Proper 6 Year B Mark 4.35-41

Mark 4:35-41
When evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.

A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?"

And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

Collect

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving­kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Jesus, master of the winds and the waves. Jesus, living and reigning as part of the Trinity. Jesus, wondering why our faith is still so small.

One of the things that I like about the Bible is the realism of the people involved in the stories. We are just like the disciples, thinking we are close with the Master, then a storm hits our life, and we start freaking out, wondering why He isn't doing anything about it. Lord, help us to have faith even during the storms!

"Why are you afraid?"

I do not want to make a big point of this, because I am not sure that my particular interpretation is correct.

The passage in Mark read more literally: "Why are you timid, cowardly?"

It is more a statement of their timidity in character, rather than fear from the particular circumstance of the storm with its immediate threat.

The faith then would change their character, not remove their fears about any particular pending threat.

It is interesting that Luke omits that portion of the verse.

I think your answer could definitely be correct, but I also think it could be referring to fear itself. As in 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." But in either case, I agree completely that faith would change their character.

Moving to the next word "fear", which in the OP translation is rendered "awe." You can find it translated though in other versions as "fear".

And either sense - awe or fear - can be correct, depending on the context, but I always think that the better choice is "fear" because awe just seems not to carry enough force.

And again it is interesting that both Matthew and Luke change the phrasing to remove or soften the "fear" of "who is this that the wind and the sea obey him?"

Matthew and Luke either soften Mark's phrasing of "fear" as being inappropriate when related to Jesus or perhaps they rather correct any potential misunderstanding that Mark might have intended the sense of fear rather than awe.

The timidity is in the disciples character.
The fear is in their lack of understanding of who Jesus is.

The storm is the catalyst which demonstrates both lacks.

Is faith what furnishes the character and understanding that has now been demonstrated as lacking?

I believe that it was referring to a lack of faith (which could possibly include understanding), not a lack of character. It also appears to me that Matthew and Luke are basically saying the same thing as Mark. In Matthew Jesus asks, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" because the disciples are afraid of dying. Luke also mentions the question the disciples had about Jesus, which was basically, "Who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey him?" I believe the primary purpose of this passage is to show that Jesus is God, because only God can control those things, while the secondary purpose was to show that we can have faith in Jesus even when everything looks scary.

The first "fear" (Mk vs 40) is DEILOS (timidity). That is what I read as a character trait. It is dropped by Luke.

The second fear (Mk vs 41) is FOBOS (fear/awe). That is in reference to the person of Jesus. Luke and Matthew change the verb to "amaze" or wonder." FOBOS can be read as awe or reverence, but I think Mk had a stronger force that than "be amazed" or "wonder."

Mt and Lk correct Mk. Either their change is communicating more clearly the proper sense of Mk (awe) or they are softening the sense that Mark intended (fear). Either option can be supported. I think though it is the latter.

I am not sure that the disiples believed that only God could control the wind and the seas. Do you think that the belief systems might have assumed that demons had such power over nature? It is a question that I have not considered.

ETC
change that to than. It is a common typo for my fingers.

I have not considered that, but I would find it hard to accept without something showing the Jews of that day would have considered that possibility. I do not see that in Scripture, and since I am no expert in Judaism, that is all I can really base it on. I also am not sure that Mark was written first. Some of the early church fathers thought that Matthew was written first. If that is the case then this would not be Matthew correcting Mark. Perhaps Mark was trying to instill the same fear and awe that we are told to have for God, which would tie in with my earlier premise.

All of my comments will assume Markan priority and the use of a Q source. I understand that you will probably not approach the gospels in that way.

There are some critical scholars today that hold Matthew was written first and that Mark just abbreviated Matthew. Most accept Markan priority, and I am convinced by the arguments that Mark was first, although I believe much earlier that the concensus date around 69AD.

I understand that you will be assuming Markan priority and really have no problem with that. I think that often we spend to much time on such things in trying to gain a better depth of understanding and in doing so we sometimes overlook the obvious. Perhaps we as Christians in the Western world have gotten so bogged down while looking for depth that we have forgotten to share the simple message that Jesus loves us and has died and been resurrected to offer us forgiveness of our sins.