May the mumbling commence!
Life is precarious. Around any corner can be a surprise. Sometimes the surprise is pleasant. Sometimes the surprise is catastrophic. Life is unpredictable. A calm sea can quickly become violent and threatening with a pop-up storm and that is just like life.
In fact, the Hebrew people associated the sea with the precarious and unpredictable nature of life. Storms will come again and again in our lifetimes. That is a guarantee. How do we face them? Read from Mark chapter four:
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" (Verses 35-41)
There were many demands on Jesus life. It likely felt and looked chaotic. There is some irony that Jesus sought solitude and protection from the sea.
Jesus must have been exhausted. The disciples took him as he was, and Jesus proceeded to fall asleep on a cushion in the bow of the boat. Time for rest! Blessed rest!
Then, up came the squall. The boat was being tossed like a little toy boat, and it was taking in water. Talk about chaos! But there Jesus was asleep on a cushion in the bow.
Where is the bow of the boat? It is in the front of the boat. Jesus was leading them as always. He must have been in a bow that was wildly undulating up and down. Still he slept. He must have been a heavy sleeper – and very tired.
I have heard stories from my wife, Anita, that as a child she had slept through some violent storms in her parents’ home. Her parents carried her down to safety. She was as unaware of the chaos around her, just as Jesus was unaware of the chaos around him.
I can imagine the scene. The disciples were frantically scooping out buckets of water from the boat, trying to prevent it being capsized. They worked frantically around a sleeping Jesus. They likely all worked together for their very lives…
I wonder: Who woke Jesus up? I wonder: How many times did they have to attempt waking Jesus before he awoke? I can see a bucket being forced into Jesus’ sleepy face. "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
Jesus simply got up and rebuked the wind and the waves – “Quiet! Be Still!” And calm returned. I wonder: Did Jesus recline back on the pillow and go to sleep after he questioned the disciples’ fear and faith quotient? I would imagine that he did.
And the disciples wondered who this man was – even the wind and the waves obeyed him. We, too, can offer the storms of our lives to Jesus. Drop that bucket, go to Jesus, and he will calm our storms.
I can think of numerous times in my life when Jesus had a calming effect on my life… after surviving a violent tornado… during times of vocational uncertainty… during stressful economic times…
Continue to calm the storms in my life, O Jesus.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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