Mark 4:35-41

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?”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I believe that Jesus is your Son and that you have sent him into the world to save us from sin and death. I believe that he will come again in glory at the end of time to judge the living and the dead.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Jesus’ Divine Authority: In its first four chapters, the Gospel of Mark has narrated at breakneck speed John’s ministry in the desert, Jesus’ anointing in the Jordan and testing in the desert, Jesus’ mighty works of healing and exorcism, the growing opposition to Jesus’ works and teaching, the plot of the Pharisees to kill Jesus, Jesus’ appointment of new leadership for Israel, the establishment of the new family of God, and Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God that he has come to inaugurate and establish on earth. Mark now tells us four stories that manifest Jesus’ divine authority and power. Jesus, Mark will show us, has authority over nature (Mark 4:35-41), over demons (Mark 5:1-20), over disease (Mark 5:25-34), and over death (Mark 5:35-43). In this way, Jesus reveals who he is to the apostles, prepares the apostles for their mission, and readies them to share in his authority and power. 

2. The New Jonah Asleep in the Boat: The story of Jesus calming the Sea of Galilee recalls the story of Jonah. Jonah got in a boat to flee the command of the Lord to preach repentance to the city of Nineveh, the sworn enemy of Israel. Jonah was asleep in the boat headed to Tarshish when a storm threatened to sink it (Jonah 1:4-6). The sailors calmed the storm by throwing Jonah overboard. Jonah died, was swallowed by a fish, and three days later was restored to life on the seashore. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is asleep in the boat. Jesus calms the raging sea with a word of divine power and authority. But there is another sea, the sea of sin and death, that he will calm through his death and his resurrection on the third day. Jesus invites us to contemplate the sign of Jonah to understand his own identity. Just as Jonah was revived on the third day, Jesus will be resurrected to new life on the third day. And just as Jonah was sent to the Gentile city of Nineveh and the Ninevites repented from sin and worshipped God, so the disciples of Jesus will be sent out into the world of the Gentiles to preach the Gospel of salvation and bring about repentance from sin and faith in the one, true God.

3. Who is This? The last line of today’s Gospel is a question directed to those who hear or read the Gospel of Mark. We are invited to ask and answer that question: “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” Who is it that can control the powerful forces of nature? This echoes a theme in the Book of Job. Job was a good and righteous man who suffered tremendous loss. His friends tried to console him and explain that he was afflicted and suffering because he had sinned against God. When Job asked the Lord God to judge him and answer him (Job 31:35), God responded by asking Job to remain humble before the awesome mystery of the world and the chaotic forces of evil. In the Book of Job, God does not directly answer the problem of evil or answer why the innocent suffer. God reveals Job’s ignorance and weakness. Much of what God says to Job is that the Lord God alone “has command over all creation, from its deepest depths to its highest heights (the deep, earth, snow, hail, light, wind, rain, thunder, dew, ice, constellations, clouds, lightning). Job, on the other hand, has limited understanding of these things and virtually no ability to control them” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 821). If God, in the Old Testament, can create and control the wind and waves, then what does it mean that Jesus exercises the same power, authority, and control? Who then is this, whom even wind and sea obey?

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I believe, but help my unbelief. I know that you are with me always, in the boat of my life. No matter the waves and wind that threaten me, you are there ready to calm them and bring me to safe harbor.

Living the Word of God: What are my responses to the questions in today’s Gospel: “Why are you terrified?” What is it that I fear? Why am I afraid? “Do you not yet have faith? Looking back over my life, what are the highs and lows of my faith journey? “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” Who is Jesus?