WITHSTANDING THE STORM

 

First Reading: Job 38:1, 8-11
Second Reading: 2 Cor 5:14-17

Gospel: Mk 4:35-41

Dear friends we are in the Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time. In today’s Gospel Jesus manifest’s Himself as God to His disciples by silencing the stormy sea. This incident is very significant in Gospels, as it concerns the identity of Jesus as God. Prior to this event, Jesus was found teaching about kingdom of God through parables, especially through a parable of the sower. Last Sunday also we heard about parables regarding kingdom of God – the parables of growing seed and mustard seed. The chapter 4 of Mark’s Gospel is fully about how the kingdom of God is shown in the hearts of the people. As we know, the kingdom of God is not ingathering of people at a particular place, rather it a conquest of the hearts of the people. All who accept the values and commandments of Jesus become citizens of God’s kingdom. As Jesus was teaching about the Kingdom of God through the parable of the sower to the ordinary people, the disciples come and ask Jesus privately to elucidate little more about the parable. Jesus does it graciously, however not without chiding them first. With all these, Jesus has already sown seed of faith in their heart. Now it is the time for that seed to grow in them. In this context, the event of Jesus calming the stormy sea becomes meaningful.

The fisher men in the boat are afraid of the heavy waves and stormy wind blows. They cried to a carpenter who is asleep at the stern of the boat for help! Jesus immediately addresses their problem – He calms the sea. Then, He starts reprimanding the disciples for the lack of faith. The faith sown into them has not produced any fruit. They haven’t even given minimum of thirty percentage of growth. In Ps 4:8 we read thus: “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Jesus asleep shows His full confidence in God the Father. He is ready to die in the stormy waves if Father wills it, as He has no stain of sin to prevent Him from entering heaven. The commotion of the disciples in the boat point toward us who at the wake of various dangerous situations shout at God for His immediate intervention. No wonder why Pope Francis chose this particular passage for His Urbi et Orbi blessing at the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. Those who had little faith and built their spirituality on the sand were shaken off at the outbreak of this pandemic. The stormy waves that toss the boat to the point of sinking should not frighten us of losing life. The strength of faith lies in believing till the end, especially when things seem impossible according to human calculations.

We lose faith and start worrying more about things because of our lose spirituality. Wherever, spirituality is built merely on devotions and piety, the stormy wind that blows once in a while, overpowers the faith greatly. The disciples are in that stage. They had not let the Words of Jesus to take root and make home in their hearts. The Words of Jesus has only attracted them, they hadn’t affected them yet to assimilate it. When does that happen, the disciples would fear neither human rulers nor natural mishap. The boat also signifies the Catholic Church on earth. Whatever be the might of the storm they would never be able to topple the boat, because Jesus is there in the stern. Let us also not be alarmed by various scandals or unpleasant things that seems to ruin the Church. As strong passengers we need to hold on to faith. The shaky life of co-passengers in the boat – Church – should not be a reason for our loss of faith. Remember on whom we have place our faith – on Jesus or on the Church, which is at His service? All who hold on to Jesus because of the Catholic Church may lose faith one day when they see some contradictory things happening in the church. On the contrary, all who have placed their faith in Jesus would hold on to the Catholic Church despite all its odds and pitfalls. Let Words of Jesus take root in us to withstand storms of any kind.


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