God is in charge

There are people who are blessed with the gift of being able to stay calm in the midst of calamity. Not
being one of them, I am always awed to witness cool and chilled heads when things get heated up and I am
convinced that there is an element of godliness in the way these blessed souls can “go placidly amid the
noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence” as the great poem reminds us.
The secret lies in 4 words: God is in charge. We need to look no further than the 4 lines of the first reading
taken from the Book of Job to realise that no storm – real or metaphorical – can ruffle the feathers of those
who know that they are not in charge and serenely leaves everything in the hands of the One they place all
hope and trust in: God.
When we think about how the disciples panicked and lost their cool when the tempest hit their boat, we
must consider that it must have been one hell of a storm! Afterall, the disciples were fishermen. The sea
was their workplace. Storms are part of the order of the day and not something new. So, if the fishermen
panicked, they have good reasons to do so. However, one should not miss the delightful contrast expressly
provided: “But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep.” Why would Mark, the evangelist, well
known for his brevity, take the trouble to mention the location of the Lord on the boat (the back of it),
what His head was resting on (a cushion) and his state of consciousness (asleep) in the midst of the
calamity? Surely these little details are so unnecessary considering what was happening all around. But no.
These details provide an insight into the difference between One who has faith and the ones who do not.
This is not to say that Jesus was pretending to be asleep while enjoying the terror fest His disciples were
engaging in. No, the Lord was clearly exhausted from a full day of teaching and ministering to the crowds.
So tired He was that He could literally sleep through a storm! And indeed, he would had He not been
roughly awoken and asked this accusatory question: “Master, do you not care?”
The answer we realise, is a vehement “of course He cares!” Since when has Jesus not cared? Since when
has God taken His eyes off the world, His beloved creation, for even a millisecond? For God is never outside
the storm looking in. Rather, He is in the midst of it and if Jesus slept on, it is because He rested secure in
the love of God, His father. As secured as a child sleeps, free of worries about the terrors of the night
because the child feels safe, knowing that his/her parents will never let any harm come near.
Thus, one can even argue that for the disciples to insinuate that the Lord did not care was nothing short of
an insult. But they, like the rest of us, are after all, weak human beings. So, the Lord asks: “Why are you so
frightened? How is it that you have no faith?” It is not that they (and us) do not have faith. It is just that our
faith is not as deeply grounded on solid rock as we would like it to be. When times are good and the sea is
calm, we can boast of putting our trust in God. But comes the tempest of tempest, all is blown away in the
howling wind and we are left vulnerable and hysterical.
The world is going through a long storm. One that has killed 3.8 million people and still counting. The
initial panic has given way to frustration at prolonged, repeated lockdowns, starts and stops in business
re-openings, delayed aid responses, slow vaccination, mixed messaging from health authorities, decimated
economies, broken families, ruined lives.
“Master, do you not care?” we find ourselves repeating this accusatory plea, forgetting that we are alive
and still have the breath and energy to complain when the real victims are fighting to breathe amidst a
shortage of ICU beds and oxygen tanks. We too forget that while we are all in the same storm, we are not
all in the same boat. I am ashamed to say that while many are clinging to their lifeboats, I am complaining
from the comfort of my yacht. Still, others are clinging on to anything that floats while others are thrashing
in the tempestuous sea. We forget that God is among us, right in our midst. God is in the ICU saving lives,
outside delivering food and manning essential services. He woke up to this storm long before the first cry
for help was made. He dies again and again “and the reason he died for all was so that living men should
live no longer for themselves, but for him who dies and was raised to life for them.” (2Cor.5:15)
Let us pray for calm in the midst of calamity. He calmed the disciples’ storm. He will come this one when all
is in place, for God is in charge.