mark 4:35 commentary

Mark 4:35-41 Commentary by James Boyce “On that day.” The phrase is so brief the reader could almost ignore it. Alternate First Reading. The end of a toil may perhaps be but the beginning of a toss. This identity would always therefore be fragile and vulnerable, since faith was not a once and for all enlightenment but a gradual growth in insight and commitment. Mark 4:35 Parallel Verses [⇓ See commentary ⇓] Mark 4:35, NIV: "That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side.'" The outcome of that conversion would be the intuition that the “face” of Jesus was nothing less than the most perfect human expression of the “face” of God. Jesus and the disciples crossed to the other shore. Alternate First Reading. In this sense they had no faith. Mark 4:35. ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, on that day) See App. So ostensibly, had he not stopped the storm they would have made it across just fine. Most of the disciples were former fishermen. Mark 4:35-41 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, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. A more plausible explanation is that the author of Mark has Jesus sleeping out of literary necessity: Jesus' calming the storm is designed to evoke the story of Jonah. The weakness of Jesus, more than anything else, would reveal the truth of God. Many, perhaps most, things that happened to them were beyond their understanding. Mark seldom dates his incidents, but he takes pains to tell us that this run across the lake closed a day of labour, Jesus was wearied, and felt the need of rest, He had been pressed on all day by ‘a very great multitude,’ and felt the need of solitude. At the beginning of the journey, Jesus healed a blind man whose “sight was restored, and (he) saw everyone clearly” (8:22-26). iii. When a violent storm threatens to destroy the boat and its inhabitants, Jesus somehow manages to remain “asleep on the cushion.” One tendency leans more in the direction of some sort of “operational divinisation” of Jesus’ humanity, such that he could perform actions beyond the possibility of other humans (as, for example, rebuking the wind and stilling the sea). "Calming the Storm," Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures. Was Mark reporting as fact stories that could not stand up to the rigorous critique of today’s scientific mindset? Commentary on Mark 4:35-41 “On that day.” The phrase is so brief the reader could almost ignore it. The Jews were familiar with the story of Moses who led the Hebrew people from their captivity in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. What is the worst storm you've ever been through? What does he know about storms and waters? With this story Mark presented something quite different from exorcisms and healings. They did not know that events beyond their own control had their own natural causes. (Mark 4:35-36 RSV) It is clear that this comes when our Lord was at the point of utter physical exhaustion. On a first read, Mark 4:35-41 looks like a demonstration of Jesus’ astonishing power — and so it is. Jesus Walks on Water: Faith During a Storm (Mark 6:45-52), Jesus Walks on Water Bible Story Study Guide, Jesus Punishes the Swine With Demons (Mark 5:10-20), The Syro-Phoenician Woman's Faith in Jesus (Mark 7:24-30), The Woman Who Touched Jesus' Garment (Mark 5:21-34), Jesus Heals Jairus' Daughter (Mark 5:35-43), Saint Patrick's Friendship with His Guardian Angel, Victor, Jesus Heals a Blind Man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26), Relive the Resurrection Story of Jesus Christ. As mentioned in relation to Jesus’ acts of healing, wonders were accepted as part of life by people of the time. Let's read verses 35-41. Since its inception, people have cherished David … God made the escape possible by means of a strong wind that blew all night and dried the seabed, so enabling the Hebrew people to cross dry-shod and safe. 1 The *parable of the four soils 4:1-9. Their faith appeared weak, and their prayers strong. Hadn't they covered who he is and what he is doing? Whatever option readers may take about the historicity of the incident, its symbolism was what particularly interested Mark, and was the reason why he selected it, told it the way he did, and inserted it at this point in his narrative. 2 Jesus explains … Ed. He did not consider that he had a specific mission to non-Jews. Mark may have wished to make a statement about Jesus. Resume Prayer. During the journey, Jesus’ disciples seemed unable to see anything clearly. Once the discourse on the parables was finished (Mk 4: 1-34), Jesus said, “Let us cross over to the other side!” They take Him on the boat just as He is in the boat in which He had made the discourse on the parables. First, if we have faith, then no harm is to come to us. Or if they had, do they simply not believe him? God’s speech from the whirlwind is a long time coming. B. Now we’re in a place where we can see what Jesus’ disciples are made of. The parable of the seed, and the four sorts of ground (v. 1-9), with the exposition of it (v. 10-20), and the application of it (v. 21-25). As will become more obvious as the story unfolds, the basis of the community’s identity would not lie in ethnic identity, religious background or simple friendship or congeniality. And again he began to teach by the sea side and there is gathered unto him a very great multitude, so that he entered into a boat, and sat in the sea; and all the multitude were by the sea on the land. In the non-Jewish world many people had “mythical” explanations for simple things like the rising and setting of the sun, moon and stars, or accepted them without question. In Mark’s mind it became important to review next the consequences for the community of disciples. Jesus teaches by means of *parables 4:1-34. The crossing to the other side was dangerous – a very strong wind squall on an inhospitable sea. