This coming Sunday is the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. 35 On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, “Let us cross to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. 38 Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. 

As Stoffregen asks: Why do the disciples cross the lake? There are several possible answers: (a) to get to the other side or (b) as recorded in the text, Jesus told them to cross over. Even though (b) is the correct answer, (a) raises a curiosity: what is on the other side? Gentile (unclean) territory indicated by “unclean spirits,” “swine,” and “Decapolis.”  Many scholars hold that this trip across the lake represents the Gentile mission for Mark. The storm at sea represents the storms in the early church as they sought to carry out Jesus’ command “to go to the other side” or “to make disciples of all nations.” It may be noted that the area where the people of God sit while in church is properly called the “nave,” from the Latin “navis” = ship.

The expression “with them in the boat just as he was” has raised a speculation or two in the millennia. There is nothing particular about the underlying Greek. Many scholars offer that, given Jesus is soon asleep, “as he was” bone tired, pointing to previous verses that indicate the course of events on the day: “On another occasion he began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them…” (Mark 4:1-2). In other words, he was already in the boat, and now finished teaching parables, Jesus sat down and the disciples shoved off for the other side.

In the tradition it is thought that the Gospel according to Mark, in a manner, captures Peter’s stories and remembrances. This account bears the marks of the personal reminiscence of one who had experienced the event. The precise mention of time, the unneeded reference to the other boats which were present, the vivid detail that the boat was “already filling up,” the precise location of Jesus’ position (“in the stern, asleep on a cushion”), the harshness of the rebuke implied in the disciples’ cry of indignation and terror as well as their subsequent bewilderment, combine to suggest an eyewitness report.

Image credit: Christ stilling the storm on the Sea of Galilee | Ludolf Bakhuizen | 1695 | Indianapolis Museum of Art | PD