Saturday 10 February 2024

Background

Jesus leaves the crowds he has been teaching and gets into a boat with his disciples to sail across the sea of Galilee. Some of his disciples were fishermen and would have been expert at handling a boat. Jesus falls asleep. A great storm threatens to swamp the boat. The disciples panic, even though some would have known what to do. They wake up Jesus, calling him ‘master’ and tell him they are perishing.

The disciples have already witnessed a miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11) but still lack faith in Jesus, and apparently faith in their own abilities. Jesus answers their prayer. He rebukes the wind and waves (v. 24), calming the storm and he also rebukes the disciples for their lack of faith in him, and maybe also in their own abilities. (v. 25). The fear of the disciples turns to amazement when they see Jesus demonstrating God-like power over the sea and wind, just as God had shown power over the sea and wind when the Israelites escaped from Egypt. (Exodus 14:21) There is something utterly compelling, awesome, and amazing about the person of Jesus.

The story is perhaps an invitation to reflect on times when storms unexpectedly blow up in our own lives, how God can seem to be asleep, how we can panic and lose faith in God and in our own abilities. In this story, the answer is to pray earnestly. But expect God to challenge you on where is your faith.

To Ponder:

• Tell the story of what you have learned through an unexpected storm of life.
• Have there been occasions when you lost faith in yourself and in God? Why do you think this was? 
• The disciples were stunned by the remarkable person of Jesus. Have you ever felt that same sense of awe and wonder about the person of Jesus? What happened?

Prayer

God, our rock, saviour, and redeemer, when chaos abounds, and things seem out of control, bring us to that calm place of stability. Thank you for your faithful love in the joys and the challenges we live with. Amen.