On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, “Let us cross to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. 38 Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” 41 They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
After a full day of teaching, Jesus tells the disciples to cross to the other side as evening is coming. The crowd is left behind. Jesus is taken “in the boat just as he was,” and Mark adds a small detail that makes the scene feel crowded and real: “other boats were with him.”
As the boats move into open water, a violent squall rises suddenly, and waves break over the boat until it begins to fill. The Sea of Galilee sits in a deep basin below sea level, so cool air can rush down from the surrounding heights, meet warmer air over the water, and whip up sudden storms. Mark describes an urgent situation. This is not the kind of difficulty that can be managed by willpower or calm words. In the middle of it, Jesus is in the stern, asleep on a cushion. The contrast is deliberate. The disciples are fighting the storm, but Jesus is at rest.
They wake Him and address Him as “Teacher.” That fits what has just happened in Mark’s narrative. Jesus has been teaching at length in parables, and the disciples are still relating to Him first as the one who instructs them. Their words also reveal more than fear. “Do you not care that we are perishing?” is not only a request for help. It suggests that He is unaware or indifferent. Luke’s parallel keeps the same urgency but phrases it more directly as an appeal for rescue (Lk 8:24).
Jesus wakes, rebukes the wind, and speaks to the sea: “Quiet! Be still!” Mark has already used a similar kind of commanding rebuke when Jesus silences an unclean spirit (Mk 1:25). Here, the same kind of authority is directed toward the storm. The result is immediate and complete: the wind ceases, and there is “great calm.” Mark wants the reader to see that this is not simply a fortunate change in weather. It is an act of mastery.
This is where the Old Testament background quietly becomes important. In Israel’s Scriptures, the raging sea often represents forces beyond human control, and God is the one who subdues it. Psalm 107 describes sailors caught in a storm who cry out for deliverance, and the Lord stills the waves and brings them safely to harbor. Mark’s scene echoes that pattern in a striking way, with one decisive difference: Jesus does not pray for God to act. He acts with direct authority. The calm that follows is not merely relief; it is revelation.
Jesus questions them about their fear and asks why they still lack faith. In Mark, ‘faith’ is not vague optimism. It is real trust in God’s work and in Jesus’ authority. The storm is more than bad weather. It shows the disciples they are not in control, and fear takes over. They realize they cannot save themselves.
The episode ends with a reaction that is as important as the miracle itself. The disciples are filled with great awe, and they say to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” Mark places that question where it cannot be ignored. Jesus’ identity is one of the central questions Mark keeps setting before the reader as the story advances, and it will not be answered fully until later. For now, Mark lets the sea and the wind supply the simplest testimony: they obey Him.
Lord Jesus Christ, calm what is disordered in me. Strengthen my faith when fear rises. Keep me close to You, and teach me to trust in Your authority and care. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011).
- Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010), 73.
- Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990), 606-607, para. 34.
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: St. Mark (Dublin: Four Courts Press; Princeton, NJ: Scepter Publishers, 2005), 178.
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (New York: Paulist Press, 2018), 989.
- John J. Collins et al., eds., The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, 3rd fully revised ed. (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2020), 1252-1253.
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