Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?

 

 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side."  Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was.  And other little boats were also with Him.  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.  But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow.  And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"  Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!"  And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?"  And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!"

 

- Mark 4:35-41 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus taught, "Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed?  Is it not to be set on a lampstand?  For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."  Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear.  With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."  And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.  For the earth yields crops by itself:  first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.  But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."  Then He said, "To what shall we liken the kingdom of God?  Or with what parable shall we picture it?  It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade."  And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.  But without a parable He did not speak to them.  And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.

 

 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side."  Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was.  And other little boats were also with Him.  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.  But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow.  And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"  Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!"  And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?"  And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!"  My study Bible says that Christ's mastery over creation is another sign that He is the Messiah and is divine.  Commands to the wind and to the sea could only be issued by God (Job 38:8-11; Psalm 66:5-6; 107:29).  But Jesus was asleep because, as a human being, He needed rest.  In Christ's Incarnation, my study Bible explains, He assumed all the natural actions of the flesh, including sleep.  This image of Christ and His disciples in a boat is traditionally used to illustrate the Church.  Commentary notes that God both permits storms and delivers us through them, so that we can see God's protection more clearly.  Here, my study Bible notes, permitting the windstorm to arise while He is sleeping is in order to perfect the disciples' faith and to rebuke their weaknesses, so they will eventually be unshaken by life's temptations.  Christ's statement to the disciples, "How is it that you have no faith?" might more accurately read, "How do you still not have faith?"  They showed faith when they came to Him, but unbelief when they claimed we are perishing.  Additionally, Christ's rebuke of the storm is also an illustration of His calming the tempests in the human soul.  

All of us know that life is full of ups and downs, difficulties and struggles.  But here Jesus seems to affirm for us that this is par for the course for the life of faith.  In fact, in the literal sense of the Greek, Jesus seems to be somewhat surprised:  "How do you still not have faith?"  It will not be the last time He will marvel at the disciples' lack of faith or understanding, either (see Mark 8:13-21).  Apparently, we are to infer from this passage that the life of faith is one in which we will continually face challenges.  Certainly this was true for the disciples and for the early Church, and, as history progresses, we can see that new questions and new discernment seem constantly necessary.  The history of the Church is a long history of conflicts and struggles for answers.  But the challenge of our individual lives of faith is similar.  We will always have new issues before us, new questions to answer in light of our faith.  But the one thing that is asked of us seems to be not to have all the answers, but rather to be persistent and to endure in faith.  That is, we need to take confidence that our struggle is known and that our answers are to be found in persistence and courage.  It's wise to consider that the word faith, in Greek, is rooted in the word "to trust."  To put one's faith in something is to trust in it, and we trust to Christ through all things.  We are mindful of the story of Israel in the Old Testament, wandering for forty years as guided by Moses to the Promised Land.  We can look more deeply at the story of Moses, and how Moses never entered that land himself, and this, too, tells us about the importance of the journey, of the persistence of faith, of our continual prayer resting in God to help us find the way we're asked to go, to remain in that faith and follow.  We trust in Christ that there is a way He wants us to meet our challenges, and that every new struggle is simply a challenge for deepening faith, for growth, for the pursuit of the goal He has in mind for us.  That is, to shape the person He desires us to become in fulfillment of the promise of discipleship.  Through our struggles and the twists and turns of our lives, we are shaped in faith.  We are meant to grow into something, to fulfill something through time and through experience, and this is the purpose of God for us.  Let us continue through our own windstorms and waves, frightening perspectives in which life may seem to pose dangers and perils we didn't count on, but understand that through them all our courage is about persistence in faith, finding the way of Christ for us.  The story gives us an image of Christ asleep in the stern of the boat, and this may serve to teach us that there will be times when God will seem to us to be sleeping and not hear our prayer, nor know of our peril.  But that is just a time for testing, for finding new ground of faith, for deepening our confidence in facing the future and knowing what we are to be about.