Stormy Sea and Stormy Soul (Chapter 1)

(You can get the book here: Our Heads On Straight)

1.   Stormy Sea and Stormy Soul: Shape of Sober-mindedness

Lord, this I ask, O hear my plea,

Deny me not this favor:

When Satan sorely troubles me,

Then do not let me waver.

O guard me well,

My fear dispel,

Fulfill Your faithful saying:

All who believe

By grace receive

An answer to their praying (Preussen 2006 (1554)).

These two are striking episodes in Jesus’ life. Or more specifically, they have arrested my perception of what it means to be sober-minded. These true, factual accounts are full of hope and good news that no matter the storms one is slammed with, Jesus’ “Peace! Be Still!” can really liberate the fearful and fettered. I’m referring to the stormy sea and stormy soul in the Gospel according to Mark 4:35 through 5:20. Open a copy of the Bible or Scripture app and take a moment to read this segment before you go any further. These two scenarios go together to give listeners and readers a solid sense of storminess and fear, while showing us the One who calms and conquers storms and squalls.

Stormy Sea

If you’ve ever experienced a storm, you can get a pretty clear sense of what’s going on here. Since I live in Oklahoma and grew up here, I have a passel of stories about being outside in gales, thunderstorms, tornados and the like. But at least I had solid ground under me. I can only imagine what it would be like to sail along in a large boat, and the next thing you know the waves are crashing over the sides, the wind is whipping up a squall and screaming at you, and your vessel is pitching this way and plunging that way! Nothing is steady and nothing feels solid! That’s the situation here, “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling” (Mark 4:37).

At this point you must give the disciples a smidgeon of credit. They brave the tossing craft long enough to hunt down Jesus sleeping in the stern of the ship, “And they woke him” (4:38b).  I’m sure it was something like the plane ride I had once. I was flying to Shepherd Air Force Base in northern Texas to meet a man who wanted to be a medical professional in the Air Force. I was sent to give him a tour of his first assignment. In the seat across from me was an off-duty pilot who was heading out to start his workday. The commuter plane, a smaller twin-propeller kind, took off and gained altitude. Things were going fine until it suddenly felt like I was riding a bucking bronc! We would ascend in a jolting, rocky fashion, then abruptly drop what seemed like a hundred feet. This continued for quite some time, and my stomach was up in my throat. I began to get seriously worried that we were going to crash until I happened to glance over at the off-duty pilot, calmly reading his Wallstreet Journal. I immediately thought, “Well, if this pilot’s not worried, neither should I be.” It was small comfort, but it was comfort!

Once the disciples find our Lord and awaken him, their desperation rings out as they say to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing” (4:38c). It’s an impossible situation, and Jesus is sleeping! What!? Yet, instead of turning on them and chewing them out, Jesus “awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (4:39). First our Lord addresses the impossible situation by speaking a two-word command (in the Greek) to the chaotic creation, “Peace! Silence!” and all was still, with “a great calm.” Just two simple directives and the chaotic creation rests content. The raging ruckus settles down, and sensible order is restored.

Then Jesus addresses the incredulous disciples with soul-searching questions that jump off the page and begin to address us, “He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith”” (4:40)? How often those two questions from our Lord’s lips have hounded me. They’re not “smack-down” questions, but the kind that challenge us to examine our hearts, our orientations, our worries and the reasons behind them. The One who can speak two words and creation hushes, invites us to trust him with our destiny, our direction, and our deliverance.

Finally, the followers respond to Jesus’ actions and words. Observe that this reaction comes as a result of both our Lord’s command to the stormy sea and the doubt of the disciples, “And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him”” (4:41)? If they were afraid of the chaotic creation before, they are even more frightened by the one who simply turns the storm into calm with two words! And their question also lingers with us, demanding from us a reply, “who is this?”

Here is where we ought to pause and take a moment to think through our answer to that question, which I encourage you to do before you move forward. But I must press on. The stormy sea was surprising, and hopefully, faith inspiring. But now we slip on over and engage with the storm soul.

