There are two passages in the Gospel in which the disciples of Jesus shouted at Him, “Lord / Master, do You Not Care?” Can you recall where these passages are? And what were Jesus’ responses?

 

Mark 5:35-40

With the coming of evening that same day, he said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind. they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a great gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are lost!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and there followed a great calm. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you still so frightened? Have you still no faith? They were overcome with awe and said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’

 

Luke 10:38-42

In the course of their journey he came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking. Now Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, came to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.’ But the Lord answered, ‘Martha, Martha,’ he said, ‘you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.’

 

In each narrative, we can feel the pulsating earnestness and plea for attention, for action, for anything to re-dress the status quo.  One was a sense of great danger and peril, and perhaps the uncomfortable notion that even Jesus himself is unknowingly in the same boat (peril), as if he is uncaring even for himself. In the second instance, the plea is for attention to self. What about me? What about the stuff that I do (for you)?  

In each case, there are these absolute assurances given – “I do care and there are few things that really matter anyway.”

Surely something worth pondering over.

 

(Lumix GX85 1/1000 sec. f/5.6 140 mm; December 2017)