by Fr. Tommy Lane
There are storms in our readings today. In the first reading, God speaks to Job out of the storm (Job 38:1), and in the Gospel, a sudden storm sweeps down on the Sea of Galilee as Jesus and the disciples are crossing the lake in a boat (Mark 4:35-41). The Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake 705 feet below sea level. Nazareth is 1138 feet above sea level. In the short 30km journey from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee there is a significant rise in temperature due to the difference in elevation as you go down to the Sea of Galilee. As temperatures build up around the Sea of Galilee during the day, the hot air rises and is replaced by cooler air coming down from the surrounding hills, and when these different air masses meet, there are sudden and violent storms.
Jesus and his disciples got caught up in one of these sudden violent storms in the Gospel today. Jesus was asleep at the back of the boat. The waves were breaking over the side into boat and the disciples started to panic. They woke Jesus and practically rebuked him: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Jesus rebuked the storm, like the way he rebuked the demon in a possessed man in the synagogue in Capernaum earlier (Mark 1:25). The storm abated and Jesus asked two questions of his terrified disciples: “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” Clearly when storms come, Jesus expects us not to fear and remain strong in faith.
Everyone experiences a storm of some kind in their lives, not just wind and rainstorms but personal storms when the boat of our lives is being swamped. When the disciples in the boat experienced the storm, they went to Jesus. That is the best thing we also can do when we experience storms of any kind in our lives. Sometimes people stop talking to God when they experience a storm in their lives. That is the worst possible thing to do during a storm. The best way to get through any personal storm is with Jesus. That is how the disciples in the Gospel made it through the storm, with Jesus. Abandoning God during a storm only makes matters worse.
Sometimes during personal storms, people have all sorts of questions about God. They wonder if God loves them. They wonder why God allows such things to happen. All sorts of questions about suffering arise in people’s hearts. This is what happened to Job who featured in our first reading. There are 19 chapters (out of 42) of, what we could say are, his complaints to God about his suffering in the book named after him (3; 6-7; 9-10; 12-14; 16-17; 19; 21; 23-24; 26-27; 29-31). Some of his complaints are very dramatic. We can understand why he complained so much. He was a good and honest man, but he suffered four major disasters in one day causing him to lose everything except his wife. He did not deserve to suffer but he suffered one calamity after another. Our first reading today is the beginning of God’s answer to Job’s nineteen chapters of complaints. God answered Job by asking him questions about the universe and creation and naturally Job did not know the answers. At the end of the book, Job repents for having misspoken against God and said, “I have spoken but did not understand; things too marvelous for me, which I did not know...I disown what I have said and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:3, 6) So in the Book of Job the answer to the mystery of good people suffering is that it is a mystery we cannot understand with our human minds. But God is in charge of everything and everything is working out under God's oversight.
After Jesus calmed the storm, he asked his disciples, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” When storms come our way, even if we question like Job for a little while, we also need to remember Jesus’ questions, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” When storms come, Jesus expects us not to fear and remain strong in faith. Jesus is with us in the boat. There is a bigger picture to all suffering. We may not be able to see the bigger picture but even if not, Jesus’ questions are, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” Some of the bigger picture is that we can grow personally during storms, we can experience spiritual growth, and we can show our faith in God and devotion to God in spite of suffering that comes our way.
We may not find the answer to our suffering until the next life, but even if so, the worst possible thing to do during a storm is to stop talking to God. The best way to get through any personal storm is with Jesus. Jesus experienced a major storm some time after this one, his passion and death. There is a very brief description of Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane in the Letter to the Hebrews. Interestingly, it says the Father heard Jesus’ prayer (Heb 5:7). But Jesus went to his passion and death. What does the Letter to the Hebrews mean by saying the Father heard Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane? The Father heard Jesus’ prayer by Jesus rising from the dead. Even if we do not find the answer to the storms until the next life, the worst possible thing to do during a storm is to stop talking to God. The best way to get through any personal storm is with Jesus. Jesus is with us in the boat. “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2021
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More for the Twelfth Sunday of Year B
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Growing through Trials like Peter
First Reading: on Job
stories about faith