The beautiful sleep of Jesus!

In this blog I have written already on the ‘Humanity of Jesus’ and ‘Jesus wept’ to demonstrate the fact that Jesus was both human and divine. Jesus is the second person of the Blessed Trinity. He was fully human and fully divine. As a divine person, Jesus possessed all the divine attributes; also as a human person Christ had all the attributes of a human being. Therefore, Jesus was like us in everything but sin. It would be true to say that Christ went through all that we go through today. Yet his love for God’s creation is absolute and complete.

I am often surprised at the fanatics that believe and preach that Christ did not eat, sleep or feel weak. This is far from the truth. The area where Christ lived and worked was not as developed as our present day environment. The terrain was rocky and mountainous. There were no tarred roads. Christ and his disciples had to travel long distances by foot. In deed it was only during the triumphant entry into Jerusalem that we are told Christ rode on donkey. Apart from traveling by foot, the other means of transport that Christ used was the boat, to cross from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other. Christ’s friends and companions were common fishermen, a tax collector and a revolutionist. His life style was simple.

This reflection is based on one of those crossings on the Sea of Galilee. Mark’s Gospel puts this in perspective for us: “On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, “let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be sill!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” 4:35-40. I love this story. My impression is that Christ was very tired. I believe he may have been teaching moving from one place to another till now. He was hungry. Could be they were crossing to Capernaum, where Christ had made his home. Just like any of us, on sitting down, he picked a cushion and made it his pillow and off he went off, enjoying his sleep. Who wouldn’t sleep after a heavy’s day job? Remember when you slept in the bus as you were returning from work? What about sleeping in the train or in the plane or even sleeping while your friend was giving you a ride in his car? This sleep is often short but deep and enjoyable. There you are, Christ was hungry, tired and sleepy. These things can only happen to human beings.

The other aspect of the story that I like very much is the attitude of the apostles. They went to wake him up. They asked him, “Don’t you care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind. Now listen to this, he asked them “why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” If we have faith, it will be easy to see that though Christ may be asleep yet he is still very active at work. Many times, it seem to us that Christ does not care, that he is asleep in the boat of our lives. Vicissitude of life may seem to overpower us and we may think we are all alone. But Christ is there seemingly sleeping in our boat. His sleep is the most beautiful and serene sleep you have ever seen for in that sleep, there is power. You may wake him up and as soon as he is up the squall will calm down and there will be peace. But then the question will come, “why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”