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. Was his purpose simply to create a display of naked power in order to impress his apostles? The calming of a raging storm fits with other stories where Jesus' power is manifested against awesome, even mythic forces: raging seas, hordes of demons, and death itself. They believed in experience, strength, and skills. EXEGESIS: MARK 8:22 – 10:45. , After all, Jesus was a carpenter. Gospel. Second, if you act like Jesus and simply command the chaos to "be still," then you will at least achieve some inner sense of peace and thus be less troubled by what is occurring. They had overcome many storms before. Commentary on Mark 4:35-41 (Read Mark 4:35-41) Christ was asleep in the storm, to try the faith of his disciples, and to stir them up to pray. How Jesus manages to stay asleep though this is unknown but traditional commentaries on the passage say that he slept deliberately in order to test the faith of the apostles. At the same time, Mark would develop two further themes, as the narrative would immediately indicate: One theme would be the disciples’ continuing struggle to faith, their inner journey from initial fascination and response to deeper insight and commitment. Yet Mark would show the journey to be perilous. Depending on their culture they posited numerous external personal forces - angels, gods or demons - as the arbitrary causes of much of what went on in their world. They had no clear idea of what people in the Western world today call the laws of nature. How is it you have no faith? “Teacher, does it not concern you that we are sinking?”, and said to the sea, “Be calmed! Commentary on Mark 4:35-41. It would be the product of a never-ending conversion. Jesus’ disciples are traveling across the Sea of Galilee. THE CONTEXT. Were non-Jews fit to become members, and, if so, under what conditions? Calming the storm doesn't appear to have been absolutely necessary because he rebukes the others for not having faith - presumably, they should have trusted that nothing would happen to them while he was around. Be silenced!”. 1. Mark 4:35, ESV: "On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”" Mark 4:35, KJV: "And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side." James Rosscup writes that "This was the great work in the life of the versatile Dean of Canterbury. He apparently saw a response of panic as a lack of faith. Jesus had been addressing the crowds from a boat moored at the edge of the lake. This would take him into territory controlled by Gentiles, pointing to the eventual expansion of Jesus' message and community beyond Jews and to the Gentile world. Jesus had spent the entire day teaching by the use of parables. Mark seldom dates his incidents, but he takes pains to tell us that this run across the lake closed a day of labour, Jesus was wearied, and felt the need of rest, He had been pressed on all day by ‘a very great multitude,’ and felt the need of solitude. First Reading. Mark 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries; Parallel Passages. If that is the case, then they failed, because they were so scared that they woke Jesus up to find out whether he cared if they all drowned. Commentary, Mark 4:35-41, Meda Stamper, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012. In the Christian communities the opening to Gentiles caused many a storm, and led some Jewish Christians to fear that they would be swamped and consequently perish. In Mark’s mind it became important to review next the consequences for the community of disciples. Chapter 4 opens with a series of parables (the sower, the lamp and the bushel basket, the growing seed, and the mustard seed). It is an understanding “of the organization of material as related to a given context.”13 The emphasis of the relationship between words and phrases and In its turn, faith in the Jesus who proclaimed the Kingdom would be determined by people’s sense of the authenticity of Jesus himself. Default. Actually, this short transition is vastly important for setting the stage for this familiar story of the stilling of the storm. Although it is still relatively early in his ministry, he has been explaining to them all of the secret meanings of his parables. As Mark tells the story, the disciples were terrified that the boat was going to break up and everyone would die. June 21, 2009. Commentary on Job 38:1-11. Why did they even wake him if they didn't think he might be able to do something? ii. David is introduced to the reader in Ruth 4:17. The first miracle of this type appears in Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; and Luke 8:22-25. He may also have wished to indicate that the unfolding story would chart the definition of the new community of disciples soon to exercise the mind of Jesus. What sort of faith, then, did he expect? Acceptance would call for nothing less than death to the ego-oriented and originated self. The question would arise and be answered from a variety of sources. He was in the stern asleep on the cushion. In this incident, the disciples and Jesus moved away from the shoreline, and put out over the water. To the Jew generally, the water was a symbol that touched powerfully into their sense of the unfamiliar and the fearful. HENRY ALFORD The Greek New Testament Commentary on the Gospel of Mark. Commentary on 1 Samuel 17:[1a, 4-11, 19-23] 32-49 . Mark 4:35-41 "On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, 'Let us go across to the other side.' "Crossing to the other side with Jesus may be a risky, unpredictable proposition, and in this passage, the wind and the sea create a visual manifestation of the dangers of being in the boat with him." An outcome of this production was the New Testament for English Readers (4 vols. So how strong can we surmise this storm was? In the overall structure of Mark's Gospel we now move into material that follows the Parable of the . Whatever the case, this appears to be another example of the apostles being portrayed as dolts. Some thoughts on today's scripture. ), all the birds of the air can find shelter in its shade; where, despite the apparent inadequacy of resources, the harvest is capable of the thirty, sixty, hundredfold. June 21, 2009. Text: Mark 4:35-41. When he had been labouring in the word and doctrineall day, instead of reposing himself, he exposeth himself, to teach us not to think of a constant remaining rest till we come to heaven. That day, as it was getting later, [Jesus] said. It would be based purely on the common acceptance in faith of the driving dream and mission of Jesus. After a … Mark 4:35. It is a short sermon, only about 12 minutes in length. Some years ago I was on a flight from Puerto Allegre in the far south of Brazil to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Let's read the account of a severe storm on the Sea of Galilee. 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