{"id":3438,"date":"2024-02-29T07:57:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T12:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=3438"},"modified":"2024-02-29T07:58:04","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T12:58:04","slug":"stilling-the-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/29\/stilling-the-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Stilling the Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, <\/em>click here<\/a>
 
Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at the miracles of Jesus \u2013 his spectacular displays of supernatural power that are reported in the Gospels.    <\/em>
 
In 1986, the receding waters of the Sea of Galilee revealed an archaeological treasure.
 
A pair of brothers, poking around the edges of the lake during a prolonged drought, discovered the mud-encrusted remains of an ancient wooden fishing boat.
 
Archaeologists hurriedly excavated the find before exposure to air caused further damage.  The boat was 27 feet long, a little less than eight feet wide, and could have held up to 15 people.  It had a shallow draft and a flat bottom \u2013 perfect for casting nets near the shore.  It was made of 10 different kinds of wood.
 
Most significantly, carbon dating revealed it had been built sometime between 50 B.C. and A.D. 50 \u2013 a span that corresponds to the time of Jesus. 
 
Journalists immediately dubbed it the Jesus Boat, although there is no way it could ever authoritatively be linked to his ministry.  Nevertheless, the humble craft \u2013 now on display in a Galilean museum \u2013 is like a window into the New Testament.  Such boats are mentioned an astonishing 50 times in the four Gospels.  Visitors now have a way of picturing what it might have been like to crowd into one of those homemade fishing vessels. 
 
One of the voyages shared by Jesus and his disciples was particularly memorable.  It\u2019s safe to say they never looked at their Master quite the same way again.  Here\u2019s how Mark describes it:
 
That day, when evening came, he said to his disciples, \u201cLet us go over to the other side.\u201d  Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.  There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.  The disciples woke him and said to him, \u201cTeacher, don\u2019t you care if we drown?\u201d<\/em>
 
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, \u201cQuiet! Be still!\u201d Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to the disciples, \u201cWhy are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?\u201d They were terrified and asked each other, \u201cWho is this? Even the wind and waves obey him!\u201d  <\/em>(Mark 4:35-41) 
 
The Sea of Galilee isn\u2019t an unusually large lake.  It measures 13 miles north to south and 8 miles at its widest, east to west.  But it boasts unique geological features.  It lies almost 700 feet below sea level.  Only the Dead Sea \u2013 some 104 miles to the south, at the other end of the Jordan River \u2013 sits lower, at 1,300 feet below sea level.  
 
We know that four of the disciples \u2013 Peter, Andrew, James and John \u2013 caught fish for a living.  They were keenly aware of the Sea of Galilee\u2019s unusual meteorology. 
 
The lake is surrounded by dormant volcanoes.  Approaching weather fronts are occasionally accelerated through black basalt hills.  Brief but intense storms may feature violent winds and high, choppy waves.  Local legends suggested there might be a portal to hell at the bottom of the lake, allowing unfriendly spirits to rise to the surface from time to time.
 
For fishermen, therefore \u2013 whose job was to head out onto the lake six days a week after sunset \u2013 there was always an element of primordial fear. 
 
Those fears must have spiked when Jesus suggested, \u201cLet\u2019s go to the other side.\u201d 
 
Most of the Gospel accounts of Jesus\u2019 life take place on the northwest side of the lake, the area around Capernaum, which was heavily populated by faithful Jews.  The \u201cother side\u201d was a coded expression for the southeast shore, which was known as the Decapolis or Ten Towns.  This region was thoroughly pagan.  No Jewish boy who valued his spiritual integrity would ever be caught dead on the southeastern side of the lake.
 
Dr. Jim Martin, a Bible scholar and archaeologist, points out that while these areas weren\u2019t that far away in terms of actual miles, the Decapolis was, in the popular imagination, something like the dark side of the moon.
 
Jesus\u2019 insistence on heading toward the \u201cother side\u201d would be like a Sunday School teacher telling their class, \u201cI\u2019ve arranged for us to spend the weekend strolling around South Central Los Angeles.  Who\u2019s up for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure?\u201d 
 
Jesus apparently has no abiding concerns about their destination.  He falls sound asleep on a pillow in the stern of their small, crowded boat.  But when a \u201cfurious squall\u201d suddenly descends, the disciples lose their composure.  A shallow draft is no help at all if waves are crashing over the sides of the boat.  It\u2019s entirely possible that most of them don\u2019t know how to swim. 
 
\u201cTeacher, don\u2019t you care if we drown?\u201d  This is the age-old question.  Our greatest need is not, \u201cLord are you really there?\u201d so much as, \u201cLord, do you actually give a rip about what we\u2019re going through right now?\u201d
 
Gary Inrig, a pastor in Loma Linda, California, makes an important observation.  This whole trip was Jesus\u2019 idea<\/em>.  Without so much as a warning, storms of all kinds will come crashing into our lives \u2013 even when we are doing exactly what God has asked us to do. 
 
But it\u2019s often in those particular storms \u2013 the ones that happen in the very places where God has asked us to go \u2013 that we learn that he is all we really need. 
 
For a few frantic moments, the disciples must be rethinking their assumptions about Jesus.  They\u2019re in a serious crisis.  But he\u2019s not directing things.  He\u2019s sleeping.  What kind of leadership is this?  Doesn\u2019t he care?
 
What Jesus does next elevates their reassessments to a whole new quantum level. 
 
Jesus, awakened, stifles the wind and the waves with a verbal command.  Various English translations include, \u201cQuiet! Be still! Settle down!\u201d Think of a parent confronting a roomful of sucrose-energized preschoolers: \u201cNow, that\u2019s quite enough!\u201d  Or perhaps an exasperated music lover shouting to their digital player, \u201cAlexa, I forbid you ever to play Baby Shark<\/em> again!\u201d
 
The winds cease.  The waves flatten.  The great storm is followed by a great calm.
 
And suddenly the disciples are gripped by a great fear.
 
So far this night they have been afraid of the storm, of capsizing, and of what might await them on the other side.  Now they are afraid of Jesus.
 
\u201cWho is this?\u201d they ask (Mark 4:31).  The King James Version renders the same line, \u201cWhat manner of man is this?\u201d  In other words, what category of human being does Jesus fit into?
 
All of us, at one time or another, are afflicted by xenophobia.  Xenos<\/em> is the Greek word for \u201cstranger.\u201d  We feel uneasy, uncomfortable, maybe even anxious around people we don\u2019t yet know or cannot figure out.  We may hardly notice it, but all our lives we\u2019ve crafted little slots in our minds where we can categorize the Other Person.  As soon as we can, we identify them as a good person, or cynical person, or reliable person, or sad person, or dangerous person. 
 
What little slot does Jesus fit into?  The disciples have never been in the presence of someone who orders around the wind and the waves the way someone might order a sandwich.
 
\u201cWho is this man?\u201d<\/em> 
 
They are gripped by an undefinable sense of awe that the Bible calls the fear of the Lord. 
 
Little do they know that this won\u2019t be the last time they see Jesus do something on the Sea of Galilee that will defy all categorization. 

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at the miracles of Jesus \u2013 his spectacular displays of supernatural power that are reported in the Gospels.     In 1986, the receding waters of the Sea of Galilee revealed an archaeological treasure. A pair of brothers, poking around the edges of the lake during… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-3438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-miracles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3438"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3441,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3438\/revisions\/3441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}