{"id":6375,"date":"2024-06-22T03:02:31","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T07:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/?p=6375"},"modified":"2024-06-22T03:02:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-22T07:02:31","slug":"his-first-mate-at-the-wheel-gospel-for-23-june-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/2024\/06\/his-first-mate-at-the-wheel-gospel-for-23-june-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"“His First Mate at the Wheel” (Gospel for 23 June, 2024)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A Thimbleful of Fire<\/h4>\n There\u2019s a band out of Philly that I like, mewithoutYou [sic], that just wrapped up their farewell tour a couple years ago. Their musical style was a weird blend of lo-fi folk with punk that sometimes approaches screamo (which of course means they\u2019re generally described as \u201crock\u201d). But what\u2019s stranger than that was their lyrics.<\/p>\n The band\u2019s core members and lyricists, Aaron and Michael Weiss, are brothers: their father was Jewish, and their mother had grown up Episcopal, so obviously the couple converted to Sufi Islam, and raised Aaron and Michael in that faith; allusions to all three Abrahamic religions are strewn throughout their music. They\u2019re one of few religious bands I\u2019ve ever encountered (Psalters and Sufjan Stevens are also examples) who write songs like they\u2019re actually relating to God, instead of writing like they\u2019re thinking Other people are going to listen to this and form opinions about me from the lyrics<\/em>. One of their songs addresses him, \u201cYour flavor in my mind goes back and forth between \/ Sweeter than any wine, as bitter as mustard greens \/ And it\u2019s light and dark as honeydew and pumpernickel bread\u201d (note that mustard greens are one of the plants that can be used as maror<\/em>, the \u201cbitter herbs\u201d of the Passover seder). In one of my favorite songs of theirs, \u201cFour Fires,\u201d the final, polyphonic movement juxtaposes the Hebrew hymn \u201cEin Keloheinu<\/em>\u201c<\/a> with the Weisses\u2019 own lyrics:<\/p>\n Mama, sing my favorite hymn<\/em><\/small> \nWhere we make plowshares from our swords<\/em><\/small> \nAnd the mason\u2019s barber trims our Christmas tree<\/em><\/small> \nIn the Oneness of Our Lord<\/em><\/small> \nWhat grace surrounds! What strange perfection!<\/em><\/small> \nMama, sing my favorite hymn<\/em><\/small> \nAnd remind me<\/em><\/small> \nEveryone is Him*<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cover art of the album Ten Stories<\/em>,<\/small> \nthe deluxe edition of which features<\/small> \n\u201cFour Fires\u201d<\/small><\/p>\n But this wasn\u2019t even the song of theirs that I meant to share beside this Gospel! Several songs on their album Brother, Sister<\/em> allude to the life of Jesus and the apostles. Its opening track, \u201cMesses of Men,\u201d is another long-time favorite of mine. I\u2019m not even sure I can articulate its relation to the text; feel free to decide for yourself.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not exist,\u201d we faithfully insist,<\/em><\/small> \nSailing in our separate ships and from each tiny caravel.<\/em><\/small> \nTiring of trying, there\u2019s a necessary dying,<\/em><\/small> \nLike the horseshoe crab in its proper season to shed its shell.<\/em><\/small> \nSuch distance from our friends, like a scratch across a lens<\/em><\/small> \nMade everything look wrong from anywhere we stood.<\/em><\/small> \nOur paper blew away before we\u2019d left the bay,<\/em><\/small> \nSo half-blind, we wrote these songs on sheets of salty wood.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n They caught me making eyes at the other boatmen\u2019s wives,<\/em><\/small> \nAnd heard me laughing louder at the jokes told by their daughters.<\/em><\/small> \nI\u2019d set my course for land, but you well understand<\/em><\/small> \nIt takes a steady hand to navigate adulterous waters.<\/em><\/small> \nThe propeller\u2019s spinning blades held acquaintance with the waves,<\/em><\/small> \n\u2018Cause there\u2019s mistakes I\u2019ve made no rowing could outrun.<\/em><\/small> \nA tall glow on the mast, I say I\u2019ve got no past;<\/em><\/small> \nI\u2019m nonetheless the librarian and secretary\u2019s son.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n With tarnish on my brass, with mildew on my glass,<\/em><\/small> \nI\u2019d never want someone so crass as to want someone like me,<\/em><\/small> \nBut a few leagues off from shore, I bit a flashing lure,<\/em><\/small> \nAnd I assure you it was not what I expected it to be.