Mark 4:35-41

TWELVE-TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 

Mark 4:35-41

"On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, "Let us cross to the other side." Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent storm 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 a 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 the sea obey?" 

A good Sunday to all. 

The story we have just heard can be understood as an account of a material event that occurred on the Lake of Galilee. During a storm, Jesus gave his disciples proof of his divine power, and with his word calmed the waves of the lake. Let us try to imagine the reaction of an unbeliever to this interpretation; he would be surprised, astonished, he would be very puzzled. The believer also experiences some embarrassment at this explanation because he inevitably asks himself questions that he cannot answer. 

I'm going to mention some of these questions because we want to identify well the literary genre of this page, otherwise, we would lose the richness of the message that the evangelist wants to communicate. The first of these questions come from the indication of time. It is very strange; the night has already come when Jesus tells his disciples to go to the other side of the lake. Jesus spent the whole day among the people and spoke of the kingdom of God in parables. These are the parables that we find in chapter 4 of the gospel according to Mark, and two of these parables we heard them last Sunday: the one about the seed that grows by itself and the one about the mustard seed. 

We would expect Jesus to say to the apostles at the end of the day, 'let the people go home now, and we'll go home too. let's have supper.' And we would expect that after supper, Jesus would meet again with his disciples as the evangelist tells us that Jesus was explaining privately the meaning of the parables he had told, but instead, he told them to go to the other side of the lake. According to Mark, if we read the gospel, Jesus and the disciples never went to the other side of the lake. And from the following narrative, it is clear that they don't know anybody on the other side. 

What are they doing there in the evening when the night comes? Then follows a text about a demoniac who comes out of the tomb and goes to meet Jesus. He broke the chains used to bind him; he beat himself with stones, he hurt himself and others. Jesus expels those unclean spirits that go into the swine and then end up in the sea. This information about the evening is very strange and unreal. That's why we wonder, Is Mark giving information, or is he alluding to the symbolism of the night in the Bible? 

The second question: the appearance of the storm is very strange in the small lake of Galilee; it is only 21 km long and the maximum width is 11 km. The lake is gorgeous, small, and well protected by the mountains, so much that it looks like a nest in the middle of these mountains. There are no storms in this lake (you can see it in a satellite photo) and then they must go from Capernaum to Gerasa, where the episode of the healing of the possessed man took place. In short, even if there was a storm, the shore is very close; and, on the other hand, the apostles knew the lake very well, they were born there, they know when the weather changes and when there will be wind, but never a wind capable of raising a storm in that lake. So, we ask ourselves a second question: Is it a physical storm, or the evangelist refers to some other storm that threatens to send the boat to the bottom in which the disciples are. 

Then, during the crossing, some waves capsize over the boat so that now it is full of water. The boats of that time were eight meters long, consistent, as Peter’s boat must have been: 8 meters long and 2 meters wide, with four rowers, then there was the helmsman and usually a sail. In this boat are now the 13. 

Jesus is in the stern and sleeps. The narrative says that the boat was tossed by the waves, swamped by the waves, full of water. How is it possible that in the stern, Jesus was sleeping on a cushion? Even the apostles seem to have forgotten entirely that Jesus was also there. It is not plausible that Jesus can rest peacefully in that small boat full of water at the mercy of the waves; then again, the question: Is Mark chronicling a misadventure happened to Jesus and the 12, or is he talking about something else? 

Then, in the end, the disciples address the Lord to save them, they demonstrate their belief in him, but Jesus reproaches them as people of little faith. So, let's say clearly: we are not before a page of chronicle but before a page of theology, a parable composed by the evangelist with biblical images. Our task, then, is to decode these images to grasp the message that the evangelist wants to give us. 

Let's take this story point by point and see the meaning of these images. Let's listen: 

"On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, ‘Let us cross to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him." 

The first image of this parable is the conclusion of the day. The evening has come for Jesus; the day is ending; the evening is coming. It is the image of the conclusion of Jesus' life. 

This image can be found in the bible, and it is also used by Jesus, for example, before opening the eyes of the man born blind, he says: "We must do the works of him who sent me while it is the day" then comes the night when no one can act anymore. In chapter 8:56 of John, Jesus said: "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day." This day is the life of Jesus; now, it has come to an end. What has Jesus done? He has dedicated his whole life to bring the kingdom of God to the world. Now he entrusts it to the disciples. They are the ones who are to carry out the mission of taking the gospel, of taking him to the other side. This is the goal. 

What does the other side mean? Whenever in the gospels it is mentioned that they go to the other side, it means they go to the east, towards the land of the pagans. The lake marked the border between the holy land, where the Israelites were, and the unclean land where the swine is found; it was the land of the pagans. It is the symbol of the old world, the old world that has not yet known Christ and the gospel. What is this world like? It is represented by the possessed man who comes to Jesus; he is possessed by spirits that dehumanize him; and what are these dehumanizing spirits? It is the whole pagan society, selfishness, the pursuit of self-interest, the attachment to money, the greed to accumulate goods, the pursuit of pleasure, of power, of success at any price, even resorting to injustice, lying... these demons lead to competition, they provoke wars; they create an unlivable world. It is the old world, the inhuman society that has not yet been humanized by the gospel message, by the Spirit of Christ. 

