Peace in the Storm

“Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!” (Mark 4:41) This really is the question of the whole gospel. Who is this Jesus? How might we answer? 

This was no ordinary storm. Some of these disciples are seasoned fisherman, used to all the Sea of Galilee could throw at them. They were used to the uncertainty and peril of this sea. Life giving and dangerous, chaotic, perilous all at once. But this storm was malevolent, a frenzied result of spirits who sought to bring death. They were overwhelmed and cried out in fear and frustration – don’t you care??! 

The storm was not confined to this sea. These disciples lived each day in the midst of this storm, a Roman storm that upturned all their certainties and tilted the ground from under their feet. Mark’s community knew these spirits. Death had been wrought and the anchor point of the temple was dust. The spirits of death are relentless. We too live in storms that tilt and threaten. Covid has remapped our world. That vast climate change storm grows darker. All seems to be in flux. And sometimes we too call out “don’t you care??!” 

Jesus says to the storm “Peace, be still!” And it was. But Jesus did not fix it. It was not happily ever after. Jesus is crucified. Most of those in the boat met hard deaths in his name. The temple still fell. But the power of those sprits was broken. As Jesus addressed the wind and waves, he also spoke to the storms within. Peace, be still! He showed a way of being in the storm, knowing that even in the worst moments, God is there as well. While all around us might tilt and sway, we too can stand on the stable deck bringing Christ’s peace into the heart of every storm, even when it doesn’t work out how we would like. 

So, who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!