Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

The gospel passage for today’s liturgy is very vivid. It tells us that the disciples cried out in fear thinking they were seeing a ghost. They, like any of us would be, were genuinely afraid. This is the scripture’s way of saying that fear is real. We have our ghosts too. Some of them may be imaginary like in the case of the disciples, others are real. For example, there is a person I know who is afraid of what will happen when General Motors closes its doors soon. I know a mother who son is a police officer and fears for his safety every day. I know parents whose children are still in Iraq and they fear for their sons and daughters. I know a seventy-one year old lady who is losing her sight. She fears for her future. I know a mother who is struggling with cancer and has only a few months to live. Her fear is for her little children. I know families who have just lost their job and their house. Should they be afraid for their future? A lady I know fears that her health may come between a job-interview she has. Fear is real. Both the context of today’s first reading and the gospel reading is similar to the fears we face. In the first reading, Elijah is on the run for his life from the King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. He had challenged the queen for introducing the worship of the god Baal (her native deity) when it was clearly a violation of Israel’s Covenant with Yahweh. Elijah feels alone and he fears for his life. He flees to Judah and on the way pleads with God to take his life. Instead, Elijah is led by God to Mt. Sinai (the same mountain where Israel made its Covenant with God). There, on the top of the mountain, Elijah has a quiet and yet a powerful experience of God. Instead of appearing to Elijah in fire, smoke and earthquake, like God had done with Israel, Elijah feels God’s presence in a tiny whisper. The important thing is not how Elijah experienced God’s presence, but that he did so in the midst of his fear. If we read further, it was in this moment that Elijah discovered the will of God for him and for Israel.

The disciples in the gospel reading are also gripped by fear. They fear for their life as they are caught in a storm. As in the first reading, their fear becomes an opportunity for an experience of a powerful God experience. Once again, it was in the silence after the storm that the disciples recognise Jesus. The gospel reading ends with a profession of faith, “Truly, you are the Son of God” (Mt 14:33).

Let me offer three practical implications from today’s readings:

1. Today readings should help us look at misfortune, problems, fears and anxieties in a new light. Our normal reaction when storms hit our life is that God has abandoned us or that God is far away from us. If the readings are telling us anything it is this – that if storms have hit our life then God is close by. Every storm is God speaking to us, if only we can hear the whisper amid the fire, smoke and the quake around us. Every storm is God reaching out to us just as he did to Peter.

The mistake Peter makes in the Gospel reading as he gets out of the water to meet Jesus is that he takes his eyes of Jesus. As long as he had his eyes focused on Jesus he walked on the water. The moment he took his eyes of Jesus and looked how strong the wind was, he began to drown. The reading are suggesting to us that every time a storm hits us we must look not at the storm but look for God’s voice and presence in the midst of it all.


2. Let me begin the second point with a question. Was Jesus ever afraid? My own answer is, “Yes, Of course.” If Jesus never experienced fear then I would hesitate to call him truly human. For example, before his arrest and eventual death, he said to his disciples that his soul was troubled. We also know that in his prayer at that moment he sweat blood. That is pretty intense fear. However, his fear ends with the words, “Not my will but thine be done.” Again, on the cross, he has another fear. He wonders if even God abandoned him. This time the blood that he saw was from real wounds inflicted on him. But his fear ends in the words “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”

The point I am trying to make is that unfortunately there is no medicine for fear. At the same time giving into fear can lead to despair. Fear is a terrible thing. I call is the Devil’s F word. But there is a Christian F word – Faith. The only anti-dote to fear is faith.

But how do we define faith in this context? Faith is keeping our eyes focused on Jesus no matter what our fears just as Jesus kept his eyes focused on God in spite of his fears. Jesus blames Peter’s little faith for his drowning. Jesus, perhaps, understood the fear of the disciples but he ridicules their lack of faith because if they think they had seen a ghost, they had not seen anything yet. The real storms, the real ghosts, the real fears were only yet to come. Jesus was preparing them for the future. And we know that the disciples developed such faith that not even death would frighten them anymore.

3. How can we develop such faith? As we focus on the storms it is possible for us to miss an important detail. Mt 14:23 says, “... he (Jesus) went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone." Thus immediately after the multiplication of the loaves and fish Jesus spent time prayer. In other words, it is prayer that makes it possible to recognize God even in the midst of our storms. I am amazed at the manner in which the Prophet Elijah recognized God in today’s first reading. Elijah recognized God in a tiny whispering sound. Amidst the storms of life only prayer can help us recognize the tiny whisper of God.

I can say this with some certainty, that if we are serious about our relationship with God, prayer is a daily necessity. Prayer is our spiritual breath. If we do not find time for God each day in some way or another we will spiritually die. The storms will kill us. We will give into despair. Like Jesus it is important that we find time to be alone with God.

This Eucharist is the mountain where God has led us today as God led Elijah. This Eucharist is the boat where Jesus calms all our fears. Just like Jesus reached out to Peter to he reaches out to us. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus in the bread and the wine. Here is the real presence of God. Amen.

- Fr. Satish Joseph