NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
9 AUGUST 2020
The
prophet Elijah finds himself in a difficult situation. As the only remaining prophet of God, he had
won a tremendous victory over the prophets of the false gods at Mount
Carmel. He had effectively demonstrated
that those gods were not real and had called on the people of Israel to return
to the Covenant that had been sealed through Moses at Mount Sinai. He had slain the prophets of the false
gods. That enraged the pagan queen,
Jezebel. She had ordered her troops to
hunt him down and kill him. Her death
threats caused him to look past his victory and see only the threat of death
looming over him. Afflicted with fear,
he wondered where God was. But an angel
fed him with water and hearth cakes and told him to walk forty days and forty
nights through the desert to Mount Horeb, the name given by the northerners to
Mount Sinai.
At the
mountain, he looks for an epiphany, a manifestation of God’s presence. But God does not manifest himself in the
dramatic ways that Moses had experienced.
God is not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire. Instead, he experiences the presence of God
in a completely unexpected way: in a
tiny whispering sound. Encouraged by
this epiphany, Elijah returns to Israel to continue calling his people to be
faithful to the Covenant. He finds even
greater success in the work done by Elisha, his successor.
Seven
hundred years later, the disciples of Jesus find themselves in an equally
difficult situation. Like Elijah, they
too had experienced a victory. They had been
with Jesus when he tried to find a quiet place to mourn the death of his
cousin, John the Baptist. They had
witnessed his compassion in setting aside his grief and tending to the needs of
the crowd. He healed the sick and fed
the huge crowd with five loaves and two fish.
As he remained to pray, they are in a boat in the middle of the Sea of
Galilee in a terrible storm. They fear
for their lives.
Jesus then
manifests himself in an unexpected way.
He walks toward them on the waves.
At first, they think that it is a ghost.
They know from the Psalms that only God has power over storms and raging
waters. Jesus identifies himself with
divinity by responding to them as God had responded to Moses in the burning
bush: “It is I.” “Do not be afraid.” Peter responds by asking permission to walk
on the water. But he quickly looks past
Jesus and sees only the raging wind. As
he sinks into the water, Jesus grabs him by the hand and saves him. Once Jesus has calmed the storm, Peter and
the other disciples affirm his identity as the Son of God. They will be commissioned to carry on his
mission after his death and resurrection. Jesus entrusts the leadership of his
Church (known throughout the centuries as the barque or boat) to Peter.
We too find
ourselves in a difficult situation. Even
though we had hoped to have put this pandemic behind us by now, we continue to
deal with its continued assault on us.
The virus continues to ravage our lives like the storm at the Sea of
Galilee. And the arguments about how to
handle this pandemic also rage. We have
become more acutely aware of injustice in our world, especially the lack of
respect for the dignity of the human person, whether in the womb or in a person
of another color or nationality. We are
deeply divided in ways that tear apart families and communities along political
fault lines. It is easy to keep our eyes
on all these raging winds. But Jesus
invites us to focus on him, on his presence in our lives, and on his command
that we need to take courage and not be afraid.
It is fear that keeps us from embracing the precautions that can save
the lives of other people. It is fear
that causes us to lose hope and wonder if God is with us in this storm. It is fear that keeps us from recognizing the
unexpected ways in which the Lord manifests himself to us today. We are together in this boat, this Church,
this barque of Peter. In the midst of
all that rages around us, the Lord is with us.
He will not abandon us.
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