{"id":1501,"date":"2012-06-21T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2012-06-21T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onscripture\/?p=1501"},"modified":"2012-06-21T10:17:11","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T14:17:11","slug":"lord-of-the-storm-mark-435-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/06\/lord-of-the-storm-mark-435-41.html","title":{"rendered":"Lord of the Storm: Mark 4:35-41"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By: Greg Carey<\/a><\/p>\n

On a first read, Mark 4:35-41 looks like a demonstration of Jesus\u2019 astonishing power\u2014and so it is. Jesus\u2019 disciples are traveling across the Sea of Galilee. When a violent storm threatens to destroy the boat and its inhabitants, Jesus somehow manages to remain \u201casleep on the cushion.\u201d <\/p>\n

Watch the Video:<\/strong> Jesus Stops a Storm<\/em><\/p>\n\n

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Greg Carey, professor of New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary, discusses Mark 4:35-41.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

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The disciples\u2019 wake-up call\u2014\u201cTeacher, doesn\u2019t it matter to you that we are perishing?\u201d\u2014hardly commends either their faith or Jesus\u2019 behavior. Jesus, however, awakens with authority, rebukes the wind and commands the sea by saying, \u201cSilence! Be still!\u201d So when the wind ceases and a \u201cgreat calm\u201d stills the sea, no wonder the disciples ponder Jesus\u2019 authority. \u201cWho then is this guy?\u201d they ask. Who indeed?<\/p>\n

Modern readers struggle with miracle stories like this. Yes, we know some \u201cThe Bible\u2019s good enough for me\u201d Christians who are prepared to believe that the sun stood still to assist the Israelites in battle (Joshua 10:12-13), but most of us wonder about deeds like quieting storms and turning water into wine (John 2:1-11). We\u2019re inclined to interpret exorcism stories in the language of modern mental health. Maybe Jesus was helping disturbed people to find peace. We\u2019re prepared for Jesus\u2019 healing miracles because they directly benefit desperate people. But \u201cnature miracles\u201d like stilling the storm challenge the boundaries of our imaginations.<\/p>\n

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Preachers and hymn composers alike salve our discomfort by personalizing the storm. \u201cWhen the storms of life surround you, and the waves are breaking in upon you,\u201d they say, \u201cjust remember that Jesus is Lord of the storm!\u201d So we avoid our unease with nature miracles by turning them into allegories of the things that try our souls. \u201cJesus, Savior, pilot me \/ over life\u2019s tempestuous sea,\u201d pleads one hymn.<\/p>\n

Preachers and hymn composers alike salve our discomfort by personalizing the storm. \u201cWhen the storms of life surround you, and the waves are breaking in upon you,\u201d they say, \u201cjust remember that Jesus is Lord of the storm!\u201d So we avoid our unease with nature miracles by turning them into allegories of the things that try our souls. \u201cJesus, Savior, pilot me \/ over life\u2019s tempestuous sea,\u201d pleads one hymn.<\/p>\n

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Remarkably, Mark\u2019s earliest commentator offered precisely such an interpretation\u2014but with a twist. With a copy of Mark on the desk, the author of Matthew changes several little details in Mark\u2019s story. Matthew, however, is interested in the community of Jesus\u2019 followers more than in the challenges of individual living. So where Mark offers several boats, Matthew\u2019s disciples follow Jesus into one boat. That\u2019s what disciples do; they follow Jesus. And when they\u2019re afraid, they don\u2019t complain as they do in Mark. Instead, they pray, \u201cLord, save us!\u201d Matthew\u2019s disciples, buffeted by the waves of resistance to the gospel and perhaps by outright persecution, cry out for deliverance, and Jesus saves them.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s Matthew\u2019s version, not Mark\u2019s. Mark allows the story to remain chaotic because Mark is after something greater. Careful Bible readers have long noticed how Mark\u2019s account echoes some of Israel\u2019s Psalms. Facing a storm on the sea, sailors \u201ccried out to the LORD in their trouble.\u201d Then the LORD made the storm \u201cbe still,\u201d \u201cand the waves of the sea were hushed\u201d (Psalm 107:28-29, NRSV). Just as Israel\u2019s God stills the storm and hushes the waves, so does Mark\u2019s Jesus.<\/p>\n

