Today’s Gospel begins as Jesus and His disciples are getting into a boat. Remember, Jesus had been teaching all day. He had been surrounded by crowds of people. Most likely, Jesus just wanted some peace and quiet. He must have been very tired.

As they crossed the sea, a severe storm came up. The waves were high and strong and the boat began to fill with water. The disciples became afraid. They were concerned for their safety. However, Jesus remained sound asleep despite the violence of the storm  and seemed to be  completely unaware of the disciples’ fear and concern.

Finally, the disciples woke Jesus up. They accused Jesus of not caring about them. Didn’t He know they were in danger? Didn’t He care about them?

Jesus immediately commanded the wind and the seas to be still. And Mark says: “There was a great calm.”

We can all probably remember a time in our lives when the “seas were high” and  we  were afraid of “drowning?” What was that time like for us? Did  we  turn to Jesus as His disciples did? Or did  we  try to control our boat all by ourselves?

Perhaps the question for us is: do we trust Jesus? Do we turn to Jesus when we are in need?

Do we truly believe that Jesus is with us? If not, perhaps we can “wake Him up,” tell Him we are sinking and that we need help!  He is waiting for us to ask.