Mark 4:38

And they woke him up and said to him: Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And the disciples woke the Lord, so that they would not perish by the savagery of the waves while he slept, because they most eagerly sought his …

After His teaching, they come from that place to the sea, and are tossed by the waves. Wherefore it is said, And the same day, when the even was come, &c. Mystically, however, the hinder part of the ship is the beginning of the Church, in which the Lord sleeps in the body only, for He never sleepeth who keepeth Israel; for the ship with its skins of dead animals keeps in the living, and keeps out the waves, and is bound together by wood, that is, by the cross and the death of the Lord the Church is saved. The pillow is the body of the Lord, on which His Divinity, which is as His head, has come down. But the wind and the sea are devils and persecutors, to whom He says Peace, when He restrains the edicts of impious kings, as He will. The great calm is the peace of the Church after oppression, or a contemplative after an active life.

And He sleeps during this with the purpose that the miracle would seem all the more important to them, after they had become frightened. Otherwise, if the storm had occurred while Christ was awake, they would not have been frightened or would not have turned …

But He was sleeping upon the pillow of the ship, that is, on a wooden one.

And he was in the hinder part of the ship,.... That is, Christ was in the stern of the ship: the Persic version renders it, "he was in the bottom of the ship, in a corner", but very wrongly; here he was asleep on a pillow, which some say was a wooden one, framed at the stern: however, he was fast asleep on it, being greatly fatigued with the work of the day; See Gill on Mat 8:24. And they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: 12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

On a pillow - Προσκεφαλαιον probably means a little bed, or hammock, such as are common in small vessels. I have seen several in small packets, or passage boats, not a great deal larger than a bolster.

These verses describe a storm on the sea of Galilee, when our Lord and His disciples were crossing it, and a miracle performed by our Lord in calming the storm in a moment. Few miracles recorded in the Gospel were so likely to strike the minds of the apostles as this. Four of them at least were fishermen. Peter, Andrew, James, and John, had probably known the sea of Galilee, and its storms, from their youth. Few events in our Lord's journeyings to and fro upon earth, contain more rich instruction than the one related in this passage.

Matthew (Mt 8:25) has it, "Lord, save us, we perish." When those accustomed to fish upon that deep thus spake, the danger must have been imminent. They say nothing of what would become of Him, if they perished; nor think, whether, if He could not perish, it was likely He would let this happen to them; but they hardly knew what they said.

These verses describe a storm on the sea of Galilee, when our Lord and His disciples were crossing it, and a miracle performed by our Lord in calming the storm in a moment. Few miracles recorded in the Gospel were so likely to strike the minds of the apostles as this. Four of them at least were fishermen. Peter, Andrew, James, and John, had probably known the sea of Galilee, and its storms, from their youth. Few events in our Lord's journeyings to and fro upon earth, contain more rich instruction than the one related in this passage. Let us learn, in the first place, that Christ's service does not exempt His servants from storms . Here were the twelve disciples in the path of duty. They were obediently following Jesus, wherever He went. They were daily attending on His ministry, and hearkening to His word. They were daily testifying to the world, that, whatever Scribes and Pharisees might think, they believed on Jesus, loved Jesus, and were not ashamed to give up all for His sake. Yet here we see these men in trouble, tossed up and down by a tempest, and in danger of being drowned. Let us mark well this lesson. If we are true Christians, we must not expect everything smooth in our journey to heaven. We must count it no strange thing, if we have to endure sicknesses, losses, bereavements, and disappointments, just like other men. Free pardon and full forgiveness, grace along the way, and glory at the end — all this our Savior has promised to give. But He has never promised that we shall have no affliction. He loves us too well to promise that. By affliction He teaches us many precious lessons, which without it we should never learn. By affliction He shows us our emptiness and weakness, draws us to the throne of grace, purifies our affections, weans us from the world, makes us long for heaven.

THE day had been a very illustrious one. Our Lord had remarkably displayed His teaching and healing powers. Great crowds had been attracted and He had both delivered to them most precious parables and worked among them most marvelous cures. Grand as the day was, it could not come to a close without a storm. After the same manner you will find it in the history of the Church of God, that intermingled with great successes will be great afflictions. Pentecost is followed by persecution—Peter's sermon by Peter's imprisonment. Though today a Church may flourish abundantly, in a very short time it may be visited with stern adversities. It may be tried, none the less, but all the more, because God is in its midst and is blessing it. When our Lord took ship the weather appears to have been very fair and many little boats which scarcely would have tempted the sea had its surface been ruffled, put out upon the lake under the convoy of the great Teacher's vessel. His was the admiral's flag ship and they were the happy fleet. They made a gay flotilla sailing softly like sea birds when the ocean is in a gentle mood. All hearts were happy, all spirits were serene and the sleep of the disaster was but a type of the general peace. Nature reposed. The lake was as a molten looking glass, everything was quiet. And yet all of a sudden, as is the custom with these deep-lying inland seas, the Storm-Fiend rushed from his haunt among the mountains, sweeping everything before it. The little vessel was hard put to it, she was well-near filled with water and ready to sink through the force of the driving hurricane. Thus may our loveliest calms be succeeded by overwhelming storms. A Christian man is seldom long at ease.

THE day had been a very illustrious one. Our Lord had remarkably displayed His teaching and healing powers. Great crowds had been attracted and He had both delivered to them most precious parables and worked among them most marvelous cures. Grand as the day was, it could not come to a close without a storm. After the same manner you will find it in the history of the Church of God, that intermingled with great successes will be great afflictions. Pentecost is followed by persecution—Peter's sermon by Peter's imprisonment.