GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 4:38
Travel Companion
Traveling companions are important. The Cisco Kid had Pancho. Batman had Robin. Perry Mason had Della Street and Paul Drake. And the Lone Ranger had Tonto, who frequently saved the masked crime fighter from disaster. In 1961, Alice and I became traveling partners. The path has had its ups and downs—mostly ups. “You know…” Alice frequently says, and I know that something important is coming—it’s kind of like her sixth sense. I need to pay attention.
St. Mark said that as the disciples sailed across the Sea of Galilee, a sudden violent storm caught them. Waves splashed over the side of the boat, and it filled with water. The other boats with them were apparently overtaken by the same storm. These fishermen, who had spent years on the sea, tried everything they knew to save the boat, but, loaded to its capacity, tossed by a violent wind, and with waves splashing over the gunnels, it looked like they were going into the drink. But there was Jesus, the traveling companion. “And he was sleeping in the stern upon the cushion. And they awakened him and said to him, ‘Teacher, is it of no concern to you that we perish?’” (Mark 4:38)
Writers have described the disciples’ actions differently in this instance. Some think the disciples wanted to make Jesus aware of the danger. Others think the disciples were angered that Jesus could serenely sleep while they were in danger. And still others think they wanted to enlist his help to bail the water out of the boat. However one interprets this scene, the important thing is that they had Jesus as their traveling companion.
One may have many traveling companions along life’s highway, and one needs to make sure that Jesus, the Christ, travels with them.
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