As Mark told it: With the coming of evening that same day,
Jesus said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side’. And leaving the
crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other
boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into
the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on a
cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master do you not care? We are
going down!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet
now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to
them, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?’ They were
filled with awe and said to one another: ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and
sea obey him.’ (Mark 4, 35–41).
The deeper lesson contained within this story are perhaps
less obvious, at least during the more stormy moments in our lives. In essence,
the story tells us that God is still in charge of this universe, every counter-indication
notwithstanding. The first Christian creeds had only one line: Jesus is Lord!
Ultimately that says enough, says it all.
God still rules, even in death and darkness. During the
stormy moments of life, when our very souls are in fear of drowning, it will
seem like God is asleep, comfortable, his head on cushion. The real challenge is that calm is only a
second of realisation away.
What calms the storm in life is not that all of our problems
suddenly disappear but that, within them, we realise that, because God is still
in charge, all will be well—bruises, ransacked houses, alcoholic spouses, lost
houses, lost jobs, loneliness, and the shadow of death itself notwithstanding.
All will be well, because, even asleep with his head on a
cushion, God is still Lord.
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