Lent 2026 Day 12: Tue 3 Mar
Mark 4:40-41
40 “Why are you so afraid?” He asked. “Do you still have no faith?” 41 Overwhelmed with fear, they asked one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
Jesus is rudely awoken, gathers his senses and deals with the issue of the storm. Jesus was a man, and a quite tired one at that moment. What were his feelings towards the disciples in the boat? Was he angry with them? That’s not likely, because they’d not acted in a godless way – they genuinely were frightened.
It’s always interesting to hear another person read Bible verses aloud. We get to hear this each Sunday in church. In fact, it’s interesting to hear all the stories where Jesus interacted with others, because the reader has the solemn duty of expressing what Jesus was saying in the way that he said it. What tone of voice would you expect to hear from Jesus in those words above? Did he show surprise that the disciples were frightened? I don’t think so. Jesus would have assessed the situation and seen that theirs was the sort of reaction you’d expect.
I think I’d go for the “you didn’t need to be afraid!” tone of voice, without any whiff of arrogance or superiority, but in a re-assuring way. But was he disappointed with them, especially when his follow-up question reveals that their faith was lacking to the point of non-existence! It would have been an amazing disciple who, instead of panicking, could say words like, “Don’t wake the Master. While he’s in the boat with us we can come to no harm”. That would have been the level of faith Jesus had hoped his disciples would have displayed.
I challenge any reader to express the words the disciples said to each other in that boat, words spoken in fear of what they’d seen, their rescue from death, the miracle of the sudden change into calm, the shame that they bore in failing to trust Jesus. Try it yourself.
Do you have faith? What is the evidence for this?
Do awe and wonder flood into you in the presence of the One who speaks peace into the storm?
Father God, you have everything under your control. When I look out and see danger or threat I can look to you and know calm and safety. I submit my fears and insecurities to you. Amen.
Mark 4, read by David Suchet
Paul