Pentecost IV Mark 4:35-41

Jesus calms the storm

Transform your way of thinking by changing what you read rationally to how you read spiritually.

Rational thinking goes from the outside event to the inside thought about the event that creates the feeling.

Spiritual thinking goes from the inside feeling of the Presence that creates the thought in the outside event

Rational thinking can lead to a dead end. There are numerous rational details. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion, and his disciples had to wake him up.

Where has rational thinking taken us? Was Jesus telling them to calm their own storms next time? Perhaps Mark wrote it for us to feel guilty because we have such little faith when the storms of life hit us. Rationally, that is about it.

There is a difference between belief and faith. Belief comes from the rational head. Faith is the experience that comes from the heart. Out of the Presence, the belief creates the faith. The content of the head, the thought about the event, creates the feeling. A negative thought creates a hardened heart.

In the grace, the Faith creates the belief. The feeling of the Presence creates the thought. The people in Nazareth were out of the grace. When Jesus said things they did not believe, their hearts were hardened.  Jesus could do not great work in the face of a negative faith.

Spiritual thinking knows: it is not what the content is, when thinking about the event. It is the way we are thinking. The rational cannot see faith. It is invisible. We can only experience faith consciously when we open our hearts to the Presence within.

Rational thinking would try to figure out what else could be done. The spiritual clue is not that we, like the apostles, have been afraid during the storms of life. There is little the apostles could have done in the storm by themselves. They were not to feel guilty about what they did in waking Jesus. It was HOW they woke Him up. Rational faith is about belief. Spiritual thinking tells us how to have faith. Spiritual faith is about experiencing the Presence of the Peace of God. The scripture is to show the difference between being in or out of the Presence during a storm in our life. If they were in the Presence, they would have woken Him up in the quiet of God’s Peace. They were out of the Presence and filled with fear and blame: “Don’t You care?”

Spirituality would ask the question, “What difference would it make if the apostles were experiencing being in the Presence of Jesus?” Spiritual understanding knows it is not what they did, it was How they did it.

What difference does it make to you when you are in the Presence, experiencing the Peace of God, or out and feeling fearful, panicking and blaming God during a storm in your life? That is what the scripture is about.