May the mumbling commence!
Fear drives a lot of the world around us today. Fear is an age-old driving force. How do we rest in a tempest-like life? Better yet, from whom do we find our rest? Read a passage below from Matthew about the tempest and the nap:
Then [Jesus] got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!" (8:23-27)
What a scene! There was Jesus and his disciples on a boat in a shallow sea, and suddenly a squall bore down upon them. It doesn’t take much of a storm to rock the boat when the water is so shallow. Come to think of it, it doesn’t take too much adversity to shake a shallow person either.
And no one is deeper than Jesus. What was Jesus doing in the pandemonium? The boat was taking on water. Rowing was futile. Most of the disciples had likely set aside their oars and were tossing out buckets of water as fast as they could. And where was Jesus? Why wasn’t he helping bail?
Jesus was sleeping. Sleeping?!? I am a light sleeper. I cannot understand how anyone can sleep through a storm in a house, let alone a boat. I usually awake at the first stroke of lightning or the first crack of thunder. Jesus must have been exhausted from ministry he had been doing. He was taking a late afternoon nap.
Sometimes we can sympathize with this exhaustion. After a long weekend of ministry this past weekend, I can empathize with Jesus. Yes, it was a three-day weekend. But, by the time Sunday late afternoon rolled around, I felt like I had done four days of work in three days. My wagon was dragging. I could have used a late afternoon nap like Jesus was taking. Maybe I would have slept through a storm last night… but not if I was in a boat on a shallow lake.
In the midst of the chaos and their desperation, the disciples woke him up. “Grab a bucket and bail,” they screamed. “Help save us so that we do not fail. Save us!”
Well, Jesus did not grab a bucket. It seems that Jesus got up on the wrong side of the cushion (See Mark 4:38a.). “Where’s your faith? Why do you fear, when I am with you?” he said. Then, Jesus calmly stood in the tossing boat and rebuked the wind and the waves. Then there was calm. I wonder if Jesus settled back down to his nap after that…
“Who is this man?” the disciples asked. “Even a storm obeyed him!” Yeah, sometimes our fear drives us to Jesus. And Jesus can calm all the storms of our life – whether they are literal storms or the rollercoaster of the life that we live on this earth. We have nothing to fear because Jesus’ love is greater than our fear.
But going to Jesus will mean change for us. Sometimes, fear of change drives us away from Jesus.
A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. (Luke 8:23-27)
The people of Gerasenes saw the change in the man. They saw the disregard for their livelihood of herding pigs. They feared the changes that would need to be made in their lives – tantamount to the changes in the life of the healed demoniac, who would need to live life in a different way. Now, the man could live in community again and be a positive contributing person.
I think his reintroduction into society was the reason that Jesus told him to go home and tell others how much had been done for him. The healed man could stay, but Jesus was no longer welcome.
How do we welcome – or not welcome – the changes Jesus will bring to our lives by the peace that he brings? The changes caused by letting go of fear and taking up faith.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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