STORM AT SEA

In Sunday's lection, the disciples find themselves in the middle of a raging storm. Jesus is with them but he is asleep. Only the Gospel of Mark shares the detail that he was sleeping on a pillow. Scholars say that pillow was actually a sack of sand for ballast.

What's fascinating about this narrative is that the fisherfolk did not wake Jesus up until they themselves were already afraid.

Jesus, the carpenter, was sleeping in the safest part of the boat, beneath the stern deck. So, when the disciples--who lived by and off the sea in calm and stormy weather--came to wake him up, there was really reason to be afraid. The storm was life threatening!

Jesus woke up and calmed the storm.

When fisherfolk--then and now--sound the alarm, lives are at stake. When indigenous communities cry out for help, they have done everything possible to avert disaster. When farmers declare that their livelihood is endangered, they have exhausted all avenues for relief.

Many among us, despite the storms of life, are asleep and safe because of what others are doing. But there are storms that are so dangerous, for everyone, that we need to be awakened and be put to task.

It is time for us to arise and face the raging storms.

#EndTheCultureOfImpunity
#IAmWithJesus
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#JusticeForMyanmar
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*art, "Jesus lulls the storm," JESUS MAFA, available from Vanderbilt Divinity Library digital archives.