Peace, be still!

 

 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 continued in His preaching of parables, after giving the parable of the Sower.  He said, "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 reveled, 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 may such parable 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 comments that Christ's mastery over creation is one more sign that He is the Messiah, and is divine.  Commands to the wind and the sea can only be issued by God (Job 38:8-11; Psalm 66:5-6, 107:29).  He was asleep because He is both human and divine, and as a man, Christ needed rest.  In the Incarnation, He assumed all the natural actions of the flesh, and sleep is one of those.  This image of Christ and His disciples in a boat is traditionally used to illustrate the Church, my study Bible tells us.  It says that God both permits storms and delivers us through them, so that we can see God's protection more clearly.  Jesus' rebuke of the storm is also an icon, or illustration of His calming the tempests in the souls of human beings.  

 

This image of Christ and the disciples on the boat is quite an interesting one.  Again, as my study Bible commented, it functions as an icon of the Church.  The stern of a boat is at the rear, so in this scene Christ is not guiding the boat nor giving commands for where to go.  Not only is He in the rear of the boat, but He's in a place where things would be stored (such as the pillow on which He sleeps, or possibly fishing nets).  It's a particular image for us of the times we feel that God is not awake to our peril or circumstances, neither does God seem to be actively guiding us through them.  At those times, like the disciples, we might ask the same question, "Don't You care?" ("Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?")  There are those who believe that the world or cosmos was created by God but then works on its own, without influence or energies of the presence of God with us and active in our lives.  But, aside from an indication that indeed, Jesus was fully human and so needed His sleep, this story tells us quite the opposite.  It seems to say that Christ had such confidence in the directions He's given the disciples prior to their crossing of the Sea of Galilee that He must ask them, "Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?"  This tells us something powerful about how we're to live our faith, in the confidence of what we've been taught and known, and in trusting Christ's commands given to us for how we're to live our lives.  All that we've been taught, and all that we know, from His teachings in the Gospels, through St. Paul and all the saints, the traditions of the Church, and the countless faithful who have come before us and will come after walk in a faith that is all about trust in the One from whom we've been given all things.  This isn't trust in some distant, unseeing, hands-off God we don't know.  It is trust in the One who came to be one of us, lived with us, crossed this sea with the disciples, and slept in the back of the boat through a windstorm on the sea that frightened these seasoned fishermen for whom this sea is home territory.  For Christ is God with us, in our faith, our worship and prayers, and the communion of the saints, in our liturgies and Scripture and the gospel message we're given.  In the efforts of these men who strain at rowing on the sea and who would follow in carrying the gospel message to the world, so we are carried also as we trust in the only One who may truly command peace.