Mark 4: 35-41
What started out as a routine trip across the Sea of Galilee for the disciples, ended up with a storm threatening to overwhelm their boat! Jesus was asleep in the boat, so little wonder they feared for their lives.
I can understand where the disciples were coming from here. Enjoying a short break in Oban, my wife and I thought we’d sail from Oban over to Mull and then on to Staffa to see the Puffins. When we left Oban, it was a beautiful morning and looking over to Mull was the same. During our tour of the island, we noticed a change in the weather as we arrived at Iona to board the boat to Staffa. The coach driver that day was quite a cheery individual and pointed out to the passengers that although the weather was wild now, the trip to Staffa was going ahead, the gale was only a force 9! As we sailed out towards to Staffa we looked out onto the Atlantic swell and to waves that I thought were around 20 metres high and the boat was bobbing like a cork.
The disciples were in a worse predicament with their storm though, for they had a VIP on board who was fast asleep in the stern of the vessel. As the storm raged, I can imagine the comments that would be going around the disciples. How can he sleep at a time like this! We are going to drown if something isn’t done. What do you think we should do?
Our trip to Staffa left me with concerns when I discovered that the skipper of the boat we were in had been involved once before with a boat that had sunk in the same waters a few years back, and he apparently was the only survivor!
The fear in the disciples had reached its peak to the extent that they woke Jesus with the words, “Teacher, do you not care if we drown?” We read in verse 39 that Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. It can be so easy for us to go into panic mode when something happens in our lives that is completely alien to us because we can’t be in control. But God is!
Sometimes God gives us something to do which is completely out of our comfort zone and we question, “Why me, I’m no good at this”. The thing is, God sees the whole picture, when we don’t, and this is all the more reason why we should put our trust in the one at the helm. The calming of the storm to Jesus was a piece of cake. But the disciples were faced with a question about their faith when the storm was calmed, when Jesus asks: “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!” We should never underestimate the power of God.
Oh, and the Puffins, what Puffins?
Tom Bonnar
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