This coming Sunday is the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Given the fact that at least four of the disciples were professional fishermen and must have experienced such storms before, their terror gives us a clue about the severity of the incident. The Sea of Galilee, surrounded by high mountains, is like a basin with the Golan Heights to the East and dry deserts to the south. Sudden violent storms on the sea are well known. Violent winds from the southwest enter the basin from the southern cleft and create a wave of storms and periods of calm that succeed rapidly follow one upon another. The text lailaps megalē anemou suggests a sudden tornado-like whirlwind descending from above.

Depending on the season and weather, it was not unusual to fish in the nighttime. While a storm during the day could be dangerous, during the night, even experienced fishermen are not able to “read the signs” of the approaching storm in the sky and waves/whitecaps. The squall that hit likely struck as an unexpected, fierce gust of wind fell upon them, driving the waves over the sides of the boat, which was being swamped with water.

In this storm scene (see 6:45–52 for a similar account), Jesus gives his disciples an opportunity to show that they have come to know him for who he really is. They have shared in the secrets of the kingdom (4:1–34), and they have been with him as he healed all sickness and drove out demons (chs. 1–3). Now they are with him on the raging sea, and Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion” (v.38). The other’s aboard are having a much different experience. Given that at least four of the disciples were professional fishermen and must have experienced such storms before, their anxiety/terror indicates the severity of the incident. The usual pattern for a deliverance from a storm at sea involved a plea to the deity for help, but Mark’s version lacks such a formula.

One cannot help but recall a scene from the Book of Jonah. The Word of God came to Jonah and commissioned him to be a prophet to the moral enemy of the Jews – the Assyrians. Jonah’s response:

“But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish, away from the LORD. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down in it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the LORD. The LORD, however, hurled a great wind upon the sea, and the storm was so great that the ship was about to break up. Then the sailors were afraid and each one cried to his god. To lighten the ship for themselves, they threw its cargo into the sea. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship, and lay there fast asleep. The captain approached him and said, ‘What are you doing asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps this god will be mindful of us so that we will not perish.’” (Jonah 1:3-6)

In the Jonah account “each one cried to his god.” This is a religious S.O.S as each sailor prays to his god; one of those gods has sent the raging storm, right? They are “shot gunning” prayers across all the spectrum of gods. It is to their credit that even they can see that this is no ordinary storm but betrays a divine reaction to some grave sin. But alas, the tempest rages: they can’t have called on the right god yet. Left to their own efforts, they begin to jettison cargo in an attempt to save themselves.

In the parallel account in Matthew, the disciples’ words to Jesus fit the anticipated pattern, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” (Matt. 8:25). In Mark, however, their cry carries an edge – rebuke? Disbelief? Incredulousness? It is hard to assign a meaning that leaves the disciples other than accusing Jesus of being indifferent to their plight.

In the middle of this “all hands on deck” effort, “Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship and lay there fast asleep.” The original hearers as well as modern ones have to wonder, “how in the world could he be curled up fast asleep when the tempest rages? I know some people can sleep through anything, but really?”

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