It was the perfect day. 5 thousand plus…men, women, and children – all happy campers. Teaching, healing, and miracles, what a great combination! There was even food left-over.
And so they drifted off into the peachy dusk, their boat bobbing up and down ever so gently on the then tranquil sea. It was all very picturesque. Very serene… The sound of the waters slapping against the boat could lull you to sleep.
Voices from the quickly diminishing crowd could still be heard from afar. From this vantage point you could see flickering flames on the darkening shoreline and in the skies above. It was the “perfect end” to a “perfect day.”
But things can change quickly, you know that they can…
That’s how life is…
One moment everything is fine…
And one conversation, one phone call, one moment later and life is or can be forever changed and challenged.
The winds can change direction quickly and they seemingly come out of nowhere and the once tranquil sea quickly takes on high chaotic waves.
The little boat is sent reeling, shifting left then, shifting right. The powerless little craft begins to take on water – lots of water! When water comes in this quickly – bailing is of little consequence.
All of a sudden voices are raised, salty comments are made and actual yelling breaks out as panic erupts, blossoms and takes hold of everyone…
The more experienced fishermen wanted those that don’t know what they were doing – to just stay out of their way. Move! Just go and hang on to something! Get out of my way! Now!
It appeared they might be swamped…or that the small boat might even be capsized.
And, just where was Jesus when you needed him?
He said he would see them on the other-side! Does he know? Does he care? They might not make it? They could all possibly perish in this treacherous storm…never to be seen or heard from again.
That’s the way it was, the lake consumed people, like an evening sacrifice. Sailors set off, never to be seen again. Fishermen of “great experience” were flung over the edges…
The seas were dangerous, hazardous and perilous, alright!
They were feeling already exhausted and wearied from battling the storm and the seas and they were still … a long way off from shoreline.
Tired, anxious and completely soaked they fought against these waters of chaos and they were moment-by-moment losing their battle.
Who saw it first, they do not remember, but in the end, they all saw it.
It was a “ghostly figure” moving over the water off in the distance, disappearing and reappearing as their boat thrashed violently up and down in the mad waves.
Suddenly they found themselves gripped by even a bigger fear – then what, they had previously experienced.
From their earliest days they recalled stories of those who were in the throes of death – whose eyes – were opened to the underworld. Could they possibly be seeing what they thought they were seeing…
Was it perhaps a “ghost” or a “spirit” of a dead person awakened from in the midst of the lake…and it appeared…IT APPEARED… that it was coming straight for them.
Which was the greater fear? The lake that was ready to consume them or the demon, the agent of evil, the supernatural being that would soon confront and devour them.
The very next thing they know, they are hearing an ever so faint voice…
It is calling to them. It is coming for them. There is no escape. No way out! They are doomed. They will all surely perish. Could they possibly be hallucinating? Seeing things, hearing things? Could they all be seeing and hearing the same hallucination? I think not!
Had the storm indeed stirred up the underworld? Now they are too scared even for words…
Look, it is the master someone cries out. It is Jesus coming to save us. It is Jesus-bring him aboard! Someone, give him a hand. Reach out and cling to him.
And somehow they found themselves out of danger at the shoreline. They had made the crossing safely. They were not dead, they had somehow “beaten the waters of chaos.”
It was another miracle, they were unhurt and unharmed. Things change quickly!