Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea,
so that the boat was being swamped by waves;
but he was asleep.
This situation of Jesus being asleep in the boat during a storm seems to at times describe our own experience and that of the Church. The waves crash. The winds blow. The craft itself seems threatened and on the verge of sinking. Jesus may seem present but ineffective, ignorant of the difficult circumstances we face, or impotent to help us, or indifferent to our plight. We infer that the apparent inactivity of Jesus is because he can't or won't help us.
They came and woke him, saying,
"Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
When Jesus doesn't move right away we tend to get agitated and lose our peace. The storm, even if it does not sink the boat in these cases, still has our spirits reeling. When we become upset in this way we risk losing our trust in Jesus. And it is this trust that is meant to be our anchor in the storms of life.
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf (see Hebrews 6:19-20).
How might we respond differently if our souls were moored to Jesus by our trust in him? How much better might we respond to storms in life if we didn't immediately lose our heads?
He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?"
Maybe the reason Jesus was asleep was because to him the storm was not a threat. And if that was so, having Jesus in our boat means that the storm really can't threaten us either. Jesus was more then able to calmly wake and dismiss the storm with only his words. Ultimately, for him, it was an easy thing to do. He slept because their trust in him should have been able to let him sleep. For ourselves too, we should be able to see the threatening storms of life and yet hold fast to the fact of the presence of Jesus himself. When the time comes to wake him, as it often will, and ask him to address our circumstances, everything will go better for us if we do so in peace and unwavering faith.
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm.
The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this,
whom even the winds and the sea obey?"
Sometimes though, and perhaps often, the storms get inside of our souls even while the boat continues on its journey. We begin to take on water and the winds assail us from every side. It need not come to this with Jesus in our boat. We can be like an ark that can survive any flood. But even if we forget that and let the floods rush in Jesus still has the power to rescue us. Even if we are sinking beneath the water as Peter once was Jesus' hand is already reaching out to save us.
Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to.
It's only a small place.
Let me flee there–it's a small place, is it not?–
that my life may be saved."
Let's allow the Lord to fully separate us from those places that are under his judgment, rather than desiring to remain as close to them as we perceive to be safe. The Lord knows how to protect us even from storms raining down sulphureous fire. But we, as it turns out, are somewhat attached to storms, and unwilling to sufficiently evacuate their path of destruction. We are too fascinated with them and unable to completely fix our eyes upon a peaceful future. But ultimately it is impossible to cling to the past, especially if the past was like that of Sodom and Gomorrah. The storms are often merely paving the way for a better future, one where we find our confidence and a full measure of peace by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus himself.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (see Hebrews 12:2).
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