Stormy Soul

I’m guessing that the disciples’ legs were a bit rubbery after enduring the stormy sea. It must have felt nice to reach shore and stretch their legs. But they weren’t there long before things got upended: “immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit” (5:2). It doesn’t take much to find out what this unclean spirit was that seems to have had hold of the man (5:9); a raging regiment of demonic forces that is using the man and making him a stormy soul. In fact, as we walk through the narrative it becomes apparent that the man – physically, emotionally and psychologically – is under duress and in distress.

He comes forth from the tombs (5:2) where he lived (5:3). This is a place that is startling, to say the least. And it is hugely unnatural. Most people in their right mind would find other places to abide, but the man dwells among the dead and decomposing. And this unnatural dwelling place indicates that he was alone, separated from social connections and relationships. To dwell among the dead and decomposing and away from a living community is equally abnormal. The Creator once stated, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). Even the sacred sage observed, “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment” (Proverbs 18.1). Jesus and the disciples meet this rugged individualist, this solitary man, dwelling alone with the raging regiment, all eerily unnatural.

Further, he was unrestrainable, “And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him” (5:3-4). Somehow the locals had been able to capture him on past occasions, and maybe out of fear for their own and his safety, sought to hold him down and bridle him. But it all proved undoable because he even broke the shackles into shards! Though the narrative may be emphasizing a strange superhuman strength, it seems better to see the accent falling on the lack of control, unable to be controlled by others coupled with his own inability to govern himself. “…no one could bind him…wrenched the chains apart…broke the shackles…No one had strength to subdue him” including himself. Unrestrainable externally and internally.

Not only did he exhibit what was unnatural, and show himself to be unrestrainable, but he was unsettled. “Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones” (5:5). There was no calm or quiet for him, because the raging regiment troubled him to the point that there was no stopping him. Then added to this, the physical effects would have exacerbated the situation. For example, without a regular amount of REM (rapid eye-movement) sleep a person becomes susceptible to depression, has hampered emotion regulation, and opens the door to various psychological disorders (Carr 2017). This man was without peace or rest, constantly on the move, running off into the tombs and trekking up the mountain, constantly in motion and continually on the go. And as he did this he howled while taking up stones to harm himself. His unsettledness not only gave him over to restlessness, but also worked into self-destructive deeds.

Here was a manic man, doing what was unnatural. One who was unrestrainable and unsettled. He was isolated from others, dwelling among the dead and decaying, always on the go, lacking self-control, unable to be constrained, and harming himself all along. It must have been harrowing to meet this man. In many ways his existence was ruled by hysteria, and needed grounding, orderliness, and sobriety. But there’s hope coming, because this stormy soul is about to experience the one who brought peace to the stormy sea!

It is interesting that this manic man, this stormy soul, ruled as he was by the raging regiment, “when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him” (5:6). Something about Jesus drew this man across the rock-strewn, tomb-riddled, mountainous terrain, to come and fall at Jesus’ feet. He came to the One he felt was disturbing him, “And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me”” (5:7). This stormy soul had it all backwards! The torment was coming from within himself! The One he had come to was setting him free, but he couldn’t see it that way; “For Jesus was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit”” (5:8)!

Then, after finding out the name of the forces that had this man in its grip, “My name is Legion, for we are many” (5:9), the raging regiment begged Jesus that they might move their battalion headquarters to a herd of swine in the area. They begged the One who could command the stormy sea with two words and reign it in. They begged, and Jesus “gave them permission” (5:13), and they packed up and shipped out immediately! There is hope here for any who are captured by their unnatural existence, those who are unrestrained and unrestrainable, those who are unsettled, even trying to destroy themselves! Jesus gave the demonic battalion permission, and they pulled up stakes and scurried off leaving the manic man behind!

This episode reminds me of when I was a Hospice chaplain in another State. I would regularly visit the inpatient hospice house, going from dying patient to dying patient. One day I went to see a man who had been a successful minor league baseball player. He was only in his early 40s but had been consumed by alcohol to the point he was now a few days away from death. The alcohol and resultant physical consequences (liver, brain, etc.) had affected his cognitive abilities. He could barely speak, and it was often unintelligible. I sat with him for a few minutes, hoping that somehow my words could penetrate the fog. I mentioned how we often have demons in our lives that get hold of us and rage within us. Though I’m certain that demons exist, I was simply speaking metaphorically. But I was shocked to see him push himself up and turn to me roaring some garbled noises, looking at me with what appeared to be pleading eyes! I was truly taken aback. I immediately began pointing out how Jesus has liberated many who were dominated by other forces and had broken their power; that in his death and resurrection we can not only find forgiveness, but also real freedom. He laid back down, I prayed with him, and left him with a Scripture promise. I have no idea if he turned to the Lord for deliverance and absolution since he died about two days later, but I do hope God did more with my measly words than I could possibly have crafted or conceived.

