Troubled Waters

The Apostles brought the Gospel to peoples from Spain to Ethiopia and India, and they did so with great courage and zeal, at last laying down their lives for the sake of The Lord Jesus.  St. Bede reminds us, though, of the fragility of their faith in the early days of their following The Lord.  The first paragraph of the following extract from his homily seems to indicate how they thought of themselves and their faith before it was tried by a terrible storm.  The text for this homily is Matthew 8, 23-27.

"When Jesus went into the boat, his disciples followed him.  They were not weak, but firm and solid in their faith.  They were peaceable and pious, and had spurned the world.  They were not duplicitous but single-hearted.  And so they followed him, and not merely in his footsteps, but as followers in terms of his sanctity and justice.  

" 'And behold, a great tempest was made in the sea so that the boat was tossed by the waves.'  Although he had shown them many great and wonderful works on the land, he crossed into the sea in order to show them still more excellent works through which he would show them all that he was Lord of earth and sea.  He made the sea to be troubled, he moved the winds, and he stirred up the waves.  Why did he do this?  In order to throw his disciples into fear so that they would ask his aid and beg him to display his power.  This storm did not arise of itself, but he who leads the winds out of their store-houses and established the shore as the boundary for the sea, prepared it by the power of his command.  Did he not say, 'Thus far shall you come and no further, and here shall you break your waves' (Job 38, 11)?  The tempest in the sea arose from this order and precept so that it would be more memorable.  It was a great tempest that was made, not a trivial one, so that a great work, and not a trivial one, might be shown.  As great as were the waves that rocked the boat, so much greater was the fear that rocked the disciples, and so much greater did they desire for miracles of the Savior to free them.  But The Lord slept.  Oh, how wonderful and stupendous!  The One who never sleeps, is sleeping.  The One who governs heaven and earth, is sleeping.  The One who neither sleeps nor may sleep, is himself said to sleep.  He sleeps in his Body, but he keeps watch with his Divinity.  He who disturbs the sea, stirs up the waves, causes the disciples to fear, and who is about to show his power, sleeps in his Body.  He slept as though he were sitting in a grave, worn out and exhausted from the journey, showing that he truly bore a human body, because he put on that which is corruptible [the reverse of 1 Corinthians 15, 53].  He slept with his Body, but with his Divinity he roused the sea and soothed it again.  He slept with his Body in order to wake and rouse the Apostles.  Let us not sleep at all with our soul, intellect, or prudence, but let us keep watch at all times, and let us be eager in rejoice in The Lord, and to pray to him for our salvation.  For, he who sleeps with his Body speaks this holy word: 'I sleep, and my heart keeps watch' (Song of Songs 5, 2).  And it is to him that the disciples come, saying, 'Lord, save us, we are perishing!'  They were terrified with such fear that they were nearly out of their minds.  They rushed to him without temperance.  Nor did they lightly advise him, but roused him violently, saying, 'Lord, save us, we are perishing!'  O blessed, true disciples of God!  You have with you your Lord and Savior, and you fear danger?  Life is with you, and you are anxious about death!  You rouse up the Creator, who is present, as though he were not able to calm and tame the turbulence of the waves.  But what do these most beloved disciples say?  They say, We are little ones.  We are still weak and are not yet robust, and so we fear and are afraid.  We have not yet seen the Cross.  The Passion and Resurrection of The Lord, his Ascension into heaven, and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, have not yet strengthened us.  Therefore, we shake with weakness, we bear The Lord's rebuke of having little faith, we freely suffer it, we willingly endure it.  And so The Lord says to them, Why are you troubled, little in faith?  Why do you not have fortitude?  Why is there no confidence or trust among you?  And if death rushes in, should you not undergo it with great manliness?"