I’ve been on a boat on at least two occasions when it was questionable whether we should have been on the water. The first time was nearly forty years ago when my mother treated Beth and me to a whale watching trip in southern California. I think our captain was a bit too eager not to lose his fee that day. So we went out into waves that seemed as high as the boat cabin. My mother and I both tossed our cookies over the side, but Beth was happy as a clam as she viewed the whales. It’s her Swedish, Viking blood.
The other dicey occasion was in 2002 when we took a car ferry from England to Ireland, Holyhead to Dublin. Again, I think our captain or perhaps the ferry management had poor judgment. One of two ferry lines decided not to sail, and we somehow imagined we were fortunate that the one we had booked went ahead. We weren’t quite so sure when the huge, usually rock-steady ship began to bounce on the waves enough that racks were falling over in the gift shop onboard. We had Dramamine that time, but we abandoned our plan to have lunch on the ship during the ride.
Tourist boats and ferries do have mishaps. I’m glad we didn’t end up part of one. Water travel is subject to both the vagaries of weather and the failures of their human crews, much like our larger journey through life. The text this week from Mark 4:35-41 is a lesson on how the presence of Christ in the boat of life makes a huge difference.
One aspect of this story of the stilling of a storm is that in chapters 4, 5 and 6 of Mark, Jesus crosses back and forth across the sea, first heading east in our text at the end of chapter 4 to land in “the country of the Gerasenes” at the beginning of chapter 5. Then in 5:21 heading back west, presumably to the vicinity of Capernaum once again. Then in 6:32 Jesus gets in the boat once again to go to a “deserted place” where He hoped to rest. Then in 6:45 He decides to send the disciples ahead of Him on the sea to “the other side,” following them by walking on the water.
I’d suggest a spiritual lesson in all that back and forth sailing. Jesus is not afraid to move from one side to the other, and back again. He is also clearly not afraid to be right in the stormy middle of the lake, more than once (again see 6:48), comically asleep in the stern of the boat in our text in 4:38. I’m not afraid to allegorize all that to say that Jesus invites us as His followers to cross back and forth between the sides those around us are on in the disputes and upheavals of our time, to go to whichever side of things where we may find people hurting and hungry and offer whatever ministry we can. Nor should we fear to get caught in the middle, buffeted by winds blowing from all sides, with it feeling like no one is pleased with us.
I will repeat, however, that whatever physical side of the sea He was on, Jesus was always on the side where those most in need were to be found, whether it was those bound in captivity to demons or those simply without food in circumstances for which they did not plan. In every case, even in the passages in the middle, He was there with those who had undertaken to follow Him, to demonstrate to them His power and lordship over all the circumstances of their own lives. He was there to show them who He was.
As life’s storms rage around us and threaten our security, as we seek to determine which side it is toward which we will sail in social and political storms, let’s reflect on the disciples’ question in verse 41, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” We may think we know the answer, that Jesus is the Son of God, our Savior. And so it is. But let’s keep thinking about who He is and which side He would be on in our present times, then sail with all our hearts, not fearing the storms, in that direction.