Be Still

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.  And other boats were with him.  A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.  Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. 

They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet!  Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” (Mark 4:35-41)

“Let us cross to the other side.”  How many of us are willing to make that passage with Jesus.   When we do, we act to understand and associate with those who are strange or foreign to us – perhaps with those we fear or dislike.   We awake the Christ within us to still that fear, to quiet that dislike, and to calm us and remove the terror of taking the first step to change our lives and relationships for the better – to cross to the other side.

The journey can make us feel like we’re in a violent storm with waves crashing against us.  Moreover, we can be that storm and wind when we are in turmoil and resist crossing.  But when we have faith and obey Jesus and follow his way, even the wind and the sea that stir and agitate us obey.   We are stilled.

Deacon David Pierce