Reaching the Other Side

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

REACHING THE OTHER SIDE

Mark 4: 33-41

33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything. 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side."  36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"  41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

NIV

Jesus has authority over the world that he created is without question. What is a little strange, what we have not been told, and are not sure of, is when Jesus became aware that he was not just fully man, but also fully God. Certainly, when he was at the wedding with his mother and brothers, he had told her that his time had not yet come, but nevertheless, he still turned the water into wine, and the best wine of the wedding no less. He had to have known then. What about the time of his Bar-mitzvah at twelve when he did not make the troop headed back home and his parents had to come back and found him in the temple speaking with the teachers of the law? His response was that as to why they were surprised to find him in his Father’s house. Did he know then? If so, then the patience of God is demonstrated once more, waiting for the exact time to reveal himself to the world as the Son.  But here he is in the stern of the boat in the middle of a storm that is tossing the boat to and fro with waves splashing in almost swamping the boat, as well as the other boats that went along. Jesus is wakened because these fishermen, these men who had made their living on this water, were afraid of the storm like they had never been in a storm before. So Jesus simply stands up speaks to the storm, “Quiet! Be Still!” The winds obeyed their maker and master. He then turns his attention to his disciples and questions their fear and asked them if they still did not have faith. In other words, he was telling them they could have told the storm to be quiet, to be still and it would have obeyed them. Or was he telling them that because they were with him, the storm would not have harmed them, which they would have made it through the storm and would have reached the other side safely? Of course, that could be our lesson when we face the storms of life when there are difficult times, hard times, that could cause anxiety or worry that we are going to make it safely to the other side. Right now, we are in the midst of what is being called a pandemic with Covid-19 and there are people who have died from this virus. Do we have faith that we will make it, or are we afraid? There are so many other storms that can just pop up in life, much like those storms did on the Sea of Galilee. But how do we respond to those storms is the point of these words of Jesus. Are we afraid? Do we still not have faith? We have Jesus, the maker and master of the universe and all that is in it, including us, his people. So then if and when a storm comes up, we simply need to believe and tell that storm to be quiet, to be still. Jesus has told us as long as God told many men of the Old Testament, in fact, hundreds of times, be of courage, have a strong heart, and do it. Just have that strong heart of faith and move through those storms for we will reach the other side safely. Now that can mean reaching heaven on the other side of this life, but it can also mean reaching the other side through any particular storm of this life. So we exercise our faith which God has measured out to us and we say, be still! If not to the storm, to our heart! We will always reach the other side.