Proper 7 / Lectionary 12 B: Mark 4:35-41 Exegetical notes
CONTEXTUAL COMMENTS
In 4:1-34 Jesus teaches in parables, which keeps those “outside” from understanding (4:11-12), but in 4:23 Jesus “explains everything in private to his disciples.” However, we will see that even with the special instructions, the disciples don’t get it. They still lack faith.
In 4:35-5:43 Jesus teaches with four miracles:
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(1) stilling the storm (4:35-41)
(2) the demonic legion (5:1-20 -- not in the lectionary)
(3) raising Jairus’ daughter and (4) healing the woman with a flow of blood (5:21-43 -- the text for next week). |
However, following these displays of Jesus’ power, the responses are not positive:
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After Jesus shows his power over wind and wave, the disciples have no faith (4:40)
After Jesus shows his power over demons, the town’s people beg him to leave their neighborhood (5:17).
After Jesus shows his power over sickness, and death, the woman is praised for her faith after the healing (5:34) and Jairus is asked to have faith (5:36), but at the end, the people are amazed and there is no mention of faith (5:42).
Following these powerful miracles, Jesus enters his hometown where the people “take offense” at him and he is unable to any “deeds of power” except a few healings. Jesus is amazed at their unbelief (6:1-6a). With displays of Jesus’ increasing power, there is also an increase in unbelief. |
One message conveyed by Mark’s narrative is that the miracles do not produce faith, but faith sometimes has a role in the miracles.
Our text has many possible themes and approaches. I will briefly highlight a few that I find preachable.
THE STORMS OF REACHING THE UNCHURCHED
Why do the disciples cross the lake?
Answer 1 (based on a chicken joke): To get to the other side.
Unrelated (except for the chicken) interlude:
Why did the chicken go half way across the road?
She wanted to lay it on the line.
Answer 2 (based on the text): Jesus told them to
Expanding on the chicken joke: What’s on the other side?
Gentile (unclean) territory indicated by “unclean spirits,” “tombs,” “swine,” and “Decapolis”—a Greek term meaning “Ten Cities”.
I believe that the trip across the lake represents the Gentile mission for Mark. The storm at sea can be seen to represent the storms in the early church as they sought to carry out Jesus’ command “to go to the other side” or “to make disciples of all nations.” It may be noted that the area where the congregation is sitting is properly called the “nave,” from the Latin
navis = ship. (“Navy” comes from the same root.)
For most of our congregations, we don’t have to go anywhere to “get to the other side.” The “Gentiles” have moved into our neighborhoods—but what a storm it usually creates when a congregation makes an intentional effort to reach out to the unchurched—to the people who are “different” than they.
An assistant to a bishop visited a congregation council where I was serving. He shared this story. He was preaching in a church. His theme was that the church does not exist for itself, but for the non-members. He was taken to task for that statement right after the sermon: “This congregation exists for us. I pay my offerings so that my children will have a Sunday school.”
I asked a similar question at a council meeting: “Do we exist for ourselves or for others?” The answer was, “We have to take care of ourselves. If we do that well, then others will want to join us.” They had been trying to do that for years—and membership was declining while the community’s population was growing! But they still believed that “taking care of themselves” would bring in more members.
A member at another church stated in a council meeting that we need to reach out to the “Lutherans” who have moved into our area. An organist stated that we need only offer the service from the
Lutheran Book of Worship. “If people want to join a Lutheran church, they should learn to use our Lutheran liturgy.”
At still another congregation, when I asked some council members about outreach to their community, their answer was, “We advertise in the yellow pages. They know when our doors are opened.”
Should we be surprised that so many of our congregations are declining? 82 % of ELCA congregations are just maintaining or declining. Many of our members do not want to go to the “other side” and face the “storms” that are likely to arise when making that trip.
The people on the other side of the lake were not Jews. Jews wouldn’t be raising pigs. The man was not “clean” nor “sane”. He was possessed by an unclean spirit and lived among the tombs. Even after the miracle, the townspeople were not believers. They beg Jesus to leave them. The “cost” of saving the possessed man was more than they wanted to bear. They lost their pigs. What are we willing to lose for the sake of saving the “lost”?
It is much calmer to keep the boat tied up on the shore—or to not even venture into the boat. However, Jesus calls us to cross the lake—and to not be afraid of the storm. It won’t sink the boat, even though it may seem like we will perish.
Following the exorcism (5:1-20), they cross back over the lake to the Jewish side (5:21) and the Jewishness of the next miracle is highlighted with the character of a synagogue leader, but both the bleeding woman and the girl’s corpse were also considered “unclean”.
