La tempesta di Giona: Mc 4, 35-41

#beautifulprof #gospel #mark The boat sinks and Jesus sleeps. The disciples curse, almost blaspheme: "You don't care about us." When all seems lost, he wakes up and, as if nothing had happened, orders the storm: "Be quiet!" And calm returns. It is perhaps one of the strangest pages of the Gospel of Mark, yet one of the most symbolically dense. It all begins with a command from Jesus to which the disciples do not object: "Let us cross to the other side!" That is, let us go to those who don't want us, those who don't expect us, those who think we are not only useless, but even harmful. The shore opposite Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee is, in fact, the shore of the non-Jews, the pagans, the one where Jesus and his followers are decidedly playing "away," to the displeasure of the crowd. The boats, the storm, the sleep, the pagans as a destination are familiar to anyone who has read the Bible, at least a little. These are the same elements of one of the most famous and popular tales of all time: the prophet Jonah, swallowed and spat out by a huge marine animal, perhaps, paradoxically, the least incredible element of the story. Jonah is a prophet destined for the pagans who, fearful, flees from his impossible mission to preach the imminent destruction of Nineveh. He knows, in fact, what happens to prophets who announce misfortune or, as we would say today, bring bad luck. How can we forget the emblematic case of Jeremiah, the herald of the destruction of Jerusalem? Prophets like him are unpopular and destined for failure, condemned to a miserable life, marginalized and in constant danger. Jonah boards the ship and sleeps. He falls into the unconscious sleep of one who refuses to take responsibility. Then, however, he is forced to confess his attempted escape and saves the sailors by throwing himself into the sea. It is the only way to calm the storm. Swallowed by a huge fish, he is spat out on the shores of Nineveh, his original destination. He preaches, and incredibly, the most pagan city in the world converts and is saved. But Jonah is not a good prophet, not only because he first tried to escape, but because now, after preaching, he is angry and cannot understand why God is not keeping His word. He experiences the prophet's paradox: by saving the city, the word he had proclaimed, the destruction of Nineveh, is not fulfilled. And so he is quickly forgotten. He becomes boring and whiny, to the point that even the trees tire of providing him with shade. He feels treated terribly by God and is rightly rebuked by Him: saving lives and leading people back to good is more important to God than the reputation of His prophet and even His word itself. A single child of Nineveh is worth more than the Bible and all its preachers. But what does Jesus have to do with Jonah? Why this comparison, so clearly intended by the evangelist? Because Jesus is Jonah as he should have been. The real Jonah. Jonah is the sign and Jesus the reality. The one who offers his life to save everyone, so that the storm may calm, but not because he is forced to. The one who willingly goes to Nineveh and involves his followers in the same endeavor. The one who sleeps, like Jonah, but aware, like the farmer in the parable, that the power of the Kingdom of God that is breaking loose is greater than that of any storm. Jesus is the Jonah who prays in the depths of darkness and the abyss of death and rises on the Third Day for every man, old man, woman, and child of Nineveh and the entire world. Perhaps the refractory "Jonahs" are precisely the disciples. They are the ones who must learn to be like the Master. But they will do so with sincerity, generosity, and even heroism only after having cursed him a little and feared him, rather than loved him. This is how things go, strange and unpredictable, in the Kingdom of God. If you're interested in my videos, support the channel by liking and subscribing. If you'd like to support me, send a donation, even a small one, here: https://www.paypal.me/bellaprof Or, as an alternative form of support: 👉 Make your regular purchases from this link: https://amzn.to/2yavzSp 👉 Buy my little manual of Christian asceticism https://amzn.to/3ti7UqP 👉 Visit my blog: https://bellaprof.blog 👉 Listen to my podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7uO2c7D... 👉 For more information, you can find my book on parables on Amazon Books: https://amzn.to/2ZlfRiG 00:00 Intro 00:20 The Tempest Sedate in context 2:58 "Let's cross to the other side!" 5:15 References to the story of Jonah 11:30 "Ecclesiastical" interpretation: the inevitable crisis 4:01 PM The "awakening": the triumph of the Resurrection and mission