“What just happened? We should be dead right now.”

They sat there trembling, overcome with fear.

The day started out like any other day. The sun rose and the twelve of them made their way to the beach. Little did they know that everyone else was going to the beach that day too. Crowds of people had come to hear their Leader speak—so many that He had to leave the shore and sit in a boat so that He could continue to teach.

Who was this person that everyone had come to see? His friends and family called him, “Jesus”; in fact, some were hoping that He was the Messiah—the one who was ultimately going to become their king.

When evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” Not thinking anything about it, the twelve took Jesus into their boat and started the journey across the sea along with a number of other boats.

Along the way, Jesus fell asleep and a catastrophic storm arose. Waves were crashing into the boat and it was filling with water; their lives seemed all but lost.

In a great panic, they awoke Jesus and said, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

What a question: “Don’t you care?” “You told us to get in the boat and go to the other side. You walked us right into this storm, and we’re all going to die because of your poor decision making. What were you thinking?!”

Jesus wakes up, tells the waves and the wind to “Be still”, asks his disciples why they are so afraid, and questions them on whether or not they have any faith.

“What just happened? We should be dead right now. Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Turns out this Jesus really is the Messiah, Son of God, Savior of the world.

(Story paraphrased from the Gospel of Mark 4:35-41)