The task of the disciples is to take the gospel to this pagan world, to the demoniac world and it will be the word of the gospel that will drive out these unclean spirits because where the gospel reaches the spirits can no longer remain quiet. The gospel and the unclean spirits are incompatible, where there is one, there cannot be others. We all experience it also in our personal life: if I am angry, if I hold a grudge, if I hate a person and I start reading the gospel, if I read the gospel these hatreds, or these grudges are no longer within me because they conflict with the gospel. Therefore, I either throw away the gospel, or I drive out the unclean spirits; otherwise, there is an inner conflict that I cannot resist. 

Third image: "They took Jesus in the boat just as he was." This detail is curious and strange. We will see in a little while what it means because it is linked to the evening of Jesus, at the end of his earthly life: 'they took him just as he was.' Then he mentions the presence of many boats. We know very well the symbolism of the boat in which the disciples are: it is the Christian community. The Church has always had the boat as a symbol. We see in the gothic churches how the vault of these churches have the form of the hull of the boat because it indicates that the community that is under that vault is the boat of Peter where Jesus also is. It is the boat that crosses the rough waves of the pagan world. The many boats, therefore, represent the numerous Christian communities that had already arisen throughout the Roman empire, and they are all these boats that must bring Christ and his gospel to the world, a difficult mission. 

So, let's listen to what happens: 

"A violent storm 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." 

The pagan society, moved by unclean spirits, rebels, does not accept the Church peacefully to carry out its mission of bringing Christ and his gospel because the gospel drives out those demons and, then, the old society must disappear. Here is the symbolism of the sea that rebels, that opposes this journey. Throughout the ancient Middle East, the sea was the symbol of the chaotic forces that impede life. Recall that there were the waters of the sea mixed with the land where it was impossible to live at creation. God separates the land from the waters and says to the sea: 'You will come this far, no more.' Where God arrives, he removes the forces of chaos and promotes life. Here is the gospel that where it comes, it blocks the sea waves, blocks the chaos, and creates life, humanizes it. 

Another symbol of the sea is the Red Sea: people cannot reach the land of freedom because the sea prevents it, but there is the power of God represented by the staff of Moses that divides the waters of that sea. Job says: "He alone unfolds the sky and walks on the waves of the sea" (Job 9:8). God is the only one who can dominate these chaotic forces and only his word can dominate the chaotic forces of the pagan world. Psalm 89 says: "The Lord subdues the pride of the sea; he calms the tumult of the waters." 

Precisely by alluding to these biblical images, the disciples will understand the divinity of the person of Jesus, the only one who is able with his word to lead humanity out of chaos. What this parable narrates is our history, the history of our Church, of our Christian communities. Perhaps we had not considered that our boat must face the storms, the threatening waves. When you embark with Jesus, you must consider these storms. 

What do we see today - what is the situation of our church community? We are in a storm; we are moving away from what until recently was called the Christian society; today we speak of a post-Christian society as if the Church has already had its chance. We are striving to reform some obsolete structures of our Church; we are purifying ourselves from credulities that we used to confuse with faith, and that made us look ridiculous in front of non-believers because those beliefs had nothing to do with faith. Let us also say 'enough' to certain ideological entrenchments. 

For a good part of the secular world, these efforts of ours are considered as gimmicks that we put on to try to survive, and we do not resign ourselves to step aside. Well, those who cultivate these expectations, perhaps even these hopes do not know the history. Our Church has overcome difficulties much more dramatic than the one we are going through today, and it has always come out more purified, more alive. 

We live in a 'kairos,' an opportunity offered to us to come out as a more evangelical church. We still have many aspects of purifying. The topic of the storms can also refer to many situations that happen in our small communities, in our families, in our personal lives and then, when we see so many projects disappearing or perhaps even so many relationships built with love over the years, let's keep in mind that Jesus is with us, the Risen One accompanies us in these storms. 

We have other very significant images in the parable we are examining. Jesus rests on a cushion in the stern, sleeping. It is only Mark the Evangelist who says he is in the stern, and that he also has a pillow under his head. We forget so many times exactly what happened with the disciples in this ship. They tried to solve the problems with their skill and their cunning. It did not occur to any of them that Jesus was with them. He was sleeping with a pillow on his head. We have already said that it cannot be a chronicle. 

So, what is this dream of Jesus? This image is often used in the Bible to indicate death. Sirach says that death is an eternal sleep; also Job uses the same image: 'man shall not awake out of his sleep, or Psalm 13 where the psalmist asks the Lord 'do not surprise me with the sleep of death.' Jesus also speaks of the sleep of Lazarus. The early Christians used this image of 'sleep,' which is a poor image, to say that one wakes up. Here is Paul, when he writes to the Thessalonians: "Brethren, we do not want to leave you in ignorance about those who have fallen asleep but have already awakened in the Father's house and are living with God." 

