The Gospel for Friday, March 12, 2004
Mark 4:35-41
With the coming of evening that same day, he said to them, 'Let us cross over to the other side.' And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a great gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, 'Master, do you not care? We are lost!' And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Quiet now! Be calm!' And the wind dropped, and there followed a great calm. Then he said to them, 'Why are you so frightened? Have you still no faith?' They were overcome with awe and said to one another, 'Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.' -- The New Jerusalem Bible. 1995, c1985. Doubleday: Garden City, N.Y.
A Study
"'They took Him.' The [Greek] verb is paralamban. The simple verb means 'to take,' the prefixed preposition 'alongside.' The same verb is used where the angel says to Joseph, 'Take the young child and His mother, and flee into Egypt' (Matt. 2:13), that is, 'Take the young child and His mother under your protection and care.' The disciples took the exhausted Lord Jesus under their care just as He was, in the boat." -- Wuest, K. S. 1997, c1984. Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader . Eerdmans: Grand Rapids
Once again, a trip to the Greek provides an insight otherwise available. They took him under their protection to cross the lake. Until something went wrong, and then they had the tables turned on them. As in entering the narrow door, we can never present ourselves to Jesus in a position of power with any hope of a positive outcome. We will be as those of whom he said "and I will say I never knew you." (Lk 13:27)
To top it off, they attempt to chide him: "Don't you care we will perish?". And then, as only YHWH, God of Sea and Wind could do, He stilled the wind and quieted the sea, asking them "Have you still no faith?".
And they were dumbfounded, awestruck. It seemed that every time he did something, he did it with more power than before. His habit of speaking in parables, and then having to explain the parables to these selected men, should remind us that although we are chosen and called, just as our spiritual parents in Israel were, until we open our hearts in full belief and rely fully on Him in complete faith, we remain with those whom He never knew.
A Reflection
As a Navy pilot, I [too frequently, as I look back on it!] frequently left the relative safety of our big ship at night and in bad weather. Once airborne for a few seconds, there was no reference to "the world." Everything happened in relation to the set of instruments arrayed before me. I learned to trust those instruments, and I also learned how to make sure they were telling me the truth: faith, with discernment.
At Pensacola, we learned to fly in the daytime, and then at night, and then in simulated instrument conditions, and then in real instrument conditions. Once in a fleet squadron, the junior pilots went on daylight flights in good weather, then on night flights in good weather, then in day flights in bad weather, and finally on night flights in bad weather. And always with somebody who could do it all by himself (before we had female Naval Aviators, sorry), without our "help," if he had to. Always with a full kit of survival equipment in case the airplane fell apart or we ran out of gas and had to land in some unfamiliar place or on the ocean. After a while, we learned what it "feels like" to be in control of the aircraft, the mission, the crew, and to use the weather to our advantage.
Jesus was working his students up the ladder of difficulty and helping them to build their trust in him, their faith. Even after the crucifixion, "doubting" Thomas still needed to see and touch the wounds, which produced that famous saying on faith from the risen Lord. Thomas would have been one of those pilots who didn't qualify as a flight commander on his first deployment!!
The syllabus through which Jesus took his students brought them along at a pace that stretched their faith at every step -- until they could recognize him in a different form after the resurrection. Can you imagine him introducing himself to Andrew the first time: "Hi, Andrew. I'm God!"? That probably wouldn't have worked. But by stretching and exercising their faith, continually and constantly, Jesus trained them up as people who knew what faith feels like when it's being used. And then He left them with the Holy Spirit.
He taught them how to fly in the worst of conditions -- and even then He left them with the complete set of survival equipment.
6:05:27 AM 
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