Once the swineherds ran off to the closest city and reported what they had seen and heard, the locals came rushing out “to see what it was that had happened” (5:14). And what they saw made them respond in fear (5:15). Just as the disciples responded to Jesus’ actions with fear (4:41), so the city folk did likewise. Jesus’ mercy, grace, and liberation strikes fear in the hearts of many. “’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed” (Newton 1990 (1779), 460)! Unfortunately, and a bit surprisingly, the city dwellers beg Jesus to leave them (5:17) because they have become disconcerted by what he was able to accomplish.

But the greater surprise is in what the urbanites observed, the very thing that discomfited them: “they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid” (5:15). Here was the manic man, the stormy soul, and he was no longer stormy! As a matter of fact, Mark shows us how completely changed the man had become by using three participles in the Greek. First, for all of his one-time restless rambling and racing, going and blowing day and night, now he was purposefully sitting! He was seated up close to his storm-calming Savior! He was seated and at peace, no longer agitated, no longer driven to roar and howl and destroy himself. In the words of the old hymn, “All the way my Savior leads me; what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy; who through life has been my guide? Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in him to dwell; for I know, whate’er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well” (Crosby 1990 (1875), 605).

Not only was he sitting peacefully, he was also now clothed. Immodesty must have been the result of his ragged existence before and is now remediated. But even more, his self-destructive scars and bruises were covered over, clothed. The Greek word gives the impression that someone else clothed him, that he was the passive recipient of being clothed by another. Much as when Adam and Eve after they had been driven from the Garden because of their rebellion. Yahweh does not leave them naked and ashamed, nor does he allow them to head out wrapped in their wilting self-remedy. Rather, God covers their nudity and ignominy with animal skins (Genesis 3:21). So here the man has found covering for all the marks of his disgrace and degeneration! “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling; naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace; foul, I to the Fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die” (Toplady 1990 (1776), 499).

There he was, sitting and clothed, which fits in closely with the last trait: he was “in his right mind” (sophronounta). It was not state of mind and manners he brought himself to but what had been accomplished in him by another. He was made right-minded! Jesus, the storm-calming Savior spoke his “Peace! Be still!” as it were, and brought the man out of his mania into right-mindedness (sophroneo)![1] No longer engaging in the unnatural, nor unrestrained and unrestrainable, nor unsettled and self-destructive, this man had been put in his right mind; his head was on straight! Restfully seated, clothed and covered, and now experiencing real sobriety! “Come, very Sun of heaven’s love, in lasting radiance from above, and pour the Holy Spirit’s ray on all we think or do today” (Ambrose 1990 (340-397), 58).

This right-minded condition quickly comes out in what the man does next. As Jesus “was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled” (5:18-20). The man’s sense of community and togetherness was restored! He wanted to be with others, especially his storm-calming Savior. And when Jesus turned him into a different direction, he didn’t resume his old ways of self-inflicted solitariness, but came back into society. He became civil and social.

As I stated at the beginning of the chapter, the whole episode has arrested my perception of what it means to be sober-minded. The setting shows a man filled with inner and outer agitation, going and blowing day and night, haunting isolated wastelands, uncivil and hostile in his actions, vocally ranting and raving. Then the storm-calming Savior, the squall-conquering Sovereign liberates him, and he becomes settled, seated, clothed, covered, serene and sober! Here I think is the key to grasping what a life of sobriety looks like, and a picture of what it means to live with our heads on straight. If we have been liberated by our storm-calming Savior, if he has spoken what only he can speak, “Peace! Be still!” and if he has covered over our past disgraces and degenerative habits with all the physical, relational, emotional and psychological scars; then he has given us rest and bestowed freedom from the anxieties and agitations of our hearts and societies. He has handed us a way of living and engaging with others that restores our ability to be civil and social. He has graced us with a whole new opportunity to live life in our right minds. He is the storm-calming Savior!

