Mark: Jesus Calms A Storm

 I’ve never been so afraid. I grew up near the water, but that night was like no other. First the storm, and then- well, it’s not an experience I want to repeat in a hurry.

We’d been with Jesus over the far side of the lake, looking to get away from the constant crowds crying out for teaching and healing. It hadn’t worked. So that night Jesus told us to get in the boat and head back to Bethsaida, while he stayed for a bit to pray alone. We did as we were told, although the fishermen among us looked at the sky and muttered ominously about storms. And sure enough, a storm came.

By that time we were right in the middle of the lake. The wind was so fierce we couldn’t make any headway against it. It howled around us, whipping up the waters into waves that seemed to tower over us in our little boat. We were all soaked, tired, and secretly afraid.

The night dragged on, an endless turmoil of wind and darkness and straining at the oars. It was hard to see anything with the spray flying. When I first thought that I saw, or felt, something out in the darkness I dismissed it as a hallucination. But as dawn drew near I saw it more clearly. The shape of a man, not coming straight towards us, but making as if to pass us by.

Someone else saw it at the same time, and shouted that it was a ghost. Everyone stopped rowing and cried out. The boat spun in the wind and nearly capsized as people stood up and grabbed at one another in terror. I wasn’t much better myself. It had to be an omen. This storm would be our deaths.

But then the figure spoke, and we heard him despite the wind. “Don’t be afraid. It’s me.” The voice, so well known, so welcome. It was our friend, Jesus.

He came towards us, walking on the water, as if the storm was nothing. He climbed into the boat with us. The wind died down at once, the water grew calm. We were all stunned into silence.

We’d seen him heal the sick and raise a girl from death, we’d listened as he told stories and taught about God’s kingdom, we’d even helped as he fed thousands of people with five loaves and a couple of fish. Now he’d calmed a storm and walked on water. Was there anything he couldn’t do?