On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.
And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” (Mk 4:35-41)
We often wonder if the Lord is really there or if He cares about what we are going through and/or what is happening to us. We think this because we find it hard to look past ourselves and see the bigger picture. We become consumed with our own thoughts and feelings. This especially happens to us at traumatic moments in our lives.
It does not take much of a stretch of the imagination at all to picture the apostles in a boat being tossed about in the sea. Having Jesus in their midst — Jesus, by the way, who has already healed a significant number of people and raised the dead — sleeping soundly while they are overcome by fear was more than they could handle.
They wake the Lord and challenge Him. They want to know why He can be so calm while they face imminent peril.
Jesus, the Lord of all, does not even respond the way they imagined He would. They would want Him, immediately, to take care of them. Instead, He chastises them. “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”
I am not sure about you; however, I believe that my response would be, “Faith? What does it matter? I’m about to die!”
That is what we often believe when life gets too much for us. We see our own frail mortality and we become filled with terror. Who can save us? Who cares about us? Is there any hope for us? Is Jesus even here and does He even care?
At those moments, Jesus speaks to us the same challenging words, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”
Jesus is here. He can save us. As a matter of fact, He has already saved us. He does care about us. He provides us the ultimate reason to hope. But we can only see that when we take our eyes off of ourselves and place them back on Him.
Jesus is Lord. That’s all we need to know. Believing that, He will take care of the rest.
FAITH ACTION: Pray for all those whose faith is weak and who may have lost trust in the Lord.