Consider the Word, June 17, 2021

Consider the Word, June 17, 2021
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Readings for June 20

• 1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23) 32-49 & Psalm 9:9-20

or

• 1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16 & Psalm 133
• 2 Corinthians 6:1-13
• Mark 4:35-41

 
Collect

O God our defender,

storms rage about us and cause us to be afraid.

Rescue your people from despair,

deliver your sons and daughters from fear,

and preserve us all from unbelief;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and ever. Amen.

 
Reading: Mark 4:35-41

On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

 
Reflection Questions

1. Jesus asks, “why are you afraid,” but a more accurate translation might be, “why are you cowards.” If faith is somehow opposite to cowardice rather than fear, what does this episode tell us about “faith”?
2. The apostles ask one another, “who is this,” in light of this story, who would we say Jesus is?

 
Closing Prayer

Keeper of our lives,

you know the hardness and gentleness of human hearts.

You call your people to faithful living.

Through the storms of life

that bring suffering and fear, joy and laughter,

teach us to turn to you for all we need,

so that we may come to know your presence

even in the midst of the trials that surround us. Amen.

 
The Message: Mark 4:35-41

^35-38 Late that day he said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?”

^39-40 Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?”

⁴¹ They were in absolute awe, staggered. “Who is this, anyway?” they asked. “Wind and sea at his beck and call!”

The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson