When people in a variety of settings are asked which of the four Gospels is their favorite, the answer is overwhelmingly the Gospel of John. I, on the other hand, favor the Gospel of Mark. Mark’s fast-paced narrative has a sense of urgency, as if the message of Jesus is so compelling that not a moment can be wasted. Most of all, I’m fond of Mark’s graphic and vivid literary style, the way he highlights the thoroughly human attributes of Jesus and offers crisp descriptions of human events.

Today’s excerpt illustrates both the humanness of Jesus and the sense that he is more than meets the eye. Note that Jesus is ready to flee the crowd and asks his disciples to get in the boat and cross over to the other side (or might he have said: “Let’s go fishing, guys!”?). The disciples took him into the boat “just as he was” (not dressed for fishing?). So exhausted was Jesus that he fell sound “asleep on a cushion.” Really? A cushion in their fishing boat? Mark’s human touches charm me.

But this “fishing trip” got dicey when a violent storm hit. The frightened disciples startled Jesus with some snarky-sounding words: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” In an instant, by the command of Jesus, the storm ceased. “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

These are precisely the questions posed to each of us today: What are the factors in my life that weigh me down or even terrify me—so much so that I question God’s workings in my life? Is my faith strong enough to call upon the one “whom even the wind and sea obey”?

Sr. Ephrem Hollermann

Ephrem Hollermann, OSB, is a former prioress of Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, Minnesota, and professor emerita of theology at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.