<\/em><\/small> \nI still taste its kiss, that dull hook in my lip<\/em><\/small> \nIs a memory as useless as a rod without a reel<\/em><\/small> \nTo an anchor-ever-dropped, seasick-yet-still-docked<\/em><\/small> \nCaptain spotted napping with his first mate at the wheel.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n Floating forgetfully along, with no need to be strong,<\/em><\/small> \nWe keep our confessions long, and when we pray we keep it short.<\/em><\/small> \nI drank a thimbleful of fire; I\u2019m not ever coming back<\/em><\/small> \nOH MY G-D<\/em><\/small> \n\u201cI do not exist,\u201d we faithfully insist<\/em><\/small> \nWhile watching sink the heavy ship of everything we knew,<\/em><\/small> \nAnd if ever You come near, I\u2019ll hold up high a mirror\u2014<\/em><\/small> \nLord, I could never show You anything as beautiful as You.<\/em>*<\/small><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jesus Appears on the Shore of Lake<\/em><\/small> \nTiberias<\/em> (1850), James Tissot<\/small><\/p>\n

Mark. 4.35-41, RSV-CE<\/h4>\n \ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, \u201cLet us go across to the other side.\u201da<\/sup> And leaving the crowd, they took him with them, just as he was,b<\/sup> in the boat. And other boats were with him. And a great stormc<\/sup> of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleepd<\/sup> on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, \u201cTeacher, do you not care if we perish?\u201de<\/sup> And he awokef<\/sup> and rebukedg<\/sup> the wind, and said to the sea, \u201cPeace! Be still!\u201d And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, \u201cWhy are you afraid?h<\/sup> Have you no faith?\u201di<\/sup> And they were filled with awe,j<\/sup> and said to one another, \u201cWho then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?\u201d<\/p>\n \ Mark 4.35-41, my translation<\/h4>\n \ <\/p>\n \ Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee<\/em><\/small> \n(1695), by Ludolf Backhuysen<\/small><\/p>\n \ And he says to them as the evening of that day was coming on: \u201cLet\u2019s cross to the other side.\u201da<\/sup> And, leaving the crowd, they received him as he wasb<\/sup> in the boat, and other boats came with his. And a big cyclonec<\/sup> of wind began, and the waves were falling onto the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, lying downd<\/sup> on a pillow; and they roused him and say to him: \u201cTeacher, is it no concern of yours that we\u2019re being destroyed?\u201de<\/sup> And, having been woken up,f<\/sup> he reprimandedg<\/sup> the wind and told the sea: \u201cBe silent, be muzzled.\u201d And the wind wore out, and a big calm began. And he told them: \u201cWhy are you being cowardly?h<\/sup> Do you still have no faith?\u201di<\/sup> And they were immensely afraid,j<\/sup> and began saying to each other: \u201cWhat kind of man is this, then, that even the wind and the sea listen to him?\u201d<\/p>\n

Textual Notes<\/h4>\n \ a. the other side:<\/strong> In this case, they seem to be traveling from Capernaum, which was Peter\u2019s home and Jesus\u2019 Galilean \u201cHQ\u201d; the next chapter takes place in the city of Gadara (near the modern village of Umm Qays in the extreme northwest of Jordan), which was part of a region known as the Decapolis or \u201cTen Cities.\u201d* This was a league of city-states founded in the wake of Alexander the Great, most of which lay east of the Jordan River, though in Scythopolis the region had land on the western bank as well. The Jews regarded most of the Decapolis, outside of Damascus and its environs, as rightfully their territory, since these cities occupied lands that had traditionally been assigned to Issachar, Manasseh, and Naphtali. However, this was now a majority-Gentile area, albeit with Jewish minorities\u2014mostly Greek, with some admixture of Syrians. Also unlike Jud\u00e6a proper, which was a client kingdom of Rome (meaning it was technically<\/em> autonomous), the Decapolis was directly subject to the Empire.<\/p>\n* \ b. just as he was\/as he was:<\/strong> This phrase really puzzles me. It\u2019s just such an odd thing to bother saying; I mean, how else were they going to take him? The only thing I can think of is that Mark is thus specifying that they didn\u2019t go back for any possessions they may have left behind; if so, this seems to suggest that they left quite abruptly. On the other hand, the evangelist notes in 3.9 that \u201che spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.\u201d If this was a standing arrangement, then presumably this represents Jesus availing himself of it.