Jesus had been teaching in his favorite spot, beside the Sea of Galilee. It’s actually a lake surrounded by mountains. When the crowd grew so large that he couldn’t walk away, he suggested that they cross to the other side as the sun was setting. There was a small sail and oars. And after dark, as occasionally happens, the wind came up suddenly out of the west, and the surrounding mountains acted like a funnel and suddenly the quiet lake was roiling and heaving and the waves were high and the swells made it very difficult to control the little vessel.
As Peter, James, John, and Andrew are struggling with the tiller and oars to keep the boat pointed ahead, Jesus is sleeping and someone—surely it is Peter—cries out “Teacher, do you not care if we are perishing?” “He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace! Be still!” and the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.”
It’s almost irresistible at this point for modern men and women to ask, “Did he really do what the Bible says he did? Did it really happen that way?” All we can know is that in the middle of a storm, his friends learned that they could trust him with their lives, that he was trustworthy, and that in spite of their fear, they could rely on his presence and his promise.
Where do you turn when the storm hits? Who can you trust? Who is your anchor? Who can you count on to be with you?
Dr. Willy L Mafuta Pastor,
Hopewell United Methodist Church, Hopewell, NJ 08525