Mark 4:35-41

Sorry, there was a two hour snow delay on blogging today.   It is a bit funny that today's reading about Jesus calming a storm is today.  We've had a good shot of snow today, and it made travel a little edgy.  But, it is nothing like the disciples are dealing with.

South's SOAP for the Day
S-Read Mark 4:35-41
O-Jesus slept while the disciples panicked, and when Jesus had had enough, he made the weather itself obey.
A-Do you have a habit of worrying about small things, forgetting the power our God holds?
P-Pray that you keep all things in perspective and trust Jesus to watch over you.

I've only ever been out on big open water a few times.  I mostly enjoyed those excursions, all except for one.  When I was in Haiti on a mission trip, we took a boat ride from the main island of Hispaniola to the little island north of it called Tortuga.  This wasn't your normal boat ride.  In the 80s, I remember going on a ferry to Put In Bay on Lake Erie.  That was a large boat with lots of power.  It wasn't scary at all.  The journey in Haiti was much different.  Our vessel was a hand made boat about 20 feet long and maybe 10 feet wide.  It was a sail boat, piloted by a little Haitian man.  There were probably 15 people on the boat.  Seven or eight of the people that were with me, and some locals.  All of us packed onto this little boat, crossing a 10 mile channel from a big island to a small island.

I distinctly remember wondering why I had put myself in that situation.  From the shore the trip looked fairly harmless.  However, half way across the swells, which were calm swells, seemed to be 5 to 10 feet high.  They were simple rolling waves with no crests.  We would be on top of one, then at the bottom of one.  We could see everything, then we were below the water horizon.  Add to that the commotion of one of my students puking over the side of the boat from sea sickness and another student getting yelled at in Creole by one of the locals for accidentally stepping on her bag of fruit.  It was stressful and nerve wracking, even with the sun shining above us.  And this was all on the trip to Tortuga!

So, as I read this story about Jesus and his disciples in a boat crossing the sea in a storm, I don't envy them at all.  I know how bad the sunny sea swell excursion was, and can't even begin to imagine how horrible the storm is for the disciples.  And yet, Jesus is in back of the boat sleeping.  I can understand why the disciples are flipping out a little.  They are in the fight for their lives and Jesus is zonked on a cushion.

So, they do what any sensible person would do.  They wake up everyone else to make sure they can flip out with them.  I wonder if they thought about what his response would be?  Did they think he would simply start freaking out with them?  Did they think, since they had seen him do some amazing things, he might be able to calm the storm?  Their response to what Jesus does leads me to think that they didn't think he could calm the storm.

They wake Jesus.  He gets up and "rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet!  Be still!'"  And the wind and the waves responded...and it was completely calm.

At this point, after witnessing miracles, seeing demons cast out, and now the weather controlled by Jesus, if I am a disciple I'm in.  I don't know if I get it fully, but I see that he has something that no one else has around me.

Yet, the disciples are terrified and asking one another, "Who is this?  Even the wind and the waves obey him!"  Really?  That's where you are at right now?  You've seen him heal the lame guy whose friends dug through the roof!  You've heard him say, "Your sins are forgiven, pick up your mat and walk!"  I just don't get it.

As I sit and think about this for a minute, and look at the Application question above, I can't help but think that I sometimes get lost like the disciples are.  I know the stories of miracles that they got to witness.  I trust and believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the good news that God has come near.  I am all in.  Yet, at times my actions and my words don't match what my faith says.  I push through the routine of ministry and sometimes do it on my own.  I wonder if I were in the boat that night.  Would I have been calm, or would I have been the one to go running and shake Jesus awake.  I am no different than them.

Thank you God, for having patience with us as we struggle to live lives worthy of the grace you have shown us.  May you help us to engage you more so we can know that you are in control, so that we can focus on the things you need us to do, rather than what we want to do.