Yet the reality of death-by-water affects every family and community. My husband has always refused to ride in a canoe. When he was in High School, three of his friends went canoeing. The canoe capsized, and, in spite of the valiant efforts of the other two, one of his friends drowned. Our son John almost drowned swimming when he swam out too far and an unexpected strong current grabbed him. I almost drowned in a friend's swimming pool, going under, unable to rise, until my sister Donna pushed me up to the surface. I'll never forget the giddy joy of my face breaking through water so I could breathe again.
Once, in the Gospels, Jesus' disciples almost drown. Because of a simple request Jesus makes. On the shore of the Sea of Galilee, there is a natural amphitheater where the crowds would gather to listen to Jesus preach while he sat in a fishing boat just off-shore. Why would he teach from a boat? Sound travels over water very easily. After one long day of Jesus' teaching, the disciples are tired. But then Jesus asks something unexpected of them.
Jesus asks his disciples to cross in the boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, perhaps so he can teach a smaller group of close friends. A number of the disciples, probably unwilling but accommodating, get aboard with Jesus, while other followers utilize other boats to sail after them.
Probably they are all afraid. They are sailing the sea at night and they know the danger of encountering storms at night without benefit of guiding sunlight, the horror of winds and waves which sink boats and drown fishermen. And - as if in answer to their fear - suddenly a great windstorm, perhaps a tornado, arises and swamps the boat in which Jesus has fallen into a deep, exhausted sleep. Fr. James Martin S.J. describes the scene:
"Even today, storms suddenly stir up the Sea of Galilee, the result of dramatic differences in temperatures between the shoreline (680 feet below sea level) and the surrounding hills (which can reach 2,000 feet.) The strong winds that funnel through the hills easily whip up waves in the relatively shallow waters (only two hundred feet deep.)"
In Galilee today, there is a Jesus Boat Museum, the Yigol Allon Museum, located on a kibbutz by the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Inside it is the Ancient Galilee Boat, an artifact from the time of Jesus, the type of boat in use among Jesus' disciples. "The dark wooden vessel, which would have included a mast, is large - almost 27 feet long by seven and a half feet wide. For me," says Fr. Martin, "the most touching feature was evidence of numerous repairs, the reuse of wood types (twelve in all.)" The boat would have included "a raised wooden ledge on which several people could sit. So it would have been easy for Jesus to find a place to sleep, perhaps on a cushion, or a bag of sand used for ballast or comfort."
The disciples know he's exhausted. But - how can he sleep through THIS?
They wake him up, probably shout at him over the punishing winds, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"
Jesus rises up, rises to his full height to confront the storm. He "rebukes" the wind and says to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" The word he uses to rebuke the waves is the same word, "epetimesen," that he has used to rebuke the demon in the synagogue at Capernaum: "Be silent, and come out of him!" And at once there is a great calm.
The disciples are still terrified, maybe even more so. Fear of a storm has been transformed into fear and awe of God. They know the stories in the Torah of God's power: God dividing the water in the story of Genesis; God dividing the waters of the Red Sea. They know the God of the Psalms: "You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them." They know that controlling the vast and terrifying powers of Nature is a prerogative that belongs to God alone.
Who is this Jesus then? "They feared a great fear; 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
Jesus' response is clear, concise, both a comfort and a straightforward challenge:
"Why are you afraid? How is it that you still have no faith?"
When we are undergoing tremendous physical, emotional, or spiritual tumult, we feel we are being buffeted by a tremendous storm that has boiled up out of nowhere - and we fear we are going to drown. The fragile vessel of ourselves is taking an unexpected trip and now is splintering apart. We are caught in a fast-moving current; we're rising and sinking, rising and sinking, barely able to breathe.
"God, where are you? Don't You know I'm drowning?" We scream over and over.
God is silent, asleep in the bottom of our boat. Absent. Abandoning us.
We lose all restraint. We can't be polite anymore. We feel betrayed.
"WHERE ARE YOU GOD? DON'T YOU CARE THAT I'M DROWNING?" But, now, finally, we're letting God see and hear who we are in all our littleness, in all our naked emotions. Our relationship with God is suddenly honest. Real. Because God has heard the same sorrow, grief, fear, and anger from countless believers before us, and He will till the end of time.
The storm still rages in our lives, but finally the storm of our emotions blows over. Maybe we've punched a wall, thrown things. Maybe we're bent over, or lying curled in a fetal position, or kneeling in an empty church. Our faces are wet with tears, our voices are rough from yelling, our hearts are drained.
Now, gently, gradually, the calm of God's peaceful Presence steals over us.
"Why are you afraid?" God whispers. "Don't despair. Have faith in Me. Have faith in what I'm doing and what I can do. Now that you're calm, look around. See Me at work in your life, because I'm still with You, even if I'm not doing what You want me to do in this area that is a storm for you. I love you. I'm still placing love in your life. Trust Me. Nothing is impossible for Me. I will always bring all things to the good for you. Your name is carved on My Palms and my Heart forever. And nothing can disrupt the plans of My Heart for you."
"I won't let you drown," God says. "Put your arms around Me. Listen to My Voice above the wind and waves. I am your eternal Life Preserver. Rest in and on Me."