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- The calming down of the
storm
Gospel of Mark 4, 35-41
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- This passage of the Gospel is such called because Jesus
with one word, with a wave of the hand, calms down the sea. Nobody
ever ask if Jesus started it. After all if Jesus can calm down
the storm he could provoke it.
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Jesus has spoken all day to the crowd without a microphone. It
is understandable that in the evening he was tired. As soon as
he embarked on the boat, exhausted he fell asleep. As long as
Jesus was speaking, the disciples felt confident and secure.
Nobody spoke like this man. And what authority! When Jesus spoke
everything looked simple and clear. Perhaps, at some point, they
experienced excitement. The adventure of the kingdom of God looked
wonderful. It opened a new horizon to a bright and unknown future.
Without hesitation they could find their place in it and they
were becoming part of it.
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But when Jesus sleeps and looks uninterested, it is another
business! The disciples felt alone, threatened and abandoned.
It looked like Jesus was not caring for them. The teaching they
received did not enlighten them any more. It was nighttime. Could
it be dangerous to follow this man of Nazareth and to rely on
him? To live in another way, to make other choices, to fight
other struggles, that might lead them into trouble and insecurity. |
Doubt begun in their heart. They lost confidence in Jesus. It
is the storm. Is not it easier to keep the security we have rather
than to engage in a direction full of uncertainty? The fear of
change, the fear to lose, the fear of risk, put the disciples
in desperate straits. They shout at Jesus with some reproach:
"Master, we are lost, don't you feel concern?"
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What are our storms? Did Jesus provoke some of them? Welcomed
storms that lead to the peaceful shores with the One that we
find always close by and faithful.
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