Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
How interesting that Jesus says to the disciples, “Let us cross over to the other side” (Mk 4:35). I wonder if this was a naïve suggestion. By the end of the storm, Jesus had something very significant to say to the disciples. He said, "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?" (Mk 4:40) It seems to me that Jesus was not merely proposing that disciples cross over to the other side of the lake but cross over to the other side in following Jesus. I call it “the other side of faith”. Jesus was really calling his disciples to follow him more closely, more radically, and more faithfully. As Jesus’ ministry progressed, they would need it.
If we imagine that we are the people to whom Jesus says today, “Let us cross over to the other side” what might Jesus be really saying to us? I would like to offer three ways to reflect upon this question.
Faith-Footprint
We all have a faith footprint. From the time we attained the age of reason until today there is our personal faith history. One fruitful thing to do occasionally is to take a look at our faith footprint. What was our faith when we made our First Holy Communion? What was our faith when we were Confirmed? Since then, what direction has our faith taken?
The disciples had made a radical decision to leave everything behind and follow Jesus. This was no mean accomplishment. Yet, Jesus said to the disciples, “Do you yet not have faith?” Perhaps Jesus said this to them because the events that were to follow (Jesus’ suffering and death) would require a very different level of faith. If the disciples were to become witnesses to follow Christ despite the Cross, they would need to “cross over to the other side.”
For us too, since our First Holy Communion and Confirmation as we grow up and mature, life becomes more complex. But to face the complexities of life as adults, the faith of our childhood is insufficient. Our faith needs to keep pace with our adult life. We are the best judge of whether today our faith matches the demands of our lives and the demands of our Christian calling. “Let us cross over to the other side,” is Jesus’ way of inviting us to evaluate our faith-footprint.
Crossing Over Amid the Complexities of Life
Today’s first and gospel readings have somethings in common. The first thing they have in common is that they both refer to existential crises in people’s lives. Job, in today’s first reading, had lost everything in life, and the disciples in the gospel reading were on the verge of drowning at sea.
The second thing the two readings have in common is that there is an invitation to “cross over to the other side.” After Job’s existential crisis, God said to Job, “Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled!” (Job:38:11). Job needed to understand that life is a mystery and no matter what the shape life takes, God is in the midst of it all. This lesson is reiterated in the gospel reading. When the disciples were tossed about by the storm, like Job, they did not forget to engage the Lord. “Teacher,” they cried. Jesus then taught the disciples something very similar to what God taught Job. “Do you not yet have faith?” he asked them.
Job’s existential crisis and the disciples encounter with death has parallels in our own lives. The storm represents any life-changing event in our life both thrilling and traumatic. A positive experience like marriage or a negative experience like divorce, a positive experience like a birth or a negative experience like death, a positive experience of good health or a negative experience like a life-threatening accident or terminal illness are life-changing faith moments.
We need to “cross over to the other side” because we never know when a life-changing experience will happen to us. In these moments, may our faith be such that we find the Lord in the midst of it just as the disciples found Jesus in the midst of the storm. In such moments, may we, like Job, also able to grasp the mysteries of life and be able to discern God’s mysterious yet compelling presence ways in them.
Crossing Over – Living For Christ
Today’s second reading phrases, “cross over to the other side” in a different way. Paul says to the Corinthians, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor 5:17).
The Corinthian community was a very vibrant faith community. The second letter to the Corinthians was occasioned a crisis between Paul and the Corinthians. We do not know what happened, but Paul sure has a solution for the crisis. It seems like the solution was “Let us cross over to the other side.” For Paul, “It is the love of Christ that impels us…” (2 Cor 5:14). And again, “Because Christ died for all, all have died” (2 Cor 5:14). In other words, for Paul, impelled by the love of Christ we live no longer for ourselves but for Christ. This “living no longer for ourselves” is the difference between the old and the new creation. This “living no longer for ourselves” is the meaning of “cross over to the other side.”
Let me conclude by tying together the thoughts in the above three points. Even though the disciples had shown great faith by leaving everything to follow Jesus; even though Job showed great faith through the traumatic experiences of his life, God invited them to go beyond their faith-footprint. They were being invited to “cross over to the other side.” They were being invited to embrace the mystery of life and faith in God. They were being encouraged to leave the old behind and embrace the new. Impelled by the love of Christ, they were being exhorted to live no longer for themselves but for Christ.
Today, our faith-footprint is like that first step that Job, the disciples, and Paul had taken in their faith journey. Like them, today Christ is inviting us to take our faith-footprint and go deeper, farther, and higher. Jesus is inviting us to go “cross over to the other side.” On the other side of faith, we understand the deeper mysteries of life and faith and live no longer for ourselves but for Christ and one another.
- Fr. Satish Joseph