<\/p>\n \ <\/p>\n \ Calming the Storm<\/em> (1630), by Cornelis de Wael<\/small><\/p>\n c. storm\/cyclone:<\/strong> Abrupt storms are common on the Sea of Galilee. It neighbors the foothills of the Lebanon Mountains to its north, but is surrounded by land that\u2019s mostly Mediterranean or desiccated in climate; add in that this Sea is several hundred feet below sea level, and any time the wind is coming at all from the north, you\u2019re apt to get large masses of cool, damp air being poured into terrain that amounts to a hot funnel. The Greek term here, \u03bb\u03b1\u1fd6\u03bb\u03b1\u03c8 [lailaps<\/em>], refers specifically to a whirlwind or a tornado (I chose \u201ccyclone\u201d as a suitably ambiguous term in English). I wasn\u2019t able to find much on this specifically, but, as far as I can tell, it is possible that the boat was threatened by a waterspout<\/a>.<\/p>\n d. asleep\/lying down:<\/strong> The verb here just means \u201cto lie down\u201d if taken flat-footedly, but of course, in English as in Greek, \u201cI\u2019m going to have a lie down\u201d does mean sleeping.<\/p>\n e. do you not care if we perish\/is it no concern of yours that we\u2019re being destroyed:<\/strong> I may have interpreted the apostles a little unkindly here, I\u2019m not sure. However, the impression<\/em> I get from this part of the text is one not so much of abject terror, but of angrily panicked sarcasm. The mention of the waves breaking over the boat suggests that their craft was flooding to the point of sinking (a possibility corroborated by Matthew<\/a> and Luke<\/a>); it\u2019s possible they were waking him up because they wanted another pair of hands bailing water out of the boat.<\/p>\n f. he awoke\/having been woken up:<\/strong> Mood.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n View to the north from Umm Qays, Jordan;<\/small>*** \nthe Sea of Galilee is dimly visible in the<\/small> \ncenter-distance. Photo by Daniel Case, used<\/small> ***\nunder a CC BY-SA 3.0 license (source<\/a>).<\/small><\/p>\n g. rebuked\/reprimanded:<\/strong> I spent a while trying to figure out how to render this word, and I\u2019m pretty dissatisfied with my eventual choice. The verb in question is \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c4\u03b9\u03bc\u03ac\u03c9 [epitima\u014d], a derivative of \u03c4\u03b9\u03bc\u03ac\u03c9, \u201cto honor\u201d (the name \u201cTimo<\/em>thy\u201d is related). It can be either used in its straightforward sense, or in the opposite, a little like the English word \u201ccleave.\u201d The trouble is that I couldn\u2019t think of an English word with the right meaning that is its own antonym, or anything close to one of those, or anything ambiguous in the appropriate way. (The closest I got was \u201csanction,\u201d which isn\u2019t really close enough, and also \u201che sanctioned the storm\u201d sounded much too ridiculous to use.) I finally settled on \u201creprimand\u201d as having a slight resemblance in sound to \u201ccommend,\u201d which is great, nobody say anything.<\/p>\n h. afraid\/being cowardly:<\/strong> \u201cCowardly\u201d may seem a bit harsh on our Lord\u2019s part, but it is what the text says\u2014\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03bb\u03cc\u03c2 [deilos<\/em>] has none of the potential sympathy in it that the English \u201cafraid\u201d carries. This is one of a few examples in Mark where Jesus shows his temper with the apostles in ways we may find puzzling. G. K. Chesterton put it very well in The Everlasting Man<\/em>:<\/p>\n The Church can reasonably be justified \u2026 if she turns the most merciful face or aspect [of Jesus] towards men; but it is certainly \u2026 very much more specially and exclusively merciful than any impression that could be formed by a man merely reading the New Testament for the first time. A man simply taking the words of the story as they stand would form quite another impression \u2026 It would be intensely interesting; but part of the interest would consist in its leaving a good deal to be guessed at or explained. It is full of sudden gestures evidently significant except that we hardly know what they signify; of enigmatic silences; of ironical replies. The outbreaks of wrath, like storms above our atmosphere, do not seem to break out exactly where we should expect them, but to follow some higher weather-chart of their own.\u2020<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Storm on the Sea of Galilee<\/em><\/small>** \n(1633), by Rembrandt (his only **\npainting of a seascape)<\/small><\/p>\n i. Have you no faith?