AND JESUS FELL ASLEEP
A few weeks ago, I wrote a message related to this title on my Facebook “Amidst a storm, depending on its power, you may think that you will not make it, that you will sink. This thinking produces fear and dread despite the fact that we know we have an almighty God on our side…”
Once, when Jesus was on a boat with His disciples, a great windstorm arose on the sea, and the waves began to fill the boat. Yet, Jesus remained asleep as the sea overtook them. The disciples, deeply scared, thinking that they would die, awoke Jesus confronting Him “Master, don’t You care that we are about to perish? Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, peace, be still! And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Jesus then rebuked the disciples, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no Faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (Mark 4:37-41). Great windstorms continue to sweep over the sea of humanity filling many with fear, the pandemic is only the latest storm that seeks to drown the world. All of which makes us feel powerless.
When life does not go as we expect, we tend to feel like the disciples and ask the Lord, don’t you care that we are about to sink into a sea of despair? Why doesn’t God act? Why won’t the Lord protect me and the world from these deadly perils? My dear friend, I can assure you that the Lord is not sleeping or indifferent to what is happening to us. He knows all our storms.
Notice that the Lord did not rebuke His disciples for waking Him up but for their lack of Faith. The disciples had second thoughts about Jesus’ Love and His interest in them, even though He taught them how to control the things of this world, both the physical and metaphysical; that is why He rebuked them. We should ask ourselves, what did the disciples expect when they woke Jesus up? Maybe they thought He would steer the boat out of harms way or at least get the water out of the boat. They never thought that Jesus could calm the wind and sea, the cause of all their pain and suffering. Their fear did not let them understand that they were with the Son of God, the Almighty, and that they had His favor.
Where does my help come from?
King David, in Psalm 121 wrote, “when I look at the mountains, I wonder, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. The Lord is your keeper. And so what is that help? The help is that the Lord has already empowered you. Jesus said that through Faith you can move mountains and that nothing is impossible for you to do. (Matthew 17:20) That is what the disciples forgot and the reason why Jesus rebuked them.
Let’s look at what Jesus is teaching us here in both Mark and Matthew. While we, like the disciples, look to Jesus to fix the circumstances that we find ourselves in Jesus is directing our focus on the causes and not the symptoms of the pain and suffering around us that needs to be corrected. The mountains are the cause of many things like floods in the summer, avalanches in the winter and mountain recuses; that is why we have the power to move mountains. Likewise, the wind and sea are the cause of shipwrecks and drowning; that is why we have the power to calm them. Floods, avalanches, shipwrecks, etc. are the effects, the symptoms. Jesus clearly, by His actions in Mark and His words in Matthew, is stating that nothing is impossible for you to do but you have to focus on the cause of pain and suffering that you are seeing and not the symptoms; remembering that you can do all things through Christ Jesus, so focus on the cause in order to transform yourself and the world.
Guardians of the Faith
Jesus goes on state that we are expected to do greater things than Him so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (John 14:12-14) At ESNE we take Jesus at His Word and therefore we act. We act by focusing on the cause of all the pain and suffering that we see around us. The cause is a lack of Faith. All of our programming at ESNE builds Faith. We have been proclaiming Faith through whatever means available to us since 1984. In the beginning it was radio and now through radio, TV, streaming, social media, live events and podcasts we reach about a quarter of all Hispanics in the world, thanks to you.
This month, ESNE continues to move mountains through the purchase of a radio station in the city of Chicago; instead of renting a few hours a day, in this top 10 market for Spanish language radio. Chicagoland is the home to 1.3 million Hispanics, a third of the city’s entire population; but the purchase is only possible through.
Chicagoland is the home to 1.3 million Hispanics, a third of the city’s entire population; but the purchase is only possible through your continued desire to glorify the Father through the Son as ESNE seeks to expand Faith in Christ through evangelization, won’t you join us by Faith as a guardian of this great cause? That none shall perish.
Chicago is known as the “windy city”. If you can, and feel in your heart the desire to become an instrument for the salvation of souls in Chicago, a city pummeled by the winds of hopelessness and fear, then please join with others in this journey of Faith to, like Jesus, rebuke the wind. Your effort and financial support will be compensated with great blessings from the Lord, a promise He gave to us in Luke 6:38; “for with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”. So, join us on the Guardians of Faith day in March and seek to calm the storm.
I, like you, am just another of ESNE’s many volunteers, who wants to get in on the promises of Christ. So, I invite you to be a good and Faithful servant by joining Jesus’ Sowers along with our Mother Mary so that Christ may reign in the hearts of all.
Sincerely, in the Love of Jesus Christ and Our Lady of Guadalupe.
But wait, there’s more:
I invite you listen to a variety of upcoming topics that will help us become stronger in Faith and to Trust God more fully. I will share these presentation through my Social Media. The topics are:
DEATH: A VICTORY OR DEFEAT? This presentation will help us understand life and death from the point of view of faith.
5 STEPS TO GET TO GOD. This message is for anyone wishing to surrender their hearts to Christ.
THE FAITH OF A WOMAN THAT SURPRISED JESUS. We will explore how Faith obtains miracles because Jesus lives!