ANECDOTE:
“Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was once lost but now am found, was dead but now I live”. We can always triumph if we rely on the supreme power of God over destructive forces.
John Newton used to be among the captains of the cargo ships carrying slaves from Africa to America. He never worried whether slave trade was right or wrong. It brought money, and that was just enough. One night during their sail, a raging storm blew hell at the sea. The waves were so violent that they tossed the ship like a toy. Everyone on board was gripped with fear, and Newton was instinctively moved to do something which he was not used to doing. He prayed. He shouted at the top of his voice saying, “God! If you will save us, I promise to be your slave for the rest of my life.” God intervened and the ship survived. Newton later became a priest and spent the rest of his life in the vineyard of the Lord. Still shocked by the deadly experience, he wrote in his later years once of the most popular and moving hymns: “AMAZING GRACE! HOW SWEET THE SOUND THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME.”
There is no situation, no matter how chaotic it may be, that God cannot subdue and make something surprisingly new out of it. The story of John Newton reflects that of the Apostles in the Gospel today. When they experienced the ‘Amazing saving grace’ of God in Jesus from the storm meant to destroy them, they were filled with owe for such an amazing grace and asked, “Who is this…?”
FIRST READING: Job: 38:1, 8-11
A background
The story of job is quite pathetic . The question as to why the innocent suffer has a trace from the experience of Job. But then, another question that arises from that is: “Is anyone born of a woman truly innocent? This was the justification that the three friends of Job (Eliphaz of Teman, Bildad of Shush, and Zophar of Naamath) tried to give to him as the reason for his suffering, although they failed to convince him. Job insistently refused their reproach and kept justifying his innocence: “I shall maintain my integrity to my dying day. I take my stand on my uprightness, I shall not stir. In my heart I need not be ashamed of my days” (Job 27:5-6). Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite (Job 32:2ss) will also intervene when the three friends of Job seemed to have failed. Although young but filled with divine wisdom, Elihu tried to disprove Job of his self acclaimed innocence which has made him ignorant of the mystery of the wisdom of God. He proclaimed God as “omnisapient” and demonstrated to Job that even his suffering is contained in the wisdom of God (Job 36:1-33), which by consequence characterizes his “omnipotency” (Job 37: 1-24) .
In the chapter 37 which proceeds the chapter we read this morning, Elihu exhorts God as the maker of all things and who governs everything that exist by his power and his wisdom such that nothing escapes him. When all efforts made by all around Job to convince him of the mystery of his suffering has failed, God himself in the chapter 38 we read this morning finally broke his long silence over Job’s situation to reprove his imaginations, and expose the ignorance of Job which has prevented him from understanding the plans and designs of God. It was only then that Job acknowledged his ignorance and nothingness before God:”Now I know that you are all powerful. What you conceive, you can perform. I was the man who misrepresented your intentions with my ignorant words. You have told me about great works that I cannot understand, about marvel which are beyond me, of which I know nothing. Before, I knew you only by hearsay but now having seen you with my own eyes, I retract what I have sais and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 43:1-6). This is Job’s fresh appreciation of the true nature of God. Previously his conception of God had been conventional and second-hand, but now he experiences the mystery for himself and bows down before the Almighty. By coming to know him now, Job understood that God cannot be called to account, and that his wisdom may give an unsuspected meaning to such realities like suffering and death.
This book of Job introduces us to the gospel since they both share certain elements in common; Sea, wave, the limited human person and the divine who claims power over all. The disciples in the in the Gospel of Mark have been with Jesus for quite a long while but their experience of Jesus today was unique. Just like Job sang the omnipotency of God after experiencing for himself the mystery of God, the disciples will equally sing the omnipotency of Jesus after exercising authority over sea and storm; “Who is this…?”
Message:
Like Job, when we are faced with sufferings and storms of life, we are tempted to ask God why and sometimes fail to look at our suffering as a test of Faith. We equally fail to acknowledge the wisdom of God which understands all things. Our sufferings are contained in the divine wisdom. Although not imposed by God but he allows them as a way of further revealing himself to us. He does not keep silent forever. No matter how long we may have to suffer, God will definitely break his silence over our situation as he did to Job today. And like Job, he reminds us that he is the creator and master of the universe. He governs all things, they listen to his voice and obey his commands; “…Thus far shall you come, and no further, and here shall your proud waves be stayed” (Job 38:11). The power of our God should not be underestimated, and his wisdom should not be doubted when we are faced with tribulations of every kind. God sees all and in his wisdom, he understands all. He only needs our cooperation in order to reveal to us the true meaning of our situation. It is only then can he be able to restore us back to happiness (Job 42:10-17- the restoration of Job’s fortune in double-folds).
SECOND READING: 2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Paul, who “rode the storm” of rejection by his former friends, also experienced storms of violent hostility from the Jews who refused to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Corinth, a Greek seaport, was a cosmopolitan place where multiple Greek philosophies and religions were current, and where seaport morals were common. Although some received the Gospel enthusiastically from Paul, a few of them were prone to be competitive and to judge each other harshly. Indeed, some judged Paul himself harshly, particularly when he canceled a planned trip to Corinth in order to attend to matters, he judged more pressing. Paul has already introduced his distinction between the flesh and the spirit. Here the flesh means not just the locus of sexual desires, but all the egoism and the egotistic tendencies which urge people live as if they do not need God. Paul believes Baptism changes all that. By Baptism, the formerly flesh-centered person has died to that way of life. This change in Christians changes their fundamental orientation, meaning that the baptized should no longer live for themselves, but for Christ. So they should no longer think of each other as competitors, but as co-members of a new creation. Hence, Paul insists that the Corinthians stop living just for themselves, stop judging each other “according to the flesh.” (fr. Anthony Kadavil).