\/Do you still have no faith?:<\/strong> I\u2019m mildly puzzled that the RSV chose to eliminate the \u201cstill\u201d or \u201cyet\u201d carried by the negating word in this question. It definitely seems to be implying that by now<\/em> the disciples should have seen enough from Jesus to know better than to panic.<\/p>\n j. filled with awe\/immensely afraid:<\/strong> \u201cFrightened with great fear\u201d would be the flat-footedly literal translation. Though the divergence is less severe, this is not unlike the alteration from back in chapter 1 (textual note b in this post<\/a>), where a verb meaning \u201cto be angered\u201d was bent to breaking point by being rendered \u201cto be moved with pity.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, to be clear, there is a theological<\/em> case to be made here for interpreting<\/em> the disciples\u2019 fear here as awe. Personally, I would guess their response was neither garden-variety fear (the way they were afraid of the storm), nor\u2014as yet\u2014awe in the strictly religious sense (a.k.a. \u201cthe fear of the Lord\u201d); my hunch is that this is describing them being unnerved<\/em>, a feeling which is more like the former than the latter but is akin to both. I might be mistaken, but it seems to me like it tracks with the details and is psychologically more plausible than the alternatives. However, like the idea that it was<\/em> religious awe they were feeling, my idea is an<\/em> interpretation of the text. Not only are many readings all consistent with this text, which is nearly always true: many readings are consistent with rigorous Nicene orthodoxy, a much more stringent criterion that a lot of verses in the New Testament have difficulty meeting!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Remains of a Galilean boat preserved at<\/small>** \nKibbutz Ginosar (on the western shore of the<\/small> \nSea), photographed by Yehudit Garinkol and<\/small> **\nused under a CC BY 2.5 license (source<\/a>).<\/small><\/p>\n Accordingly, as I\u2019ve said, I dislike the tendency to interpret under the name of<\/em> translating. I\u2019m not saying that parameters for what interpretations are acceptable are bad or superfluous (I mean, I\u2019m a Catholic!), or even that they shouldn\u2019t be printed alongside the text: on the contrary, glosses and notes and commentaries have a long history in the Church and specifically in the many scriptoria that the Bible was copied in over the centuries. What I object to is printing these things instead of<\/em> the text, as<\/em> the text.<\/p>\n However, as a final note (one that both addresses the subject of religious awe and also brings it back to songs, like we opened with): while I feel sure it must have happened at some<\/em> point, I\u2019d be fascinated to know just when the apostles noticed the echo in this story of Psalm 107.23-31<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n *Lyrics to \u201cFour Fires\u201d<\/a> and \u201cMesses of Men\u201d<\/a> obtained courtesy of genius.com<\/a>. The style \u201cG-d\u201d is a borrowing from Judaic customs, analogous to replacing the Tetragrammaton in lection with \u201cAdonai\u201d or \u201cha-Shem.\u201d<\/small>*** \n**What cities exactly the Decapolis consisted in is not universally agreed, due to conflicting evidence in ancient sources. The most typical list of the ten cities has: Canatha (now Qanawat, Syria); Damascus (now the capital of Syria); Dion; Hippus, also known as Sussita; Gadara; Gerasa (now Jerash, Jordan); Pella; Philadelphia (now Amman, the capital of Jordan); Raphana; and Scythopolis (now Beyt She\u2019an, Israel). Damascus predated the others, having been occupied since the Bronze Age, and is absent from Josephus\u2019 list of Decapolitan cities.<\/small> \n\u2020TEM<\/em> Part II: On the Man Called Christ, Chapter 2: The Riddles of the Gospel. ***\n<\/small><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Thimbleful of Fire There\u2019s a band out of Philly that I like, mewithoutYou [sic], that just wrapped up their farewell tour a couple years ago. Their musical style was a weird blend of lo-fi folk with punk that sometimes approaches screamo (which of course means they\u2019re generally described as \u201crock\u201d). But what\u2019s stranger than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4203,"featured_media":6393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"His First Mate at the Wheel" (Gospel for 23 June, 2024)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Thimbleful of Fire There's a band out of Philly that I like, mewithoutYou , that just wrapped up their farewell tour a couple years ago. 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