For a number of years I have loved the scenes in chapters 4, 5 & 6 of Mark in which Jesus has the disciples going back and forth across the Sea of Galilee at least three times.
In the gospel lesson for this past Sunday, Mark 4:35-41, Jesus is sleeping in the stern of one of the boats in their flotilla. So when the windstorm arose it wasn’t only the boat in which Jesus and the disciples were crossing that was in jeopardy but a number of other vessels as well. Furthermore they were crossing in the evening thus visibility was poor. The boats were being swamped by the waves. But there was Jesus still asleep, though he must have been soaking wet as well.
Have you ever tried communicating in a strong wind when the words are blown away before they reach the other person’s ear? You can picture them shaking him as they try to wake him up, and then shouting into his ear, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are perishing?” Perishing is a good word there. It also carries the idea of not just drowning, but of eternal destruction.
I see Jesus then waking up and jumping to his feet as he shouts into the wind “Shut up! Quiet down.” Not only does the wind suddenly drop off, but the waves are smothered as well. Then Jesus poses his question, not just to the disciples, but to us as well, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” Jesus question and statement can lead us to raise a number of other questions for ourselves. How long has it been since I was received into Christ’s care in baptism? How many crises have I been through in life? How many storms have threatened to swamp me? And still I have no faith?
We might view that boat on the Sea of Galilee as the church in which Jesus asks us to trust God amid life’s turbulence.
A fitting prayer is: O God of creation, eternal majesty, you preside over land and sea, sunshine and storm. By your great strength pilot us, by your power preserve us, by your wisdom instruct us, and by your hand protect us, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
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