Response to the Storm

Gospel: Mark 4: 31-35

Modern Christians are filled with a great many false beliefs.  One of these is the idea that the life of faith should be a primrose path of ease and comfort.  Many believe that their faith should entitle them to positions of power and privilege, wealth and prosperity, and that any discomfort, inconvenience, or difficulty is the work of the devil.  They expect a calm, tranquil sea on which to float with ease from one place to the next.

But the path across the sea is the path to divinization and transcendence, not to worldly influence, wealth, and power.  This path is one that will encounter storms and opposition from the world in all its powers.  The life of faith is a life of struggle against these difficulties, for the sea is not our homeland.  We journey to the other shore - to the place where our real citizenship lies in the reign of God.  We ought not in any way get too comfortable here.

So when the storms come, we have a choice of how to react to them.  We can be like the disciples and claim privilege and grievance, begging release from the storms of this world, a reaction that leads to rebuke from Jesus.  Or we can be like Jesus himself and remain calm and undisturbed by the storm that besets us, knowing of God's love and our ultimate destiny, knowing the storm will pass and that it cannot harm what is our core - the presence of the Lord within our boat.