Jesus in the Boat

"On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them 'Let us cross over to the other side. Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?'
Then he arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea 'Peace, be still!' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them 'Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?' And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, 'Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!'" - Mark 4:35-41

How much faith do we have in God?

We, like the disciples, so often believe that we are in the purposes of God, that we hear his commands and that we are executing them. "Take the boat to the other side". "Right away, Lord", we shout out as we scurry around the decks of the ship of our lives, making ready to sail.

And then the storms come up.

One wonders what the disciples must have thought. They included fishermen who had spent their whole life on the sea of Galilee, so apparently when the storm arose they initially thought that it was no worse than that they had usually seen (I say this as someone who has never - and never wants to - experience a storm at sea).

But the storm increases in pitch and volume. The winds howl, the boat begins filling with water. There is no modern day coast guard or Bay Watch; if they go down there will be none to save them.

Jesus, they suddenly think. What about Jesus? Will He save us?

Jesus is in back, quite possibly exhausted by a long day of teaching the multitudes. He must have been tired, because the storm wasn't waking Him at all. Suddenly He's ripped out of sleep by the disciples saying "Master, don't you care if we drown?"

In passing, what a thing by these men to say to Christ. In chapter 3 of Mark, He had chosen these twelve men. Later in the chapter He had said that those who followed Him - His disciples - were as important - or more so - than His own family relations. He had ultimately come to sacrifice Himself these men and others - how could He not care?

But Christ addresses the immediate situation first. "Peace, be still!" And like that, no storm. No waves pushing over the side of the boat. A sky of clear stars and gentle breezes, I would imagine.

Only then, after He has saved them, does He rebuke them. "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?"

Christ had brought them to this point. Christ had commanded them to go out over the water. Christ was even in the boat with them as they sailed. This was the Christ whom they had seen drive out demons, heal the sick, teach with authority. They had seen his displays of power, heard the testimony of John the Baptist.

And yet, when brought to the point of trial, they forgot that this was the same Jesus that was at the back of the boat. Having seen Him act in other situations, they had no belief He would act in theirs.

Really of course, we're no better. We Christians proclaim that God is in control of our lives, that He is ultimately in control of everything that occurs. And then, when we hit the storms of our own lives, we prove ourselves no better. "Hey God! I'm going under here - a little help?" we cry, as if somehow the omnipotent God is taking a nap and can't remember our names.

But as Christians, do we not acknowledge that Christ is the one that who guides our lives, who controls our circumstances? We are happy to follow when it is easy for us to see - it's when it becomes dangerous or perilous to ourselves that we doubt.

Note too that Christ seems to draw a comparison: "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" We're either fearful - full of fear and the circumstances around us - or have faith - faith in Christ who brought us here.

So when we meet the storms of our lives, do we recall that we, too, have Christ at the back of boat. And are we willing to have faith about His being there - or continue to react as the world does, in fear of that which we can see but not recalling "the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen?" (Hebrews 11:1)