Saturday in the Third Week of Ordinary Time, January 27, 2024

Mark 4, 35-41

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

The events St. Mark puts in order previous to that which which takes in today’s Gospel Reading all have to do with faith.  Going back as far as Mark 3, 20 the Evangelist tells us of how his relatives sought to lay hold of him because they thought he was mad; of how the scribes from Jerusalem tried to discredit him by accusing him of being possessed; of the Parable of the Seed and the Sower, which explains why not all who heard the Gospel accepted it or persevered in faith; and of the Parable of the Mustard Seed, which tells how faith grows through grace when properly nourished.  The account of the storm on the sea in today’s Gospel Reading and the report of the demoniac that follows immediately after shows a hint of the magnitude of the power over both nature and the supernatural that the Lord Jesus possessed, assuring us that our faith is well-placed in him.

“Let us cross to the other side.”  Jesus says this to his Apostles following a day spent teaching the sizable crowd on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that has required him to have a boat ready from which to preach.  At the end of the day the Lord avails himself of the ship but wants to cross to the other side of the sea.  Now, many of the Apostles were skilled fishermen by profession and they knew how to launch into the sea late at night, and they also knew to stay within sight of the shore due to the inherent dangers of their work.  The Lord was telling them that he wanted to cross almost directly through the length of the sea, almost thirteen miles if their starting point was Capernaum, for he wanted to sail to the land of the Gadarenes.  This would put them out of sight of the shore for most of the trip, making it a risky undertaking.  Still, the Apostles dutifully put out for the destination he has chosen.  “Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.”  That is, they took him in the boat, fully clothed.  Those in the boat would not have worn their mantles.  At most, they would have worn their linen tunics, perhaps bound up in their belts to allow greater freedom of movement for their legs.  That Jesus went into the boat “as he was” would have indicated to the Apostles that he anticipated a smooth crossing.  “And other boats were with him.”  With this observation Mark is telling us that no one at that time expected a storm.  The sky must have been clear, and was lit up by the stars and the moon.

“A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.”  The literal translation from the Greek: “And there was a great sudden storm of wind and it hurled waves into the ship so that already it was being filled up.”  The picture is that of an evil force, a savage predator lying in wait and suddenly springing on the unaware victim and quickly overwhelming it.  This presages the confrontation with the demoniac possessed by Legion, to be described in the verses following those of this Reading.

“Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.”  Exhaustion had so depleted the Lord’s physical body that he slept through the wind, the waves, the rain, and the heaving of the little ship on the water.  He also sleeps in order to teach the Apostles an important lesson.  “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  That is to say, Teacher, do something!  It is unclear if they want him to help them bail or to cry out to Almighty God.  They have seen him perform miracles many times.  It may be that they thought he might somehow bring the ship close to the shore so they could get to dry land.  They certainly do not anticipate what he does do.  “He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “‘Quiet! Be still!’ ”  His command brings to mind Psalm 46, 10: “Be still and know that I am God.”  This verse follows the opening verses of this psalm: “Our God is our refuge and strength: a helper in troubles, which have found us exceedingly. Therefore we will not fear when the earth shall be troubled and the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea” (Psalm 46, 1-2).  Surely the Apostles would have recalled at once these words, well-known to all Jews.  Another verse from the Scriptures may have suggested itself too, when Almighty God is speaking to the afflicted Job of how he is the Creator and Ruler of all things: “Thus far shall you come but no further: and here shall your proud waves be stayed!” (Job 38, 11).  For, this is what happened: “The wind ceased and there was great calm.”  The verb tense tells us that the storm ended immediately, abruptly.

“Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”  He poses these questions in order for the Apostles to understand how far they still must go before they have a full and mature faith.  They are still as infants learning to crawl, and this in the face of their leaving everything to follow him, their witness to the Lord’s humble lifestyle, and their observing his miracles.  Mark’s original readers as well as those who read his words today could feel reassured in that even the Apostles had to grow in their faith.

“They were filled with great awe.”  The Greek text has, “They were terrified with a great fear.”  Mark uses the same Greek word to describe the reaction of the Apostles to this work of the Lord as he will use in Mark 5, 15 for the reaction of the Gentile people to the news of the exorcism of the demoniac and the destruction of the herd of swine.  In both cases the Lord Jesus shows himself to possess and wield divine power, although to every appearance he seemed an ordinary man.  “And said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”  They know the answer to their question but it will take some time before they can fully accept it.  Then they will be willing to go to the furthest end of the earth and to die for him.  But in the meantime, they have learned that he is eminently powerful and that he cares for those who trust him.