INTRODUCTION
The readings for this Sunday assure us that we have a saving God who only expects us to have a trusting Faith while He takes care of the rest. Though He may allows storms of life to rise and foam but we should not bother because He will surely come at the time we least expect him.
FIRST READING: 1 Kings 19:9a.11-13a
Elijah was on the run because of the trait issued to him by Jezebel the wife of King Ahab (the King of Israel) and a daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians.The marriage between Ahab and this pegan woman was not only displeasing to God but he equally went ahead to adopt the worship of Baal and even built a temple of Baal in Samaria. This and his many other crimes provoked the anger of Yahweh that He decided to shut the heavens from giving rain. After a long period of no rain, Yahweh decided to let heaven open. But before this could take place, the worship of Baal needed to be stopped. This brought about the famous contest between Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal on mount Camel. We knew how the prophet put all of them to the sword because of their failure to prove the potency of Baal. This action of Elijah provoked Jezebel to the point that she sent message to Elijah saying: “May the gods bring unnameable ills and worse ills too if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like one of theirs. Elijah took fright and fled for his life. This opens the scene of today’s reading in which God revealed himself to Elijah through three different natural elements. The first 3 elements hurricane, earthquake and fire came in violent ways and in none of them did Elijah discover the presence of God. However, at last God revealed himself in a light murmuring sound-symbol of calmness and peace to the troubled situation of the prophet. God calmed the storm of Elijah and renewed his mission as well as his (God) constant presence in his life.
SECOND READING: Romans 9:1-5
In the first eight chapters of his letter to the Romans, Paul describes the blessings which Christ the Messiah, as the fulfillment of “the Law and the prophets,” brought to mankind. Deeply moved, Paul in today’s second reading, cries out in passionate grief for his countrymen, the Jews, because as a nation they have refused to see Christ as the Messiah promised to them by God through their patriarchs and prophets and thus though still His Chosen People, have not been the ones to bring the Messiah to the world and the world to the Messiah in the present form of the Kingdom of God on Earth (Fr. Anthony Kadavil). But then Paul was optimistic that irrespective of their incredulity God has not abandoned them. To this he makes reference to the first reading today whereby Elijah expresses how Israel abandoned Yahweh and how they put all the prophets of Yahweh to the sword and turned down his altars, except he (Elijah) who was able to escape; and how God promised him that he will save 7000 men in Israel (1Kings 19: 10.14-18 as evoked by Paul in Rm11:1). Irrespective of the anguish and sorrow expressed by the Apostle over the incredulity of his people, he was able to find consolation on the generational promise of Yahweh to his Jewish brethren. It is not strange to see how the apostle recorded his personal experience of suffering-the storm that comes with his faith and mission but at the same time he affirmed his consolation thanks to God’s promise over Israel.
GOSPEL: Matthew 14:22-33
Apart from Matthew, Mark (6:45-52) and John (6:16-21) also recorded this event, but it is only in Matthew’s account that we can find what transpired between Jesus and Peter. After sending his disciples ahead of him, Jesus proceeded to dismiss the crowd after which He went up to the mountain to pray. We recall as we were told last Sunday that it was this moment that Jesus sought to have before being greeted by the presence of the crowd. Today Matthew tells us that after all said and done Jesus did not still skip this precious moment of prayer. He succeeded in creating the opportunity to pray.
And while He was in prayer, his disciples were struggling at the other end with the wave of the sea. One could imagine how frightening it was to be in a small boat far away from the shore and in the midst of a raging storm. The difficulty they encountered at this moment in the sea is not by any way their fault. They simply obeyed the voice of the Master who asked them to move. This is certainly the heart of the whole narrative. No one who obeys the voice of the Lord will be lost.
Matthew said that in the fourth watch of the night Jesus came to them working on the sea (v.25). Now the fourth watch points to 3 a.m-6 a.m. This is a way of saying that the morning has come, and that Jesus who is the light now works towards his disciples who had been struggling throughout the night of fear and evil. The sea in its biblical terms is often associated with the habitat of demonic forces. This is evidently presented in the apocalypse of St John which describes the final reign of God in terms of the extermination of the sea (Rev. 21:1). The walking on the sea describes the divinity of Jesus and how He exercises dominion over every created thing and the forces of darkness.
