Bible TimeMark and the Ark
The Book of Mark is unraveled using... Noah’s ark. This article explains.
Mark begins the second in his quartet of super stories by recounting the story of Jesus calming the winds and the waves. This story opens the quartet and establishes the theme that each parable will be based on: Crossing the Sea of Galilee by boat.
42 Mark 4:35-40
35And on that day, when even was come, he saith unto them, Let us go over unto the other side.
36And leaving the multitude, they take him with them, even as he was, in the boat. And other boats were with him.
37And there ariseth a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the boat, insomuch that the boat was now filling.
38And he himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion: and they awake him, and say unto him, Teacher, carest thou not that we perish?
39And he awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40And he said unto them, Why are ye fearful? have ye not yet faith?
The most famous boat in all of the Bible is the Noah’s Ark. No other boat plays a prominent role in the historical account of the Bible. Each time Mark references a boat throughout this section of his epistle he is referring to Noah’s Ark. Mark’s reference to the other boats1 is his clue that other boats are part of this story. Which boats? The other boat references that he will use across the next 4 chapters.
In this particular parable Jesus and the disciples are riding together with Jesus in the boat. The storm builds just like the events in Noah’s story where the heavens burst forth and the world was covered with water. Here in Mark’s parable the boat itself fills with water so the disciples believe they will perish in the storm. This is what happened to everyone except Noah and his family during the flood.
Jesus remains at the rudder, though asleep, in Mark’s parable. In the original account of Noah’s flood, the Lord sealed Noah into the Ark. In both cases it appears the Lord himself is steering, though the Lord never speaks in either case.
Eventually the disciples gain Jesus’ attention and he rebukes the wind and the waves, leading to a great calm. In Noah’s case the storm subsides as well as Noah interacts with the Lord at the end of the historical flood.
At the end of this ride across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus asks the disciples about their faith. Faith, properly defined, is our ability to see into the future things which Jesus has revealed will happen, but are not yet. In Noah’s case it took great faith to understand the world could be rebuilt, though at the time it was a muddy mess.
1Mark 4:36
