12th Sunday of the Year – B
Job 38:1, 8-11; Salm 106; 2Cor. 5: 14-17; Mark. 4: 35-41
Read: “And a strong wind started blowing, and the waves started breaking into the boat, swamping it and it was getting full of water. He was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him ‘Master, do you not care that we are going down?’ and he woke up, rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them: ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?” They were filled with fear and said to one another: ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’ “
Reflect: Sometimes so many disasters happen, and we see so much evil and troubles, that make us think that Jesus is asleep. The mystery of evil cannot be explained by reasoning, because had that been the case, Jesus would have explained that. When the world’s story reaches its end, we will be able to understand this mystery. Nonetheless, for the accusation made to him: “Master, do you not care that we are going down?”, the lord does not argue, but remains in the same boat of our life.
We can be thrown from one end to the other by a tempest, but he will be there in the ‘boat’ with us. With the poor, the Lord experiences poverty; with the emarginated he experiences denial and deprivation; he shares the experiences of disappointed persons who do not understand him and tears with those who suffer treachery; he experiences the sourness of those who find themselves alone and abandoned; with the oppressed who suffer injustices; and the feelings of fear with those condemned.
This notwithstanding, we continue to think that he is asleep. With our prayers we wish to wake him up and to force him to do something for us. However, he is still awake. He simply has a different view of the dangers we face and of how we should face up to these. He expects from us faith without any conditions. It is true that we find ourselves being thrown from one end to the other by the waves but, even without our realising this, he is there to accompany us.
Pray: Lord, you never promised us that life would be free of tempests. But you promised us that you would be in the same boat with us whenever tempests rage. Give us the strength and faith that, during such tempests of life, we keep our sights towards you with the utmost faith.
Act: “Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?” Let us place our faith in the Lord and place our trust in him at all times in the future.