Read: Mark 4:35-41
He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” (v. 39 NRSV)
It was a terrible storm. The wind was so strong my pant legs stood straight out. The waves had whitecaps, with every intention to swamp our canoe. The sky looked menacing, with low-scudding clouds and towering thunderheads. It was not a good day to be on the water. And yet there we were, on the last day of our paddling trip, needing to cross this lake to get back to our car to make the drive home.
Jesus and his disciples faced a similar situation. It was night and a great storm arose as Jesus and his disciples were crossing a lake. Water was swamping the boat and yet Jesus was fast asleep in the stern. His disciples wake him up with a complaint about his indifference to their dire situation. Jesus rebukes the wind and speaks to the seas and, to their amazement, the storm subsides. In a thinly veiled reference to Psalm 89:9, Jesus identifies himself with God the Creator, who rules the raging sea and stills the waves. Even the dunderheaded disciples could not have missed it. Jesus, like God, has authority over the powers of the natural world. Jesus then asks them: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
So, also, does he ask us today.
As you pray, ask Jesus to calm your fears and give you faith to follow him with confidence when the storms blow.
Steve Bouma-Prediger is the Leonard and Marjorie Mass Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. A graduate of Hope College, his Ph.D. is in religious studies from The University of Chicago. His most recent book is Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring a Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic.
When not teaching or writing, he spends as much time as possible canoeing or backpacking in his favorite places in North America or simply hiking among the magnificent trees in southwest Michigan parks.
