12th Sunday of Ordinary Time Scriptures: Job 38:1, 8-11; 2 Corinthians 5:14-17; Mark 4:35-41
Well here we are again,
hurricane season 2015. Remember the 2004
hurricanes? Judy and I decided not to
evacuate, after all the strongest storm was only a category 2. Yet while we sat in the dark, in the middle
of the night, wind howling, shingles slapping the roof and all kinds of other
strange noises outside, there came moments when I saw & heard the fear in
Judy as well as feeling it myself, as we both questioned our decision to hunker
down and ride the storm out.
“The Gospel today gives us a
vivid image of the power of fear. The
raging storm, the boat taking on water—there is real, tangible, physical danger! And Jesus is asleep.”[1]
St Paul’s message is a call to
transformation. “So whoever is in Christ
is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold new things have
come.” So what is this transformation? It is fully immersing ourselves into the
invitation of the Risen Christ. Having
and living our faith in full confidence that God is in control. Our united walk with Christ makes us a new
creation.
In the disciples’ walk with
Jesus, they have seen Him cast out demons (Mk 1:25), cure the sick (Mk 1:31),
cleans lepers (Mk 1:42), heal a paralytic (Mk 2:9), make a withered hand whole
(Mk 3:5), and still they ask the question: “Who then is this whom even wind and
sea obey?” (Mk 4:41). In the Gospel the
disciples are able to wake Jesus, who is able to calm the storm and make all
things well. This display of divine
power awakens a sense of wonder in the disciples.[2] You would think after witnessing all of this
the disciples would have a strong and unshakeable faith, yet they will ask the
question again and again, “Who then is this?”
How often do we desire that we
could shake Jesus awake? We know well
the devastation a hurricane can have on our community and we all have
encountered other situations in our lives; diagnosis of a serious illness, the
failure of a marriage, the collapse of a business, or the accumulation of many
small, but no trivial, stresses. The
threat of drowning in our own fears, grief, and raw emotion can, at times, feel
overwhelming. So what are we to do when
storms threaten to tear apart the very fabric of our lives?
Pray. And Judy, my wife, laughs? At one point in my life, my world view of
what a man should be strong, able to resolve and pick himself up by his boot
straps and march on head held high. Over
time I learned, real men do cry and have paralyzing fear. Real men do pray.
Pray for God’s transforming
grace. We all need to focus on Jesus
questions: Why are you afraid? Begin to
mentally explore the situation. What is
the thing that is truly paralyzing me?
What do I fear? What do I
dread? Then ask to be released from that
fear. Fear is probably the greatest
barrier to our transformation. We cannot
move forward until we have learned how to sit with our fear, to recognize it,
to name it, and to pray for the grace to be released from fear.
We live in a world that
actively generates fear. True freedom
and transformation comes when we are able to navigate our way through the
storms of life without being capsized.
Freedom comes from knowing our God is more powerful than a Category 5
hurricane, knowing that Jesus is not asleep, and that in the long-term our
faith is best served by learning to navigate our difficulties in conversation
with Jesus.
Mark tells us the story of
Jesus’ divine power not simply to impress upon us who Jesus is, but to give us
the confidence that no matter what trouble besets us, no matter the storm we
find ourselves in; those who are the disciples of Jesus can have confidence in
his power to rescue us.
No comments:
Post a Comment