Saturday 2nd Week of Easter
John 6:16-21
Many times we ask Jesus to do something for us but how often do we invite him to be with us leaving the outcome to him.
I remember fishing one time on a two-seater boat
with a buddy of my Dad, Bud Sepich.
I was talking to him and all of a sudden heard nothing.
I turned around and he wasn’t there.
Talk about a weird feeling
and I was beginning to get a bit afraid
not knowing what happened to him
because there was no splash – nothing, not a sound.
All of a sudden he pops up about waist high
over the top of the water and start gasping for air.
Something shot him up he said from the bottom of the lake
and it must’ve been his guardian Angel.
I couldn’t help but think of Bud
when reading today’s gospel.
Here are the disciples in a boat taking on water
and being violently tossed around by the wind.
I’d be scared but the gospel says they weren’t afraid
until “they saw Jesus walking on the sea
and coming near the boat.”
Maybe they weren’t afraid because they
were experienced fishermen.
Remember as of yet they were not convinced
that Jesus rose from the dead.
So he lets them know he is not a ghost.
“It is I. Do not be afraid.”
We’ve been in storms ourselves –
emotional storms spiritual storms
or anything that becomes overbearing.
As fear or worry begins to overtake us
we cry out, like the disciples
”Get in the boat with us.”
When they say this something wonderful happens –
”The boat immediately arrived near the shore
to which they were heading.”
Wonderful things do happen
when we invite Jesus into our boat.
Many times we ask Jesus to do something for us
but how often do we invite him to be with us, to stay with us,
leaving the outcome to him.
In his own masterful way
Jesus is showing us that all we have to do
is invite him into our boat.
Invite Jesus to be with us
and trust him to know what to do when he is with us.
He will know what to do and will do it
but always with us or through us.
Jesus wants to give us safe passage in any storm,
but more he wants to be with us
to help us reach that safe harbor.
