The 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 23, 2024

Mark 4, 35–41

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

Even when we have believed in God for many years and gone to Mass and have prayed to him and seen him give us what we need to live, we are surprised, even overwhelmed, by displays of his power.  We suddenly see our previous mental image of him as pale beside evidence of his omnipotence.  This happened time and again to the Apostles, whose early mental image of him was as an earthly conqueror, not as the Son of God who came down from heaven to defeat an enemy far more dangerous than any general or emperor.  Even after seeing Jesus healing the sick and casting out demons with a single word, they were thunderstruck by actions he performed that God and only God could do.  

In the Gospel Reading for today’s Mass, St. Mark recounts for us how Jesus, physically exhausted from preaching and healing, fell fast asleep in Peter’s boat as they were crossing to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  After the darkness of night had set in, a “violent squall” broke out on the sea.  These occurred at times and as long as a boat stayed within sight of shore, safety could be reached.  But the Lord had directed that the Apostles set out for a destination that took them away from the shore, and the storm roared with such ferocity that despite the best efforts of the desperate men within the boat, it was filling up with water.  Absolutely disaster stared them in the face.  The Lord, however, continued to sleep as though he were safe in his Mother’s arms.  Panicked, they shook him awake and cried out that they were perishing.

“He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ ” The voice of the Creator thundered over the havoc of the storm, and immediately it ceased.  The wind and the sea did not grow quiet; they became still at once.  The Apostles looked around, their hearts still pounding, and no sign could be seen that there had been any storm at all.  Waves that had been cresting with terrifying force had suddenly gone to rest.  The sky was clear with no sign of clouds.  The Apostles had seen many displays of the Lord’s power but nothing equaled this.  And their minds turned to familiar passages from the Scriptures: “Come and behold the works of the Lord: what wonders he has done upon earth, making wars to cease even to the end of the earth. He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons: and the shield he shall burn in the fire. Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46, 9–11); and the words of God to the sea at the beginning of creation: “Hitherto shall you come, but no further: and here shall your proud waves be stayed” (Job 38, 11).

“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”  Who? or, What? or, How?  What they experienced was almost too much to bear.  Mark’s description of the reaction of Peter to the glory of the Transfiguration might help us understand their state: “He knew not what he said for they were struck with fear” (Mark 9, 5).

The Lord will do so much for us if we have faith, for we must have faith so that we can see it is he who acts for us.  Let us consider that if a violent squall on the sea was gathering naturally.  If the Apostles had possessed stronger faith the storm would not have struck because Jesus would have prevented it — and the faith of the Apostles would have recognized all along that it was by the Lord’s power that they were traveling safely out of sight of the shore at night.  But their lack of faith meant that they had to experience the horror of the storm so that they might learn that Jesus would protect them.

May we so grow in our faith that we see the hand of the Lord everywhere and in all things.