Life's storms are calmed by Jesus
by Sister Mary Kabat
As a child I enjoyed the family cottage on the Bay on Point Comfort Road. You quickly learned that the Bay had a temperament of its own. What it was one hour is not what it might be the next. We would shake our heads as naïve visitors would get themselves caught in dangerous waves or storms by not being aware of coming changes.
This Sunday Jesus in Mark’s Gospel (4:35-42) invites the disciples to use their boat to go to the other side of the sea. Were the fishermen among the group concerned about a possible storm or a coming change in wind? We don’t know. We do know that as Jesus slept in the stern, a fierce storm comes up and all are scared for their lives.
When they wake up Jesus he commands the wind and sea to “Quiet! Be still!” And they did! The disciples in awe say, “Who is this whom even wind and sea obey?” The disciples are early in their relationship with Jesus. They have heard amazing teaching and witnessed incredible healings. This authority over nature is a whole new side of Jesus. It is also learned by Job (38:1,8-11) as God addresses Job in a storm and the question left out of this passage – “Where were you when I founded the earth?”
There are storms outside us and within us. There is one God, one Lord, one Spirit who is greater than them all, who is a cry, a prayer away.
Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey? Mark 4:41
what a Beautiful and telling reflection you wrote. Thank You Sister Mary.