Role of Jesus in Personal Life - Term Paper Example

? (Assignment) Jesus is in the Boat with You Mark 4: 35-41 shows Jesus stilling a storm while crossing the Sea of Galileewith his disciples. It is one of those rare instances in the Bible where his disciples seem enjoying the power of such miracles preformed by Jesus. The incident provides a number of insights. First of all, the ministry requires the care of Jesus for its survival, secondly, the ministry should be fearless as fear is the opposite of faith, and thirdly, the ministry should have clear insight about the mission of Jesus. The use of ‘sea’ is highly symbolic in nature as is ‘storm’. In addition, he intends to show the movement of his mission to the Gentiles. Thus, the Gospel presents an incident that is very relevant even in the modern church. The incident provides the insight that for a believer, while crossing the sea of life, there is Jesus to still the issues that may arise on the way. The first point, according to Craddock (115), is that the Church too requires the constant protection from Jesus for its survival in the sea of modern life. Evidently, crossing the sea was a difficult task. As Rose observes, Galilean fishing boat of Jesus’ time was quite weak with oars and flimsy sails. So, one can imagine the range of fear that would arise in the mind of a sailor in front of a storm. In my opinion, the purpose of this section is to teach that the Church should be fearless in its functions as true faith knows no fears. In addition, as Craddock (115) states, the Church should seek continuous help from Jesus as it is evident that without Christ’s supports, even the Church will not be able to survive though it preaches his teachings. The first point Craddock brings in is that Jesus wanted to show his disciples the nature of his ministry. In fact, the stilling of storm was the first among the four episodes in which Jesus performs miracles. The miracles are calming a storm, healing a demoniac, healing a sick woman, and raising a dead girl. Craddock points out the fact it was immediately after this performance of wonders that Jesus appoints the twelve to preach his ministry. So, Craddock tries to draw a conclusion here that Jesus meant to show his disciples the nature of his ministry. Yet another point that Craddock brings in at this juncture is the fact that calming natural forces by rebuking is not at all different from other acts of exorcism performed by Jesus. Thus, in the words of Craddock, “rebuke” is intentionally used instead of using touch or any other acts of exorcism to show that the purpose was not to present Jesus as one among the many exorcists who lived in that time period (Craddock, 66), but to show the power of the word of God. In fact, according to Craddock, the intention of Gospel was to show the power of the word the church was going to preach. The third point of consideration is the fact that Church too requires the constant help from Jesus to survive in the turbulence of life. Craddock (115) points out the fact that the usual posture of the church is serving others in the name of Jesus, but the Church too is receiving the benevolence of Jesus’ ministering presence; and in the long voyage across the sea of life, the Church would not be able to sustain itself without the active support from Jesus. In addition, Craddock points out the fact lack of belief and experience in Jesus, or of the Holy Spirit, would lead to the collapse of Church as it would easily go astray under the weight of its own institutionalism or self-promoting programs. Another point of consideration is the question that Jesus asks his disciples on calming the storm. The question is “Where is your belief?” In the opinion of Craddock, the intention of Jesus was not to mention that the disciples were not believers or that they did not have belief. Nor did Jesus want to pint out that the disciples would be able to control the storm with belief. In the opinion of Cradock (115), Jesus was addressing their fear that did not mitigate even after spending so many days with him. In fact, the disciples had been with Jesus for quite some time and had ample time to develop adequate trust in God and Jesus’ access to that power. Yet another point is that this incident made the disciples realize how shallow their faith and understanding of Jesus’ power was. When Jesus stilled the storm, the disciples got even more frightened. The power showed by Jesus was even more frightening to them than the power of storm. In other words, as his followers, the faith they had was very shallow. Here, one can see the point that Jesus wanted to tell them how strong his disciples should be and how deep their belief should be for ministering his Church. Yet another point is that this incident made the disciples think more deeply about the nature of Jesus and his mission. On seeing the miracle, the disciples started asking each other: “Who then is this?” Thus, before sending his disciples to the world, Jesus wanted them to think and analyze the nature of Jesus and his mission. However, there is a question that creates restlessness in the mind of every believer and the Church. When the disciples got frightened, Jesus asks the question “Where is your faith?” (Fred B. Craddock, Eugene Boring, p. 127) Here, one can make a number of assumptions about the nature of the question. One can assume that Jesus wanted to say that the disciples could calm the storm by themselves, or one can assume that Jesus was disturbed at their restlessness the disciples showed even in his soothing presence. However, Craddock (115) is of the opinion that Jesus was addressing their fear. In fact, fear is the opposite of faith. Thus, the narration is intended to show that the church and the true believer should not have fear as they are guided and protected by Jesus. Yet another factor that Craddock and Boring (126) point out is that Jesus, who had his mission exclusively for the Jews so far, was moving to the Gentiles crossing the sea, thus, expressing the nature of his mission indirectly. In total, it becomes evident that Mark 4: 35-40 is a perfect example of setting a narrative that makes an impact on the listener at any time and any place, in both direct sense and in its symbolic meaning. In this depiction, deductive reasoning holds no value; instead, the sermon succeeds in providing a common universal experience through its perfect use of symbolism like sea and storm. Works Cited Craddock, Fred B. Luke: Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. USA: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009. Print. Rose, Dudley C. Quieting The Terror Within. (22 June 2003) : p. 115. Web. 12 March 2011 Boring, M Eugene and Craddock, Fred B. The People’s New Testament Commentary. USA. Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. Print. Read More