Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
As Christians we often pay lip service to the idea that every believer can approach and grow closer to God, but how does someone approach God? I wonder whether when we say this we are really paying attention to what is involved in approaching God. The very idea of coming into God’s presence can sometimes seems so nervy and presumptuous that we hold ourselves back from growing closer to God. The readings for today respond to these worries. They speak to the awesomeness of God’s presence, but they also invite us wholeheartedly to strive to turn to meet God and to live our lives in God.
The first reading relates a prophecy to the people of Israel from the book of Jeremiah. In the second part of the reading, the prophet speaks of the LORD’s continued provision for Israel and lists the steps that the LORD will take to restore Israel and the holy city of Jerusalem. The last line in particular catches my attention in relation to today’s gospel reading. It speaks of the awesomeness and fearsomeness of the LORD and alludes to the idea that the natural reaction of human beings is to fear this God. Yet it also states that the LORD has also chosen to summon the people of Israel back to him.
It is illuminating to compare Jeremiah’s prophecy to the events recounted in the gospel reading. Matthew tells us how Jesus walks out from the shore of the Sea of Galilee towards the boat where a number of Jesus’ disciples are sitting, terrified of a storm. Striking to me in this passage are Jesus’ words to his disciples. Jesus calls to the disciples and tells them not to be afraid because it is he. When Peter sees Jesus walking on the sea and responds to Jesus’ words, Jesus commands Peter to walk out to him on the water. At first Peter is able to walk on the water, but then he starts to sink. He calls out to Jesus, and Jesus carries him onto the boat. Once safely aboard the boat, Jesus tells Peter that Peter began to sink because he lacked faith.
Both readings for today speak to the relationship between faith and fear. They teach us we should fear God. But even more so, if we want to have faith, we must calm our fears. We must not be afraid to reach out towards God to accept the gift of God’s presence in ones life. In the gospel reading (verse 23) we read that Jesus goes up to a mountain early in the morning to pray. In doing this, Jesus himself is showing us what we need to do in order to grow in faith. The importance of prayer in Jesus’ life demonstrates and models for us how it is through prayer that we can encounter God and grow in our faith. In prayer we can learn to speak to God and we can learn to hear God speaking to us. Jesus himself makes possible this intimate communication between God and human beings by uniting human and divine in one person.
Time and again, the scriptures suggests that what is necessary to do in order to grow in faith is to open oneself up to God. We can do this by encountering God on a daily basis in prayer. It is indeed an awesome thing that we are being asked to do because of the awesomeness of God. Yet we believe that Jesus has made possible this walk of faith. Let us keep in mind Jesus’ words: Jesus calls to us, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” It is up to us to do what he asks of us. Today let us pray that we will not be afraid to walk out on the water to meet Jesus.
-Joel Schickel