June 20, 2021
12th Sunday Ordinary B
Pudgy was the name of our dog. As he grew older and my three sisters and I became nosier, he would spend more time across the street with an elderly couple. They were made for each other. But whenever there was a pending storm, even when the sun was shining, Pudgy would come home and take shelter behind our bathtub. It was his safe harbor! People and dogs can be frightened during a storm as we learn today when Jesus and his disciples are caught in a violent night storm on the Sea of Galilee. The wind and rain squalls come up and the waves crash onto the boat. Jesus is asleep in the stern on a cushion. The disciples are terrified. They say to Jesus (as we do): “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?†Jesus now awake, rebukes the wind and says to the sea: “Quiet! Be still!†In the great calm that ensues, Jesus asks: “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?†The disciples are filled with awe and say to one another: “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?â€
Jews are not seafarers like their neighbors the Phoenicians who sail the Mediterranean. Galilean Jews are fishermen and women on an inland lake which is located seven hundred feet below sea level, is eight miles wide, twelve miles long, two hundred feet deep in some places, and is subject to frequent violent storms. We can appreciate how this incident is remembered by the disciples, becomes part of the oral tradition, and is included in the Gospel according to St. Mark. Early on, the “boat†becomes a symbol of the church battered by threats and dangers. We are the church. Values we espouse like the dignity of the human person and sanctity of human life in the womb and all of creation are imperiled in our society. Storms that threaten the church are both external and internal. We, as church, are coming to grips with the sexual abuse of children, teens, and vulnerable adults within the church! Storms arise within too -- like fear, anxiety, depression, and loss. No matter what an individual may be going through, a clear mind and untroubled soul, can enable a person to weather any storm.
Our readings today are relevant. The Book of Job deals with a just man who suffers. The Lord speaks to Job “out of a storm†and commands the “proud waves to be stilled.†I recommend a book by a Jewish Rabbi, Harold Kushner, a reflection on the Book of Job, entitled “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.†It is about his own coming to an inner peace after the untimely death and loss of his son. Psalm 107 is a beautiful poem/hymn about those who sail the sea in ships. “They cried out to the Lord in their distress; from their straits he rescued them. He hushed the storm to a gentle breeze, and the billows of the sea were stilled.†St. Paul encourages the Church at Corinth, to persevere in face of all dangers and divisions because “the love of Christ impels us†and with the conviction that Jesus died for all.
Whatever the storms we are going through we are not alone. We come to the truth that Christ is with us in the boat! We are tempted to say with the disciples: “Lord, don’t you care?†We come to realize that Christ is not only at our side but within us. Christ is the captain of our boat. We trust in Jesus to bring us to safe harbor.
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11th Sunday Ordinary Time B
