The disciples’ terror is unsurprising. We’re so inured to these Gospel stories that they may seem bland; but place yourself on the narrow wooden seats next to the disciples: Jesus’ power would render you speechless. And the disciples are frightened by not simply the miraculous – or what might seem magical – power, but what it meant. Controlling nature was the prerogative of God alone. The creation story in Genesis recounts God’s dividing of the waters, separating the rains above and the seas below, and also exerting power over chaotic nature. Devout Jews aboard might have remembered one of many psalms on that theme: You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.
--Fr. James Martin, SJ
Facebook, January 9, 2013
Image source: Sadao Watanabe, Boat in the Storm (1981), https://www.artway.eu/userfiles/Watanabe,%20Boat%20in%20the%20Storm%201981%20Blue%202.JPG
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