“They came and woke him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ He said to them, ‘Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?’ Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, ‘What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?’ ”
The Gospel acclamation for today’s reading says, “I trust in the LORD; my soul trusts in his word.” In the Gospel reading from Matthew, when Jesus calms the storm, it is the Word Incarnate who calms the storm. Unlike human beings whose words are carried through into action in a limited way, Jesus, the Son of God, speaks actions into existence. “Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm.”
Most of what I know and observe every day relates to human action in the world; consequently, I come to believe in the material limits of that action. God, help me understand your limitless power in the world. You speak, and your very word brings being into the world. Consider your justice, as today’s Psalm describes it: “no evil man remains with you; the arrogant may not stand in your sight.” With you, no evil remains; in your presence, arrogance is nonexistent because it is a lie. “I trust in the LORD; my soul trusts in his word.” Yet, you respect free will and let all choose you or reject you—choose you a little, choose you wholeheartedly, or reject you altogether.
“Lord, save us! We are perishing!” These words of the disciples Jesus hears and responds to immediately. The little faith they had poured forth from them when they needed Jesus to intervene. It was a small thing for Jesus to calm the winds and the sea. The result: great calm. It is a small thing for Jesus to rebuke the daily fears and terrors. “I can’t,” I often tell myself throughout the day. When I ask for his help, Jesus speaks into reality the direct opposition to fear: “Oh yes you can!” And there is great peace in trusting he holds good to his word.
As I travel in this vessel, the sunlit day, I want to remember what unearthly power is in it with me. At the end of the day, let me see where God was present. Let me look back and see that I was the one who had little faith, the one amazed at the man “whom even the winds and sea obey.”