Mark

4:35-41

The journey begins, 1:1-5:43

6. The powers defeated, 4:35-5:43

i] Nature - calming the sea

The story of Jesus' calming the sea contains the vivid details of an eyewitness account. This does not mean that Mark was present, just that the tradition he drew from has preserved the substantial elements of personal observation.

As a nature miracle, the stilling of the storm does more than tell us that "Jesus is Lord over nature." The roaring sea corresponds with the rage of the demoniac in the next story, 5:1-20, as does the calm of the sea with the demoniac's calm after the demon is cast out. So, what we have in this story is Jesus subduing the evil powers of darkness. It was common belief that such powers dwelled in the deep, in the waters of the sea. The great leviathan represented this power of darkness. So, this incident represents a satanic attack upon Jesus. The howling wind, the waves breaking into the boat, represent Satan reaching out to frustrate, even end, Jesus' mission. Jesus, as the messiah, can easily still such an attack and the disciples only demonstrate their lack of faith in failing to understand that Jesus is Lord over the powers of darkness. These powers cannot overwhelm the kingdom, no matter how much they may rant and rave.

oyiaV (a) "evening" - Sunset.

genomenhV (ginomai) aor. part. "when [evening] came" - having become, come into being, been born. The participle is adverbial, temporal.

legei (legw) pres. "he said" - A historic present, used for narrative style.

dielqwmen (diercomai) aor. subj. "let's go over" - let us go through, pass through. Hortatory subjunctive. Here obviously "let us cross over".

eiV to peran "to the other side" - The country east of Lake Galilee; "to the eastern side of the lake."

afenteV (afihmi) aor. part. "leaving" - sending away, letting go, going away, releasing. Attendant circumstance participle, expressing action accompanying the main verb "they take". Sometimes given the sense "dismiss", although Mark does not use the word this way. Taylor notes the alternate reading and argues that it is a Greek correction of the original Aramaic

wJs hJn "as he was" - Obviously making the point that Jesus was already in the boat. So, it is the disciples who leave the crowd for the boats. "So they left the crowd, and took him along without disembarking", Barclay.

autou pro. "[there were also other boats with] him" - him, it. Either with Jesus or with the boat. No further mention is made of the other boats, but it is obviously one of those interesting pieces of the original setting preserved in the oral tradition.

lailay (ay apoV) "furious squall" - storm, whirlwind, hurricane, squall. "a fierce gust of wind", BAGD; "then came a violent squall of wind", Phillips.

anemou (oV) gen. "-" - [there came about a great squall] of wind. Descriptive genitive.

epeballen eiV "broke over" - were throwing into. Here in the sense, "the waves were breaking into the boat."

wJste + inf. "so that" - so that [to be filled]. Forming a consecutive clause expressing the result of the wind.

hdh "-" - [so that] already. The storm was such that the boat was "already" swamped.

gemiqesqai (gemizw) pres. pas. inf. "nearly swamped" - to be filled. The boat was filling up, became full; "it was about to sink", CEV.

hn .... kaqeudwn (kaqeudw) pres. part. "he was sleeping" - sleeping. Periphrastic imperfect "Jesus was in the back of the boat with his head on a pillow", CEV.

to proskefalaion (on) "a cushion" - The article implies only one cushion. Possibly a rowers leather seat cushion, of which there would be more than one, or possibly a cushion for a guest who would normally be placed in the stern of the boat.

egeirousin (egeirw) pres. "[the disciples] woke [him]" - they raise, lift up = rouse. Historic present for a vivid narrative.

soi dat. pro. "[don't] you [care]" - [is it not a care] to you. "Teacher, don't you care that we are all about to drown? Hurry! Do something", Junkins

apollumeqa (apollumi) pres. mid. "we drown" - we are perishing, ruined. The words are a rebuke, but notice how they are softened in Matthew and Luke. "Is it of no concern to you that we are perishing/drowning?"; "Teacher, are we to drown, for all you care", Moffatt.

