Homily for January 28th, 2017: Mark 4:35-41.
Jesus is sound asleep in a boat, in
the middle of a storm B the only place in the four gospels, incidentally, where we find
Jesus sleeping. It was the sleep of exhaustion after a busy day of healing and
teaching. But it was also the tranquil rest of the only man in that boat who
had no reason for fear amid the elemental forces of nature.
Though the disciples were experienced
seamen, these seasoned fishermen turn in panic to their sleeping master, who
unlike them was no sailor, with the reproachful question: ATeacher, do you not care that we are
perishing?@ Without a word of reply, Jesus acts.
AHe rebuked the wind, and said to the
sea, >Quiet! Be still!=@
Repeatedly the scriptures of Jesus= people ascribe the power over wind
and wave to God alone. Jesus Awoke up, rebuked the wind ... The wind ceased and there was
great calm.@ It was more than the stillness of
nature. There was an eerie calm in the boat as well, as Jesus= disciples look at each other in
amazement, each formulating the same question: AWho then is this whom even wind and
sea obey?@ Remember: their scriptures told them
that only God could do what they had just seen Jesus do.
The first to break the silence is
Jesus. In this story which consists almost entirely of questions, it is now his
turn. AWhy are you terrified?@ Jesus asks. ADo you not yet have faith?@ Mark wants us, his readers, to hear
Jesus putting these questions not only to his friends in that boat, but to all
his friends, ourselves included.
From the earliest times Christians
have compared the Church to a ship. Like the ark, which rescued Noah and his
family from the great flood, the Church preserves us from the flood of danger
and evil in the world. Time and again, however, our ship is buffeted by storms.
Whenever storms assault the Church, it is easy to think that the Lord is absent
B or at least indifferent. Like those
first friends of Jesus in the storm on the lake, we cry out in fear. At the
proper time B which is God’s time, not ours B the Lord banishes the danger, and
with it our cause for fear. Having done so, he challenges us with the insistent
question: AWhy are you terrified? Do you not yet
have faith?@
ADo you not yet have faith?@ Jesus asks. What better response
could we give than the cry of another friend of Jesus in this gospel according
to Mark: ALord, I believe. Help my unbelief.@
(Mark 9:4)
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