Twelfth Sunday in
OT B
2024
In the first scripture reading, Job suffers great calamities
– destruction of property and
debilitating illness. He asks the
question WHY in the sense why do good people endure such hardships in
life? That is our question as well. God speaks to Job and asks him to trust in
God when we don’t understand why bad things happen to good people.
God’s love for Job doesn’t suddenly remove the struggles and
crosses of his life, but God does accompany Job in the midst of the calamities
of his life and leads him to trust in God even in the midst of life
circumstances he cannot control.
The Job reading prepares us for the Gospel. The disciples were traveling in a boat on the
Sea of Galilee that seems unequal to the weather it faces. And so, a violent storm and the waves came
crashing in over the side of the boat.
The disciples were in a state of panic fearing for their lives.
That boat on the Sea of Galilee symbolizes us and our Church
as we seem overwhelmed by the storms of life?
The storminess on the Sea of Galilee represent all those situations in
life that cause us to be fearful.
The disciples were concerned about the inaction of Jesus who
was asleep in the back of the boat. From
the disciples’ perspectives, Jesus wasn’t getting it. It’s like our current axiom: “Houston, we
have a problem.” This was the disciples
of calling 911. The disciples wanted
immediate action from Jesus. The disciples had lost the confidence of their
prayer life and the question they asked took on the tone of a hostile
accusation: “Teacher, don’t you care about the crisis we are facing?
Can we identify with
the fear of the apostles about the seeming absence of Jesus at times in our
life? In what situations do we lose the
confidence of prayer and resort to fear and anxiety?
We ask the question why does God allow the war in the Middle
East, the war in Ukraine, too much violence in the streets of our cities?
When it comes to the health of our children, when it comes
to a break in a significant relationship, when it comes to job pressure, money
pressures, when it comes slipping into fear and depression, do we wonder
whether the boat we are in can withstand the storms of life?
The question is ever-present: what happens when we are caught in spiritual
storms? Do we have confidence in God or
are we filled with fright?
For the first disciples and for us who also are disciples of
the Lord Jesus, Jesus calls us back to our true center with two tough
questions: Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?
I invite you to consider the temptations of your life as the
violent squall and the surging sea that threaten us and make us fearful. When we’re insulted, it’s like being buffeted
by winds? When we’re angered, it’s like
being tossed about by waves. When we’re
insulted, our instinct is revenge. But
revenge produces an even worse situation – shipwreck. Consider temptations as windy squalls and
surging seas.
In these situations of fearfulness, do what the disciples
did. Wake us Jesus who is asleep in our
hearts. Then like the wind and sea, we
are called to quiet down and be still and trust that Jesus who is the master of
the sea and the waves is the Lord and Savior of your life.
As we seek to wake up Jesus who seems to be asleep in our
hearts, we need to discern who is asleep.
Is Jesus asleep and indifferent to the cross we are experiencing or is
it we who are asleep when the fears of our life control our inner space so much
that our trust in Jesus as the Lord and Savior has been completely eroded? The tire hits the road in our spiritual
journey when the storms on the Sea of Galilee invade our personal space and
when we are gripped with fear.
Psychiatrists tell us that toxic fear and worry is a disease
of the imagination. Fear robs us of the
inner peace we seek. It keeps us from
enjoying the present moment. How much of
our lives is controlled by the fear of what might go wrong?
The very first words out of the mouth of the angel Gabriel
when he speaks to Mary are: “Do not be afraid.”
Scripture scholars tell us those four words are repeated 365 times in
the Scriptures.
Why so much attention to the single emotion of fear? Fear cripples our ability to become
transformed – which is the whole purpose of the Gospel and of the coming of
Jesus Christ into our anxiety-ridden world.
Jesus is focused: we cannot move
forward in faith until we have learned how to deal with our fears.
The Sea of Galilee is a gift of God to us for its beauty,
and the storminess of the sea is our challenges to convert the fears of life
into trust in His abiding presence in our life.
The Gospel calls us to be mindful of God’s faithfulness
towards us. We need to discern who is
Jesus for us amid the storms of our lives.
May your take home message in this storm story is that the Lord remains
with us in the storm. Hat th Lord is
present to his fearful and faithless disciples.
His presence is creative and life-giving. Jesus brought calm out of the chaos and saw
to it that the boat reached the other side.
The Lord remains stronger that the storms of our lives.
One more thing: may
we also discern how the Lord calls us to help others to navigate the storms of
life as they need and value the compassion care and presence of a calming
friend and a fellow traveler.
Have a Blessed Day.
Have a Blessed Day.
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