diegerqeiV (diegeirw) aor. pas. part. "he got up" - having been woken out of a sleep, aroused completely. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the main verb "he rebuked". Although most illustrations have Jesus now standing up in the back of the boat, blond hair blowing in the wind, arms outstretched like Charlton Heston in the Ten Commandments (minus the staff), "got up" is better rendered "he awoke." It is very unlikely that Jesus would be foolish enough to stand up in a small sailing boat during a storm. "And he woke up", Moffatt.

epetimhsen (epitimaw) aor. "rebuked" - he rebuked, warned sternly. As God rebukes the wilds of nature, so Jesus rebukes the wind, speaking as its master. Possibly "he checked the wind", Moffatt.

siwpa (siwpaw) pres. imp. "Quiet" - keep silence, am silent. Imperative, "be silent." Calvin says that Jesus' addressing the sea serves "to show that the power of his voice reached the elements, which were devoid of feeling." Cranfield sees no demonic power behind the wind that is driving the sea. Yet, given that the story is tied to Jesus' overcoming of the "legion", it is likely that we are dealing with something more than Jesus' mastery over nature. If this is the case, it is very unlikely that he would have uttered a rather pathetic "hush", NJB.

pefimwso (fimow) perf. pas. imp. "be still" - be muzzled, silenced. The construction gives an emphatic sense to "be still" and reinforces the sense that Jesus is instructing the dark powers of the underworld, particularly as he uses the same word when silencing an evil spirit, cf. 1:25. It's "be still (get back in your box!) and stay that way."

ekopasen (kopazw) aor. "died down" - ceased, dropped. Note the ring of the eyewitness in the vivid brevity of this story. "The wind dropped and there was a great calm."

galhnh megalh "completely calm" - a great calm. Taylor notes that the long vowels in the Greek serve to promote "an atmosphere of complete peace."

deiloi adj. "afraid" - cowardly, afraid, fearful, timid.

ouJtwV "-" - thus. Textual variant. "why are you afraid like this", Moffatt.

oupw ....... pwV ouk "[do you] still [have] no [faith]?" - not yet ..... how, how is it possible that, not. The text is disturbed here with these words either alternating or being left out. Both readings, "do you not yet have faith?", or "how is it that you do not have faith?", make the point that by this time the disciples should have learned something of Jesus' mission and so be able to trust him. So, rather than Phillips "what has happened to your faith?", the sense is probably "have you still no faith?", NJB.

pistin (iV ewV) "faith" - reliance upon, trust, faith. "Faith" in the sense of reliance on Christ, that he is both willing and able to resist the powers of darkness. There is debate over the intended focus of this faith. Many commentators see the faith as focused in God, his fatherly care, not in Jesus' mission, cf. Taylor. Yet, the context is the disciples' fear of being swamped by the storm. Jesus is the messiah inaugurating the kingdom of God. Can nature, or more particularly the powers of darkness, resist the dawning of the new age? The Reed Sea could not stand in the way of Israel, nor the river Jordan, and certainly a storm on lake Galilee is unlikely to overcome the mission of the messiah, the Israel of God.

efobhqhsan (fobeomai) aor. pas. "they were terrified" - they were afraid, feared [a great fear]. The addition of "a great fear" in the Greek is added for emphasis; "they feared a great fear."

elegon (legw) imperf. "asked" - they were saying. Here probably an inceptive imperfect where the emphasis is on the beginning of the action, "they began to say to one another", Taylor.

allhlouV pro. "each other" - one another. Discussion emerged within the group.

ara "-" then, therefore. "In light of all that has happened then, who is this man?"

oJ anemoV (oV) "wind" - Not "spirit."

hJ qalassa (a) "waves" - sea, lake. Obviously "waves", as NIV.

uJpakouei (uJpakouw) pres. "obey" - obey. Who is this that both the wind and the sea obey him? The answer is usually, he is God, but of course, someone like Moses, even the messiah, is the correct conclusion. The disciples obviously, at this stage in Jesus' ministry, do not know the answer to the question, which is why they ask it, and it is why they are still without faith.

Mark Introduction

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