Do You Not Care?

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Heb 11:1-2, 8-19; Mk 4:35-41

Today’s Gospel challenges us with deep insights into our faith in Jesus.

Jesus is in the boat with his disciples when the storm hits them. The storm looks violent though not deadly. But the words of Jesus’ disciples announce danger and destruction. 

What we must ask is, ‘If the storm was really dangerous, why was Jesus angry with them?’

There are two ways in which we can look at Jesus’ anger. 

Jesus is angry because his disciples do not imitate his faith in God which enabled him to fall asleep even amid the storm. 

Secondly, Jesus is angry that they do not have faith in him, though he was popularly known as the wonder-worker among people. 

Either their faith in God should have calmed them down or their faith in Jesus should have given them trust and confidence. Neither of them happens. 

Jesus is disappointed with his disciples’ lack of faith that trembles with every sign of danger, forgetting the fact that such calamities are powerless in the presence of God.

We suffer only when we forget the presence of God in our lives. In other words, our ignorance of God’s indwelling presence within us causes our suffering. Hence, more often than not, our suffering is self-induced. 

A person with strong faith or a person who lives with the constant awareness of God’s everlasting presence will have no reason to fear any misfortune. 

They know that only the smallness of faith reveals itself as fear, despair, and confusion. 

Jesus invites us to take trust in the fact that God, who is with us, cares for us. There can be no frustration for those who have put their trust in God. 

Let us pray that our faith in God may save us. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar