0201 DOES JESUS NOT CARE?

DOES JESUS NOT CARE?

Among the many healings and teachings and other events in this chapter is an account of Jesus and the disciples in the boat (Peter’s fishing boat) on the Sea of Galilee. It is evening, and Jesus is having them all go to the other side of the lake. While they are sailing, Jesus, being tired as he was, goes to sleep on a cushion near the back of the boat. So far, so good. 

It’s actually sort of encouraging to me that Jesus was willing to sleep while someone else was doing the work once in a while. Balance and boundaries are needed in everyone’s life. If it’s not your area of skill, let someone else who has the skill and experience take the helm. It can actually be a way of caring for someone when you let them lead in their area of competency.

But suddenly things change, as they can on a large body of water. A very bad storm arises. So bad that these fishermen are to the end of their skills at getting through it. Imagine that they have tried everything they know how to do in trying to keep themselves afloat, but the waves are washing over the sides, filling the boat! It could be just a matter of seconds before the big gust or waves capsizes them completely. And especially in the dark of night, things can turn deadly any moment.

Have you ever been working hard at something while someone else is nearby? Have you ever had unexpected difficulty, and this is costing you a much greater sacrifice than the other person seems to notice? Do you feel bitterness wanting to well up in you? Maybe you want to say, “Don’t you notice that I am working hard here? How about a little help?” Now, multiply that by having this be about the scariest moment of your life, in which you genuinely think you might die.

And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

That’s our question, isn’t it? Not just of the person who is not helping, but of God himself. “Do you not care? Are you just going to let me die here?”

Life can change that quickly, can’t it? Sudden events change everything. Unexpected crises can turn everything upside down. The disciples wake the Master. Their cry is not simply “we COULD perish” but it is “we ARE PERISHING!” In this moment they project themselves just a few moments into the future and tell Jesus they are dying. Does he not care?

What do you think? Did he not care? 

There are two kinds of people who can sleep in a boat in the middle of a storm. One is Jonah, who is running away from God and really wouldn’t mind if the storm kills him and everyone else on board. It is the sleep of depression. The other kind is the one who has a clear conscience before God and who is confident of being in the center of God’s will, so genuinely not afraid of death or other problems. We can’t control the future. Why be afraid of what you can’t control?

So Jesus wakes up. He rebukes the wind and the waves with the kind of rebuke I wouldn’t mind hearing myself: “Peace! Be still!” It’s a command, not a prayer request. Jesus is not asking the Father “if it be thy will.” He commands nature. Just like he said anyone could do. The faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain. 

And so Jesus asks the most pertinent question to be asked in this moment: “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”

Actually, why AM I afraid? Am I afraid of death? Afraid that bad things will happen that I can’t handle? Afraid that God will abandon me in my hour of need? Afraid of being out of control? That’s kind of the center issue for all of us, really: CONTROL. When I am not in control, I am at the whim of another, and that is frightening.

Jesus tells us that God cares for the sparrows of the field, and that none of them fall to the ground without the knowledge of his Father. And then he says that we are worth far more than many sparrows. Oh, we of little faith!

In one sentence each, here is the conversation that is worth all of us breaking down in our lives:

“Do you not care?” 

“Why are you afraid?”

We ask God, “Do you not care?” We ask because we think if he cared he wouldn’t let trials come. But God answers, “Why are you afraid?” He asks because we behave as if we were the ones in charge of the universe, rather than him. We don’t trust his providence, his timing, or his care for us.

The answer is YES. Yes. Jesus cares. And he is able to deliver us. So why should we be afraid?

Why, indeed?