God’s presence is felt more often in tiny, small ways, not in earth-shattering howling
wind or rushing fire or storms. He comes to us in gentle little ways and is there
present when we need him the most. He expects from us the openness to call on him
for help and he will be there to support and guide us. He wants us to be aware of
his voice in our life which often goes unnoticed. Our confidence that Jesus is always
there presents extending his guiding and supporting hand builds up our faith. In the
First Reading from the First Book of Kings we have Prophet Elijah who had gone to
a cave at Horeb, the mountain of God, where he stayed for 40 days. Convinced that
there is no more to do for God, the Prophet asked God in prayer to take his life.
But God has different plans and provides him strength to carry on his mission. In
the Second Reading Paul expresses his sadness over the fact that his fellow Jews have
not accepted Jesus as Christ and have rejected the Lord. Expressing the great love
that he had for his own countrymen, Paul was willing to undergo the worst possible
fate, being cut off from Christ, if such could possibly save those that he loved.
In the Gospel of today Jesus miraculously saves the frightened disciples. They were
caught in the midst of a storm and Jesus comes to them walking on water. Peter while
walking on the water towards Jesus began to sink and asks his master to save him.
Jesus tells him to place his trust in him. In the first reading of today Elijah
is stands at a significant threshold in his career as a prophet. He had been a great
prophet. His victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and the execution
of four hundred of them, had incurred the wrath of Queen Jezebel. He moves away to
Mount Horeb, the Mountain of the Lord and is instructed to await God’s passing before
him. The prophet sees or hears three natural dramatic phenomena associated with God’s
presence. First there is the driving wind. This is followed by an earthquake. Finally
there is a blazing fire. These signs bring to mind the theophany of Sinai in the
book of Exodus. But God is not present in any of these. After this came the most ordinary
of events namely, a tiny whispering Sound. In this most simple gentle breeze, the
prophet discovers God’s presence. Elijah covered his face with his cloak, realizing
the divine presence and worshipped him. It was on the mountain of God that Moses
interceded for the people, pleading with him for his forgiveness and be present among
them. Now on the same mountain Elijah does not plead for the people but declares
that they have abandoned God and his covenant. As a prophet Elijah had the task of
serving people as the mouth piece of God and brings them to the path of righteousness.
It was though this tiny whisper of wind that God makes Elijah realize his presence
and makes him listen to the divine plans for saving his people. Elijah is now told
by God what more he has more to do and receives his commission. In the second reading
of today Paul enumerates the tremendous privileges enjoyed by his fellow Jews. The
very name Israelites recalls their famous father who inherited the promises made to
Abraham and Isaac. The first of these privileges is the adoption, by which the Israelites
are the children of God. The entire Bible is filled with this idea. Next Paul mentions
of the glory of God. God’s splendour of light appeared when God was with his people
in a special way. Paul also reminds of the covenant through which God established
his friendship with his people. He built this bond through Noah, Abraham and Moses
and he gave them the Ten Commandments. Hence they are God’s children, basking in God’s
glory, and enjoying the benefits of the covenant and the law. They continue to worship
in the Temple. Above all Paul marvels that the Christ is their kinsman. Moreover
this kinsman is also their God who is blessed forever. He is the fulfilment of the
Law and the Prophets. Paul expresses his deep hurt that his fellow Jews as a nation
do not recognize Jesus as the Christ, the messiah, promised by God himself through
the prophets. This has troubled Paul so much and he says that he would have gladly
given up everything, even his life and his Christian faith, to get them to accept
Christ as the fulfilment of the promises. Today’s Gospel passage presents us with
two miracles, namely, the episode of Jesus walking on the water and coming to the
disciples to save them from the storm and calming the storm. This miracle of Jesus
follows immediately after feeding the five thousand and more people in the desert
that reconfirms the Christological identity of Jesus. Here Jesus manifests his divine
identity by calming the stormy waters just as in the beginning God brought order out
of Chaos of the raging waters. This story is the continuation of the miracle of the
multiplication of loaves and the feeding of thousands of people in the desert. Immediately
after the event, we are told that Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go
to the opposite shore while he himself would send the crowds away and spend the night
in prayer. Certainly there is the implication that the disciples were not too willing
to leave the scene. They were enjoying the reflected glory of being part of the miracle
worked by Jesus and the enthusiasm of the crowds for Jesus. They were basking in
the reputation of being partners with Jesus. But Jesus wants none of this. Having
dismissed the crowds and having sent the disciples away, Jesus went up into the hills
by himself to pray. In John's version of this story we are told that the people,
after being fed by Jesus, actually wanted to make him their king. They, like the
disciples, have totally missed the meaning of what had taken place. They could not
understand. Therefore he moves away from them to a quiet place. Jesus' work was not
to be seen in terms of crowd-pleasing miracles or supernatural powers. It was primarily
for him in the quality of his relationships: with God, with people and with himself.
His mission gets its significance in a life of service, sharing and community building,
in the strengthening of his Kingdom. It does not consist in having power over others,
in becoming an idol of the crowds. The story now switches back to the disciples.
They are far out on the lake by now, battling with a heavy sea and fighting a strong
headwind. They are there in the lake without Jesus. It is quite clear that here
we are seeing a parable of the Church itself, represented by the disciples in their
fragile boat surrounded by hostile winds and waves. It was the common experience
of the Church during its first centuries as it is in many parts of the world today.
