GOSPEL, Mark (4:35-41)
Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark
Jesus Stills a Storm
35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
The Gospel of the Lord
REFLECTION
The episode reported by St. Mark (4:35-41) is intended to inform us about the itinerary of Faith and the paschal experience of the apostles as the first Christians.
The calmed storm symbolizes the divinity of Jesus, the biblical God who dominates the hostile elements of indomitable nature, in this case, the stormy sea. In view of the event and Jesus’ question, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” the surprised apostles question his identity “Who is this man, who even the wind and the sea obey him?
We can also see in this episode an image of the Church in the group of disciples, desperately paddling against the changing waves.
As it was before and is today, the Church, like a boat tossed in the rough sea of historical events, has known persecution and martyrdom. Jesus always guides his Church, both in times of calm and during crisis and adversity. Christ promises and fulfils, “I will be with you until the end of time”.
Not all of us face life and death situations like the disciples did on that boat. However, we all experience seemingly intractable problems. We try but nothing we do solves the problem. We feel like we are going to sink.
In life, there are moments of testing for our faith, similar to the storm on the lake for the disciples. When the Church of Christ is persecuted, when pain is insistently visited on us, we can ask like the apostles, “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?”
When that happens, we need to have faith. There is nothing that Jesus cannot do! If he gave orders to the sea and it obeyed, he can also help us with our problems.
PRAYER
Today we bless you, Father, through Jesus Christ, your Son, Lord of creation and conqueror of evil and death. Although sometimes we forget, He always walks at our side in the storms of the sea of life and he says to us: Why do you doubt, men and women of little faith?