How Calm was Jesus When He Calmed the Storm?

 April 17, 2021  Mark 4:35-41 [NIV] [Shared on Facebook]

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

The way three Gospels tell this story, Jesus was sleeping…on a soggy pillow in the stern of the little boat.  I finally understand a missing piece of this story: The one who created the universe was an exhausted rabbi who had been frantically shaken awake by disciples convinced they were about to drown in a raging storm.   Jesus was more than a little grouchy when he addressed the wind and the waves. 

I confess I have been misled by artists picturing the event showing a heroic figure in a commanding pose bravely facing the storm.  Jesus was completely human.  And completely God.  Yes, he had the power to shut down all attempts by the enemy to end his life including his crucifixion.  But he didn’t.  He walked the narrow line between absolute power and absolute resignation to the will of his Father.

I take comfort in knowing that the Messiah was just as human as any of us.  But while his emotional life suffered its ups and downs just like ours, his focus on his mission on earth never wavered.  Becoming human meant he was going to die, and suffer all the indignities and inconveniences and physical limitations and emotional roller coaster of our human existence. 

It is so much easier for me to take my failed attempts to live a saintly life to him now… He really gets it. 

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