Feast of St Mark. 'Having one soul and one heart, the Church holds this faith, preaches and teaches it consistently as though by a single voice.'

 

St Mark's Basilica, Venice

[Wikipedia; photo]

The Church celebrates the Feast of St Mark the Evangelist on 25 April.

The Second Reading in the Office of Readings in the Breviary is from the treatise Against Heresies by St Irenaues. Here it is, with highlights added. [Source]

The Church, which has spread everywhere, even to the ends of the earth, received the faith from the apostles and their disciples. By faith, we believe in one God, the almighty Father who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became man for our salvation. And we believe in the Holy Spirit who through the prophets foretold God’s plan: the coming of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ, his birth from the Virgin, his passion, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven, and his final coming from heaven in the glory of his Father, to recapitulate all things and to raise all men from the dead, so that, by the decree of his invisible Father, he may make a just judgment in all things and so that every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth to Jesus Christ our Lord and our God, our Savior and our King, and every tongue confess him.

The Church, spread throughout the whole world, received this preaching and this faith and now preserves it carefully, dwelling as it were in one house. Having one soul and one heart, the Church holds this faith, preaches and teaches it consistently as though by a single voice. For though there are different languages, there is but one tradition.

The faith and the tradition of the churches founded in Germany are no different from those founded among the Spanish and the Celts, in the East, in Egypt, in Libya and elsewhere in the Mediterranean world. Just as God’s creature, the sun, is one and the same the world over, so also does the Church’s preaching shine everywhere to enlighten all men who want to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Now of those who speak with authority in the churches, no preacher however forceful will utter anything different — for no one is above the Master — nor will a less forceful preacher diminish what has been handed down. Since our faith is everywhere the same, no one who can say more augments it, nor can anyone who says less diminish it.

+++

I wonder what St Irenaeus (c.130 - c.202), a bishop and doctor of the Church, would say about the Church in Germany and some other countries today.

'No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone.' Sunday Reflections, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

The Adoration of the Name of Jesus, El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Mark 13:24-32 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)   

Jesus said to his disciples:

 ‘But in those days, after that suffering,

the sun will be darkened,
    and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
    and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.'

Fig tree [Wikipedia]

As I write this the worst wildfire in California history is still raging, with more than fifty known deaths and hundreds of people unaccounted for. A town named Paradise has been totally destroyed. Last night a friend who is a father of seven young children, the eldest 13, told me of the sudden death from a heart attack of his niece's husband, aged 33, leaving a young widow, and four small children without a father. A three-year civil war has left Yemen on the brink of what may become the 'world's worst famine in 100 years' that could leave 13 million people at the risk of starvation. 

Last Sunday much of the world held ceremonies to mark the centennial of the Armistice that ended the Great War, later known as World War One (1914-18). This 'war to end all wars' resulted in around 16 million deaths, about six million of those civilians. But the centennial ceremonies offered hope as former enemies joined together to remember and pray for the dead and looked to building a future without war.

Today's gospel speaks of realities that occur in every age. The Great War was the result of sinful decisions by human beings, as are the civil war in Yemen and the famine it is causing. Wildfires are often, though not always, the result of carelessness by human beings and sometimes are deliberately caused by sinful decisions.

The sudden death of a young husband/father is not something that can be foreseen. In the case of the young father of four who died yesterday there is a family medical history. But too often such deaths are the result of one person deciding to kill another.

We often gloss over the reality of sin and the consequences of our decision. But the First Reading speaks plainly: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2).

We are drawing to the end of the current liturgical year in which the Church has focused on the Gospel of St Mark. The first words that Jesus speaks in this gospel are: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.

Jesus is emphasising the need for repentance. He warns us in today's gospel, But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Pope Francis going to confession

Jesus has given us the gift of a particular way to obtain forgiveness for our sins, the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, often referred to as 'confession'. The Catechism of the Catholic Church No 1422 reads: Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labours for their conversion.

Pope Benedict XVI [Wikipedia]

Today's readings call us to reflect on death, particularly our own, not in a morbid way but from a belief that God is the foundation of hope. Pope Benedict writes in his encyclical letter Spe Salvi No 48, in the context of our relationship with those who have died, Now a further question arises: if 'Purgatory' is simply purification through fire in the encounter with the Lord, Judge and Saviour, how can a third person intervene, even if he or she is particularly close to the other? When we ask such a question, we should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse. So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death.

