Devotion for Tuesday, May 10

A windstorm arose on the seas, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but [Jesus] was asleep.  And they went and work him up, saying, 'Lord, save us! We are perishing!'  And he said to them, 'Why are you afraid, you of little faith?'  Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm.  They were amazed, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?'

The scene described here is rather humorous.  As a storm rages around them, the disciples freak out and worry.  And while this happen, Jesus sleeps.  They wake him.  He basically says, relax y'all, and ends the storm.  But then there is a dead calm, which is not good for a sailboat either.  They aren't in danger, but can't go anywhere either.  I always wondered if the "dead calm" was Jesus' way of saying, "Now, sit here and consider why you were so afraid.  And let me get some sleep."

Storm and anxieties and struggles swell up around us in life.  Jesus is there with us. We implore Jesus to save us.  He does and then invites us to consider why were afraid in the first place.  Jesus is regularly saying, "Do not be afraid."  And what might this mean to him and for us?

Now fear is real for us in many ways.  However, I don't believe Jesus is saying that being afraid is somehow akin to being unfaithful.  Instead, I see Jesus as reminding us here that being afraid can lead us to forget the power of faith and hope.  When he says, "Do not be afraid" it is a call to not allow fear to take prominence over our faith.  Even amidst fear, we can dare to have faith and believe that the storms that seek to overtake us, cannot do so with Jesus by our side.

And Jesus is always by our side.  Storms will come.  Waves of fear can seek to drown us.  But the calm of Jesus will win out always.  It is the promise of faith that we can believe this even amidst all evidence to the contrary.

As my friend Tom says, "Don't tell God how big your storm is, tell your storm how big your God is!"

God of calm amidst the storm, may we live amidst our fears and storms with faith and trust. Amen.