Jesus stills a storm
Mark 4:35-41, using text from the New Revised Standard Version – Pentecost 5, Year B
Readers: Worship Leader, Storyteller, Jesus, the Disciples (congregation)
Download a ready-to-print copy of the drama: Mark 4, 35-41 – Jesus stills a storm
Leader:
Mark tells many stories about Jesus.
This story puts Jesus and the disciples adrift in a storm. You will be the disciples, and have two lines to read.
I will say ‘Everyone together’ before both.
The two lines are printed in your service sheet.
Just read one at a time. You might find them now and put your finger there so you are ready.
Let’s listen now to Mark’s story.
Storyteller: On that day, when evening had come,
Jesus said to the disciples,
Jesus: Let us go across to the other side.
Storyteller: Leaving the crowd behind,
they took Jesus with them in the boat, just as he was…
A great windstorm arose.
The waves beat into the boat,
so that the boat was already being swamped.
But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.
The disciples woke Jesus up and said to him,
Leader: Disciples, line 1, Everyone together…
All: Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?
Storyteller: Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind,
and said to the sea,
Jesus: “Peace! Be still!”
Storyteller: Then the wind ceased.
And there was a dead calm.
Jesus said to the disciples,
Jesus: “Why are you afraid?
Have you still no faith?”
Storyteller: And the disciples were filled with great awe
and said to one another,
Leader: Disciples, Line 2, Everyone together…
All: Who then is this?
Storyteller: Who then is this,
who can quiet a storm and calm the waves?
Leader: Mark’s story about the storm ends here.
May we hear and understand the message for us today.
Optional: Prior to reading the passage, set the scene…
Jesus’s days, filled with healing and teaching by the lakeside, have tired him and the disciples out. In chapter 3 he asks for a boat to stand in while teaching, so the crowds will not crush him. Now he and the disciples set off in the boat, leaving the crowd and shore behind. When a storm arises, the disciples quickly forget all the miracle healings and teachings. Fear of mortality overtakes them.
