In the Gospel of this Sunday, Jesus, with the disciples, are in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, when they are suddenly caught in a storm, with violent wind and waves (Mark 4.35-41.). Everyone fears for their lives. Everyone, that is, except Jesus, who continues to sleep as the tempest rages. How can he continue to sleep, and do nothing to save the others, and himself?
Perhaps, the scene may resonate with something that confronts us personally, today: a family problem; a personal crisis; the state of the economy; our victimization by crime; the tribulation of wars in the world; the out-of-control ecological crisis. There are many occasions when it seems to us that there is very little we can do to lift ourselves out of trouble. What is God doing in the midst of these calamities?
As, from the whirlwind, God answered Job’s complaint with questions, Jesus responds also to his companions with questions: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” Jesus quells the raging storm and calms the sea, demonstrating that nothing is beyond his reach. The Gospel challenges our belief, trust, and faith in Jesus, for whom nothing is impossible.
The Gospel scene reflects, as well, our own interiority, our own relationship in prayer with God, with Jesus Christ. Do the “storms” of our lives, the troubles of the world, that seem to come out-of-the-blue, upset the inner calm and peace of Christ within us? Perhaps, they do for a while, for we are human and, like Jesus’ hand-picked disciples, we are prone to doubt, and fear of the unknown. Yet, Jesus is always with us, and continues to call us to deeper trust, to certain faith in God’s steadfast love for us.
Indeed, in the tribulation of his crucifixion, Jesus surrendered, not to the world, but to the enduring, everlasting love of God. Are we not, in Jesus Christ, “a new creation”? (2 Corinthians 5.17) As members of the Body of Christ, alive in the world, we are all the more alive in Christ, with the freedom of the children of God. May the peace of Christ, who lives with us and in us, calm the storms within, and may we always trust that nothing is impossible for God.
– Fr. Gerry McDougal, SJ