Catching sight of Jesus walking on the sea, the disciples were troubled saying, “it is a ghost”. And they cried out for fear (v.26). Certainly the disciples were afraid of the storm and they might have dealt with similar situation severally since majority of them were fishermen. But their fear increased at the moment they saw something strange.The description of this mysterious figure as a ghost quickly asserts the trouble of the sea as a manifestation of the power from the underworld. The supposed ‘Ghost Jesus’ quickly noticed the terrible panic from his disciples and told them: “Take heart, it is I; have no fear (v.27).” Notice that with these words Jesus first calmed the storm in the minds of his disciples before proceeding to calm the external storm. This simply tells how every change must begin from the interior-from the mind. Such a word of comfort certainly went a long way to calm the disciples. Someone might have said: ‘This is certainly a kind ghost!’
In the attempt to confirm what he heard Peter opened up a dialogue: “Lord if it is you command me to come to you on the waters (v.28). This sudden reaction of Peter (the spokesman of the Apostles) could be understood differently:
1. “If it is you” conditionally presupposes lack of conviction.
2. “Command me to come” at the same time tells of one who acknowledges the other as superior over himself. Peter did not hesitate to step down from the boat when he heard Jesus say, ‘come!’ (v.29). ‘Come’ is an imperative. It is a word that wrought the miracle for Peter to stand on the sea. It is a word that brought about a creative order in Peter just like in the first moment of creation; He commanded and it came to be. It is a statement that raised Peter to the realm of the divine capable of overcoming the law of nature without sinking. At this point, the journey towards Jesus was interestingly adventurous because he still had focus on Jesus as well as the sound of his word. His courage was suddenly ruptured the moment he saw that the wind was strong. He took fright and began to sink. it was the same wind that was blowing strong. The problem of Peter came at the moment he shifted his look from the one who told him to come and also when he lost the sound of his voice. Peter might have shown an imperfect faith but certainly his faith was bolder that than the rest in the boat because he not only stepped out of the boat, he equally expressed faith immediately he saw himself sinking: “Lord save me.”
Matthew tells us that the wind ceased immediately Jesus got into the boat. Again this shows that once there is internal peace, no matter what happens outside the individual is never troubled.
The account about the worship rendered by the disciples to Jesus is a way in which the evangelist tells his Jewish audience that this Jesus you see is truly God, because the word ‘worship’ is only attributed to the divine.
READING THE PASSAGE IN ITS CONTEXT
This narrative was said to have come as Matthew’s message to the Christians who are facing persecutions addressing the issues of danger and fear in the journey of faith. Like many others St Augustine saw the ship as the church and he writes: “This ship which carries the disciples that is, the church is tossed and shaken by the tempest of temptation, and the contrary wind that is, her devil adversary rest not and strives to hinder her from arriving at rest. But greater is He who makes intercession for us (quoted in Gardner 232). The Church harbours those on pilgrimage to the other side-the eternal homeland. But sailing on the sea of the world, they are bound to encounter rough winds and deadly storms. The men of the underworld and the forces of darkness operate in the secret of the night causing terrors that often shiver many Christians to submit to them. But the beautiful message of Matthew is that it is Christ himself who sent his Church on this pilgrimage. He is aware of the storms ahead. His silent moments (of prayers) shows how he constantly intercedes before the Father on behalf of his Church. His absence from the boat does not suggest abandonment. It is an opportunity to allow his Church to build more faith in him through the turbulent events of life. Matthew describes his absence-presence as walking towards them in the fourth watch of the night. It is the outbreak of light meant to terrorize the terrorizing forces of darkness. THE DESCRIPTION OF JESUS AS GHOST SHOWS HOW PERSECUTION AND CHALLENGES CAN CAUSE CHRISTIANS TO LOSE A CLEAR IMAGE OF THE LORD. The stepping out of Peter shows also how the leaders of the Church must step out to match over the world of fear terrorizing the faithful. Though their yes like Peter is not a guarantee of the success of their mission. Sometimes, they lose step and fall because of the VOICE OF THE WIND (the voice of riches and powers) CAUSING THEM TO LOSE THE VOICE OF HIM WHO ASK THEM TO COME.
