Mark 4:33-41: a reflection

33With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. 35On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” 36Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other small boats were also with him. 37A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled. 38He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and asked him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?” 39He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?” 41They were greatly afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

A violent storm hits, the boat is filling with water, and the disciples are terrified, and Jesus is asleep in the stern on a cushion. They wake him with an accusation that has fear underneath it: Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? It is the cry of people who feel abandoned in the storm, sure that his silence means he does not care.

But notice: he was in the boat with them the whole time. His sleep was not absence; he had not left them to drown. And when they wake him, a word from him is enough, Peace, be still, and the wind drops and the sea goes flat calm. The one who seemed unconcerned turns out to be the one the wind and waves obey. Then his question: why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?

There are storms when God seems asleep, unresponsive, as if he does not care that you are going under. This passage meets that feeling with two truths. He is in the boat with you; his apparent silence is not abandonment. And he has authority over the very thing that terrifies you. When you are tempted to cry do you not care, remember that he never left the boat, and that a word from him can still what is drowning you. Wake your faith, and trust the one who is with you in the storm.

Lord, in my storms you can seem asleep, and I cry out that you do not care. Remind me that you are in the boat with me, that your silence is not abandonment, and that the winds and waves obey you. Still my fear, and grow my faith in the one who is with me.