[ Today's Readings ]
This is a relatable question. We find ourselves asking it whenever our own plans go south. There are many storms in our own lives, violent squalls, the break over the boats of our hearts, and threaten to drown us. Storms themselves are completely beyond our control. All we can do is to do our best with sailing our boats. If the storm itself becomes too great we know that we will be overwhelmed. This brings us back to the question. Doesn't Jesus care?
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?"
Do we not yet have faith? We want to say yes. But rather than trusting Jesus completely we also want to believe one of two contraries. One acceptable belief would be that once we have faith their would be no more storms. This is obviously false, much as we might wish otherwise. Another, is that once we have faith we are free to ignore the storms. This is closer to the truth but it isn't quite there. We are free to not fear the storms. And we are free precisely because Jesus is in our boat, even if he seems to be asleep. We cannot, however, take the wrong boat, a boat in which Jesus is not present, into the wrong storm, a storm in a direction he does not ask us to sail, and remain fearless. This is how ships sink. It is not courage to be fearless without Jesus, it is foolishness. But fortunately, even then, even when we leave the safe harbor of his presence, we know he stands ready to save us. He comes to us even across the waves, ready to still the seas.
The thing about storms is that they make us want to not care about our boat or are destination. If we don't care about them we imagine that the storm can do nothing to harm us until we find ourselves adrift and imperiled at sea. Jesus has a destination for each of us. And he has the power to see us safely there.
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
"Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?"
He has a proven track record with Abraham, with Isaac, with people Old Testament and New, even with friends and acquaintances we ourselves know. We see what happens when people rely on faith. Faith carries us through every storm to the final home God has prepared for us.
But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one.
Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God,
for he has prepared a city for them.
When we have faith that can hold fast to the destination even amidst the storm we are free to "worship him without fear". So let us worship!
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