Do we not care that they are perishing?
But [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
And they woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Mark 4:38
The disciples of Jesus were in a boat on the storm-tossed Sea of Galilee. Jesus was asleep on the stern, apparently oblivious to their impending peril. Their question was a desperate one; a matter of life and death, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” His answer was a powerful one. First, he spoke some simple words, “Peace; be still,” and calmed the storm. Then he challenged his disciples concerning their great fear and their little faith.
It is fitting for us to reflect on this event considering our District Convention focus on the church’s mission to bring the good news about Jesus to the world.
Interestingly, in Mark’s gospel this event concludes an entire chapter in which Jesus teaches about the mission of his kingdom. In the Parable of the Sower, he spoke of sowing the seed of God’s word so that people could hear it and be gathered into God’s harvest of souls (Mark 4:1-20). Jesus then encouraged his disciples to put the ‘light of Christ’ on a stand where it can give light to all and not to hide it under a basket or a bed where it cannot be seen (v.21-25). He then tells two more parables: the first about the seed of God’s word growing in people’s hearts, by God’s power, until the final harvest of souls (v.26-29); and the second about the mustard seed whose growing ‘bush’ (God’s kingdom) provides shelter for the ‘birds’ (people) that rest and nest in its shade (v.30-34).
We can be sure that this same mission to spread God’s good news was very much on Jesus’ mind as he lay down on that cushion in the boat for some rest. There was more kingdom work to be done on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. We can be sure that this mission was also on his mind as he calmed the storm and encouraged the faith of the disciples. But can’t we also hear, in the disciples’ desperate cry, a great challenge for us in church of today? Jesus’ disciples woke him up and cried out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Do we need to wake up and listen for the cry uttered by many souls who live without saving faith in Jesus – or the Spirit’s cry uttered on behalf of the many that are not even aware of their need, “Do you not care that we are perishing?”
The Christian church has often been likened to a ship or a boat for that very reason. Church architecture and the names for various parts of the church building (e.g. nave) are meant to remind us of that. We, who are in the ship of the Christian church, are there as the rescued ones. We are Jesus’ disciples in the boat with him. Our boat is on its destination to the distant shores of heaven. But that is not the end of the story. The boat of the Christian church is also God’s rescue vessel, called to rescue others from the storm-tossed seas of human sin and its consequences, and bring them safe to heaven’s shore. God teaches that, without saving faith in Jesus, people will ‘perish’ or be ‘lost’ forever. Like Jesus and his disciples, we are on the boat and on the journey with Jesus, not just for our own benefit, but because there are more people yet to hear about the good news of God’s salvation through Jesus.
We know that God still cares that people might ‘perish’ eternally. We know that he did something about it: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). He wants no one to “perish” and everyone to have eternal life. We know that God’s “one and only Son” who stilled the storm is also in the boat with us.
The challenge lies with us this time, “Do you and I still care that people are perishing?”
