Saturday, February 1, 2003
3^rd Week in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Heb 11:1-2, 8-19
Gospel: Mk 4:35-41

One day when evening had come, Jesus said to the disciples, “Let’s go across to the other side.” So they left the crowd and took him away in the boat he had been sitting in, and other boats set out with him. Then a storm gathered and it began to blow a gale. The waves spilled over into the boat so that it was soon filled with water. And Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.

They woke him up and said, “Master, don’t you care if we sink?” As Jesus awoke, he rebuked the wind and ordered the sea, “Quiet now! Be still!” The wind dropped and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?”

But they were terrified and they said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”

Gospel Commentary

After the hectic schedule of being with people ministering to their needs, Jesus told his disciples to cross over to the farther shore. In a way this is like looking for a place where they can rest and regain their strength. When the waves were breaking the boat, the disciples were greatly alarmed and woke Jesus for fear of being drowned. Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The message is clear. If we want to rest, we need to be quiet and still. Time to be silent and to get in touch with the inner stirrings, the inner tensions that give us fear, worries and anxieties. Through Jesus, we experience the assurance of being protected.

TOP