Unexpected storms and faith

By Tyler Tankersley

Once when I was a youth minister, I had taken a group of 20 students on a wilderness backpacking trip in the Rocky Mountains. On our second day of hiking, the plan was to have the students spend four hours in solitary silence. I prayed for the students and sent them on their way. I made myself comfortable and settled in for my own elongated time of silent contemplation. However, after only 15 minutes, I watched as massive, charcoal storm clouds rolled into our valley. I realized that we were about to be surprised with a powerful rainstorm. I broke the time of silence by yelling and blowing my whistle. All of the students gathered to me and we got huddled in our tents to ride out the downpour.

Storms can be like that, can't they? The skies can be clear, you can have a plan in place, and, in a matter of moments, there are dark, foreboding clouds on the horizon hurtling towards you. It's true of physical storms and it's true of metaphorical storms.

In Mark 4:35-41, we read a story of the disciples and Jesus setting out in a boat on the sea of Galilee. At first their trip seems calm and relaxing; so much so, in fact, that Jesus falls asleep in the boat. However, as storm are wont to do, a gale begins to rise. Violent winds and harsh rains began to toss the boat to and fro. The disciples panic, but Jesus continues to peacefully doze.

The frightened apostles shake Jesus awake. He wipes the sleep from his eyes and realizes what is happening. Jesus stands up and says to the storm, "Shut up!" Our English translations of this passage make it sound much more polite ("Peace. Be Still."), but the Greek tells us that Jesus harshly rebukes the storm. Jesus then turns to the disciples and says, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" (Mark 4:40).

What storms are you facing in your life? Have you experienced the sudden appearance of frightening, dark clouds of depression, addiction, abuse, or any other myriad of seasons of life that can arrive unexpectedly to wreck us and our plans? Faith does not mean that we will not face the storms of life; the gospel is not about being healthy and wealthy. We will face trials, we will face hurt, and we will face unforeseen squalls. The gospel is about where we turn in the midst of those storms. For people of faith, we are invited to join the disciples. Yes, Jesus chastises them for having little faith, but in the midst of the storm, they turned to him. They turned to Jesus Christ because they knew that he could do something about this chaos around them.

N.T. Wright says it well: "That's Mark's invitation to all of us: OK, go on, wake Jesus up, pray to him in your fear and anger. And don't be surprised when he turns to you, as the storm subsides in the background, and asks when you're going to get some real faith."