“And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”
He said to his disciples, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? — the question is not a rebuke but an invitation to self-examination. Why are you so afraid — the fear is the observable symptom of the underlying condition. Do you still have no faith — the still communicates continuity with previous failures of faith; this is not their first opportunity to trust. The question connects the storm-fear to the first parable's categories: the disciples are in the boat with Jesus, they have received the kingdom's secrets, and they still respond to crisis with fear rather than faith. The experience on the lake is itself a parable about the kingdom's presence in the storm.
Church Fathers on Mark 4:40
After His teaching, they come from that place to the sea, and are tossed by the waves.
Therefore He allowed them to fall into the fear of danger, that they might experience His power in themselves, who saw others benefitted by Him. But He was sleeping upon the pillow of the ship, that is, on a wooden one.
Or else the ship into which He embarked, is taken to mean the tree of His passion, by which the faithful attain to the security of the safe shore. The other ships which are said to have been with the Lord signify those who are imbued with faith in the cross of Christ, and are not beaten about by the whirlwind of tribulation; or who, after the storms of temptation, are enjoying the serenity of peace.
Read all 6 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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