This passage acknowledges the effects of our sins on others but also gives us hope. Benedict quotes the English poet John Donne: No man is an island, entire of itself. 

Each time when someone we know dies, whether naturally after a long and fruitful life or tragically while still young, that is a grace from God for us to reflect on the purpose of our life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church No 1023 says, Those who die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they 'see him as he is,' face to face.

That is God's will for each of us but it is possible to reject that loving will. If we choose not to ask God's forgiveness for mortal sins we will have opted for shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2).

May each of us, with God's grace, choose eternal life, especially by asking God's forgiveness regularly in the sacrament of reconciliation.

Jesus 'got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.' Sunday Reflections, 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Apostle St Peter, El Greco, 1610-14

Museo de El Greco, Toledo, Spain [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) 

Gospel Mark 1:29-39 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door.  And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him.  When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. I have always been drawn by this text and similar ones elsewhere in the Gospels. People often ask me how to pray. Last Tuesday Pope Francis spoke about prayer at Mass in Santa Marta. Here is how Vatican Radio's website reports on what he said. I have highlighted parts of the report and added some [comments].

(Vatican Radio) Daily contemplation of the Gospel helps us to have true hope, said Pope Francis Tuesday morning during Mass celebrated in the Casa Santa Marta chapel. In his homily, the Pope again urged people to take 10 minutes out of their day to pick up the Gospel and talk to the Lord, rather than waste it on TV soap operas or listening to other peoples’ gossip.

Focusing on the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews on hope, Pope Francis said that “keeping our gaze fixed on Jesus” is the core of hope.  He stressed that if we do not listen to the Lord, we may be “optimistic or positive” people but without the hope that we learn “from contemplating Christ”.  [Optimism and Christian hope are not the same thing. Some are optimistic by nature, some not. Either may have Christian hope or not. His faith and hope in God, not his sunny and optimistic nature, enabled my close friend and Columban confrere, Fr Rufus Halley, shot dead in Mindanao on 28 August 2001, to live for twenty years in a situation that was always tense and often dangerous. His close friend Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, Archbishop Emeritus of Manila, wrote of him: I knew of the intensity with which Father Rufus lived his own Christian faith, how he began each day with an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, the centrality of the Mass in his life.]

Fr Rufus Halley (1944 - 2001)

This led the Holy Father to speak of "contemplative prayer”.  The Pope said that "it is good to pray the Rosary every day", to talk "with the Lord, when we have a problem, or the Virgin Mary or the Saints ..". But, "contemplative prayer" is important and this can only be done "with the Gospel in hand".

He said: "'How do I contemplate with today’s Gospel? I see that Jesus was in the middle of the people, he was surrounded by a large crowd. Five times this passage uses the word 'crowd'. Did Jesus ever rest? This would lead me to think: 'Always with the crowd ...'. Most of Jesus’ life was on the streets, with the crowd. Did he ever rest? Yes, once, says the Gospel, he was sleeping on the boat but the storm came and the disciples woke him. Jesus was constantly in the midst of the people. And this is how we look at Jesus, contemplate Jesus, imagine Jesus. And so I tell Jesus what comes to my mind to tell him".

Continuing his reflection on today's Gospel, Pope Francis spoke of how Jesus realizes that a sick woman in the crowd touched him. Jesus, the Pope said, "not only understands the crowd, he feels the crowd", "he feels the heartbeat of each of us, everyone. He cares for each and every one of us, always!". [Most of the healing stories in the Gospel are about individuals Jesus met on the way, not persons who had an appointment with him. He saw the individual in the crowd.]

Christ Raises the Daughter of Jairus, Friedrich Overbeck, 1815

Staatliche Museen, Berlin [Web Gallery of Art]

The case of the chief of the synagogue who goes "to speak to him of his daughter who was seriously ill” is similar: [Jesus] leaves everything to takes care of the matter. The Pope went on to depict the scene: Jesus arrives in the home, the women are crying because the little girl is dead, but the Lord tells them to be calm and they scorn him. Here, the Pope said, we see "the patience of Jesus."

And then after the resurrection of the child, instead of saying "Praise be God!", Jesus  tells them: "Please give her something to eat". Pope Francis noted "Jesus always thinks of the little things." [For years 'Please give her something to eat' has been one of my favourite lines in the Gospels since it shows so clearly the thoughtfulness and humanity of Jesus, God and Man. I see him with a smile on his face, with a twinkle in his eye as he looks at the girl, maybe even winking at her.]

