Job 38:1, 8-11
The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said:
Who shut within doors the sea,
when it burst forth from the womb;
when I made the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
When I set limits for it
and fastened the bar of its door,
and said: Thus far shall you come but no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stilled!
Mark 4:35-41
On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
"Let us cross to the other side."
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.
And other boats were with him.
A violent squall 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 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 sea obey?"
A little detail I'd never noticed before: "And other boats were with him." In my mind, it was just Jesus and the apostles. But if there was a goodly number of other folks out there too, this was no private miracle.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't remember ever hearing this reading from Job before, and I've heard a lot of readings. That's quite the image of the sea as a violent babe.
I like how the reading from Job answers the disciples' question.
ReplyDeleteGood point mentioning the other boats.
I may be wrong, but I think that most of Jesus' works in Mark's Gospel are extremely public unless it specifically notes his audience. This chapter is full of public teachings but it does specify times when it's just Jesus and the 12.
I was trying to put myself in this situation and I realized that all of this happened at night. If you've never been on a boat at night, it's a lot different than being on a boat in the day. The stars are incredible. Imagine the moment of desperation shortly before waking J.C., Him telling the weather to knock it off, and then being on a boat in the middle of the sea beneath a bowl of stars with your "teacher", who has just displayed some serious omnipotence...
How on Earth do you question His divinity at this stage of the game?
How do you question his divinity? Well, stupidly, I guess. But we see it all the time. I don't want to change my pre-conceived notions; I fear I might have to change the way I live my life. So we come up with things like, "Well, we must have been halucinating. That can't really happen, right?" Even in my own life, I've found the powerful spiritual experiences somehow lose their luster with the passage of time.
ReplyDeleteThe morning after the storm these folks might have been ready to follow Him. But then they stop by the house to say goodbye to mom and she asks you to do her a favor and stick around for just a day or two. And then you're out at a bar with friends, telling them you're leaving to follow this Jesus guy, and they say, "Why?" And you start to tell this story about the storm and, well, it seemed pretty awesome a couple days ago. But in that moment, you hear yourself telling it and it just seems silly. "That didn't really happen, did it?" one of your buddies asks. "No..." you hear yourself saying, "No, I guess not." And in time you come to doubt it.
This is why I like Puddleglum so much. When he has all but forgotten the vision, he summons up his courage and his sense and declares:
Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things – trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only real world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for the Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s a small loss if the world’s as dull a place as you say.
Very good.
ReplyDeleteThere are also times in which a captivating thing draws you in further, as in the cases of love.
Perhaps this is happening?
I glanced ahead at what's to come in Mark's gospel... Right after this, Jesus drives out a major demon, resurrects the dead, commissions the disciples, His cousin is beheaded, He feeds 5000, and then walks on water--all in the same chapter.
True. Since you mentioned it, I think an analogy to falling in love might be in order. (Ok, granted, you didn't mention the falling part, but I'm running with it.) In the early days one might ask, "Is this really happening? Does she actually love me? Is life really this good?" In hindsight, one comes to see that the answer to all three is "Yes!" And indeed, in a certain sense, you knew it at the time. Even if you didn't, future events quite confirm it.
ReplyDeleteThat may be where the crowds are at when they ask, "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?" They know, but, really, can it be this good? Can it be He? From the preview EZ has given, it seems it is...
As for the crowd, Chrysostom says "the Lord took the disciples indeed, that they might be spectators of the miracle which was coming, but He took them alone, that no others might see that they were of such little faith.
ReplyDeleteWherefore, to shew that others went across separately, it is said, "And there were also with Him other ships."
Lest again the disciples might be proud of being alone taken, He permits them to be in danger; and besides this, in order that they might learn to bear temptations manfully.
Wherefore it goes on, "And there arose a great storm of wind;" and that He might impress upon them a greater sense of the miracle which was to be done, He gives time for their fear, by sleeping.
Wherefore there follows, "And He was Himself in the hinder part of the ship, &c."
For if He had been awake, they would either not have feared, not have asked Him to save them when the storm arose, or they would not have thought that He could do any such things."
And Theophylact says "For they were in doubt about Him, for since He stilled the sea, not with a rod like Moses, nor with prayers as Elisha at the Jordan, nor with the ark as Joshua, the son of Nun, on this account they thought Him truly God, but since He was asleep, they thought Him a man."
Two thoughts: It's interesting and fitting that the waves and the storm which were probably very loud and scary are calmed by a rebuke to quiet. Not just to go away, but to be still and without sound. This is the same rebuke that will come later when Jesus casts out demons.
And I like how this is a story not only about trust in God; that he will never abandon us and that we need to call on him in times of trouble. But also that he gave it to the deciples, to us, to do this same work in his name. To drive out demons and to calm storms. That this is our work to do. I think the humanity of Jesus in this Gospel is set as an example for how we should be calm, even to the point of falling asleep, while in the storms of the world.
I hadn't thought about the humanity-divinity issue, but it's totally there. (And, once again, we find ourselves at the Incarnation or the Trinity. Happens every time.)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I like the insight about how the storm was big and the Lord let it go on so as to make the miracle bigger and to force the disciples to turn to Him. Often in our own lives I think we sometimes wonder why things are happening or why God's not showing up sooner. In due time... for His glory and our sanctification.
Some of the richest material, I think, comes from the second reading 2 Corinthians 5. It is about new creation, which is cool following the feast of Corpus Christi but it is a great prayer for us to see each other as a new creation in Christ. Mike Arnold lead a Bible study on these readings last night and he talked about how the Lord can open your eyes and see some one as a new creation like what the Lord did for him to find his wife. It was really powerful when he said it. And why aren't the six verses read from Job. Those are still cool...
ReplyDelete