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"Be still!" Mark 4, 39
A short word from the wind.
"Well, what else could I do? I'm only the wind and he is the son of God and I say "is" because he is still the son of God. That's why there's a first century fishing boat on one sock and a 21st century fishing boat on the other. Get the symbolism? Jesus still calms storms today."
A longer word from the sea.
"We were cooking up quite a storm. The wind was so fast and hard that sometimes it was blowing the tops off all the waves. We were jumping as high as I can remember - before or since. We were having so much fun tossing about, collecting water from deep down below, bringing it up and twirling it high in the air before crashing it down again. Up and down we tossed their boat. I suppose we were a bit too boisterous and deserved the rebuke Jesus gave us. "Quiet! Be still!" That's what Jesus said and that's what we did. The wind and the waves. We both calmed down. What else could we do?
We weren't the only ones who were told off. We heard Jesus asking his disciples why they were so afraid? Did they still have no faith? Now that wasn't a rebuke I would like to have been given. Let's face it THEY should have known better, yet I rather think Jesus was more gentle with his rebuke of the disciples than he was with us. I'm sure I saw the hint of a smile on his face.
He knew his disciples so well, even in those early days. He knew what alarmed them, Knew what upset them, Knew what made them laugh and knew what made them dance. He knew how to make them wonder and how to make them ask questions. Calming the storm the way he did certainly made them wonder and question who Jesus was when even “the wind and waves obeyed him.”
Do you wonder? Do you wonder who Jesus is today? You may think you know who Jesus is, but there is always more to question and wonder about. More to find out who this Jesus is, and who Jesus is to you.
So, what do you think? Just who is Jesus to you? A mythical figure? A good person? A completely crazy madman? Or your friend? Saviour of the world? Your Saviour? Companion on the way? Son of God? Enough questions to be going on with? Take them one by one. Each one should keep you occupied for a while. You may be surprised by the answers that come to mind - or come to heart."
“Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Mark 4, 38
From a someone in the boat.
“When we set off from the shore that evening we'd no idea that a storm was brewing.
We knew the ways of that sea and should have seen the signs. But we were euphoric after the day’s events on the hillside and our only thought was to reach the other shore.
It blew up suddenly but Jesus still slept. How could a storm not wake him? We were so terrified for our lives that our only thought was not for one another but how we might save ourselves. There were enough of us experienced fishermen to know the ways of the sea but this storm was terrifying and I don’t doubt we all believed we were going to die. And there was Jesus sound asleep, like a contented, well-loved baby, cradled in the bow of the boat.
Suddenly a voice cried out. It might have been any one of us. It might even have been me. And Jesus woke. He rebuked the wind and the waves. The storm ceased. And I felt in such awe of this man. Man? What man could calm such a storm? Any storm?
I know what you’re thinking. That it was coincidence. But I was there. I saw it. Jesus calmed the storm.
I've often looked back over that night, that storm. I’ll never forget the pain, the hurt, even the anger I felt that Jesus, who had seemed to care so much about us, about everyone, could just lie there, curled up in the boat. It was as if he didn't care at all whether we lived or died. But I’ll say it again because it’s worth saying - we woke him and he rebuked the storm and he calmed the sea.
Can we always expect Jesus to calm the storm? Always to save us? Clear the boulders from our path? Fill in the holes? Maybe it would have been more realistic for one or two of us to get thrown overboard and drowned. After all, none of us - not even the followers of Jesus - go through life storm-free. Some of us do drown physically and metaphorically even if we have called out to the Lord with prayers and desperate cries. Some might even shout as we did: “Do you not care that we are drowning?"
Why doesn't Jesus save all of us who cry to him? I can only surmise that God has a different purpose for us all.
We woke Jesus. We shouted at him. We shouted, we screamed, we shook him awake. We needed him to be awake to the peril we were in.
There are still people who don't think we should shout at Jesus but I’m not one of them. “
From the boat.
"And they say God doesn't sleep. Well, maybe God doesn't but his son sure did that night! Sound asleep he was in my hull. Solid timbers I was made of, but such a storm it was. Even I thought my beams might split or be swallowed up whole by the waves.
Those disciples of his were in a panic. Shouting and screaming and clinging to whatever part of me they could. No doubt they were praying too. It always helps to pray, to tell God what you need but not how to give it to you. Good advice that.
Jesus did it very simply that night. “Why are you afraid?” he asked. If I’d been able to speak, I'd have told him. Waves so high and wind blowing a near hurricane. Who wouldn't be afraid?
But Jesus was in their boat. Jesus was in me. There was no need to be afraid. Even though death might be staring them in the face, there was no need to fear.
If you're in Jesus' boat, you've no need to be afraid. Climb in. He still calms storms today."
Copyright M. Wyllie 2017