Don't you care?
Reading for Thursday March 16
Scripture portion: Mark 4:35-41
It certainly seemed as if Jesus didn’t care. He was asleep when everyone else was struggling to survive. He was in a small boat making the journey down the length of the lake of Galilee. That lake is surrounded by hills and a weather change can stir the lake up like stirring water in a cup. It was evening, perhaps dark, and the people in the boat were fighting a squall, expecting the strong waves to submerge the boat any minute. Jesus was asleep on a cushion.
Don’t you care is an accusation frequently hurled at Jesus. Once when I was working in a children’s psychiatric unit, one of the admitting staff walked onto the unit carrying a two year old with both feet heavily bandaged, the child’s father in an attempt to punish and train the two year old had plunged the child’s feet into a pan of boiling water. “Where was God when he was needed?” The staff member raged “Why does God allow wicked men to do evil things.” The only answer I gave at the time was that God was with the staff member, and as we did all we could to comfort and heal the child God would partner us.
Jesus spent no time assuring the frightened disciples that he does care. Instead he stood up and spoke to the waves, “Be still” the wind died and the lake was calm, glistening in the soft evening light. The disciples who had feared for their lives, were now terrified of something else, “Who have we got with us in this boat? Even wind and waves obey him”
These fishermen who were in the boat often heard the psalms being read when they were in the synagogue. The psalmist calls upon all nature to praise God; rain wind and weather are called to praise God by obeying him.* Was God in the boat with them?
*Psalm 148.8
Two really interesting sites, show the kind of boat that Jesus was in, and give specifications for it. Click or cut and paste these links. With many thanks to the people who made them available for us.
http://www.jesusboat.com/imgs/site/site/boat.htm
co.com/history/readerscomp/ships/html/sh_036400_galileeboat.htm l
.
If you have trouble clicking, try putting; ‘boat galilee’ into the search bar, that’s how I found them.
Scripture portion: Mark 4:35-41
It certainly seemed as if Jesus didn’t care. He was asleep when everyone else was struggling to survive. He was in a small boat making the journey down the length of the lake of Galilee. That lake is surrounded by hills and a weather change can stir the lake up like stirring water in a cup. It was evening, perhaps dark, and the people in the boat were fighting a squall, expecting the strong waves to submerge the boat any minute. Jesus was asleep on a cushion.
Don’t you care is an accusation frequently hurled at Jesus. Once when I was working in a children’s psychiatric unit, one of the admitting staff walked onto the unit carrying a two year old with both feet heavily bandaged, the child’s father in an attempt to punish and train the two year old had plunged the child’s feet into a pan of boiling water. “Where was God when he was needed?” The staff member raged “Why does God allow wicked men to do evil things.” The only answer I gave at the time was that God was with the staff member, and as we did all we could to comfort and heal the child God would partner us.
Jesus spent no time assuring the frightened disciples that he does care. Instead he stood up and spoke to the waves, “Be still” the wind died and the lake was calm, glistening in the soft evening light. The disciples who had feared for their lives, were now terrified of something else, “Who have we got with us in this boat? Even wind and waves obey him”
These fishermen who were in the boat often heard the psalms being read when they were in the synagogue. The psalmist calls upon all nature to praise God; rain wind and weather are called to praise God by obeying him.* Was God in the boat with them?
*Psalm 148.8
Two really interesting sites, show the kind of boat that Jesus was in, and give specifications for it. Click or cut and paste these links. With many thanks to the people who made them available for us.
http://www.jesusboat.com/imgs/site/site/boat.htm
co.com/history/readerscomp/ships/html/sh_036400_galileeboat.htm l
.
If you have trouble clicking, try putting; ‘boat galilee’ into the search bar, that’s how I found them.
posted by Jessie Coates at 5:28 PM
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