The next time Jesus makes his disciples get into a boat to cross over the lake to Bethsaida, which is in Gentile territory; there is another storm and the disciples are unable to go anywhere by themselves.
Both stormy crossing are commanded by Jesus. Crossing to the other side is not an option for those who want to obey/follow Jesus. The only safe way to “cross over to the other side” is to trust Jesus to calm the storms that will arise because of the missionary effort to “Gentiles”.
Often, the alternative to risking the dangerous, stormy crossing, is to stay tied up on the shore. Unfortunately, that is the picture of many churches—a peaceful, restful clubhouse on the shore rather than a boat following Jesus’ command to take the fearful risk to cross the lake. We are often more willing to be safe than to answer Jesus’ call to go to the other side.
A quote that is in my notes from many years ago ties in with this image: “The church is ‘not a luxury liner, granting passage and comfort to all who qualify and clamber aboard’ but rather ‘like a rescuing lifeboat, sometimes listing, or even leaking, but always guided by the captain, Jesus, at the helm.’” (Bishop Lyle G. Miller in opening worship at the Sierra Pacific Synod assembly, 1991, quoted in
The Lutheran, June 19, 1991, page 38)
THE CHURCH AND HER MISSION
The following story remotely relates to the above theme. I’ve had it in the book listed below, but I’ve also seen it posted in Ecunet.
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On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their life and money and effort for the support of the work. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little lifesaving station grew.
Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely because they used it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in the club’s decoration, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick and some of them and black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.
At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did.
As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown. |
Adapted by James A. Moak for Commission on Brotherhood Restructure of the Christian Church. Included by James L. Christensen in
Creative Ways to Worship, 1974
WHO IS THIS MAN?
In many ancient myths, the god of the sea is the god of chaos. Most bodies of water can almost instantly turn from calm waters into deadly waves. We cannot control the water.
A hint of this ancient myth of the chaotic sea is indicated in the Revised Common Lectionary’s thematic First Lesson, Job 38:1-11. God’s creative power is pictured as controlling the sea with doors and boundaries. This same power to control the sea is in the thematic Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32, (see also Ps 74:13-14).
The word used of Jesus “rebuking” the wind is commonly used of “rebuking” demonic spirits (1:25; 3:12; 9:25; and of Peter when he became “satanic” 8:33).
The background of these myths provides the answer to the disciples’ closing question: “Who then is this?” This can be no other than God who has the power to tame the chaotic waters. Once again the readers know that Jesus is more than just a human being. He is Son of God (1:1, 11, 24), yet the disciples are unable to decipher the significance of Jesus’ identity.
This theme can also lead to the idea that sometimes the storms in our lives are beyond our control. The chaos in our lives may be caused by people or situations or evil powers which we can do nothing about. Sometimes it is not our fault. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes even the world of faithful Christians comes crashing down. (Job might be brought in as an illustration that sometimes good people suffer unjustly.)
There is a bit of this personification of the storm in our text as the disciples state: “Even the wind and the sea obey him!” In fact, the wind and the sea respond better to Jesus’ words than most people—especially when his words might cause us to talk to others about our faith, our church, and our Savior!
A contrast to the storms of life that are out of our control, one could also indicate that the reason the disciples are in such a mess is because they did what Jesus asked them to do: “Let’s cross the lake”! Sometimes faithfully following Jesus leads to fearful and stormy times in one’s life.
A word of hope in this text (and Job and the Psalm) is that God has the power to control the chaos. God may not always do it according to our schedule. Sometimes God may appear to be sleeping in the boat while our world is falling apart, but that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have the power to calm the storm.
DON’T YOU CARE?
The disciples’ question of Jesus is interesting. They do not ask for a miracle. It appears that they wake him up to tell him that they are all going to die. Literally their question reads: “Teacher, is it not a care (or concern) to you that we are dying?” (v. 38). (The verb, μέλει -
melei, can also carry the idea of “to be anxious about.”)
The disciples’ question can lead to a number of themes.
Do we ever accuse God of not caring for us? What does it do to our faith and trust when we think that God no longer cares? How does God show that he cares for us? Must God always perform miracles—remove us from dangerous storms for us to believe that God cares for us?
