Mark 4:35-41
The Sea of Galilee 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?"
Calming the
Storm
Mark 3:35-41
The Sea of Galilee (not actually a
sea but in fact a big lake) is a frequent setting of the gospel stories.
Several of Jesus’ disciples were men who fished the Sea of Galilee; teachings
and miracles occurred on its waters; and Jesus took a boat across the lake when
he needed time alone to pray.
In this week’s lesson, Jesus
continued to emphasize the twin themes of his standing in our shoes and God’s
reign over all creation. In Luke’s gospel (Luke 5:1-11), Jesus first met Peter
when he asked to use Peter’s boat as a platform to teach the crowds. Peter
complied, even though he likely had been fishing all night and would rather have
gone home to sleep. To thank Peter, Jesus told him where to cast his net, and
Peter hauled in the biggest catch of his life. Jesus shared in the struggles of
this working fisherman and allowed him to glimpse a world beyond his own.
Later on, after Peter and the other disciples
had joined in with Jesus, they found themselves crossing the lake at night in
the middle of a fierce storm. At least a few of the disciples were fishermen
who had seen their share of storms and were used to working at night, so the
fact that they were scared means this must have been a really bad storm. But
while they panicked, Jesus was in the back, asleep! They woke him up, and with
a word Jesus calmed the storm.
In many surviving examples of
ancient literature, water represents chaos and unpredictability. In the Bible’s
first creation story, God’s spirit was “hovering over the deep waters” (Genesis
1:2). God made order out of the chaos, demonstrating his reign over the cosmos.
Later, God parted the sea to lead a group of emancipated slaves to freedom,
destroying a powerful army in the process (Exodus 14:21-30). Before Jesus’
ministry emphasized those themes, God was shown identifying with lowly,
oppressed people and exercising authority over all creation. This is exactly
what Jesus was doing when he calmed the storm that scared the disciples.
In a similar story, Jesus sent the
disciples ahead of him across the lake at night, and they found themselves in a
storm (Matthew 14:22-33). That time, Jesus walked out on the water toward them,
asked Peter to join him for a few steps, and once again calmed the storm with a
wave of his hand. Jesus’ mastery over chaos is matched by the image of Peter
joining him out on the water, showing us not only that is God in control, but
that through God’s power we, too, can rise above the chaos of life and
participate in God’s work to make order out of the world’s mess.
Matthew Kelley: The Way Worship Package
No comments:
Post a Comment