“Peace! Be Still!”
Mark 4:35=41 (4:39) – June 23, 2024
Have you ever slept in a tent while a huge thunderstorm crackled and poured overhead? The blustery wind, rain and loud thunder seem right on top of you. I know firsthand; I spent several summers in high school at a Girl Scout camp, sleeping in a platform tent every night.
Except, in our Gospel reading, Jesus and the disciples did not even have the cover of a tent. They were out in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, in the middle of a fierce storm. Our Gospel writer Mark tells us “Suddenly a strong wind blew up, and the waves began to spill over into the boat, so that it was about to fill with water.”
Can you relate? Has this ever happened to you? Maybe it’s an actual storm, blowing in all of a sudden out of a clear blue sky, complete with the skies turning black and the heavens opening up with pelting rain. Except, sometimes it can be a figurative story. Something horrible comes up suddenly, upon you or upon a dear member of your family. What about a sudden car accident? Or, perhaps a house fire in the middle of the night, or emergency hospitalization, out of a clear blue sky?
These kinds of sudden, serious storms can blow up in anyone’s life, and they can overwhelm any of us with their intensity and traumatic effects.
Let us look at this reading again. “Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
Fear can absolutely paralyze people! I can see these guys, scared out of their sandals, on this tiny boat. Rain pelting down, the wind and the waves threatening to swamp the boat, far from shore. Some of these guys are used to sailing and used to sudden squalls on the Sea of Galilee. But, a portion of the disciples are not fishermen, and are not familiar with boats or with seafaring. And what about Jesus? He is sleeping, for heaven’s sake, through the storm, the pitching of the boat back and forth, the pelting rain coming down.
As one of my commentators says, “This is it. They’re going down. Life’s over! Jesus doesn’t seem to care. I’m not sure what they’re expecting of him—probably they just wanted him to show a bit of concern about their plight.” [1]
What about those sudden storms that blow into our lives, today? Catastrophic accidents, emergency hospitalizations, or the very abrupt closing of a company. (That recently happened to one of my relatives, and it’s throwing a monkey wrench into everyone’s lives! Everyone who works there, and their families, too.)
This storm that blew up on the Sea of Galilee must have been some storm, though! Even these seasoned fishermen, familiar with the water, were certain that death was near! “They must have exhausted all their other usual options and now that panic has set in all they have left is to turn to the one who is sleeping on the cushion — seemingly oblivious to the violent wind and driving rain.” [2] What is their cry? “Teacher, don’t You care if we drown?”
Stories from recent church history can be distressing and catastrophic. Stories about weathering storms from church history can be helpful, and empowering, too. Take, for example, the true story about Anna B.
About 100 years ago, Anna B. was a faithful member of a dying church. The building was run-down, the congregation could not afford to pay a minister. Without a minister, people stopped attending Sunday services. Except – Anna B. kept coming to the church. She opened the doors on Sunday morning, week after week. She lit the candles and provided a place for prayer. She filed the necessary papers to maintain the church as a legal entity. These simple acts of faithfulness and diligence kept the congregation going for several years. Eventually, rebirth happened, and it was in great part because of Anna B. [3]
That is the true story of Anna B., who was instrumental in faith and revitalization when that church was going through a series of storms in the life of that struggling congregation.
Anna B.’s history takes place over several years. The sudden storms that come into our lives can blow up abruptly. What does Jesus do in this specific situation? “Jesus rebukes the wind and tells the sea to simmer down; the first word (“Peace!” in the NRSV) is a verb meaning be silent; the second (“Be still!” in the NRSV) means literally be muzzled.” [4] Just as suddenly, the sea calms and the wind is stilled – muzzled! And, the disciples are left dumbstruck. Jaws hanging open, they murmur, “Who is this?”
Just as the power and miracle-working capability of Jesus became clearer to the disciples, it can become clearer to us, today. No matter what our personal storm is, no matter how fearful and anxious you and I are because of our personal circumstances, our Lord Jesus has the miraculous power to calm the storms in our lives, too.
This Gospel reading is a powerful reminder about the power of God, as displayed through our Lord Jesus. Except, I know from sad experience that miracles do not happen the way people expect sometimes. Even many times. Like Rev. Janet Hunt, I am also not certain how so many deal with lives devastated by all sorts of storms, actual and figurative, storms that threaten from outside and from within. “Even so, perhaps we are changed if we allow ourselves, even as the disciples did, to simply stand still in awe when in the presence of such power which muzzles the worst that can threaten us. Which is all the time, if we are paying attention. Indeed, perhaps it is so that [we] do walk away re-empowered to hold fast in the storm if [we are] able to trust that somehow our benevolent God holds us all. Even in the storms. Especially in the storms.” [5]
Jesus calls on each of us to have faith, even in the midst of the raging storms of our lives. We can believe, we can have faith that Jesus will be right by our sides, through any difficulty. And, Jesus can say “Peace, be still!” to the storms in each of our hearts, too. Alleluia, amen.
(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. and A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!
[1] https://www.bobcornwall.com/2015/06/sleeping-through-storm-lectionary.html
[2] http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2015/06/power-over-storm.html
[3] Beaumont, Susan, How to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), 99.
[4] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-12-2/commentary-on-mark-435-41
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