The Calming of the Storm
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one
Jesus was aware
a. Jesus slept in the boat, and the apostles were afraid because it seemed to them as though their world was falling apart
i. So why wasn’t Jesus paying attention?
b. Of course, Jesus was paying attention
i. Jesus is fully God and fully man
1. That means that even when His human nature slept, He knew everything – everything – through His omniscient divine mind.
2. Jesus, even though He seemed to be oblivious to the apostles, was fully aware of all that was happening.
a. It was actually the Apostles who were oblivious.
two
Everything obeys God – except us
a. Jesus didn’t just know everything that was happening around that little boat.
i. Jesus was actually governing the entire world while He slept: He was even controlling the storm, because God controls the whole of nature at all times, and Jesus is God
b. The winds and the water were obeying Him when they raged just as they obeyed Him immediately when He told them to be still
i. In fact, the whole of creation obeys Jesus. The whole universe is like a great symphony that perfectly responds to the direction of the divine conductor
1. When God says to sing, the birds sing. When God tells the earth to revolve, it revolves. When Jesus tells the water to turn into wine, it turns.
2. Of all the material world, only we humans regularly miss our cues in the symphony of creation.
a. We come in too late, or too early. We play the wrong notes at the wrong time.
b. Because we’re not paying attention. We’re not keeping our eyes on the Conductor.
three
That’s why Jesus – the same Jesus who seemed to be unaware, sleeping in the boat – tells His disciples to be constantly on the watch, to be vigilant
a. Because it’s so easy to get distracted, to lose focus.
i. We’re orchestral musicians – we have the music, the divine instructions, right in front of us. We have the scriptures and the Church’s teachings. We know what we’re supposed to do.
1. Good musicians only look at two things:
a. The sheet music right in front of them – which is their instructions
b. And the conductor
ii. But we get distracted. We look at the other players – we worry about what other people are doing
iii. Or we look out at the audience – and we wonder what all those other people think of us
b. And while we’re distracted, we forget our part, and we miss the signals from the conductor – and we mess up the music.
four
It wasn’t just Jesus who fell asleep when the apostles needed Him – they fell asleep when He needed them
a. Remember? In the Garden of Gethsemane – he asked them to be alert, and to pray with Him.
i. That’s what it means to be alert, to be vigilant. It means to keep focused on the conductor. It means to pray with Jesus, to keep your eyes on Him and not to get distracted by the turbulence around you.
b. But they couldn’t do it. They were worn out. They’d spent all their mental energy on worrying about what was happening around them, and they had none left to pray, to be with Jesus.
i. And they fell asleep – and they were not with the Lord in His agony.
1. They missed their cue. The conductor pointed to their section, and there was a tragic silence.
five
How do we stay alert, awake? How do we dispose ourselves to obey Jesus with the same promptness as the wind and the sea?
a. By doing what Jesus tells the storm: “Quiet. Be still!”
i. We must remove ourselves every single day from the cacophony of the news, of work, of anxiety, of entertainment – from the storm of noise that surrounds us.
b. We have to pray with Jesus, in silence. Take time to reflect on our instructions, and refocus our attention on the conductor.
i. Then we can know that we’re playing the part we were meant to play. Then we will contribute, whether we know it or not, to the same music that the saints and angels and stars and storms make for the glory of the Lord.