Mark: The Divinity of Jesus

In his book, Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis said that there are only three responses to who Jesus claimed to be: he was either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. He either was lying about everything, putting on a magic show, and fooling everyone around Him. Or He was deranged, and simply believed that He was God’s son, as many people since Him have claimed to be. Or He was telling the truth, and honestly demonstrating who He was through His actions and words.  The point that Lewis was making was that you cannot respond to Jesus by saying, “I like some of His teachings, but not all of them.” If Jesus was who He said He was, then we’re not able to pick and choose what we like or don’t like, or how we follow Him — we’re not given that option. We either accept Him as Lord and follow Him, or we deny who He was and face the consequence.

The Gospel of Mark is an explanation of who Jesus is as a human while also being a defense of His claims of divinity, and in Mark 4:35-41 we see this most clearly for the first time. This is the account of Jesus and His disciples, as well as others, as they cross over the Sea of Galilee and travel into the midst of a crazy storm. Everyone is afraid that they’re going to capsize and drown except Jesus because He’s asleep! They wake Him, crying out to Him to save them. He gets up, and calms the storm. It is at this point in His earthly ministry that those around Him, especially His disciples, come face to face with the reality that Jesus is not just a good teacher, a miracle worker, or a social activist — He is much more than that. And they were terrified.

This Sunday we will look at this passage, one that I love dearly, and my prayer is that all of us will have a deeper understanding of who Jesus is. I hope that you’ll be able to join us as we gather at 6pm.

Pastor Mike