On Monday morning I was looking at this picture with the pupils in Reception Class.
The picture illustrates the scene from last Sunday’s Gospel reading. Jesus and his disciples were in a boat, when suddenly the wind became fierce and the waves threatened to overwhelm the boat. The disciples were terrified, but Jesus slept through the torrent. When the disciples woke Jesus he rebuked them for their lack of faith, and he called upon the wind and the waves to subside, which they did.
I asked the pupils in Reception Class why they thought the disciples had been afraid. ‘They thought that they were going to be tipped into the water,’ they told me; ‘they thought that their boat was going to capsize.’ I followed this up by asking the pupils why they thought Jesus, who was in the same boat as the others, was not frightened like they were. ‘Because Jesus knew what to do,’ was the brilliant answer I was immediately given.
I loved the understanding shown – in Reception Class – that Jesus was like the others, but at the same time was not like the others!
Jesus had no cause for alarm. He was a man in the same boat, but unlike his friends he knew what to do. He knew that he could take control of the situation. The disciples were afraid because they felt that things had got out of control; they did not know what they could do to influence the situation. But Jesus knew what to do.
Maybe there are situations in our lives sometimes when we would like to be like Jesus and know that we are in control and certain of the future, but in fact are like the disciples and experience uncertainty or even fear because we can’t work out the right or best thing to do. When this was the experience of the disciples, Jesus called them to have more faith and to trust in him, for he knew what to do, and all things are possible with God.
Whenever we are like the disciples and don’t know what to do we are invited to turn to God who always does know what to do. Like the disciples found, we can entrust ourselves and our needs to his care.
God bless,
