The gospel of Mark chapter 4 verses 35-41
Hear God’s word to the Church.
Glory to you, O Lord. . . .
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
As you might recall from the last time we were together I preached on the gospel of Mark. Mark is an interesting Gospel. I have heard it referred to as the “action movie” of Gospels. Everything in it is fast paced and the actions are immediate and sudden and every scene is another part of the story building toward the climax of the crucifixion. Our text from today is no different. Jesus has already been teaching long enough and gained enough followers that it was getting hard to find places big enough for him to teach from. At the beginning of the chapter it says that Jesus was teaching alongside the sea and that there were so many people, that Jesus got into one of the boats and taught from there all day.
Evening comes and instead of getting off the boat and settling in for the night, Jesus says to the disciples “Let us go across to the other side.”
That language where it says “let us go ..” that sounds like a suggestion? In the Greek – it’s an imperative form. Jesus wasn’t asking, so much as he was telling the disciples ‘we are going to the other side. Let’s go” It’s important to note that the other side of the Sea of Galilee is the Gentile side. Jesus is saying – We are leaving this place where there are enough people that I’ve been teaching from a boat all day to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee where the gentiles live.
So it’s not just could we get in the boat and go to the other side?
It’s get in the Boat. We are headed to see the gentiles.
Let’s take a moment and describe the boats they were crossing the Sea of Galilee in. They are really more like large flat-bottomed canoes. According to the recent find of a 2000-year-old boat found along the Sea of Galilee the dimensions are 26-1/2 feet (8.2 meters) long and 7-1/2 feet (2.3 meters) wide. They are reported to have held about 15 people and had one sail. The Sea of Galilee is about 13 miles long and a little over 8 miles wide. So it’s roughly the size of Washington DC. The sea sits about 700 feet below sea level and is surrounded by mountains. It is still known for having sudden and violent storms as the wind comes over the mountains and erupts into violent storms with waves and rain. So these are the boats and the kind of environment that Jesus sets out into when he states they are going to the other side. We know it was evening and because we are told that the storm comes up quickly we can assume that it was calm when they set out.
So picture the scene: it’s a small boat with Jesus and the disciples as they set sail. Jesus is in the stern of one of the boats taking a nap on a pillow when a storm comes out of nowhere and whips up the water and wind and rain. As you might imagine there is nowhere to hide on one of these boats. It’s just you and the rain and the other passengers. The sides of the boat are not high, and the waves get pretty violent as they throw the boat around. The boat is probably taking on water and getting hard to navigate. So your fear is understandable. It’s nighttime, you are headed out to parts unknown, and the wind and the waves have kicked up, and you and the other disciples are rightfully freaking out and likely bailing water and there is Jesus – sleeping like there is nothing wrong in the stern of the boat.
I can just see them – I think that the text is a little tame when the disciples say, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
I’m pretty sure it was more like “Rabbi! We are gonna die! Don’t you care?!”
Everyone in the boat is freaking out and Jesus sits up, looks out at the waves and says “Peace! Be Still!” And all of a sudden – everything gets really calm and really still.
Then Jesus turns to the disciples who are whispering to each other and asking who is this guy and he says
“Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Who indeed.
When I read this passage the first time preparing for this sermon I was struck by the language that Jesus uses to talk to the disciples – why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?
And here is where I always read through the story too fast or my mind skips over words that it thinks it knows or that it doesn’t need. – and I kept reading the phrase “have you still no faith?” as “have you no faith?” I heard it as kind of an angry statement.
Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
And reading it again, and looking at the Greek for the implications of the language and how it tells the story – I realized that Jesus wasn’t accusing them of having no or little faith, or even being angry – but rather if I read the Greek right, it’s more “y’all still don’t have any faith?” I think he’s a bit incredulous – Asking the disciples who have been with him and seen the miracles and healings, and still – y’all don’t have any faith?
And they are a little bit dumb struck and awe filled. Because – seriously – He just told the storm to calm it down and be at peace – And it did.
The president of my seminary and gospel of Mark Scholar Brian Blount, suggests that the way that Mark is written is not to tell us what the people in the text knew but for those of us that already have the privilege of knowing how the story ends. The disciples and other people in the gospel story don’t know the outcome of Jesus ministry and time on earth – in the Gospel, they are experiencing it in real time as it happens and they react in very human ways – when the waves come up and threaten to swamp the boat, they are scared. When Jesus tells the storm to calm it down they are scared and awestruck and even having witnessed the miracles of Jesus healing people at Simon’s house, or the healing of the leper, or the healing of a paralytic man, or witnessing Jesus restoring the man with the crippled hand – even after all that the disciples still don’t fully believe – they know he can do many wonderful things, but they don’t fully believe. People are amazed and astounded, even as the crowds grow and people are raised from the dead and healed of diseases just by touching the hem of Jesus’s robe, and they still don’t fully believe. As you read through Mark this is a theme right up until Peter’s confession that Jesus is the messiah.
In this story – the focus isn’t on the miracle of Jesus calming the storm – which is a big deal and harkens back to our other readings today, but the question Jesus asks at the end “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” Points to a different question and draws the reader into the story from the perspective of Mark 16:6 – which reads “6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.”
We know how the story ends. As we read through Mark and we encounter situations like the disciples in the boat and we ask “don’t you care that we are dying?” The risen Christ asks us the same question “why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
In the face of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and inexplicable acts of violence we cry out over and over “don’t you care that we are dying?” As we ask how we got to a place where neighbor is attacking neighbor and we can’t even find common ground to face each other at the table where all are welcome – The risen Christ asks us the same question “why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
We live in a world of storms. Real physical storms along side the allegorical ones that we encounter everyday. In our scripture today – Mark shows us that when they were faced with storms – the disciples reacted with fear – a human reaction. And in the story where they don’t know how the story ends – their fear is understandable. As humans we have an innate fight or flight reaction. When we encounter challenges, our instincts kick in. Do we fight or do we run away? We have another option. And that is our challenge – do we react to those allegorical storms and rough spots with fear, do we draw on what we know, or do we rise to the challenge that Christ calls us to?
Psalm 107:v 28 and 29 give guidance and hope.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out from their distress; 29 he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.
We are called to react in faith – to rely on Jesus. God who came to us to reconcile all of humanity to God’s whole self.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, what do we believe?
We believe that in life and in death, we belong to God.
Matthew Messenger 