Peace Be Still

Near Tiberious on the shore of the sea of Galilee, there is a valley called the Arbel. Two thousand years ago there was a road through this valley that led from Nazareth to Capernaum. No doubt Jesus walked that road many times. Because it is lined on both sides by steep mountains, the Arbel is sometimes called the wind tunnel. Any storm coming from the west would blow through that valley and hit the Sea of Galilee with enormous force. Thus the lake (that’s really what the Sea of Galilee is, a large lake) might be peaceful and then a storm would suddenly arise, with driving rain and gale-force winds. Any boat on the Sea of Galilee would be in peril when that happened. The many boats at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee bear testimony to the power of a raging storm in the middle of the night, when a boat is tossed helplessly by the wind and the waves and there is no one who can rescue you, and nothing you can do to save yourself.  That’s what makes the text of  Mark 4 so powerful;  On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. 

  The key to understanding this story lies in one important question. If you know the answer to this question, then you know what this story is about. 

Whose idea was it to get in the boat in the first place?