Using another definition of μέλει (
melei), and Edwin Friedman’s phrase (
Generation to Generation), could Jesus become an example of a “non-anxious presence?” To paraphrase the disciples’ question: “Why aren’t you as anxious about dying as we are?” Pheme Perkins (
Mark, New Interpreters’ Bible) writes: “On the human level, we often act like the disciples. We expect others to share our panic or distress. If they seem detached from the situation, we accuse them of not caring about our suffering. Panic reactions can divide us from others who might help just as they can cause us to doubt God’s love for us” [p. 581]
While we are more likely to picture ourselves as the scared disciples, I also think that we need to consider ourselves—perhaps not individually, but as the church—to be Christ. When does the church in the midst of chaotic times need to curl up and take a nap, be non-anxious, exhibit supreme trust in God—which others are likely to interpreted as not caring? Some of the radical Christian stuff I receive in the mail comes from people who can’t seem to “rest” until they have converted the whole nation to their way of thinking/believing.
Friedman also admits that the best of humans only manage non-anxiety about 80% of the time. At a workshop with Speed Lees from The Alban Institute, he said that the only times that he is non-anxious is when he’s asleep or on drugs. Anxiety is normal, he suggests. We have some freedom about what we do with it. He prefers the phrase, “non-reactive presence.”
My suggestion is that we and congregations may need to better discern what they should be anxious or passionate about. Few seem upset by or driven by the needs of the Gentile, (meaning: “not one of us,”) demon-possessed guy in the tombs on the other side of the lake (might we say “other side of the tracks”?). Did Jesus know he was there when he had the disciples put out on the lake? Did he know that there would be a storm? I can’t answer that—mind-reading was not a class taught at seminary—but, Mark, in writing his account, knew where Jesus was heading and what would happen on the way. Mark’s narrative suggests that the passion for the other was the driving force behind Jesus’ desire to get across the lake.
I title a sermon on this text: “An Apathetic Jesus?” Although his sleeping in the boat may seem to be an apathetic response to the disciples and their fears, the reason they were in the boat was because of Jesus’ passion to include the Gentiles on the other side in his saving work.
I wonder how many of us are passionate (or apathetic) about the wrong things.
The following is part of a short article called “Why Worry?” from a business (not church) resource.
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Stress management experts say that only two percent of our “worrying time” is spent on things that might actually be helped by worrying. The figures below illustrate how the other 98 percent of this time is spent: |
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40% on things that never happen
35% on things that can’t be changed
15% on things that turn out better than expected
8% on useless, petty worries |
They are times in our lives where trusting God means that we can take naps in a stormy boat. Sometimes we may need to convey the fact that we don’t have to worry about driving out the evil that is all around me. We can act like little children resting comfortably in their parent’s protective arms.
Another approach related to this theme could be the question: How do we show that we care for others? Sometimes it can be speaking an authoritative word to bring stability to chaos. Sometimes it can be doing nothing, hoping that the other will find the power or faith themselves to defeat the storms around them.
FAITH AND FEAR
What does Jesus sleeping in the back of the boat indicate? The disciples read it as if Jesus’ doesn’t care that they are all going to die. Could Jesus’ sleep be a sign of his complete trust in God?
The fact that at least four of Jesus’ disciples were professional fishermen heightens the severity of the storm. We might easily understand the fear of a tax collector (or accountant) at sea; but the fishermen! It was a bad storm. It has been suggested that this was beyond a natural storm, but perhaps a demonic attempt to keep Jesus and the disciples from spreading the gospel to “the other side.”
Jesus responds to the disciples: “Why are you cowardly (or fearful or timid)? Do you not yet have faith?”
The disciples’ response to Jesus’ question was to “be afraid with great fear” and to question among themselves “Who then is this one that the wind and the sea obey him?”
Two different word groups are used in these verses (40-41) that relate to “fear”.
The word δειλός (
deilos) is used in Jesus’ question. The words φοβέω (
phobeō) and φόβος (
phobos) are used of the disciples’ state. A difference I see in the two word groups is that the “fear” depicted by δειλός (
deilos) and related words generally comes as a result of inner defects. One is afraid because one lacks courage. One is cowardly or timid. Jesus indicates that there is something defective about the disciples—they are fearful, cowardly, timid, and lacking in faith.
The “fear” depicted by φόβος (
phobos) and related words generally comes as a result of external circumstances. One is concerned about impending pain, danger, evil, etc., or possibly by the illusion of such circumstances and so is fearful. The word group can have a more positive meaning of “reverence” or “awe” when one is in the presence of a deity—but still the emotion comes from that which is external to the person.
The disciples’ eyes are centered on the externals—first the storm at sea and then what they had seen Jesus do. Both produce fear within. How often do we—both as individuals or congregations—look at the externals and become fearful or discouraged, e.g., our community is declining in population. Should we not also look within to see whether or not our fear stems from our own cowardice or timidity—our inability to believe or trust God?
