SueAnn Porter

Are you ever reading along in a passage you’ve read many times, and suddenly see a sentence that you never noticed before?

In Mark, Jesus was teaching to the crowd, while He was in a boat at the Sea of Galilee. Let’s pick it up in verse 33.

Mark 4:33-41

And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples

 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him.  Note: (How did that get in there? I never noticed that before.)

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

—

I had never taken notice of that sentence that there were other boats (some translations use the word SHIPS.

I spent a day or two looking in the Strong’s Concordance, reading Bible Scholar’s Commentary, and trying to figure out what extra little tidbit God was trying to tell us here. Many theories had nuggets of truth: The boats were filled with followers of Jesus. These were also witnesses to the storm that came upon them in the Sea, and witnesses to Jesus calming the storm. It raised other questions: Did their ships also fill with water in the storm? What does that mean to followers of Jesus today?

The theology could be endless.

Today, I needed to go to the hospital for a bone scan. I have been diagnosed with cancer yet again.

I walked into the waiting room to see this picture:

So apparently, there is still more to learn about that sentence. God is with us, in the storm!