Jesus has finished a long day of teaching. How will His teachings be received? Will his disciples be ready to take the next step? This next step is an invitation from Jesus to ‘cross over to the other side’. As the story unfolds, the disciples will learn what crossing over means. On the surface events unfold which on the sea, but these events take the disciples into the landscape of their own hearts. The invitation of Jesus is a crossing over from being afraid to being filled with Trust. The boat trip suggests that Jesus has not finished teaching and needs his disciples to deepen their understanding and integrate this Wisdom into their lives.
At first the disciples do not hesitate. At Jesus’ invitation they welcome him into their ‘boat’. Perhaps they think that this will be their adventure (v.36). Also the text says that they take Jesus ‘just as he was’ (v.36). I take this to mean that he is still in teaching mode. But the point of this teaching will be a transformation of fearful disciples to trusting disciples. They will be the first of many who will be invited to cross over to the other side.
The drama unfolds and it becomes clear that the disciples cannot make the crossing. The storm fills them with fear and doubt. They awaken the teacher who shows them how to trust and how to stay rooted in love. But they just cannot get there. The transformation is beyond them. The teacher asks then to take a good look at themselves but they can’t do that either, preferring to focus on the puzzle of his lack of fear. In a world where we are constantly threatened by all kinds of dangers it is hard not to give our fears the microphone. We can become paralysed by the ‘wind and the waves’. In this state, it is very difficult to make the Wisdom of Jesus our own.
And while we grapple and wrestle with all the things that frighten us, Jesus sleeps, resting on a cushion no less. A study in Peace in the midst of the storm. But the disciples cannot calm the storm in their own hearts. All they can think of doing is waking him up with the question we all know and understand, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are dying?’ Their fear makes them doubt the Love which is becoming their life. The storm splits their minds and breaks their hearts as they try to hold on to the teaching of Jesus and avoid the real waves which are swamping their boat.
The awakened Jesus models the power of the steady heartbeat which remains open to God and God’s power over the storms. He rebukes the pretentious power of fear and commands silence and peace. The storm is no match for the love of God. His answer to their question ‘Does God care?’ Is a resounding YES! But the truth of this can only be received by a mind free of doubt. It is this teaching which must dissolve their fear and lack of trust.
And even as Jesus speaks a new fear takes over. Now they are afraid of Jesus. They are in awe of him – the kind of awe that makes people tremble in the presence of divine power. But even this kind of fear can work against trust because it does not encourage imitation. It pushes the disciples to talk about Jesus and his abilities (v.41). But what Jesus wanted was for his disciples to talk about how their fear was still overriding their faith. Curiosity about Jesus’ identity is no substitute for the more radical act of crossing over to the other side. When Jesus the Teacher cannot be received, Jesus the saviour is born!
Under Jesus careful guidance we can make great advances. He tells us that the Love of God is greater than the troubles of the world and invites us to cross over from fear to trust. But when the troubles of the world start knocking at our door it is difficult to keep trusting. The pure in heart always see God. The fearful of heart also see God and the waves, but the waves always win! Perhaps we should be encouraged by the fact that Marks Gospel ends on the same note where the disciples flee the empty tomb in terror (Mk 16:8). Perhaps the struggle to be faithful to community in an age of Holocausts is a constant challenge for every disciple who wants to inherit the Wisdom of Jesus who, sleeping or awake, knows that Love is always stronger than death.
