Beset by a fierce storm,
the crew were terrified,
yet there was one on board who slept.
We’ll all perish! Do something!
Amid the storming elements and terror,
a calm voice is heard…
And he said to them
“I am a Hebrew.
I am afraid of the LORD, the God of the heavens
who made the sea and the dry ground.”
And the men were very, very afraid…
Yes, there are some interesting parallels and contrasts between the ‘storm scene’ in the first chapter of Jonah and in this week’s Gospel lection from Mark. And maybe there’s more than a casual connection between the two by way of the one of whom the psalmist wrote:
“You rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, you still them” (Psalm 98:9)
© Jeff Shrowder, 2012.
More for Sunday 12B…