Obviously, this doesn’t mean there won’t be times when we get worried and deeply concerned. I have a friend whose wife was having problems breathing. She went to the doctor and they found a tumor in the lower lobe of her lung. No one can fault him for being concerned and terribly worried. But his and her trust in the storm-calming Savior carried them through the prognosis and surgery, and is holding them up during the painful recovery. Tears were shed but hope never died. Even the Apostle Paul, who wrote “do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6a) confessed that “there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28). What matters is that the circumstances don’t conquer us, but that we come to the storm-calming Savior and trust his “Peace! Be still!”

There was a woman who was nearing the end of her days. I was on my regular hospice in-patient tour and the nurses informed me that this woman was having those mini seizures that are indications that she was in her final hours. I logged it in my mind and went about my visits. When I finally got around to her room, I knocked, opened the door and entered to find her sitting in her chair gazing into the distance. I introduced myself as the hospice chaplain and asked her if she was comfortable and was there anything that was worrying her. She turned to me with a twinkle in her eye and said, “Chaplain, I’m okay, I believe that Jesus died for my sins and rose again and that I have nothing to fear about death. But this dying thing is just killing me!” I almost fell out of my chair with surprise, and together we laughed until tears streamed down our cheeks, and had the sweetest, most joyful fellowship around our common faith in Jesus. She passed away the next day. This Christian struck me as a woman who was seated, clothed and in her right mind as she faced our last enemy, death! A sister who had hold of the squall-conquering Sovereign and his “Peace! Be still!” Here was a believer that will always stand out in my memory as truly sober-minded.

Have you called this storm-calming Savior your Lord? Have you come to believe that he alone makes you clean and right with God? Are you ready to come to him and fall before him? The promises of Scripture are loud and clear for those who come to Jesus. If you “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved…For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”” (Romans 10:9-10, 13).

Maybe you’re someone who has been a Christian for years, but presently you’re racked with anxiety. Perhaps it’s distress over your health, your family, your society, or your employment status. Drink in deeply these two stories and let them draw you up close to your storm-calming Savior and cry out to him. What should you cry? Possibly this will help. Several years ago, I ran across a short prayer that I have committed to memory. It is one I have used often, even up to the present day. This entreaty repeated below reflects Mark 4:35-5.20 and draws me back to our storm-calming Savior. I encourage you to try it on for size and see if it fits:

“Calm me, O Lord, as You stilled the storm.

Still me, O Lord, keep me from harm.

Let all the tumult within me cease.

Enfold me, Lord, in Your peace” (Northumbria Community 2019) .

Works Cited

Ambrose. 1990 (340-397). "O Splendor of God's Glory Bright." In Trinity Hymnal, Rev. Ed. Atlanta-Philadelphia: Great Commission Publications.

Carr, Michelle. 2017. "Dream Deprived: A Modern Epidemic?" Psychology Today. August 22. Accessed November 16, 2019. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dream-factory/201708/dream-deprived-modern-epidemic.

Crosby, Fanny J. 1990 (1875). "All the Way My Savior Leads Me." In Trinity Hymnal, Rev. Ed. Atlanta-Philadelphia: Great Commission Publications.

Newton, John. 1990 (1779). "Amazing Grace!" In Trinity Hymnal, Rev. Ed., 460. Atlanta - Philadelphia: Great Commission Publications.

Northumbria Community. 2019. Northumbria Community. January 1. Accessed October 11, 2019. https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/wednesday-the-felgild-compline/.

Preussen, Albrecht von. 2006 (1554). "The Will of God Is Always Best." In Lutheran Service Book, by The Commission on Worship of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, 758. St. Louis: Concordia.

Toplady, Augustus M. 1990 (1776). "Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me." In Trinity Hymnal, Rev. Ed. Atlanta-Philadelphia: Great Commission Publications.

---

[1] A similar contrast is made between mania and soberness in Acts 26:25, where Paul is accused of being insane, and retorts that his words are true and sound (sophrosynes). Also, in 2 Corinthians 5:13-14, as Paul deals with some thorny issues, he contrasts the charge of have ecstatic visions to being in his right mind (sophronoumen).