Five-year Bible reading plan for 7 September 2006

Church Slavonic Version (ru)

Church Slavonic Version (ru)

T мaрка С™о1е бlговэствовaніе, ГлавA 4, стіхи2 35-41

³⁵(За? #18#.) И# гlа и5мъ въ то1й де1нь, ве1черу бы1вшу: пре1йдемъ на њ1нъ по1лъ.

³⁶И# tпyщше наро1ды, поsша є3го2 ћкоже бЁ въ корабли2: и3 и3нjи же корабли6 бsху съ ни1мъ.

³⁷И# бы1сть бyрz вётрена вели1ка: вHлны же вливaхусz въ корaбль, ћкw ўже2 погружaтисz є3мY.

³⁸И# бЁ сaмъ на кормЁ на возглaвницэ спS. И# возбуди1ша є3го2 и3 глаго1лаша є3мY: ўч™лю, не ради1ши ли, ћкw погибaемъ;

³⁹И# востaвъ запрети2 вётру и3 рече2 мо1рю: молчи2, престaни. И# ўле1же вётръ, и3 бы1сть тишинA ве1ліz.

⁴⁰И# рече2 и5мъ: что2 тaкw страшли1ви є3сте2; кaкw не и4мате вёры;

⁴¹И# ўбоsшасz стрaхомъ ве1ліимъ и3 глаго1лаху дрyгъ ко дрyгу: кто2 ў2бо се1й є4сть, ћкw и3 вётръ и3 мо1ре послyшаютъ є3гw2;

Read more:T мaрка С™о1е бlговэствовaніе, ГлавA 5

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4

4:35 Мф 8:23; Лк 8:22.

4:36 They take him as he was in the vessel - They carried him immediately in the same vessel from which he had been preaching to the people.

4:38 On the pillow - So we translate it, for want of a proper English expression, for that particular part of the vessel near the rudder, on which he lay.

4:39 Peace - Cease thy tossing: Be still - Cease thy roaring; literally, Be thou gagged.

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NOTES

Today the Lord addresses one of the most important questions to us: “How do we listen?” We read the Bible regularly and even visit Bible websites, but do we have ears to receive the Word, let it take root in our heart, and bear fruit? The Savior says...

In today's Gospel, Mark's account ends with the disciples' question, “Who then is this?”—a question of great importance in the overall context of the New Testament. The episode as a whole shows very clearly the distance between the disciples—ordinary people just like us—and Jesus. A violent storm arose on the lake, and the evangelist emphasizes that...

In today's Gospel, Mark's account ends with the disciples' question, “Who then is this?”—a question of great importance in the overall context of the New Testament. The episode as a whole shows very clearly the distance between the disciples—ordinary people just like us—and Jesus. A violent storm arose on the lake, and the evangelist emphasizes that the boat was already filling with water. This means that two or three more waves would simply send it to the bottom. At such a moment, everyone in a boat either tries to keep its bow toward the waves with the oars or bails out the water. But the Lord is asleep, because He has been preaching all day and is very tired.

The disciples must have been reluctant to wake Him, and it is astonishing that the rocking did not wake Him on its own. At such moments the tension rises sharply, and a person feels his smallness and weakness very clearly. Anyone in the boat then understands that if help does not come from the Almighty, nothing else will protect him: a grain of sand in the hands of the elements, he will go to the bottom. It is impossible to sleep at such a time. We do not know whether the disciples wanted Jesus to bail out water with everyone else or to pray, but in any case they did not expect what He Himself did.

When the danger comes too close, they wake Him and ask with some irritation: “Why are You sleeping? Do You really not care that all of us—including You—are perishing?” Against this background of the disciples' overwhelming sense of their own insignificance and helplessness, Jesus wakes, turns toward the sea, and simply tells it, “Be silent.” Not majestically or menacingly, as Siberian shamans might invoke the elements, but as a tired person says to a barking dog, “Oh, be quiet!”—such is the meaning of the Greek verbs. And the sea becomes silent.

In the stillness that follows, Jesus' questions to the disciples recall all too vividly the Almighty's questions to Job: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2) and “Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out?” (38:9). They feel the presence of the Almighty Himself, and a holy awe seizes them, mingled with the joy of deliverance. They will feel something similar when He comes to them through locked doors on the day of His Resurrection. On the lips of people who know the Bible, the question “Who then is this?” is rhetorical: it is a form of confessing the divine nature of the Son of Man.

In the story of Jesus calming the sudden storm, the most interesting thing is the dialogue between the Teacher and the disciples. He reproaches them for their little faith, and they, struck by what has happened, try to understand: who is He, that...

In the story of Jesus calming the sudden storm, the most interesting thing is the dialogue between the Teacher and the disciples. He reproaches them for their little faith, and they, struck by what has happened, try to understand: who is He, that He has authority even over the elements? As we can see, the evangelist emphasizes precisely this, there is no other word for it, misunderstanding between Jesus and the apostles. And the point is not that the disciples cannot understand Who is before them. The point is that they are unable to concentrate their spiritual attention on what is necessary for an adequate understanding of the situation. In their souls there still lives the fear of imminent death they experienced during the storm, overlaid by a mystical, almost superstitious dread before the power their Teacher possesses. But He wants to turn their spiritual gaze from the outer to the inner, from effects to the meaning of what is happening. That is why He speaks to them about faith, about trust, without which there is no Kingdom, whether trust in God, in Christ, or in one's neighbor.

If the disciples had had enough trust and inner wholeness, without which, as without trust, there can be no talk of faith, the storm would have subsided according to their faith, without Jesus' intervention. But the point is that, as we see, the apostles do not yet have this inner wholeness. They have enough faith to follow the Teacher, but not enough to remain in the spiritual space of the Kingdom. In that very spiritual space where there is no place for a storm, where the elements are completely subject to the human will: the will not only of the Messiah, but of every person living the life of the Kingdom. If the disciples had been rooted in the Kingdom, they would not have had to wake the Teacher; the storm would have subsided at the command of any one of them, or perhaps it would not have begun at all.

Of course, in the Kingdom the relationship between Christ and each of His disciples remains no less close than in the untransformed world. There it even proves still deeper, more conscious, more intense than in this world. But Christ does not need to pull a person rooted in the Kingdom by the hand out of every difficult situation, if only because in the life of a person rooted in the Kingdom there are no accidental difficult situations. As we can see, this is exactly the thought Jesus is trying to convey to His disciples.

But their attention is wholly absorbed by the extraordinary power their Teacher has revealed. This is no surprise: power always attracts more attention than the Kingdom. And to learn to see the Kingdom, the breath of the Kingdom must touch a person and change his heart. That is what happened to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.

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