28
Jan
Jan
Reflection: Mark 4:35-41
“Let’s go to the other shore,” tells Jesus to his followers in the Gospel today. Imagine him saying it to us, his followers today, in the midst of this health, economic, social, global crisis … the Lord who invites us to move on! In the Gospel, the purpose of the evangelist is to gradually reveal the identity of Jesus and answer the question people have been asking since the beginning of his public life: “Who is this person?” In ancient literature, the image of the boat indicated a community or an association. In our story it is the Christian community together with different Christian communities already existing at the time when Mark was writing the Gospel. The boat is to bring Christ to the land of the pagans. Jesus falls asleep in the stern! Stern is the place for the captain. How can a captain sleep totally unaware of the storm and impending danger. Sleep in the Bible, is often used to indicate death (Job 14:12; Sir 46:19). Even Jesus uses the word sleep figuratively, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep” (Jn 11:11); “The child is not dead but asleep” (Mk 5:39-40). Mark might be using this term “sleep” to refer to the death of Jesus. Now the disciples are tossed by the waves—which are the tragedies of life, persecution, tensions and disagreements within the Church community. But, Jesus although present in the boat, is asleep and does not intervene directly. Today’s passage is Mark’s way of understanding the life of the persecuted Church, where Jesus seems to be asleep or silent. Christians can, at times, feel alone in the face of problems, adversities, failures and ask, “Where is God? Why does he not manifest his power?” Sometimes we feel him distant or absent; his silence baffles us and instils fear. We would shout to him, with the Psalmist: “Awake, O Lord, why are you asleep? Today’s Gospel speaks to us about a God who “sleeps”, who leaves things as they are, who is not scared of an outbreak of violence of evil. He is a God who lets go, allows that envy, rivalries, lies, injustices break out. Then, when evil seems to have the last word, he turns the cards. Yet the impression that he is asleep remains. With our cries of prayers, we would like to wake him up and force him to intervene. But he is already awake. It’s just that he has a different vision of the danger and knows how to deal with it. He asks for our unconditional trust. Yes we are tossed about by the waves of the sea, but even if we do not realize it, we are accompanied by him.