Reading:
Mark 4:39
Write:
He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Reflect:
There are a couple of miracles that I would want to mention from this gospel story. The first one is that Jesus was asleep in the storm! I remember how hard it was to sleep when we were going through a storm in the Atlantic. The ship that I was on came dangerously close to capsizing. I did not get any sleep the rest of that night.
But in the gospel, with the smaller boat for fishing, Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. This is more important than what you first might think. The disciples, who were fishermen on this Sea of Galilee, were very much concerned. But Jesus – he was asleep. That was a miracle in itself!
But the most noticed miracle in this story was the way Jesus silenced the storm. The storms on the Sea of Galilee can get very severe. The sea, really a large lake, is in a valley surrounded by hills. When the wind starts blowing through, it can build to a very serious storm.
Our Responsorial Psalm points out the amazing miracle of Jesus silencing the storm. God is the one – the only one – who is in control of nature. And here, in this gospel story, Jesus is taking control of nature!
The words Jesus used to rebuke the wind and the waves were the same words he used to rebuke demons in the very first chapter of Mark. The power of Jesus manifested through these commands, these rebukes should not be underestimated or seen as some minor issue. The stories we have of the miracles of Jesus are in no way to be seen as insignificant. Unfortunately, some people desire to dismiss them. There are too many people who want to say that the miracles as recorded never happened.
What foolishness! The disciples were in awe of all that Jesus had accomplished. They took that accomplishment as a sign not just to reveal Jesus, but as a sign that they needed to be evangelizers. They needed to take the story of Jesus’ work into a world that counted miracles as foolish in their own day. Things have not changed much in ours.
The closing lines of our Responsorial Psalm are not given to us for the reading for this weekend. But they are very important. Here are the verses: “The upright saw this and rejoiced; all wickedness shut its mouth. Whoever is wise will take note of these things, and ponder the merciful deeds of the LORD.”
Whoever is wise…
Apply:
Faith resides with wisdom. It really is foolish to seek after knowledge without also praying for wisdom. There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. We can know all kinds of things, but without the wisdom to apply the things we know we are like a ship without a rudder. We can be tossed around by the slightest wind, by the smallest of waves unless we are guided by a sure rudder.
I want to read you something from a sermon by a very wise and sainted Bishop: Saint Augustine said: “When you are insulted, that is the wind. When you are angry, that is the waves. So when the winds blow and the waves surge, the boat is in danger, your heart is in jeopardy, your heart is tossed to and fro. On being insulted, you long to retaliate. But revenge brings another kind of misfortune: shipwreck. Why? Because Christ is asleep in you. What do I mean? I mean you have forgotten Christ. Rouse him, then; remember Christ, let Christ awake within you, give heed to him. . . . ‘Who is this, that even the winds and sea obey him?’ ”
I love it when I find a passage like this from one of the saints. They had a much better way with words than I do. We are surrounded by a storm tossed world. One that rejects the truth of the gospel. But even if the storms crashed against us, if Christ is with us who can be against us? To paraphrase St. Paul: let any storm, let any insult, let any demon, let any catastrophe try to come alongside us. In all of these things we conquer through Christ overwhelmingly.
Are you facing things that seem to be overwhelming you? Cry out as the disciples did: “do you not care that we are perishing?” I do not think it is wrong to challenge Jesus in this way in our lives. We all have struggles. They take so many different forms. We need to be like the disciples and asked the Lord to show us how much he cares for us. We may not see a resolution to our concerns in the way we want. But God’s plan is always best.
My guess is that the disciples woke Jesus up to help them with the boat, not the storm. And he surpassed their expectations of help. What do you need today for Jesus to respond to? What cry would you choose to make? Jesus does care. And the way he cares for us is frequently different from what we expected, and therefore much more helpful.
Pray/Praise:
Lord Jesus, you have everything in control, despite what we see in so many places and ways around us. Speak the words in the depths of our hearts: “Quiet! Be still!” Help us to understand that your desire is to the calm the storms of our hearts. As the prophet Samuel said: “speak Lord, your servant is listening.” Quiet the storms that rage around us and in us. Amen.