Here we have Jesus who fell asleep at the end of his journey; he is in the boat with the disciples, and they forget about him because he is no longer the Jesus who was physically alive in this world, but he has risen, and it is easy for us to forget that he is with us in the boat. There is a pillow in the boat during that tumult. Where does the pillow come from, which strangely, in that tumult, in that storm, is under the head of Jesus? 

The presence of the pillow no longer surprises us if we consider the Greek term used: προσκεφάλαιον = proskefálaion; indicated the pillow placed under the head of the deceased. Jesus is in the stern, which is the place of the helmsman who, in a situation of extreme danger, seems to have fallen asleep and is not interested in what is happening with the disciples. Soon we will hear the complaint that Jesus makes to them. 

So, the meaning of the whole scene is clear. The Jesus who is with the disciples in the boat, who is with us today, the Jesus who accompanies us while storms toss us, is not the Jesus who was physically at the side of the disciples during the public life; it is the resurrected Christ. In fact, at last, the disciples remember that Jesus is with them, although he does not seem to care about what is happening in the world. Let's listen to what they told him: They woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" 

How interesting! The disciples' reproach to Jesus, while he sleeps, is the prayer they make to the Risen Lord and it is a rebuke: "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" We are the ones who perish...you are not. They are talking to the Risen Lord; they know that he is with his Father; he cannot perish; it is we who are in a situation where the waves of chaos are sweeping us. 

It seems that the Teacher wants to let everything happen as if he were not present. Let us think of the waves that are tossing us around in the Church today, the internal tensions, the disagreements, the scandals, the abandonments and the lies and slanders that, many times, come from outside. 

Also, in our personal and family storms, in the difficulties of all kinds, life presents us. Who of us has not addressed this prayer to the Lord sometimes: 'But where are you, where are you, Christ, why do you not manifest your power?' Sometimes we feel him far away or even absent; his silence bewilders us, frightens us and we would like to cry out to him as the psalmist does in Psalm 44:24: "Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord?" 

Let us pray these prayers; let us address these imprecations to God because, with these prayers, we enter a dialogue with Him and we begin to see things as He sees them. We should not be afraid to pray very sincerely as the psalmists did when they cried out their pain to God. Let us take Psalm 13 and see how it begins: "How long, LORD? Will you utterly forget me? How long will you hide your face from me? How long, LORD? Will you utterly forget me? How long will you hide your face from me? Let us ask God these questions. 

The disciples turned to Jesus and said, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" These are our nights, the ones we all experience in life. The nights of loneliness, of injustice that we cannot remedy; nights of abandonment, of sickness, of pain that cannot be explained; nights of betrayals in which we really ask ourselves, but where is God? We turn to him: 'Where are you? Why don't you intervene? Do something.' 

Jesus reveals to us a God who seems to sleep, who leaves things as they are. In reality, God has nothing to fear when the forces of evil are unleashed. He is not afraid of losing control of the situation. He trusts us; he has given us all the abilities to come out more mature from any situation, if we allow ourselves to be guided by his gospel. 

He is a God who lets things happen, even allow envy, rivalry, injustice, lying. We would like to have God available to do what we want. This is not the God of Jesus of Nazareth. God loves this world, he lets life unfold according to what people do with their freedom, but he does not let our history slip out of his hands. He is the one who guides it because he is the Pantocrator, the one who holds in his hands the destiny of life of each one of us. 

Let us now listen to how the risen Jesus answers the prayer of the disciples. 

"Jesus woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!" The wind ceased, and there was a 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 the sea obey?" 

Prayer well done is always answered; in fact, the disciples' invocation allows Jesus to intervene with his word and says to the sea: "Quiet! Be still!" The chaotic forces of the demons are silenced by the word of Christ, but this Jesus must be awakened, his voice must be awakened, his gospel must be awakened within us, because when we awaken this word of his, it silences the unclean spirits, those who create all these storms in the life of the Church and our personal life. And then the reproach: "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?" Fear of sinking is a sign of lack of faith. 

To let those who are outside the boat think that the Church is destined to sink and that we are destined to perish is one thing, but for the disciples to think so means that they have little faith because they think that they are alone, they think that the boat is theirs, but the Church is not theirs, it is Christ's; they must wake him up to become aware of his presence and his mission. Those who are out of the boat think that the Church is sinking and they have every reason to think so; they think that the Church can only count on its human capabilities and they are many, but those who are inside the Church must know it; they must be certain that it is unsinkable, not by its strength, but because Christ is present in this Church with his divine power. 

Not to remember this is a lack of faith. We do not want to feel today, as directed to us, this reproach of Jesus because we are sure that he is the Son of God and that he has power over the waves of the sea. 

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.