By Perry C. Brown
Years ago the water heater in our home sprung a leak and flooded a couple of rooms. The repairs required a new water heater, so after a local plumber had finished the job he called me out to the garage where the new heater sat. He pointed to the top of it where he had crisscrossed the incoming and outgoing water lines fastened to the heater. “Why’d you do that?” I asked. “Whoever installed the previous water heater hooked up the water lines backwards!” the plumber revealed. “I’ve hooked them up correctly, so now you should have plenty of hot water.” Then he asked if our hot water had always been tepid, and I sheepishly admitted it had. We had gotten used to tepid, and we had totally underestimated the hot water a healthy, well-connected water heater could put out. It was embarrassing!
Jesus’ disciples had seen Him heal the sick and cast out demons, so they thought they knew Him pretty well. But when they were caught in a violent storm in a boat with Him as they crossed the Sea of Galilee, they quickly learned that they had completely, utterly, and totally underestimated Him. So will we, if we do not heed the lesson from that remarkable account in Mark 4:35-41.
A Powerful Teacher
Jesus had been speaking to immense crowds by the Sea of Galilee, “teaching them many things in parables” (Mark 4:2). They pressed in around this compelling Teacher, forcing Him to board a nearby boat with His disciples along the shoreline where He continued His instruction.
As evening approached, He commanded His disciples in the boat that together they cross over the Sea of Galilee to the “country of the Gerasenes” (5:1). Violent storms were known to descend from the surrounding mountains down onto the Sea at this time of day, and this time would be no ordinary crossing, too. Jesus, the omniscient Son of God, knew that some issues must be addressed before they set foot on land again. Listening to Jesus teach the crowds was one thing. Now it was time for an object lesson from Jesus that would put those truths into practice.
A Powerful Storm
“A great windstorm” arose at some point during the crossing with such violence that the boat that carried Jesus and the disciples was in danger of being swamped by the surging waves. The storm was a powerful force of nature, yet still under the control of the God of nature.
Then Mark gives us clues about the true purpose of the storm. The Greek word for “great” in the “great storm” that arose is megala¯ . Even today we use the adjective’s “mega” root in English to indicate large things: megapixel, megabyte, and megawatts to name a few. So the disciples had every right to be scared by the mega-storm that had descended upon them.
Even more alarming than the storm was that Jesus lay asleep on a cushion in the stern of the wildly pitching and rapidly filling boat. Rousing Him, the disciples yelled at the Son of God in a less than respectful tone, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” What a faithless question to ask despite the seemingly desperate situation. Jesus said they should cross to the other side of the sea, and His “should” meant that indeed they would.
A Powerful Savior
Jesus’ stern words, “Peace! Be still!” immediately silenced the howling wind and subdued the crashing waves. They settled in an instant into an eerie “great calm” (v. 39). Again, megala¯ is the word “great” in “great calm” and it is used to describe the suddenness and completeness of the transition from wildness to stillness. It was as if someone had simply pulled the plug on the storm – one second fury, the next second tranquility.
The storm’s death was eye-popping enough, but perhaps even more chilling was the silhouette of the One standing in the boat’s stern. For between mega-storm and mega-calm was Jesus, manipulating nature itself. Jesus’ rebuke to the disciples, “Why are you so afraid?” could better be translated “Why are you so timid?” They had every reason to be scared, but they had no reason to despair with Jesus in the boat.
Then, the Bible says, the disciples were filled with “great fear” — another form of megalā. Mark phrased their fear in a specific, memorable way: they “feared a great fear” — a very Jewish way of expressing fear that escalated out of control into terror. So a mega-storm was followed by Jesus’ command, and then obedient nature’s mega-peace was climaxed by the disciples’ mega-fear!
The disciples’ miraculous reprieve took a back seat to their dread. “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” they demanded from one another. Their feet and garments still soaked from the storm’s beating a few moments before, their attention was not fixed on the dispersing clouds or the now glassy sea. They were aghast at Jesus. For a moment, Jesus’ veil of humanity had been pulled aside, and the power and might of the Creator was revealed in His absolute command of nature.
We can truly say that the storm frightened the disciples in the boat with Jesus, but the power of Jesus terrified them.
As well as they knew Jesus, the disciples had still underestimated Him. I understand that feeling of shock and surprise, not only from my messed-up water heater incident, but also from a humbling experience in a fancy restaurant.
A Powerful Lesson
My family had taken me to a high-end restaurant in Dallas, Texas to celebrate my birthday. We had paid extra for a floor-to-ceiling window booth on the 49th floor of a downtown high-rise, where the restaurant was located, and from there we watched a gorgeous sunset over the city. Our courteous maître d’ informed us of special dishes not on the printed menu, and my wife settled on a specialty steak that we understood would cost $50 — not bad for an 8 oz. prime steak in a fancy restaurant. Or so we thought.
When our food arrived we all enjoyed every bite and reminisced on pleasant memories. My wife’s steak was especially tender and thick, a real treat along with the rest of the meal and the warm, loving company of family.
Then the bill arrived. My wife had prepaid for most of the meal, so the balance we owed should only cover additional amenities. Only then did we discover that her 8 oz. steak was not $50, rather it was $50 per ounce! So my wife had consumed a $400 steak, one of the tastiest but most expensive meals she had ever been served. All of us were to blame, because we all thought we had heard the lesser price for our gold-plated steak. But all of us misunderstood, and we all underestimated what a prime steak in a window booth on the 49th floor of a wonderful restaurant at sunset would cost.
Likewise, Jesus’ disciples had underestimated Him. And likewise, we may underestimate Him, too, to our embarrassment and even our shame.
However well we might think we know Jesus now — as the disciples did before the Galilean storm — when eventually confronted with the majesty and glory of His presence, we will fully understand that we have totally and completely underestimated Him.
So it is vital that we avoid a tepid, Jesus-as-usual relationship with our powerful Savior. How do we do that? I’ve found a simple prayer helped open my eyes to the possibility of knowing and serving Him better:
“Lord, I confess that our relationship has become tepid and predictable. Do you want to do more through me? Please show me. I don’t want to meet you face to face someday and regret that I underestimated you. I need your help to be all you want me to be. Thank you in advance. Amen.”
Let’s live tomorrow with that prayer on our lips and with this doxology in our hearts:
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
©2026 by Perry C. Brown. Used by permission. Perry is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and has taught the Bible for over 45 years. His books, articles and essays can be read at perrycbrown.com.
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