12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The gospel reading for this Sunday is all about being Calm amid the storm. The context of this passage is the calming of the storm when Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And he says the same to us now in all our trials ‘Quiet now! Be calm! Jesus understood that all would be well even if he and the disciples perished or if the storm subsided. Mark’s original audience was a community undergoing persecution. Their leaders had been martyred and, they questioned what was happening to them. The church was undergoing internal strife as well as they struggled to combine Jews and Gentiles into their new Christian community. Mark’s church was hardly sailing through calm waters not unlike our church today. We hear Jesus asking the disciples in the midst of the storm, Why are you so frightened and why do you have so little faith. He could be saying the same thing to us today as many lack faith in God and humankind. For many of us these days we are frightened with the various events that are ongoing throughout the world. Especially the COVID19 pandemic. When that storm comes Jesus reminds us of the glory of the life to come after the storms of life have ended.
He changes the darkness that is often in our daily lives into the sunshine of everlasting life, and replaces our distress with comfort and peace. When we don’t know the best way forward or the best way out a particular problem Jesus gives us peace to make the decisions needed at that time. At such a crossroads of life, we can ask him in prayer, ‘Lord, what road should I take what way should I Go?’ The best way will become so much clearer, and bring us calmness and peace of mind as well as the knowledge of a decision well made. We have so many things to occupy our minds these days with pandemic and so many other things that are going on in our lives and the lives of those around us. Despite everything that is going on we believe that Jesus accompanies us on our journey to God, that he is “on board” with us. Sometimes, when we see such disorder and chaos around our world, we might wonder if Jesus has chosen to sleep through disaster – even though we know that his presence is no insurance against our own fear and anxiety. To journey with Jesus is all about going through the storms, not around them. The peace of our lives will be disturbed. But we know that the disciples of Jesus went on to face hardship and rejection. Ultimately, many of them came face to face with a violent death and martyrdom.
What kept them going is what keeps us going: and that is our faith that tells us God the Father is in charge and he is the person who brings calm of all chaos the storms of life bring, it is the faith which tells us that there is no storm that will not be stilled by the peaceful presence of god. So let us be at peace amid the storms of our lives for God is in Charge and he knows we will get through whatever happens because we have faith.
Fullerton T 