GOSPEL:Mark: 4:35-41
context
As the sun is setting, Jesus ends a long day of teaching the crowd, saying to the apostles, “Let us cross to the other side,” (of the Sea of Galilee), in order that they may begin the next day’s work on the opposite shore. In this week’s text, the crossing of the stormy sea lies between Jesus’ ministry in Galilee and first experience among the Gentiles. The story thus occurs at a point of change and challenge in the mission of Jesus and his disciples.
Allegory of the passage
Many of the Fathers of the Church consider this miracle story as an allegory of the early Church. The boat in the stormy lake is a symbol of the Church facing challenges and heresies from inside and various forms of suppression and persecution from outside. The early Church faced fierce persecution in the first three centuries. It was followed by a calm period, but that period was plagued with heresies, culminating in the Protestant Reformation Movement. The faithful in such situations wondered if Jesus had deserted the Church. But in their desperate cry for help they were able to experience the inner peace and strength of Jesus. Very often the Church and the faithful have no control over the political and social developments of our society. But, no matter what we are experiencing, we can — with the help of Jesus — find peace. It is the peace which only Jesus can give. And it is a peace which no person, no thing, and no situation can take away from us.
Re-reading the passage
There are important things we have to underline in that particular passage. First it was Jesus who told the apostles, “let us cross to the other side of the water…”. It means that the Journey was the initiative of Jesus himself. In other words, he is leading the way. Another important element is the fact that Jesus was with them in the boat. It simply indicates that Christ is always with his Church and will never leave her: “I am with you even to the end of the age” (Mat. 28:20). Mark equally underlined that Jesus was asleep. This demonstrates Mark’s effort to prove that Jesus who is fully God (He neither sleeps nor slumbers, Israel’s Guard…Ps 121:4) is also fully human as against those who accept one of the natures against the other. The intervention of Jesus in the situation of the embattled disciples and the calming of the storm is Mark’s way of projecting his divinity. Jesus was fully aware of the troubles that his fellows were passing through, but he allowed it as a test of their faith. No doubt they have struggled and tried all they could within their power to combat the raging storm, but little did they understand at the onset that the battle is of the Lord: …”Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2Chronicles 20:15). It was only at that very moment when they called on him that they experienced calm.
Life messages
The story of the storm sets the stage for the manifestation of the power of Jesus before all who were meant to witness it. Like the disciples we have set out on a journey in this world to the other side (both a missionary journey as well as the journey to heaven as the case may be). On this journey, there will definitely be times when we will feel that the boat is being swamped. It can come in different manner. Let us think of the moment we feel rejected because of our faith in God, the moments when we will be criticized and our dignity dragged to the mud. Let us think of the moments when our faith will be challenged by situations around us. For example that moment when we will receive a shocking news of the death of a dear one, a strong pillar of our life, the moment when we will watch someone we love so much lying helpless on a sick bed, the moment when you will seek for healing and it will seem as if God is sleeping. Let us imagine that moment when we will put up every effort to make sure that we succeed in whatever will be our source of livelihood and the result we will get is setback (economic or financial setback). We can equally think of that moment when we will be mocked for not having a child of our own. All these and many others are storms of life that challenge our faith. At times too, the gusting winds of worries about the past and the angry waters of anxieties concerning the future can equally scare us out of wits. In all these moments, Jesus may appear to be sleeping. Yes, the apostles were fully aware that Jesus was asleep, but they woke him up. Let us not think that we can handle the storms alone. Let us not spend time asking too many questions. We have got to touch him only. We must disturb him until he wakes up for us. Surely God has never promised that nothing bad will happen to us. He has not promised either that we will always have a smooth sailing and blue skies every day. The only thing we must be sure of is that he whispers to our faith that when storms arise, when the world comes crashing down over us, he will surely be there. He will not come in haste, but he will surely be there on time. We only need to open our eyes to see that Jesus is right there at the cushion, right inside our sinking boat. But because the boat of Jesus can never sink, our boat too can never sink. He will never prove to be indifferent nor pretend not to be aware. He will never depart from our boat. He will only wait for that faith in us capable of waking him up, and then we will have to wait for that moment when he will say, “Peace. Be calm! Before our very eyes, the storms will cease and the raging wind will drop calm, and the only word that will come out of our mouth will be: “Who is this…?”
Let us not cease to cry to God in stormy moments, but let us remember that it is so easy to cry out and yet remain in the storm and in so doing still feel engulfed. Therefore as we are crying to Jesus, let us remember to keep our eyes fixed on him and not on the storm. Evil of any kind can do nothing to us since Jesus is with us in the same boat. He will surely save us from our storms and lead us successfully to cross over to the other side only by his “Amazing Grace”.
PRAYER
Lord you have made us to understand that you are always with us in our journey of life. Your presence calms our fears. Help us to be conscious of your saving help, and give us the grace of courage to call upon you always especially when the storms grow violent. Amen.
PAX VOBIS!