Would Jesus had saved Peter without the later crying out? Yes, but the example of Peter is meant to teach us how important it is to recognize ones failings and to ask God for help.
LIFE MESSAGE
1. PETER MUST LEARN TO REMAIN IN THE BOAT
Many faithful have left the boat (the Church) simply because they felt they saw what looked like the Lord outside the boat. They felt they had seen the light or probably because the boat was not no longer safe for them, and many of these have ended up badly.
Sometimes, we are in haste to abandon the faith simply because there is an internal storm in the Church (scandals of the ministers and misuse of authority etc), probably because we expect a perfect Church on earth, yet we forget that the force of the storm is stronger out there. IF PETER HAD KNOWN THAT AT A POINT HE WOULD BEGIN TO SINK, HE WOULD CERTAINLY NOT HAVE STEPPED OUT OF THE BOAT. The Church must journey together in moments of joy as well as suffering. No one should feel wiser to think that it is easier to step outside. Two things makes the narrative interesting, and which are meant to ascertain the authenticity of the Church:
1. The disciples did not embark on the journey on their own. They were sent by the Master, and he who sent them was aware of the possibility of storms. The Church is an institution of Christ on pilgrimage towards heaven bound to encounter rough moments.
2. At the end of the narrative, Jesus rejoined the rest of the apostles in the boat together with the rescued Peter. Christ is still at the helm of the his Church and will not cease to bring back to light those who are lost in what they thought was the light.
2. THE STORM IS NOT YET OVER
The storm is not yet over. It is not an easy road as we match towards heaven, for many are the thorns on the way. How does it feel to live in Lebanon recently? How many will still appreciate the message that the Lord is with them when it is obvious that their beloved ones are wiped away by the terrible explosion-the human storm? How many of them will still have the courage to be in the boat- the Church after the storm? Wouldn’t it be better to step out like Peter? These are indeed serious existential questions that touch the faith. If we have not experienced terrible moments in life, we will not understand how it hurts to remain faithful. But I think the crisis of faith comes because we often take God as COHABITING our human experience and not INHABITING it. The Emmanuel-God with us does not suggest a God who is outside our experience so that we have to consult him whenever we face challenges. On the contrary, it means God shares in our experiences of life. He is part of our story of joy and suffering. He feels our feelings more than we do. If we feel wounded when we lose someone close to us probably as a result of inhuman action of others, then we can imagine how God feels that the work of his hand is destroyed by the work of his hand. He feels our loss more than we do.
Let us pray though that God may heal our broken world and heal those who are touched in the recent catastrophe in Lebanon and grant eternal rest to their beloved ones.
3. THE LORD STILL CALMS STORMS
Our God is still in charge. He stairs the wheel. Who could have imagined how many hours the disciples had to go through the struggle. The darker it got, the greater the struggle and the higher the sinking to death, yet the Master was nowhere to be found. The only thing in their mind at that moment should be death. When they thought they had seen it all with the trouble of the sea, then lo and behold another threatening figure surfaced thus increasing their fears. It was actually the Master who showed up in what they interpreted as ghost. It happened at the fourth watch, when it was almost dawn. Truly He came late. But does it really matter again now. What counts is that He finally came.
All of us have one storm or the other raging in our lives, some less and some high. Someone is somewhere sinking to death and it seems the Lord has taken a leave of absence.
The message I have is this: ‘keep your mind fixed on the Lord while battling with the situation ‘. Remember your fourth watch is yet to come. Do not lose hope. The one who sent you into this world will certainly catch up with you at the heat of your problems when it seems that everything is crashing out.
PRAYER
Look with pity on your children o Lord for we are surrounded by the storms of life. And since You know that without You we can do absolutely nothing, come to us soon and rescue us as we place all our hope in you.
Amen.
PAX VOBIS!