The Pope then pointed out "What I have just done with this Gospel is a prayer of contemplation: take up the Gospel, read and imagine the scene, imagine what happens and talk to Jesus, from the heart".

"And with this we allow hope to grow, because we have our gaze fixed, we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. We should all carry out this contemplative prayer. 'But I have so much to do!' At home, 15 minutes, pick up the Gospel, a small passage, imagine what happened and talk with Jesus about it. [God invited Father Rufus to spend an hour in adoration each morning. He doesn't invite most Christians to do that. But is there anyone really so busy that they cannot create a 15-minute space with the Lord each day? We can do this even on the bus, on the jeepney, on the commuter-train, on the plane.] So your gaze will be fixed on Jesus and not so much on a TV soap opera, for example. Your ears will be focused on the words of Jesus and not so much on your neighborhood gossip ... ".

"This is how contemplative prayer helps us in hope. Living the substance of the Gospel. Always pray”.

Pope Francis invited people to "pray your prayers, pray the rosary, talk with the Lord, but also carry out this contemplative prayer keeping your gaze fixed on Jesus". Hope comes from this prayer, he said, adding "our Christian life unfolds in that context, between memory and hope":

"Memory of our past journey, memory of so many graces received from the Lord. And hope, looking at the Lord, who is the only one who can give me hope. And in order to gaze at the Lord, to know the Lord, we pick up the Gospel and carry out this contemplative prayer. Today, for example, try for 10 minutes - 15, no more – to read the Gospel, picture it and say something to Jesus. And nothing more. And so your knowledge of Jesus will be bigger and your hope will grow. Do not forget, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. And in order to do this contemplative prayer".

'Give her something to eat'. Jesus, the Church, serving the sick

Christ Raises the Daughter of Jairus

Friedrich Overbeck, 1825 [Web Gallery of Art]

Today's gospel, Mark 5:21-43, weaves two different healing stories into one, that of the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years and that of the daughter of Jairus, aged twelve, who had just died.

In the scene below, taken from Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth, the director focuses only on the story of the little girl. I don't know if the servant of Jairus, whom the latter addresses as 'Thomas' is meant in Zeffirelli's mind to be the future Apostle already showing the honest directness of the saint often referred to as 'Doubting Thomas', the saint who was to make the most explicit act of faith in the whole Bible, My Lord and my God.

In this scene Jesus immediately leaves what he was doing in order to respond to an emergency. Much of our life is like that.

Zeffirelli retains words of Jesus that we find in the version of St Mark of this incident and in that of St Luke (8:40-46) but not in that of St Matthew (9:18-26): Give her something to eat. There is something wonderfully human about these words. Zeffirelli has Jesus carry the little girl out to her parents and relatives. She would have been very weak after the illness that had led to her death. In my own imagination I can see Jesus standing back and smiling, gently reminding Jairus and his wife in their grateful joy that their daughter was hungry.

Fr Agostino Gemelli OFM (1878 - 1959)

Healing the sick was central to the way Jesus proclaimed the Gospel, 'The Good News'. It has always been central to the way the Church proclaims that same Gospel. Many of us are familiar with the name 'Gemelli Policlinico' in Rome. This teaching hospital of 1,850 beds, attached to the medical school of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, is named after the founder of the University, Fr Agostino Gemelli OFM, priest, friar, physician, psychologist. Study, science and teaching are also at the heart of the proclamation of the Gospel by the Church.

On the Solemnity of the Epiphany last year Pope Benedict visited the children in the paediatric section of the Gemelli Clinic. The children and staff there, especially the little girl to whom he gave a teddy bear, don't seem to have noticed that he was 'dour', as I saw him described the other day, or that he was really a 'Rottweiler', as he has often been called.

Mark 5:21-43 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’  So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?”’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

'Give her something to eat'

Christ resurrects the daughter of Jairus, Friedrich Overbeck, 1815

I won't be on the net until at least Monday because I'm flying to Cebu tomorrow, about 25 minutes east of Bacolod City, to be the team-priest for a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend.

Here are some thoughts on the gospel for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, 28 June, which I've also posted on the Online Forum of Misyon, which I edit on behalf of the Columbans in the Philippines. The gospel is taken from St Mark 5:21-43 (shorter version, 5:21-24, 35b-43). It's really a pity when the Church lets us omit one of two powerful stories that the evangelist has deliberately intertwined.

