Image of a ship's anchor on the sea floor

Day

35

Drawn to the Storm

Lent 2019

When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Matthew 14:32

The miracle of Jesus walking on the water is detailed in all four gospels.

Jesus has just fed the 5,000, dismissed the crowds, sent his disciples back across the Sea of Galilee, and gone off to pray.

At this time, when the disciples are presumably miles away from land, a massive storm descends upon them. Sometime around 3:00 am, in the midst of this storm, the disciples saw a figure approaching them across the water on foot – and they were terrified.

I have never been sailing nor have I been in a storm of this caliber, but I think that we can all relate to this sort of storm when we consider all the metaphorical storms in our life. The winds and waves that toss us about relentlessly.

We have all been in a storm like this.

In this story, however, Jesus is remarkably unphased by the chaos all around him. The disciples, blinded by fear, are completely unable to recognize their teacher right in front of them. No matter how many miracles they’ve seen before, they are still surprised that it is him.

And why wouldn’t they be?

I often feel as if the storms of my life are too great for any anchor to bear, so surely this storm and the miles of water between the disciples and the shore could keep Jesus from them. But the disciples seem to have forgotten that Jesus is also the creator of the wind and the waves.

We must know that the storms in our life do not keep Jesus from us, rather they are often the very thing he uses to get to us. He meets us there in the center of it all and everything stops in his presence.

Matt Hood ’17
Crean Lutheran High School

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