Nap Weather

But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger.
– Luke 8:23

Some people can sleep through anything. You probably know someone. Maybe it’s you. I have a daughter like that. Turning lights on, rattling dishes in the kitchen: she can sleep through all of it unfazed. (My wife, on the other hand, will wake up if someone down the street turns on a light. But, I digress.) I am no sleep expert, unless you count all of the experience I have being asleep, but it only requires simple observation to know that some people are more disturbed by external stimuli than are other people.

Jesus didn’t seem to have any trouble sleeping through a storm—literally. After some busy days of teaching and healing, Jesus and his friends board a boat and sail for the east side of the lake. The trip would take a little while, so Jesus makes use of the time by taking a nap. While he is asleep, a storm arises. This was no mediocre storm; it was enough to disturb even the experienced fishermen among them. The disciples seriously thought they were in trouble. As they are struggling to bail water and keep the boat upright, one of our friends notices something astonishing. Jesus is sleeping. Sleeping, at a time like this! They came to him with their concern, obviously incredulous that Jesus wasn’t equally bothered. In Mark’s gospel account the disciples question him saying, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” (Mark 4:38 KJV). Seriously, CAREST THOU NOT?

To their credit, it does seem that the disciples are expressing faith by waking Jesus. If anyone in the boat can improve their circumstances, Jesus is obviously the best candidate. Yet it could be that their faith only added to their sense of bewilderment. Jesus had shown compassion for multitudes of people. Why does it seem at the moment that he doesn’t care? He cared about the leper. He cared about the centurion’s servant whom he had never met. Why does he seem to disregard the urgent need of his close friends?

The issue happening in that boat might be described as a difference in perspective. Perspective is what causes two or more parties to look at the same circumstances and interpret them differently. No one would have debated that it was storming. The point where their perspectives diverged was on the matter of danger. What did that storm mean to them? Were they in peril, or were they not? When you think you are in peril, you typically don’t sleep. Sleep is for people who have confidence in their safety. The disciples couldn’t have slept for all the tea in China (apparently China is tea-wealthy). Jesus had no trouble sleeping. One storm, two perspectives, and thus two reactions.

Let’s follow the scene to the end, then reflect on what it might mean for us as people on the journey with Jesus. Once he was awake, Jesus gave a stern command to the wind and the sea that they should cease their upheaval. The forces of nature submitted to the spoken word of Jesus. He then turned to the disciples and took them to task for not having more faith. At this point you might want to say, “wait, what? Why is my faith not greater? We were almost ready to go down, and you expect we should just take a nap like you?” It surely seems like an unreasonable expectation. Why wouldn’t a person be fearful?

There are at least a couple of ways to consider this, neither of which we will do more than mention here. Jesus could have been saying, “no, you weren’t within a step of death’s door; you just thought you were.” In contrast, Jesus could have been saying, “it doesn’t matter if you were within a step of death’s door; you must learn to take that in stride.” When it comes to discipleship, either of these are in play. I am mindful of the stellar response of Daniel’s three friends when they were about to be tossed into a fiery furnace. They said to the king (and I paraphrase), “God is able to deliver us, and he will deliver us out of your hand. But even if He does not, please know that we are not going to serve your gods” (Daniel 3:17-18). Now that is resolute faith. Can God deliver me? Absolutely. Will He? I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. I will stand strong in my service to Him.

I look at my life and it makes me wonder how much sleep I am losing over things that I shouldn’t be. The circumstances are not out of God’s control, and I need to not be shaken even while not knowing what God will do with the circumstances. There is a flip side to this also, and we have to reach forward a few years to see the example. A night would come when Jesus was bothered and unable to sleep. The disciples on the other hand had no trouble. It was on that night that Jesus was asking the disciples how they could sleep at a time such as this (see Matthew 26:36-46). Again, the question I ask is how many times am I spiritually sleeping when my spirit should be troubled and awake? Good questions. I hope I get this sleeping/waking thing figured out.

Oh, by the way, I told you they would ask the “who is this…” question again.¹ “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?” Who indeed?

See you along the winding path.

1. See Can He Do That? ↩︎