Jesus Calms the Storms that Confront our Lives

06-20-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

In the first reading we see God speaking through the storm as a way to point to us that He is the Lord of all creation including the storms of the sea and storms of life that threaten our peace. Thus, the book of Job says, “The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said, who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb” “when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands, when I set limits for it.” In most parts of the book of Job, there was dialogue between Job and his friends on why innocent and good people like Job suffer and God keeps silent at such situations. Today’s passage presents us with the response of God to Job and his friends and questions where they were when He created the world. God’s response is a direct way of telling us that whatever is in the world is in His hands and the works of His hands which explains why He could speak through the clouds.

The second reading tells us that once we have come to the conviction that One died for all, we should live no longer for ourselves, but for Him who for the sake of all died and was raised from the dead. Conviction becomes a necessary part of faith to live our lives for Jesus who died and rose again from the dead. Conviction leads us to the next step of our faith which is commitment because you become committed to that which you are convinced of. Since Christ died for us to raise us to the glory of His own body we are then called to live our lives no longer for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose from the dead.

In the gospel we see the disciples in the same boat with Jesus, but are overwhelmed that Jesus was asleep while the storms of the sea toss them about. Their frustration was much that they had to wake Him up and ask, “Do you not care we are perishing”. It is the same type of frustration that Job experienced as the storms of life were taking a big part of his life and it seems God was silent. God is never silent and would never be silent when the storms of life toss us about. Some biblical scholars say, Mark in this passage was writing for the community suffering persecution who are afraid that they might be overwhelmed by their unfaithfulness or cowardice or lack of courage in moments of tribulations. They may be tempted to believe that Jesus is asleep and unconcerned with their problems. The struggle between fear and faith is a recurrent theme in Mark’s Gospel.

However, by His mere words Jesus calms the storms of the sea; an indication that no matter how the storms of life toss us around we should not feel that he is asleep. The calming of the seas by mere spoken words of Jesus amazed the disciples so much that instead of turning to Him they turned to themselves asking who is this man that has power to speak to the storms and it calms down. Jesus’ authority over the storms reveals Him as Lord of creation, and recalls the divine authority over the chaotic waters and over the chaotic situation of our lives. Jesus authority over the sea reveals Him as one who is not asleep or silent when we are facing the storms of our life, but should not give up in calling Him to come to our aid. Some of the storms that challenge our faith thinking that He is asleep may be long time sickness like cancer, financial set back, and loss of a loved one. May we be encouraged to know that Jesus is never asleep in our situation or unconcerned by our plight? May you all be blessed this Sunday and always for God is never asleep when the storms of life toss us about.

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