The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Rembrandt 1633, stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, in 1990.

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[The disciples] were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”    Mark 4:41. 

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One of the greatest fears of the ancients was the sea. Remember the first statement in the Book of Genesis: “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Utter unpredictability and threat of chaos confronted anyone setting sail in those days. Typically ships sailed as close to the shore as possible to lessen the threat. 20 ancient sailing superstitions can be seen here. And in today’s gospel we have exactly that, a sudden squall, the disciples – many of whom had been sailors remember – were totally preoccupied with bailing water out of the boat, which apparently was in danger of sinking. And Jesus slept! And probably more in hope than expectation they woke him up, distraught at the possibility of drowning, as I suspect any one of us would be in those circumstances. Then, as the gospel says, Jesus told off the wind and basically ordered the sea to quieten down! And they did! 20 centuries later, we still cannot control the elements, and setting sail even now means we still have to be prepared for conditions which might well bode ill (think of the safety procedure today before every flight or at the start of a cruise). A sinking ship because of bad weather is unusual today – but not unknown. And today’s gospel event is classified as a “nature” miracle, one that is difficult if not impossible to explain by any known laws of nature (other than the possibility that the storm simply died away as quickly as it had sprang up), and this is possibly the reason that many biblical scholars are reluctant to admit to their possibility. But bare in mind that the Catholic church believes strongly in miracles to this day and insists on them as evidence that a person who has died and was renowned for holiness is close to God and consequently can be asked for favors…. And the result of today’s gospel miracle was the awe it inspired in Jesus’ followers, who certainly knew a life-threatening storm when they saw one and had probably had experience of it. It was another step towards their realization that this man was, indeed, the Son of God, to be trusted in any and all situations, a message which lives down even to our own highly-urbanized age. And although very few of us are involved in the maritime life, we are all of us familiar with the storms of life in its myriad forms. They can be just as deadly as the storm in today’s gospel, and each of us can wake up the Lord and ask for help! Faith is a very stable support in any situation. We may not receive that which we asked for, but somewhere in the mist there will be a silver lining which will herald the presence of God. It is that in which we may trust, come what may.

Trusting God in the Storm, Dr. Michell Bengtson.

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