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Psalm 65 is also suggestive. God silences \u201cthe roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples\u201d (Psalm 65:7, NRSV). This Psalm links God\u2019s authority over the power of the sea with God\u2019s authority in human affairs. Just as God brings the storms to silence, so does God bring peace among the peoples of the earth. Psalms 65 and 107 proclaim that the God of Israel brings peace to all circumstances, including distress among human communities.<\/p>\n

Fully aware of Psalm 107 and Psalm 65\u2014not to mention other traditions that celebrate God\u2019s authority over the sea\u2014the author of Mark does something remarkable. Mark presents Jesus as Lord of the storm, just as Israel\u2019s God commands storms. Mark\u2019s Jesus carries God\u2019s authority with him. Jesus forgives sins (2:1-12), and he is Lord of the Sabbath (2:23-28). \u201cWho then is this guy?\u201d ask the disciples? When you are in Jesus\u2019 presence, Mark implies, you\u2019re in the very presence of God. <\/p>\n

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Shifting the focus from the disciples and their struggles to Jesus and his authority makes for good news. We frequently encounter those persons bent under by the burden of spiritual inadequacy. I\u2019m talking about people who love God deeply and serve Christ faithfully, yet they feel that they lack sufficient faith. They feel that something is wrong with them.<\/p>\n

The burden of spiritual inadequacy only grows during times of unrest and uncertainty. This summer 115,000 people will cease contributing to the unemployment rate, not because they\u2019ve found work but because their unemployment benefits will expire. The consequences of long-term unemployment are spiritual as well as material. Extended unemployment places enormous stress upon individuals and their families, with increased rates of depression and strained intimate relationships. Researchers wonder, but have not proven, a correlation between extended unemployment and cardiovascular disease. Some preachers only make things worse by proclaiming that with enough faith all our problems will go away.<\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

Mark 4:35-41 has good news for those preoccupied with their own spiritual inadequacy. In response to Jesus\u2019 command, the storm yields to a \u201cgreat calm\u201d (4:39, literal translation). Jesus goes on to scold the disciples: \u201cWhy are you afraid? Have you still no faith?\u201d (4:40). Even after things settle down, Mark tells us, the disciples\u2019 fear has not subsided; rather, it\u2019s only moved on to another topic. \u201cAnd they feared a great fear, and they said to one another, \u2018Who then is this guy, that even the wind and the sea obey him?\u2019\u201d (4:41). Great calm does not preclude the disciples\u2019 great fear.<\/p>\n

In other words, the disciples\u2019 deliverance has nothing to do with the adequacy of their faith. They never get there. Their security resides in Jesus, the Lord of the storm who silences the \u201croaring of the waves\u201d and \u201cthe tumult of the peoples\u201d (Psalm 65:7, NRSV). Life does not depend on whether we have enough faith or not. For many of us, that\u2019s a very good thing.<\/p>\n

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By: Greg Carey On a first read, Mark 4:35-41 looks like a demonstration of Jesus\u2019 astonishing power\u2014and so it is. Jesus\u2019 disciples are traveling across the Sea of Galilee. When a violent storm threatens to destroy the boat and its inhabitants, Jesus somehow manages to remain \u201casleep on the cushion.\u201d Watch the Video: Jesus Stops…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":465,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[358,17,6,360,359,240,246,357,361],"class_list":["post-1501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-scripture","tag-discusses-mark-435-41","tag-greg-carey","tag-jesus","tag-miracles","tag-nature","tag-odyssey-networks","tag-on-scripture-the-bible","tag-professor-of-new-testament-at-lancaster-theological-seminary","tag-sea-of-galilee"],"yoast_head":"\nLord of the Storm: Mark 4:35-41 - ON Scripture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/06\/lord-of-the-storm-mark-435-41.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lord of the Storm: Mark 4:35-41 - ON Scripture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Greg Carey On a first read, Mark 4:35-41 looks like a demonstration of Jesus\u2019 astonishing power\u2014and so it is. 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