It was a difficult situation filled with much fear and anxiety. Matthew gives us the
vivid picture of Jesus walking on water towards the boat containing his struggling
disciples in the storm. They do not recognize him. They are terrified and quickly
conclude that he is a ghost. Jesus responds to their fear by revealing his identity
and telling them not to be afraid. He tells them: “Take courage; it is I; do not
be afraid.” As such, there is no need for fear or anxiety in spite of the apparently
threatening dangers around them. Jesus is there to protect us and take care of us
and when we are in difficulty and struggle he will come to our help. We need total
trust and faith in him. Peter in fact never really failed, for in moments of his
struggle he turned to Christ and held on to him. The wonderful thing about him in
that every time he fell, he rose again. It must have been true that every failure
of his always brought him closer to Christ. It is said that saint is not the one who
does not fail, but is one who gets up every time he fails. Peter’s failure made him
love Jesus more. Matthew however, uses this story to teach an additional lesson
about faith. To do this he relies on some special material about Peter that none
of the other Gospels contain. Here we see Peter as the only person to recognize Jesus
but then makes the mistake of wanting to prove it. As a proof he wants to walk on
water and he gets the invitation from Jesus to do so. Peter makes the further mistake
by taking his eyes off Jesus and looking at the storm. Immediately when fear takes
over he begins to sink. Jesus rescues him and reprimands him for doubting and for
being a person of little faith. Peter’s lack of faith is not connected to his sinking,
but his need to walk on the water in the first place. Peter is a mixture of courage
and anxiety and here his anxiety dominates. For Matthew and the church, the issue
is having the courage to ride the storm out, firmly believing that the Lord is present
in the church and will protect it. During the times of trouble believers do not get
out of the boat. They remain steadfast, knowing that the Lord will calm the waters.
This incident has a good and happy ending as the storm is calmed and the disciples
recognize Jesus as the Son of God. Today's readings tell us that there is never
any need for fear and anxiety, for Jesus is always close to us. No matter what may
be happening in and around us, his peace is there for us to share. Jesus calls us
to reject the ambitions and dreams of the world and separate ourselves from them as
the prophet went into the cave or Jesus went into the mountains to pray. We as Christians
are called to be not of the world, a counter-witness to its ways, but to be in the
world, as taste-giving salt and growth-giving leaven. We have the mission to lead
people to that moment when they can recognize the presence of Jesus in us and accept
his kingship. One important lesson of today's readings is that, in our turbulent world
Jesus is the source of peace. Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper, "Peace
is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as
the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid." These words were
spoken just before Jesus was to be arrested, tried and executed by his enemies. The
"world" cannot provide peace in such a situation but Jesus can and does. It is for
us to learn how to find the Jesus who gives peace in the ups and downs, in the storms
of our own lives. The Gospel tells us is that we must continue to trust in Christ
and his loving Father even when God seems to have deserted us. He will calm the storm
and restore peace within us. It tells us that we cannot make the mistake like Peter
to take away our eyes from Jesus when we enter a storm in our life. There is something
for us to reflect here: Jesus is not in the boat; he is in that hostile environment
into which we often fear to enter and instead huddle in the security of our church.
It is significant that Jesus is also found outside the boat in the middle of the stormy
sea, the world. However, we have to go out there to meet him in spite of the dangers
and possible setbacks. Jesus and Peter now step into the boat and the wind drops.
There is peace and apparent calm. The great truth is that, wherever Jesus Christ
is, the wildest of storms become calm. In Mark's version of this story, the disciples
are simply amazed at the sudden change but do not draw the obvious conclusion. In
Matthew's version, however, they understand and believe. They even anticipate Peter's
later confession, "Truly, you are the Son of God". The conclusion is that Jesus can
also be found in the boat but only when we also are ready to leave the shelter of
the boat to find him outside, in which there are problems and hardships. All in all,
today's Gospel reflects problems of the early Church, problems which are not unknown
to us today. Yet the problems do exist and Jesus is present to free us from them.
he will come to us and calm the storm in the church. Matthew also here features
the special role of Peter, the leader of the disciples and something he likes to stress.
Peter is close to Jesus and so he is the one who steps out of the boat to go and meet
him in the midst of the storm. This surely is an image of the Church's apostolic
mission to reach out to find and make Christ present in the world, however hostile
it may be. It is not the role of the Church to stay cowering in the shelter of their
boat but in the storm of the sea. We become like the young girl crying in the darkened
bedroom. Her father came in and put on the light and told her that she would feel
better and safer. She replied that it is still dark under the bed and in the closet.
We often fear what we do not see. As we come forward to receive our Lord today in
the Eucharist, carrying all our problems and concerns, let us remember that is always
present waiting for us. He is there stretching out his comforting and saving hand
so that we may not sink in our storms of life. He continues to tell us even today,
“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” “There was once a wise woman travelling
in the mountains who found a precious stone in a stream. She took it and placed it
in her little bag along with the other personal items. The next day she met another
traveller who was hungry, and she opened her bag to share her food with him. This
hungry traveller saw the precious stone in her bag and asked her if she might give
it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveller left, rejoicing in his good
fortune for having secured an expensive precious stone. He knew the stone was worth
enough to give him security for a lifetime. But soon he discovered that he was unable
to sleep for fear that someone may rob the stone. He did not know where to hide it
and spend a few sleepless nights. Then he came back to the wise woman after a few
days and returned the precious stone to her and said: ‘I’ve been thinking and I know
how valuable the stone is; but I’m giving it back in the hope that you can give me
something much more precious. I want you to give me that strength and grace you have
within you that enabled you to give me the stone without hesitation.’ “”The more you
share… The more you grow…” August 07, 2011 Fr. Eugene Lobo
S.J.