June 30th, 2020: Matthew 8:23-27
Jesus has spent all day, teaching and
healing. Only now is Jesus able to break away from the crowd and embark in a
boat with his friends. Jesus is totally exhausted. he is fast asleep when, without warning, a
violent storm comes up, throwing up steep waves which threaten to swamp the
boat. “Lord, save us!” the disciples cry out as they wake Jesus. “We are
perishing!” Awake now, he says calmly, “Why are you terrified, O you of little
faith?” Then he rebukes the winds and the sea. “And there was great calm,” Matthew tells us.
Immediately
the disciples’ panic is replaced with amazement, as one of them asks the
question that is in everyone’s mind: “What sort of man is this, whom even the
winds and the sea obey?” The Jewish Scriptures, especially the Psalms, speak
often of God ruling the sea and the waves. Now Jesus’ disciples have seen him
act as only God acts.
The story is Matthew ’s gift to the Church, and to each of us who
have become members of the Church in baptism. Time and again the Church, and we
its members, are storm tossed. That we are frightened at such times is only
natural. The story is the Lord’s assurance that he is always with us. No matter
how often we have strayed from him, he remains close. He saves us for one
reason alone: because he loves us – with a love that will never let us go.
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