With Jesus in the Storm

June 20, Sunday

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

      “Where are you, Lord, when we suffer?” “Why do you sleep, Lord, when your Church is in pain?” “Why is there so much evil in the world?” These are often our cries when we feel threatened by the waves of misfortune and suffering and evil. And the Lord’s answer to us is a question: “Why are you so afraid? I am with you! Have faith in me, trust me.” In this Eucharist we express our trust that with the Lord we can overcome all evil and trials.

 

First Reading: Job 38:1, 8-11

God Confronts Job

Have You Gotten to the Bottom of Things?

And now, finally, God answered Job from the eye of a violent storm. He said:

“Why do you confuse the issue?
    Why do you talk without knowing what you’re talking about?
Pull yourself together, Job!
    Up on your feet! Stand tall!
I have some questions for you,
    and I want some straight answers.
Where were you when I created the earth?
    Tell me, since you know so much!
Who decided on its size? Certainly you’ll know that!
    Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?
How was its foundation poured,
    and who set the cornerstone,
While the morning stars sang in chorus
    and all the angels shouted praise?
And who took charge of the ocean
    when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?
That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds,
    and tucked it in safely at night.
Then I made a playpen for it,
    a strong playpen so it couldn’t run loose,
And said, ‘Stay here, this is your place.
    Your wild tantrums are confined to this place.’

 

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:14-20

That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure. It’s no light thing to know that we’ll all one day stand in that place of Judgment. That’s why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. God alone knows how well we do this, but I hope you realize how much and deeply we care. We’re not saying this to make ourselves look good to you. We just thought it would make you feel good, proud even, that we’re on your side and not just nice to your face as so many people are. If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.

Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

^16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

 

Gospel: Mark 4:35-41

The Wind Ran Out of Breath

Late that day he said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?”

Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?”

 They were in absolute awe, staggered. “Who is this, anyway?” they asked. “Wind and sea at his beck and call!”

 

Prayer
God of power and might,
when we cry out to you in the tempests of life,
reassure us that you care and that you are with us,
even when you seem absent.
Let our faith remain calm and peaceful
and deepen it in every trial.
Keep us believing that the waves obey you
and that at your command
the powers of evil cannot harm us.
Stay with us through your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord for ever.  Amen.

 

Reflection:

Why are you so cowardly?
Pay attention to the narration of Mark about Jesus calming the sea. It was evening when Jesus and the disciples took the boat. There were also other small boats. They are venturing into the other side of the sea. Once in the boat, Jesus falls asleep while the disciples are left to face the tempests of the sea in the night.
Mark wants to tell the readers that Jesus was reaching the evening of his life. And he is no more physically with his disciples. His presence is there in the boat – that is the Church, which is being tossed on the tempests of the world. Therefore, when they faced the persecutions and struggles in life, they felt that Jesus, their God was sleeping and did not care about their struggles. That’s why they complain: “Do you not care that we are perishing?” The gospel also mentions about other small boats moving with them. They represent the other communities of faithful in different regions. They are travelling towards the other side of the sea. It is a clear indication of the Church, journeying towards the heaven.

Jesus calms the sea by saying: “Quiet! Be Still.” We hear that kind of a command from Jesus only when he used to drive out demons. Here, Mark must have been referring to the common belief of the time that the sea is the abode of the devil. The devil in the world is making the life of the Church difficult and creates a sense of perishing. But Jesus drives out the demons by commanding them to “be quiet!”

In the history of the Church, there have been numerous moments of tempests that traumatised the life of the Church. The same is true of our community, our family where we have gone through ups and downs. In all those moments, it is easy to see the image of the boat, shaken by winds and waves.

But in such moments of uncertainties and fear, it is important to remember that we are not alone. Jesus seems to be asleep and doesn’t want to know about our problems. In fact, he addresses us with the same words that he addressed to the disciples that night on the lake. “Why are you so cowardly? Do you still not have faith?”

Jesus did not spare us of all the waves and tempests of life. The problems are there and they will remain. They are part of the human condition. There will be moments of doubt, of hesitation. Jesus is on board with us and that he will not let go of our hand. Even though sometimes we don’t feel his presence, at times it seems to us that he is sleeping, yet our faith reminds that we are not left alone and he is there.

 

Video available on Youtube: Why are you so cowardly?