Now, we even give them names – the most recent was Eowyn, the next apparently will be Floris. And we colour code them – yellow and red. And they can cause much disruption to our North Yorkshire lives, with trains being delayed and cancelled, roads being blocked by fallen trees. And they are most dangerous along the seacoasts, with the risk of people being swept away and drowned.

I am talking of course about storms, of which we seem to have more of them than before, and when they come they seem to come with a greater severity than before. But today is not about climate change, it is about a storm on a lake 2000 years ago.

I wonder if like me you know the names of places in the New Testament but are not very good at locating them, and knowing where they are in relation to each other. Much of the time of Jesus’ ministry was spent around the Sea of Galilee. That sea is in the north of Israel, about 65 miles north of Jerusalem. As a lake it was about 13 miles north to south and 8 miles east to west. So quite a sizeable piece of water. Nazareth where Jesus grew up was about 15 miles to the west of the lake. And Capernaum where Jesus spent a lot of time with his disciples was on the top north-west shore of Galilee.

And it was thereabouts, that in the weeks preceding our gospel reading today, Jesus had been travelling, on foot of course, healing, and teaching, with large crowds gathered round him. The crowds came from all over the region – some from the coastal area of Tyre and Sidon some 40 to 50 miles away. They came to hear what he said and to be cured of their diseases.

We heard in our reading that in the midst of all that, one day, he got into a boat with his disciples and told them that they were going over to the other side – that is to the east side of the sea – an area now known as the Transjordan – or then as the country of the Gerasenes or the Gadarenes. It had a predominantly Gentile population. To the Jews, the people who lived there were unclean, because as we know amongst other things they kept pigs, as the story was later to unfold and involve.

This was a significant moment because Jesus was now taking his message beyond Jewish communities. He had obviously had contact with Gentiles who came to him, such as the centurion whose son was ill, but now he is intentionally going into the territory of the Gentiles. He is going literally and metaphorically to the other side.

On the way, in the boat, Jesus fell asleep and I guess many of us know the story that follows quite well.

A gale swept down and they were all are in danger. The disciples woke him up in panic – “Master, Master, we are perishing” they cried out. Jesus woke up and stilled the wind and the waves, and there was calm. Jesus then turned to them and asked them “what happened to your faith?”

There is a fuller account of what was said in both Matthew and Mark. Mark records the disciples as saying: “Teacher don’t you care that we are perishing?” And Jesus replied: “Why are you afraid …”, literally: “Why are you so cowardly. Have you no faith?”

We think of a coward as a person who is not willing to face danger or difficulty. It is more than just being afraid, it is the mindset that always seeks to avoid difficulty. Jesus does not criticise them for being afraid, fear was natural in the circumstances, but he was touching on how they handled their fear. He is saying to them that fear and faith should go alongside each other.

Rather than “Lord – don’t you care?” the response might have been “Lord we are afraid, we could drown, but we know you can handle it!”

So how are we to apply this to our own lives and situations – after all the Bible is given to us not so that we can become theologians but so that we can become disciples.

There is a long-established tradition of looking at this story figuratively – seeing our circumstances as the storm around us, circumstances that could so easily overwhelm us and make shipwreck of our lives.

But there is a danger in that approach, if we simply say that if we cry out to God, whether without or with faith, God will still the storm and bring us back into calm waters.

Because we know it doesn’t work like that – Christ doesn’t always calm the storms in our lives; God doesn’t always intervene to take away our problems. Illnesses prevail. Family and close friends for whom we pray still die. The family fallout remains unresolved.

Yes, sometimes God does intervene and things do change unexpectedly and dramatically, but that in our day is the exception rather than the rule. It isn’t a matter of if we call on God to wake up and do what we ask to be done, God is sure to do what we ask.

After all, the route of our faith lies in that Lenten journey we are about to embark on, the journey to Calvary and the cross. Jesus himself with his sweat like drops of blood cried out that if it was possible the cup should pass from him. “Nevertheless, not my will but yours” is what he prayed. And so he journeyed to and through the cross.

So for us – we often have to go to the other side – to enter the unknown, the new. It might be moving to a new home, or a new job. But there are many lesser unknowns. And we are constantly facing the unknown. This next week, day by day, we don’t know what we might face.

There will be much that will be familiar and that we will know. And, of course, we prefer what is known because we have more control over it. But into the midst of the usual routine quite often there comes something different and unexpected. It might be an illness we contract. It could be the death of someone near to us. It might be something happening in our family that causes us difficulty and pain. It might be something in relation to our working life.

And as we go to the other side, and enter the new territory, the circumstances may suddenly seem overwhelming.

And we will find ourselves asking “where is God in all this?” We will identify with the disciples and their reaction as we ask – “Does God even know about it?” “Does God care?” “Is God asleep?” “Why is God letting this happen to me?”

And Jesus asks us whether in spite of our fear and whatever our feelings whether we will face into the danger or difficulty and trust him in and through the circumstances we are in.

He wants us day by day, whether in our usual territory or when we are going to the other side, whether we are facing the known or the unknown, increasingly to learn to trust in His overarching, undergirding, all surrounding love for us. It was for this reason that he came – to reveal to us the depth and length of God’s love for us. A love in which we can always find shelter and safety.

Amen.