"Be Still and Know that I am God"

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (B)
June 21, 2015
Mark 4:35-41

The “Jesus Boat” (Image from WikiMedia)

Introduction

In 1986, a drought brought down the water levels in the Sea of Galilee. Two Israeli brothers, Moshe and Yuval Lufan, discovered the remains of a wooden boat buried in the sand. The boat’s remains were 27 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and 4.3 feet high (8.27 meters by 2.3 meters by 1.3 meters). Radiocarbon and other dating methods have placed the age of the boat at around 40 AD (plus or minus 80 years), or around the time of Jesus. There is no proof that Jesus or disciples used the boat, but it must have been typical of the boats of that time. The boat has since been known as “the Jesus boat”.

Today’s Gospel reading is one of the few “nature” miracle stories in the Gospels. There are many stories of how Jesus healed the sick and cast out demons. But only a few involve nature. Other “nature” stories include the Feeding of the Multitudes (the five thousand and the four thousand) and the Walking on Water. Nevertheless, this story of Jesus stilling the storm has the same basic structure as a miracle story, i.e.:

1. The human need - This describes an unsatisfactory aspect of human condition; such as sickness, hunger, being in a storm, & c.
2. The act of Jesus – This describes what Jesus says and does to treat the human condition: the sick are healed, the hungry are fed, the storm is stilled, & c.
3. The human response – This describes how humans react to the power of Jesus: they become afraid, they are filled with awe, & c.

The stilling of the storm shows us the power of Jesus not only over sickness and unclean spirits, but over nature itself.

Exposition. Jesus had just finished teaching the people with parables (we studied two of these last Sunday: the Parable of the Growing Seed and the Parable of the Mustard Seed). There was a multitude on the shores of Lake Galilee; so Jesus had to sit in a boat and teach them from there, a little distance from the shore (Mark 4:1; in order not to be crushed by the crowd, cf. 3:9). After teaching that is when Jesus said, “Let us pass over unto the other side” (v. 35).

I. The Human Condition: Sailing in a Storm (Mark 4:37-38)

While they were sailing, there was “a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was now full” (v. 37, King James Version). Perhaps many people imagine that rain involved here; but the Bible says it was “a great storm of wind”. The boat became full of water not because of rain, but because of the waves. (We Filipinos usually associate strong rains with typhoons; but the word typhoon comes from the Mandarin Chinese 颱風, táifēng*, which means ‘violent wind’. Typhoons are classified by how strong their winds are, not by how much rain they bring.)

The Philippines is a typhoon-prone country. Sometimes classes are suspended because of an approaching typhoon. Back when I was teaching at a state university, I had students from Vanuatu, which is a group of islands in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean. I asked them when was the last time a typhoon (which they call a “cyclone”) hit their country. I was surprised that one Ni-Van student said it was five years before**. I was surprised to find out that they rarely have cyclones. (Typhoons that hit the Philippines usually form over the Pacific Ocean; but usually somewhere around the Marshall Islands near the Equator, north of Vanuatu.) And they were surprised when I told them, “Usually in the Philippines we usually get twenty per year; sometimes we run out of letters of the alphabet when naming them!”

We Filipinos know storms very well. Just like the disciples, we become afraid. We lose property, livelihoods, and even people that we love. Just like the disciples we cry, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38, New King James Version).

II. The Act of Jesus: Sleeping in the Storm and Stilling the Storm (Mark 4:38)

A. Sleeping in the Storm. While other gospels tell the same story, St. Mark adds the poignant detail of Jesus in the stern of the boat “asleep on a pillow”. (Tradition says the St. Mark had St. Peter as his source for his gospel; thus the little eyewitness details such as these.) In moments like storms we may feel that “God is sleeping” and that He doesn’t care that we are perishing. But the sleeping Lord shows us that we will not sink because He is with us.

B. Stilling the Storm. “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” (Mark 4:39). “Peace!” (σιώπα! siōpa!) 'Be quiet!' “Be still!” (περίμωσο! perimōso!) This shows the power of Jesus over the forces of nature. The winds and the waves obey His word.

III. The human response: Fear and Faith (Mark 4:40-41)

Jesus asks, “Why are you so fearful?” He knows that we are afraid; and yet it is a mild rebuke:
Why are you afraid when I am with you? “How is it that you have no faith?” (v. 40) Fear is the opposite of faith. When we fear, we lose focus on the One who were should trust. When the disciples saw the power of Jesus, “they feared exceedingly and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!’” (v. 41). The disciples became afraid because the Person in the boat has the power to control nature. The wind and the waves obey His word.

Conclusion: “Jesus is Lord; and He will not let you down”
 

Pope Francis preaching at an open-air Mass at Tacloban National Airport.

One of the most touching sermons I’ve heard is the homily of Pope Francis, bishop of Rome, which he delivered in an open air Mass at Tacloban National Airport on January 17, 2015 during his pastoral visit to the Philippines. He came to visit the victims of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) which hit the area 14 months earlier. Quite fittingly, there was also a typhoon when he celebrated Mass there. He had a prepared sermon but he decided not to use it. Instead, he delivered a homily straight from his heart, in his native Spanish. He told the people, “Jesús es el Señor; que Jesús no defrauda”: ‘Jesus is Lord, and He will not let you down’. It was a bold statement to those who have lost homes and loved ones during the catastrophe; and yet it was true. There were plenty of wet eyes on that day.

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* Actually 颱風 táifēng is a doubling of the word 風 fēng, ‘wind’. Note that the first character, 颱 tái, also contains the character 風 fēng, ‘wind’.

** Probably referring to Cyclone Funa in 2008. Vanuatu was recently hit by Cyclone Pam last March 6, 2015.