Mark 4:39-41 - Who is this man?

4:39,40

Jesus rebuked two things here! First He rebuked the storm and it obeyed Him. Then He rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith. In Jesus’ life here on earth there are some things He did because He was God, there are other things He did because He was a man living in perfect faith, love and obedience to the Father. This is an example of the former. He was able to do this because He was God, as shown by v41 where the disciples are amazed that the wind and waves obey Him. Why did Jesus rebuke the disciples for their lack of faith? I think it was because the storm was not actually going to overwhelm them. Either God would have intervened at the appropriate time, or the storm would not actually have been as deadly as they feared. So the disciples “failed” here, yet see that God used this incident where they failed to reveal more of Himself to them.

4:41

This incident gave the disciples a greater revelation of who Jesus was. Now note that so far they had followed Jesus, they had left homes for Him. So they had seen something in Jesus that seemed to make that a good idea, but they did not fully understand who Jesus was. And, of course, they still did not fully understand who He was, and none of us fully grasp who Jesus is. We might be able to honestly make credal statements, but really knowing it is a different matter. When we make decisions to follow Jesus, whether it be our initial belief in Jesus, or key points in life when we make a decision in life that is based on who Jesus is, there will always be more of His glory to be revealed to us.