses this verse to end the story. Yes, the disciples messed up. Yes, Jesus rebuked them. Still, this event wasn’t the end of the disciples or their love for Jesus. In fact, their admiration – and fear –for Jesus grows because of this event. In discipleship, rebuke doesn’t end relationship because the rebuke is done out of love the mentor has for the disciple.
Imagine feeling the rebuke of Jesus upon your life.
