(1st Kings 19:9, 11-13; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, about
half-way through Jesus’ public ministry Jesus and His disciples had been caught
in a storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus Himself had been asleep in the stern of the boat and His disciples
-- in great alarm -- awakened Him most urgently. He calmed both squally winds and foaming waves
by calm words of authority and a gesture of peace. The disciples had been amazed and said to one
another:
Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him! (Mark 4:41)
Shortly afterwards, however, as recorded in today’s
Gospel reading, another such dangerous situation for Jesus’ disciples on the
treacherous waters of Galilee took place while the Lord was praying alone on
the mountain near where Jesus had miraculously fed some 5,000 men earlier that
very day. After that miracle Jesus had told
His disciples to go by boat to the other side of the lake while He Himself
would dismiss the crowds around.
His disciples obeyed Jesus, but they were
still unclear about Him – Who is this? – even after having picked
up 12 baskets full of broken bread and fish left over after the crowd had eaten
their fill. Aent squall hit the boat on
their way to Gennesaret, and when they saw Jesus walking on the raging waters towards
them in the fourth watch of the night -- which is from 3am.- 6am. -- they
thought they were seeing a ghost! Instead
of taking comfort at the sight of Jesus coming towards them, some of them were
even more frightened by the pseudo-ghost than they were of the storm itself. All of them, however, were at a loss; all that
is, except Peter, whose particular love for and commitment to Jesus, together
with his own native courage and instinctive qualities of leadership, lead him
to say:
Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water!
As yet, though, Peter’s spiritual qualities were not up to the
impetuosity of his native courage and instinctive leadership; and though
he had leapt overboard towards Jesus unhesitatingly, nevertheless, feeling the
full force of the raging sea and his growing awareness of its threat as the
waters mounted over his feet and up his legs, his words changed, and his
nascent love for and commitment to Jesus could only enable him to cry out:
Lord, SAVE ME!
Truly Christian words indeed; but not, as yet, words up to the purposes
Jesus had in mind for Peter and indeed for the other disciples who were still clinging
to their boat and screaming more or less incoherently as the boat was being
tossed uncontrollably by the tumultuous
power of the roaring wind and raging waters.
Now, dear People of God, what purposes or plans, hopes or desires, did Jesus
have in mind for His disciples when, as we are told:
He made the disciples get into a boat and precede Him to the other side?
It was already dark when He told His disciples to embark without Him. He knew the force of the winds coming down
from the hills around those narrow north-Galilean waters; He knew how
unpredictable were such sudden violent storms.
Of course, He knew full well that
He could rescue them in whatever need they found themselves; but why, WHY, did He
make:
the disciples get into a boat and precede Him to the other side?
As chosen disciples of Jesus, they had been exultant, and ‘confirmed’
in their discipleship, at Jesus’ feeding of the five-thousand; but then, very shortly
afterwards, they found themselves dreading a Jesus-like ghost; or allowed
themselves to become terrified at their present
perils-on-the-sea, despite their previous experience of a storm on Galilea with Jesus, and the fact of Jesus’
‘apparent’ presence with them at this very moment?
Obviously, the disciples had much to learn about themselves and their
relationship with Jesus. Nevertheless, they
had surely been confirmed in their relationship with, and acceptance of, Peter
as their leader; for, although they had seen him openly break down before the
threat into which his impetuosity had led him, nevertheless, Peter had shown
himself to be much further advanced than they themselves were in his initial readiness
to embrace threat and face sacrifice for love of Jesus:
Lord, if it
is You, command me to come to You on the water!
Dear friends in Christ it would seem that at times Jesus does, can, and
perhaps will once more, allow events, persons, trials of whatever sort, to disturb
the relative tranquillity of our lives for our direct betterment, or that we
might, at least, learn something we need to know about ourselves.
As for the disciples, Peter was taught the need for, and beauty of, perseverance in giving
to Jesus … he had not trusted-to-the-end the Spirit that had urged him
towards Jesus. As for the other
disciples there, they were now no longer hesitant as they had, culpably(?) been
before
Who then is this (Whom) even the wind and the
sea obey?
For, as Jesus got into the now-calm boat bringing Peter along with Him,
they ‘impetuously’ followed the example of their now humbled leader by saying
unanimously:
Truly, You are the Son of God!
Surely, dear People of God, Peter and all the other Apostles had learnt lessons for life and salvation! We should rejoice with them and pray for ourselves that, should Jesus and His Spirit come into our lives to test, teach, and uplift us as children of God called to share at the heavenly banquet of the Father of us all, we too may learn and whole-heartedly embrace the lessons God wants to teach us.