Mark 4:39
Write:
He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Reflect:
There are a couple of miracles that I would want to mention from this gospel story. The first one is that Jesus was asleep in the storm! I remember how hard it was to sleep when we were going through a storm in the Atlantic. The ship that I was on came dangerously close to capsizing. I did not get any sleep the rest of that night.
But in the gospel, with the smaller boat for fishing, Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. This is more important than what you first might think. The disciples, who were fishermen on this Sea of Galilee, were very much concerned. But Jesus – he was asleep. That was a miracle in itself!
But the most noticed miracle in this story was the way Jesus silenced the storm. The storms on the Sea of Galilee can get very severe. The sea, really a large lake, is in a valley surrounded by hills. When the wind starts blowing through, it can build to a very serious storm.
Our Responsorial Psalm points out the amazing miracle of Jesus silencing the storm. God is the one – the only one – who is in control of nature. And here, in this gospel story, Jesus is taking control of nature!
The words Jesus used to rebuke the wind and the waves were the same words he used to rebuke demons in the very first chapter of Mark. The power of Jesus manifested through these commands, these rebukes should not be underestimated or seen as some minor issue. The stories we have of the miracles of Jesus are in no way to be seen as insignificant. Unfortunately, some people desire to dismiss them. There are too many people who want to say that the miracles as recorded never happened.
What foolishness! The disciples were in awe of all that Jesus had accomplished. They took that accomplishment as a sign not just to reveal Jesus, but as a sign that they needed to be evangelizers. They needed to take the story of Jesus’ work into a world that counted miracles as foolish in their own day. Things have not changed much in ours.
The closing lines of our Responsorial Psalm are not given to us for the reading for this weekend. But they are very important. Here are the verses: “The upright saw this and rejoiced; all wickedness shut its mouth. Whoever is wise will take note of these things, and ponder the merciful deeds of the LORD.”
Whoever is wise…
Apply:
Faith resides with wisdom. It really is foolish to seek after knowledge without also praying for wisdom. There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. We can know all kinds of things, but without the wisdom to apply the things we know we are like a ship without a rudder. We can be tossed around by the slightest wind, by the smallest of waves unless we are guided by a sure rudder.
I want to read you something from a sermon by a very wise and sainted Bishop: Saint Augustine said: “When you are insulted, that is the wind. When you are angry, that is the waves. So when the winds blow and the waves surge, the boat is in danger, your heart is in jeopardy, your heart is tossed to and fro. On being insulted, you long to retaliate. But revenge brings another kind of misfortune: shipwreck. Why? Because Christ is asleep in you. What do I mean? I mean you have forgotten Christ. Rouse him, then; remember Christ, let Christ awake within you, give heed to him. . . . ‘Who is this, that even the winds and sea obey him?’ ”
I love it when I find a passage like this from one of the saints. They had a much better way with words than I do. We are surrounded by a storm tossed world. One that rejects the truth of the gospel. But even if the storms crashed against us, if Christ is with us who can be against us? To paraphrase St. Paul: let any storm, let any insult, let any demon, let any catastrophe try to come alongside us. In all of these things we conquer through Christ overwhelmingly.
Are you facing things that seem to be overwhelming you? Cry out as the disciples did: “do you not care that we are perishing?” I do not think it is wrong to challenge Jesus in this way in our lives. We all have struggles. They take so many different forms. We need to be like the disciples and asked the Lord to show us how much he cares for us. We may not see a resolution to our concerns in the way we want. But God’s plan is always best.
My guess is that the disciples woke Jesus up to help them with the boat, not the storm. And he surpassed their expectations of help. What do you need today for Jesus to respond to? What cry would you choose to make? Jesus does care. And the way he cares for us is frequently different from what we expected, and therefore much more helpful.
Pray/Praise:
Lord Jesus, you have everything in control, despite what we see in so many places and ways around us. Speak the words in the depths of our hearts: “Quiet! Be still!” Help us to understand that your desire is to the calm the storms of our hearts. As the prophet Samuel said: “speak Lord, your servant is listening.” Quiet the storms that rage around us and in us. Amen.