A slightly different application of this is presented by Arthur Boers (
Never Call them Jerks: Healthy Responses to Difficult Behavior). He writes: “This is also my greatest learning on dealing with difficult behavior in church: Pay attention to yourself first. If you perceive and treat others as enemies, they will look more and more like enemies” [p. 39].
Up to this point in Mark, the only characters who have exhibited faith are those who carried the paralytic (2:5). The disciples have not been described as people having faith. Part of the sad irony in their lack of faith is the fact that just before our text, we are told that Jesus explained everything in private to his disciples. They had special catechetical classes—and they still don’t get it! In fact, the disciples are never described in Mark as having faith (πίστις -
pistis)! Maybe we pastors shouldn’t be too discouraged with confirmation students “drop out” of church after all of the wonderful instruction we have given them or that they don’t seem to “get it”.
In spite of the disciples’ lack of faith, the miracle still happens for them. In contrast to this, Jesus tells the woman with a flow of blood: “Daughter, your faith (πίστις -
pistis)! has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (5:34). Two verses later, Jesus tells Jairus: “Do not fear (φόβος -
phobos), only believe” (πιστεύω -
pisteuō) (5:36). “Faith” or “believing” is involved with the healing of the demon-possessed boy (9:23-24) and the blind man (10:52) who sees and follows Jesus on the way.
I wonder: if the disciples had had “faith,” what would they have done differently? Should they have gone to sleep with Jesus, trusting that God would see them through the storm? (Or trusting that if they should die, God has a room prepared for them in heaven?) Should they have rebuked the wind and waves as Jesus did, believing that if they “do not doubt and believe in their hearts” it will be done for them as they ask (Mk 11:23-24)? How should faithful people deal with inner fears and outer difficulties?
While this story gives us an illustration of the lack of faith of disciples, I’m not sure that it gives us a very clear picture of what faithful disciples would look like. Perhaps the only kind of disciples that we will be are those who are cowardly, timid, fearful, and lacking in faith—but that doesn’t mean that Jesus gives up on us.
Another small detail in this text is the other boats (v. 36c). We might presume that they were also in the storm, although the text only tells us how the storm was affecting a boat (singular). What difference does it make knowing that Jesus is in the boat in the storm? What difference does it make hearing Jesus utter the words before the calm? How would the disciples’ interpretation of the calm differ from that of the sailors in the other boats?
To apply this: what difference should it make to congregations (or families) and their conflicts if they believe that Jesus is with them in the midst of the conflicts? What should our responses be if/when the conflict is resolved—and estrangements are reconciled? Should Jesus get credit?
I wonder how many church meetings are conducted without much consideration for Jesus’ presence in their midst.
THE MIRACLE AND HUMAN WORK
The second part of the journey is not mentioned in the story. A great storm is probably the worst thing people in a boat might face on a lake. The second worst thing for a sail boat is to have “the winds cease and a dead calm.” This suggests that in order for the disciples to carry out Jesus’ call to cross the lake, they were going to have to work very hard to get the boat to where Jesus wanted it to be. Even the presence of Christ and his great miracle-producing power may still mean a lot of hard work on our part to get where Christ wants us to go. If Jesus wanted the disciples on the other side of the lake, why not just “beam them over,” rather than have them go through a storm and then to row the boat to shore? If Christ’s wants everyone to be saved, why not just “beam” them into our churches? Why make us go out to the world and witness and invite others?
In my later years, whenever council members (or church members) talk about the congregation’s need to grow, I will respond. “The growth begins with you inviting others to the worship service or to other church activities.” If the leaders of the congregation are not willing to do the “work” needed to get where they want to be, they shouldn’t expect to achieve their goals. Reaching out to those who are “not us” requires hard work by the members. We know from a later story that Jesus could have just walked across the water to get to the other side, but for this trip, the disciples had to work to get him there once the wind ceased and there was a dead calm.
While we may pray that Jesus would work miracles in our lives and in our world and in our neighborhoods; the miracles that come probably won’t let us off the hook from doing some of the hard work required to do what Jesus has called us to do.
I can imagine this story being acted out in congregations. Every member is working hard so that the congregation might reach its goals, while the minister sleeps—after preaching and teaching and presiding.
Brian Stoffregen
Faith Lutheran Church, 2215 S 8th Avenue, Yuma, AZ 85364
e-mail:
brian.st...@gmail.com
