Reflection on Mark 4:35-41

 

Mark 4:35-41

35When evening had come, [Jesus said to the disciples,] “Let us go across to the other side.” 36And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Reflection

I once had lunch with a retired naval officer who sipped at a coffee while talking about “confused seas.”  He explained that “confused seas” are different from a normal, sea with high waves.  “In a normal sea with high waves, all you have to do is turn the boat so that the front of the boat is facing the waves head on,” he explained, “allowing the boat to cut through and go over the top of the waves without fear of toppling the boat on its side.”  He explained that though a sea with huge waves can, indeed, be a scary thing, it is a situation that can be handled by a good helmsman. 

“But, a confused sea is different,” he continued.  “A confused sea occurs when a storm causes waves to come at the boat from multiple directions.”  Setting his coffee down he talked about how it is difficult, if not impossible; to keep the boat facing the waves head on because it takes so long to turn a larger boat.  The boat starts to become tossed from side to side, threatening to swamp, topple, and sink the boat.  If it is fear that creeps in when experiencing the ups and downs of high waves, it is terror that soaks into your very core when confronted with a storm of confused seas.  “Navigating confused seas were the most terrifying moments of my service in the navy, and that includes getting shot at” the retired naval officer told me as he resumed sipping his coffee.

I had never sailed on the ocean, so I had to take his word for it.  Now every time that I read this story from the gospel of Mark about Jesus and the disciples on a stormy sea, I think about the terror that the retired naval officer shared.  I imagine “confused seas” causing the disciples to work like they have never worked before at the oars, trying to keep the boat afloat.  I imagine some other disciples trying frantically to bale water out of the boat.  They are all trying to keep it together in a situation that is far from being together.  They are trying to create order in a situation that is completely filled with the waters of chaos.  And, I image their feeble attempts to save themselves having little to no affect.  Water spills into the boat as soon as a pale of water is thrown out.  The boat gets hit from the side immediately after cutting properly through a wave at the front.  Sometimes, we simply cannot bring order to chaos.

“Why is this happening to me?” she asked as she struggled to come to terms with the fact that the cancer had come back just months after losing her husband to the same.  “The bills are out of control.  The funeral was expensive and unexpected.  And, now more of this?  I could handle the cancer the first time.  He was by my side and we worked through it together.  But now, how can I even pay to get to my treatments?  Why is this happening to me?  What did I do wrong to deserve this?  Does God care about me?”

And, there it was.  “Does God care about me?”  I could not blame her for asking the question.

You see, we can handle one large wave, especially if we see it coming and can prepare.  If we are surrounded by other people, it is even easier to tackle one wave in life, even if it is a huge one.  She could handle her first round of cancer, with her husband by her side.  But, there are times in life when one problem leads to another, which leads to another, and it is all just a catastrophe of problems. 

It makes me think of a video that I watched the other day which showed a woman taking hamburgers from the grill and putting them on a plate when she is unexpectedly attacked by a hornet.  This causes the woman to throw her arms above her head, allowing the burgers to soar into the pool behind.  The act of throwing up her hands makes her stumble down the steps directly behind her, which causes her to reach for the handle of the grill.  With this, the smoking, hot grill obediently follows her down the steps into the pool.  As the grill sinks, steam rising from the water, and as she swims to safety, we hear a child shout from behind the security camera, “I’m hungry, Mommy.  Are the burgers done yet?”

The video is hilarious, but it acutely illustrates for us how chaos can quickly devolve into a confused sea.  When the winds blow and the waves of life get confused, when the hardships of life start to pile on and come from every direction, we start to sink, unable to create order from the chaos.  And, it causes us to join the disciples in asking Jesus, “Don’t you care?”

Even though the question is a natural one, a question that any one of us could utter when the storms of life converge and create an impossible chaos, it is also a question that can lead us in an unhelpful direction.  It can lead us to think that God has abandoned us. 

To those who have ever felt like God has abandoned them, I want you to note that in Mark’s story of the stormy sea, Jesus can be found in the boat the entire time.  He is there when the disciples run to Jesus and ask, “Don’t you care?”  The Bible is clear that Jesus is in the boat the entire time.  Jesus does not leave his followers when the going gets impossible, nor does he abandon them.

Granted, Jesus is asleep, and life can definitely get to the point where it feels like Jesus is asleep, but do not forget that he is right there in the boat the entire time.  When you are struggling with the rough seas of a chaotic life, Jesus is right there the entire time.

And, after approaching Jesus, and screaming, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” the disciples see Jesus rise and hear him say to the strong winds and the chaotic sea, “Peace!  Be still!”

Technically, the Bible literally says that Jesus “woke up and put a muzzle on the wind.”  It is as if the chaotic wind and sea is a terrible monster that needs its mouth bound with leather straps and chains.  It is as if Jesus is able to create a dry island of peace in the middle of the chaotic waters with a few simple words in the same way that God does at the beginning of creation where the words “let there be…” bring dry land and vibrant life in the middle of a watery, chaotic universe.  It is as if Jesus is God, standing right there with the disciples in the middle of their chaos, creating peace and sustaining life when they cry out and ask.

“Why are you afraid?  Have you still no faith?” Jesus asks the disciples.  It is an answer to their question; the question that started to lead them in the wrong direction in their life of faith; the question that asked, “Don’t you care?”  “Don’t you trust me?” Jesus asks.

Now, there are questions that I cannot answer for you this morning.  I cannot answer why the storms are allowed to get so bad.  I cannot answer why Jesus is asleep during the storm.  I do not know the answer to either of those questions.  But, what I do know is that Jesus is right there in the boat, in our boat, when confronted with confused seas.  What I do know is that Jesus wakes when we approach.  What I do know is that “Don’t you care?” is not a helpful question.  What I do know is that even though we ask, “Don’t you care?” Jesus does still care and speaks peace to our storms. 

What I do know is that Jesus cares more than we can possible imagine.  What I do know is that Jesus cares so much that he is willing to go all the way to a cross and die on it in order to give us an eternal peace.  What I do know is that Jesus can create life after the cross and after the chaos.  What I do know is that Jesus does care.

“My husband visited last night,” the woman suffering from cancer a second time said one morning as she sat up in her hospital bed, a line in her arm, dripping her treatment.  “It was probably a dream, but then again, I don’t think it was.  I mean, he was right here on the side of the bed.  He didn’t say anything, but he did rub my hair and cheek.  He smiled at me, and then, I don’t remember what happened then.  He was gone.  I think that God knew that I needed that.  I think that God does care after-all.” 

When life becomes a confusing sea, Jesus is there in the boat, and Jesus does care.