Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
"Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"
Mark 4:36-37
The other night I was in a deep sleep and my dog, who was also asleep on the floor in my room, let out a long loud howl. It was fascinating really because she did not waken at all, she didn't even stir, and it was so gutteral to me that I imagined how that sound has developed over many centuries of these dogs communicating with each other on a night's watch. I wondered what she was dreaming about, or what sound she may have heard outside that I couldn't possibly hear, that caused such a reply from her.
I thought about all those things after I nearly fell out of my bed trying to decide if I should wake everybody else and seek cover! In my dream that howl was a tornado siren, or an incoming tsunami, but as I awoke, with my heart beating quickly, and tried to focus on what that noise was, I almost shook her awake to find out.
My reaction to her is similar to the disciples when their boat was being tossed by waves, and Jesus slept soundly, but they did wake Jesus, because their fear was a real event. Instead of me telling my dog, "Do you not care that I was sleeping?" to which of course she couldn't possibly answer, the disciples were in fear for their lives, and Jesus did answer them. He didn't go anywhere, He was still with them and among them, as He is with us and among us. That image of the sleeping Jesus is for those times when we don't think God hears our prayers. It also reminds us that we cannot call upon God to reply to us with answers like a genie with a magic wand. The silent God will test our faith but also will enable us to rely on that same faith to remind ourselves that God is constant and true and always there for us, even when it seems like He is sleeping.
