Good Morning Friends,
Is there a storm blowing through your mind and life today as you sip your morning coffee? I hope this story from Markβs Gospel can encourage you and help you find some inner peace.
Much love and more βοΈ,
Glenn || PATREON / BUY ME A COFFEE
In Mark 4 night is approaching and Jesus tells the disciples that it's time to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee; and so they pack up, say goodbye to the people, and head out into the waters. As they got further and further out, though, a huge storm came out of nowhere (which is common on the Sea of Galilee where warm air tends to collide with cold air to create massive storms) and the disciples became afraid.
I imagine they were bailing water out of the boat.
Maybe trying to tie down all of their stuff.
Holding on for dear life as the boat was tossed all over the place.
Jesus? He was making himself pretty useless as Mark says he was fast asleep in the back of the boat before the disciples woke him up and demanded to know if he cared if they all died.
"Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" In other words, "we're dying over here Jesus - what gives?"
Then Mark says that he got up, told the wind to be calm, and asked the disciples why on earth they were afraid and if they still had no faith.
Remember the context of Mark's Gospel? The Messianic Jews found themselves in the midst of a storm, right? Nero's Storm. Nero had blamed them for the fire that burned down Rome and then he unleashed a mini-genocide through their community where he sent soldiers in to execute people in the streets.
It was a time of bloodshed.
It was a time of loss.
It was a time of grief and mourning.
As the winds of Nero blew through their streets and their homes, I'm sure it felt to them like the Messiah was fast asleep in the back of the boat and I'm sure they wondered where on earth Jesus was and what on earth he was doing as he seemingly sat by and did nothing while Nero took everything from them - family, friends, their livelihood ... their lives.
And so with that context on mind, I wonder why Mark shared this story with his readers? And I wonder how his readers would have read this story? Or applied this story to their own situation?
The disciples wanted a quick fix - they wanted Jesus to wake up and end the storm. And although he did ... he did so with a bit of a frustrated tone, right? He was frustrated that "they still had no faith". They had already seen Jesus perform some miracles and the time was pretty ripe for another one and they wanted Jesus to do for them what they saw him doing for everybody else - they wanted a miracle.
"Help us Jesus! Get up and do something."
"Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?"
Why was he frustrated?
Was their request so ... terrible?
Perhaps Jesus sleeping on the cushion in the midst of the storm was an outward picture of the inward reality that Jesus was trying to lead his disciples into?
Read that again:
Perhaps Jesus sleeping on the cushion in the midst of the storm was an outward picture of the inward reality that Jesus was trying to lead his disciples into?
And perhaps their need for the quick fix of making the storm go away was robbing them of the opportunity to learn how to foster and create inner peace amidst outer storms?
And so maybe Jesus was frustrated with them not so much because they were afraid of the storm, but because they were afraid to be in the storm ... in the storm that he led them into, mind you, when he told them to get in the boat, leave the crowds behind, and head to the other side of the lake.
I wonder if Mark was trying to encourage his readers to find peace in the midst of Nero's Storm? And I wonder if Mark was telling them that they don't serve a God who snaps his fingers and makes storms disappear, but that they do serve a God who is with them in the boat of their humanity that gets tossed all around by the various storms and tragedies that come our way ...
A God who lives within them.
A God who is always with them.
A God who radiates peace from the core of their being.
A God who is always as close to them as their next breath.
... And that it feels like he's sleeping because he is, and he's inviting them to do the same - to tap into their inner peace, to tap into the core of their being, to breathe, to take responsibility, and to attempt to find even a small sense of inner calm amidst a storm that is worse than any of us could ever imagine.
Know today that The Christ is asleep in the boat of your humanity. As you get tossed around by the waves of your life and the storms that blow through your days, he's sleeping. And she's sleeping not because they don't care, but because he's at peace ... and she's inviting you to grab a pillow and curl up next to him, knowing and trusting that although the storm may blow everything to pieces ... you will never be alone in the midst of it.
He.
She.
They.
Jesus.
The Christ.
The Spirit.
The Divine.
... Is with you, always, present in whatever form you need God to be.