And, Jesus Slept

Don’t panic – keep your eyes on Jesus.

I was reminded during morning prayers this morning of a biblical story I once tried to live by.

“Wait!”, someone might ask, “what do you mean you ‘once tried to live by’? Are you not supposed to live by the bible always?”.

Yes. Yes I am.

But like anyone, I tend to forget things and have to be reminded from time to time.

At any rate, continuing on, there’s a lot of chaos going on in our world as I write this. We have a hurricane barreling down on Florida, and soon, up the east coast. The U.S. embassy in Russia has asked all Americans to leave immediately. We’re in recovery mode from a worldwide pandemic. There’s famine, and drought, and a plethora of other things going on around the world.

And, this morning, as I thought about these things and was in a spirit of prayer, I was reminded of the disciples, and Jesus, who were in a boat on the sea when a storm came up and tossed the boat all around.

The disciples believed they were going to capsize, and drown.

They were frantically trying to keep the boat afloat – and, Jesus?

Jesus was asleep.

Mark records this moment, “But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?'”. –Mark 4:38-40 NKJV.

We’re all on a big boat that is being tossed about by huge waves – waves of hurricanes, of war, of rumor of war, famine, pestilence and the like – and, at times, it may appear as though Christ is sound asleep in the stern.

Maybe He is.

Maybe He’s not.

One thing we can be assured of, He knows.

He knows what’s going on.

He knows about the waves that are tossing the boat to and fro. And, He wants us to have faith. And, to trust in Him.

In another story, Christ is walking on the water.

Peter gets out of the boat and finds himself walking on water towards Jesus. Peter is distracted by the fact, “hey, look at me! I’m walking on water!”, when he begins to sink.

And to panic.

When we are distracted, when we are more focused on the physical things around us, it’s easy to lose sight of Jesus. And, His love, His mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

The message in all of this is that we ought to set our eyes on Jesus and never take them off. Have faith, trust in Him.

And all will be well.

That’s a message we all ought to live by, no?

Peace and good night.