This is one of my very favourite gospels. St Mark combines two stories, that of a woman who has been sick for twelve years, and the raising to life again of a 12-year-old girl.

In the shorter version of the gospel that may be used the story of the woman is left out. Really, I think the full gospel should be read.

St Mark's gospel gives us human details about Jesus that the others don't give. An example of this is the very last line: 'He . . . said that she should be given something to eat.' I can imagine the excitement of the parents and relatives and the smile on the face of Jesus as he gently reminds the family that the young girl is hungry, having been very ill.

This is also one of very few gospel stories where the actual words as Jesus spoke them in Aramaic are recorded. 'Talitha, koum!', 'Little girl, I say to you, arise!' There's an intimacy in the recording of the Aramaic here. The Maayong Balita - Good News - translation in Cebuano-Visayan translates those words as 'Inday, bangon!'. In Cebuano, 'Inday' is a term of affection and respect for a young girl or for a woman not older than yourself. It is sometimes a person's nickname.

I once gave a recollection day to children in a Catholic elementary school in Cebu and used this story. Some of the children thought that the girl's name was Talitha! After lunch some of the chldren came to me to tell me that one of them had a toothache and asked if we could pray with her so that she would get better as 'Talitha' did. We prayed together with the young Cebuana 'Talitha' and her toothache went and she was able to continue with us in the afternoon.

The story of the woman with the hemorrhage is one that is so common in the Philippines, not in the details of the actual illness, but in the reality of families, sometimes families that weren't poor before, becoming penniless because of medical expenses. Even those who are covered by Medicare have to pay cash down before they are treated, even though they may have been paying in for years. (They eventually get a refund that doesn't take into the account the money they have had to borrow in the meantime and pay back with interest because of the unfeeling bureaucracy that is so prevalent in the Philippines).

This poor woman was also considered 'unclean' because of the nature of her illness and so was ostracized to some extent. so she experienced not only a physical cure but was brought back into the life of the community.

St Mark notes that Jesus was 'aware at once that power had gone out from him'. This shows that Jesus wasn't a 'magician; saying words that cost him nothing but that he was personally involved with those he healed and that each of these encounters cost him something.

Raising of Jairus’ daughter, Ilya Rapin, 1871

Mk 5:21-43 (Revised Standard Version)

And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him; and he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and seeing him, he fell at his feet, and besought him, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live." And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well." And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, "Who touched my garments?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ' Who touched me?" And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?" But ignoring * what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. Taking her by the hand he said to her, "Talitha cumi"; which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." And immediately the girl got up and walked (she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

I was unable to locate a painting of the healing of the woman.

'Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?'

The Gulf Stream, Winslow Homer (1899)

Last year Ateneo de Manila Press published a book by my friend Simeon Dumdum, Jr, Ah, Wilderness! Jun, whose day-job is that of a Regional Trial Court judge in Cebu City is a distinguished poet and his prose reflects that.

The subtitle of Ah, Wilderness! is A Journey Through Sacred Time. The short essays, which I think first appeared in the Cebu Daily News, are reflections linked to the different seasons of the Church’s liturgical year. In his introduction the author writes, ‘I move in a sacred world because God fills every space. Every journey – because in the en it s return to God – is a journey through sacred time.’ (Jun is expressing something similar to the quote from my patron St Columban on the masthead of my blog: ‘Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home’).

I happened to read Jun’s essay Gulf Stream this morning in which he reflects on a painting by American painter Winslow Homer, The Gulf Stream. He writes: ‘One can look at Winslow Homer’s painting as an allegory of faith. The fuming waves and hungry sharks represent evil, and the boat the raft of faith that, though the fits of doubt have broken its mast, keeps one safely afloat. The painting calls up a scene from Mark. There, while Jesus and the apostles were crossing the lake a squall arose, terrifying everyone, except Jesus who was sleeping at the back of the boat. They woke him up, complaining that he did not care that they were about to die. But Jesus soot up and commanded the wind and the waves to be still, and they obeyed, and Jesus chided the apostles for their lack of faith’.

Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jan Brueghel the Elder, c.1596

This story, from Mark 4:35-41, is the gospel for tomorrow, the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. Below is the RSV translation.

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