CAPTAIN

JUNE 6, 2026

“Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” Matthew 8:26

Some years ago, on Memorial Day, our family visited the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was such a beautiful day to visit, and we had a great time walking around the campus. We entered this big building called Bancroft Hall. We were really impressed by the size of the hall and all the wall decorations, but this gigantic banner hanging from the center wall caught my attention. It was a black banner with these words written in white: “DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP.”

This quote reminded me of the tragedy that occurred on the morning of April 16, 2014, in my home country of Korea. A ferry named ‘Sewol’ sank on the west coast of the Korean peninsula, causing more than 300 deaths in the tragedy. One of the news reports regarding the tragedy that got all the Koreans so angry was the fact that the captain of the ferry was the first one to abandon the ship, leaving everyone else behind. How can the captain be the first one to abandon the ship? The captain should be the last one to leave. But that did not happen on April 16.

We have a captain who is faithful to us. The synoptic gospels tell us about our Captain Jesus. Matthew tells us that Jesus and the disciples got into a boat. Since Jesus was tired, he fell asleep, I mean a deep one. While Jesus was sleeping, a huge storm came! The disciples came to Jesus and tried to wake him up! Among the 3 gospels, I like how Mark wrote what the disciples said to Jesus to wake Him up: “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38)

Jesus “arose and rebuked the wind.” The wind ceased, and there was great calm. Then Jesus said, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4:40). This is what Luke writes: “Where is your faith?”

The captain of Sewol did not care. He only cared for himself. But our Captain Jesus is different. He cares. He has things in control for us. He is always consistent. It is we who are inconsistent. Let us ask ourselves, “Where is my faith?”