Sleeping Through the Storm

 

The picture is called Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt. You can read the story in the Gospel of Mark 4:35-41. As you read the story remember that the men in the boat with Jesus were seasoned sailors. This was
their living. They had been out in other storms, so they knew what they were doing. But they did not remember one this bad in years.

Imagine the scene on the boat. Try to put yourself in the state of mind that would make veteran sailors cry out, shaking Jesus, who, incidentally, was fast asleep. How can he be that calm, or is it that he just does not care? We recognize that we are in danger while this man is calmly taking a nap in the back of the boat! He fell asleep on a cushion. Is he that courageous, that crazy, or that foolish. How would it be possible to sleep with the boat bouncing from wave to wave? The waves washing over the boat should have been more than enough to wake Jesus!

The disciples finally shook him awake, grabbed him by his robe, and yelled in his face “DO YOU NOT CARE THAT WE ARE ALL ABOUT TO DIE!” It was not a lack of caring that allowed Jesus to take a nap. It was the confidence in his Heavenly Father, his belief in the one who created the wind, the waves, the very storm itself, could also provide safety from it as well.

When all seems lost, nothing is lost if you are in the boat with Jesus!

Who is Jesus?

The church I serve is coordinating with the local Methodist church for Vacation Bible School. This was a collaboration that was begun last year and was quite successful. A couple, Ross & Carolyn Clayton, from our church were the classroom storytellers. They did such a wonderful job that they were "asked" to return again this year.

Today I watched Ross tell the story of Peter answering Jesus' question, "But, who do you say I am?" The story time is a 15-20 minute monologue that has the children riveting their eyes and ears on him. He is a master, our own version of Garrison Keillor.

Anyway, it got me thinking. Just who DO you think Jesus is? The answer to that question determines so much of what you do in life and how you view life itself. There can be no flippant answer. To give such an answer sets our life on its own unique course, adhering to the principles we link to that answer.

"Jesus was a good teacher." If that is the extent of your belief in Jesus, that is how you will relate to him. You will take his teachings as proverbs and exhortations on how you could live your life in a more satisfying way. This also means that you can ignore Jesus teaching with minimal consequences, just like you ignored so many of your teachers in school. Oh, your life may not be as satisfying, but at least you won't be going to hell!

However, if Jesus is who he claims to be, if Jesus has done something unique in history, if Jesus has shown himself to be the true and divine Son of God, if he has done something that requires our allegiance and submission, if he has indeed brought the possibility of light where before there was only darkness, then to deny that act, to say that the events of his life were anything else is to deny the light and remain in the darkness. It does indeed raise the possibility that our choice of who Jesus is to us will have significant and eternal consequences.

It kind of makes this question the most important one you will ever answer in your life, doesn't it?