from Helen
I have to admit that I can be a bit of a scaredy cat. If there is any possibility I may get hurt in a situation I avoid it. Once when Ian and I were at the cricket we were walking around the boundary at what was then Sophia gardens in Cardiff. We were watching Glamorgan. All was very peaceful and calm until a cricket ball came hurtling towards me at speed. Being the brave and competent woman I am I hid behind Ian and he caught the ball with the arm that he didn’t use to catch when he was playing cricket. Ian confidently throw the ball back to a player who was very impressed. Now you could think what a hero Ian is and how good at sports. Until I add in the fact that Ian had his arm in plaster ! And I still hid behind him !!
I had been feeling very relaxed and peaceful ! I am sure we have all had situations when our peace is shattered. It might be by someone coming and bothering us when we are in the middle of doing something which involves concentration. It may be when you’ve had a house full of guests and its been busy but when everyone goes you can feel peace. It may be when something awful has happened and disturbed your life so much that you can’t find peace.
We all long for peace. In our gospel reading (Mark 4:35-end) this morning we heard the story of Jesus stilling the storm. I have been to the sea of Galilee and on a nice sunny day it is really peaceful. However, when a wind blows up the sea can become very rough incredibly quickly.
You can imagine Jesus and the disciples sitting quietly on the boat, maybe chatting as they moved away from a big crowd of people who had been demanding their attention. You can imagine how easy it would be to be lulled into a nice sense of security and peace.
Then of course a big storm broke out. I love the description of the waves being so high they were filling the boat and starting to pull the boat down and in it all Jesus was asleep.
I often say that I have a sympathy for the disciples. On the one hand they got the amazing moments of walking with Jesus but then they got into all sorts of seemingly difficult situations. For us we have the hindsight to know that everything was going to be alright. A bit like watching an episode of the Waltons it always ends well. For the disciples they didn’t know. We know that it all turned out well in the end but can you imagine how frightening it must have been.
To be honest the disciples had every right to be scared. This was especially so when they realised that Jesus was asleep. The one person who they thought might be able to help was sleeping but when he woke up he not only stopped the storm but he asked them a particularly difficult question. He asked them if they had faith. At the end of the reading the disciples were amazed by all that Jesus could do and wondered who He was.
For us then this passage reminds us of the need to have faith
It is so easy to have faith when everything is going well. When life is perfect all around us, to say that we have faith is easy. It can almost be like the football chant of, “You only sing when you’re winning.” For us when life is going well it is easy to sing and admit that we have faith.
When something comes and disturbs our peace, when something happens to shake our faith right at its roots it is not so easy to sing and have faith.
Jesus asked the disciples where their faith was. After all they had seen Jesus do incredible things, they had followed Him in the first place.
It is said that faith is the evidence of things unseen, I am sure that the disciples would have liked to have seen Jesus in action more as soon as the storm started. Almost what we would see as a Superman moment with Jesus swooping by to make everything ok.
I think sometimes we can see Jesus as a Superman. We think well life is good with God. If we have a problem Jesus will swoop by and make things better. The difference is that Jesus does make things better but He does it by being with us always and giving us the courage to carry on even when life is in a turmoil and peace seems so very far away.
The disciples were left asking who Jesus was that even the wind and sea obeyed Him. If Jesus looked at us and asked where our faith was would He be able to see it ? If someone asked you what Jesus means to you, what would you say ?
Jesus is our Saviour, He is the prince of peace, He is love and we can always know that in every situation He is there never leaving us. Helping us through the storms of life, helping us to brave even when we didn’t think we would be able to be.
As A.A.Milne wrote of Winnie the Pooh, Always remember you are braver than you believe, smarter than you seem, and stronger than you think!
Jesus could be saying this to us. When we believe in Him, when we put our full trust in Him we can be braver than we believe, smarter than we seem and stronger than we think.
The disciples were scared, their peace was destroyed. This can and does happen to us but in it all we can know that God’s love protects us. We can hide ourselves in the arms of love knowing that we can move on in our lives day by day with the protection of Jesus.
So,who is Jesus ? Well - He is our life, our love, our Lord. AMEN
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