My Dear People,

Jesus had been teaching the multitude in parables from a boat anchored just offshore (4:1). Concluding his “Sermon on the Sea” as evening approaches, He asks His disciples to cross to the other side. The eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, across from Capernaum, was a predominantly Gentile territory. The Disciples accompany Him in several boats, leaving the crowd behind on the shore. They cast off with Jesus just as He was, still seated in his floating pulpit. 

The Sea of Galilee is known for violent storms that can arise without warning as wind is funneled through the steep valley among the hills surrounding the lake. In an instant a gale so fierce, terrifying even seasoned fishermen, sends waves crashing over the boat, swamping it, and threatening to sink it. Yet in the midst of this fury, Jesus is in the stern asleep. (Anyone who has ever been in a violently storm-tossed boat has reason to think that this ability to sleep through the storm was the first miracle!) Jesus exemplifies the perfect trust in God that is often signified in Scripture by a peaceful and untroubled sleep (see John 11:18-19; Ps 4:9; Prov. 3:24). 

But His serenity is not shared by the Disciples, who awaken Jesus with a stinging reproach: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” It is the first time in the Gospel that Jesus has been called “Teacher,” having just completed a day of teaching (Mark 4:1-34).  This reference here will be a powerful lesson of faith.  But they think He is indifferent to their desperate plight and has no concern for their safety or survival. How often God’s people reproach Him this way, from the Old Testament to this day.

Jesus does not leave His Disciples in their panic but immediately awakens and rebukes the raging elements. He does not pray that God would calm the storm. But commands it Himself with sovereign authority: “Quiet! Be still!” Rebuked is the same word used to describe His casting out of the squall that threatens to deflect Him and His Disciples from their mission. In the Old Testament the sea is often viewed as a symbol of chaos and the habitation of evil powers. Jesus exorcises those adverse forces of nature with the same authority with which he freed humans from demonic oppression. Instantly the howling wind subsides, and the choppy waters become calm. The wording parallels Ps. 107: 28-29: “In their distress they cried to the Lord, who brought them out of their peril, hushed the storm to a murmur; the waves of the sea were stilled.” 

The moment the danger has passed, Jesus chides his disciples of their feeble faith. “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith? “ Certainly, they had turned to Him in their moment of terror and dismay. But they did not yet grasp who He really is--- sovereign Lord over all creation. Jesus was forming a band of followers who were to be confident in their mission on earth; to bring the peace and authority of the kingdom into all the troubles of humanity. He had called them to complete a task on the other side of the sea. Would He have done so only to let them perish in the waves? As the Disciples knew well, God alone has the power to subdue the seas: “You rule the raging sea; you still its swelling waves. (Ps. 89:10 see John 38:8; Ps. 65:8). Indeed, from the Exodus on, God’s control of the sea has signified His tender care for His people (Exod. 15; Isa. 51:10). So, it is no wonder that after Jesus calms the storm, they were filled with great awe. Their abject terror of the forces of nature has been replaced by reverent fear of the presence of God in Jesus. 

Jesus’ subduing the sea is an epiphany, a manifestation of  His divine authority. Who then is this? is a question that not only Jesus’ contemporaries but all the readers of the Gospel are meant to ask (see Mark 8:29). 

Yours in Christ, 

Fr. Vincent Clemente