19th
Ordinary Sunday ( Year A)
First
Reading: 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a Second
Reading: Romans 9:1-5 Gospel
Reading: Matthew 14: 22-33
“LORD,
LET US SEE YOUR KINDNESS, AND GRANT US YOUR SALVATION.”
There
is a story told about a young man and an old preacher. The young man
had lost his job and didn’t know which way to turn. So he went to
see the old preacher. Pacing about the preacher's study, the young
man ranted about his problem. Finally he clenched his fist and
shouted, “I've
begged God to say something to help me. Tell me, Preacher, why
doesn't God answer?” The
old preacher, who sat across the room, spoke something in reply –
something so hushed, it was indistinguishable. The young man stepped
across the room. “What
did you say?”
he asked. The preacher repeated himself, but again in a tone as soft
as a whisper. So, the young man moved closer until he was leaning on
the preacher's chair. “Sorry,”
he said. “I
still didn't hear you.”
With their heads bent together, the old preacher spoke once more.
“God
sometimes whispers,”
he said, “so
that we will move closer to hear Him.”
This time the young man heard and he understood.
We
all want God's voice to thunder through the air with the answer to
our problem. But God's is the still, small voice… the gentle
whisper. Perhaps there's a reason. Nothing draws human focus quite
like a whisper. God's whisper means I must stop
my ranting and move close to Him, until my head is bent together with
His. Then, as I listen, I will find my answer. Better still, I find
myself closer to God.
Today
is the 19th
Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Scripture Readings of today speak of
God's kindness and His saving presence amidst trials and afflictions.
In the First Reading from the 1st
Book of the Kings, we hear about the Prophet Elijah's encounter with
God. The prophet Elijah
is running for his life from the death threats of Jezebel, King
Ahab's wife for he killed all her priests of Baal on Mount Carmel. He
has taken shelter in a cave in Mt. Horeb (Sinai), God's mountain.
There Elijah recognizes God who appears in a tiny whispering sound,
and who comes to help him when he is struggling against the storms in
his life. In
the Second Reading from his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul is
overwhelmed with sorrow for the rejection of the Gospel of Christ by
the chosen people Israel. However, by recalling God’s irrevocable
gifts to Israel, his faith is strengthened. In the Gospel Reading
from St. Matthew, we see that the disciples are caught in the midst
of a storm. Jesus comes to them walking on water. He tells the
frightened disciples to have no fear. Peter wants to walk on water
too, but is too afraid of the storm to do. He asks his master to save
him. Jesus tells him to place his trust in him. Finally, when they
got into the boat, the wind died
down.
“THEN
THERE WAS A TINY WHISPERING SOUND ...”
In
the 1st
Reading
of today from the 1st Book of Kings, we hear about Elijah's encounter
with God. Elijah has hidden himself in a cave in Mt. Horeb (Sinai),
God's mountain, for the fear of being killed by Zezebel, King Ahab's
wife, for he killed all her priests of Baal on Mount Carmel. The
Prophet Elijah is a man of God and a defender of faith. There a voice
tells him to go and present himself on the mountain before the Lord,
for the Lord would be passing by. Elijah goes and waits for the awe
inspiring presence of God. As he must have expected, there was a huge
wind that threw boulders around like pebbles. But Elijah, the prophet
of supreme faith, did not sense the presence of God in the mighty
wind. Then there was an earthquake; but Elijah's faith told him that
the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then followed fire; but again
Elijah's faith told him that the Lord was not in the fire. Then there
was a tiny whispering sound, and Elijah hid his face, for it was the
voice of God which was more powerful than wind, earthquake or fire.
That voice was the voice of faith, enabling him to recognize God, who
comes to help him when he is struggling against
the storms in his life.
The heart of the story
is its description of how God’s presence is known. Rather than the
cosmic displays viz. wind, earthquake and fire, that have been a
standard feature of the manifestation of God’s presence, it is
revealed in 'a
tiny whispering sound,'
an enigmatic phrase which indicates the paradox of something heard
within silence. The nature of the Prophet Elijah's encounter with God
opens up a whole new understanding of how the
Divine presence may be experienced and known.
“LORD, SAVE ME!”:
In
the Gospel Reading of today from St. Matthew's Gospel, which is the
continuation of the Last Sunday's Reading, we see how the disciples
recognize God in Jesus in the midst of storm. After the miraculous
feeding of five thousand, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat
and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. He
then went to the mountain to pray. It was Jesus who always
experienced God in the silence of his heart and always united himself
with God through prayer, and especially in the storms of his life.
a)
Storm in the sea:
The
story now switches back to the disciples. They are far out on the
lake by now and we see them struggling against a storm
in the sea,
being tossed about by its strong waves. They are there in the lake
without Jesus. It is quite clear that here we are seeing a picture of
the early Church itself, represented by the disciples in their
fragile boat surrounded by hostile winds and waves. It was a common
experience of the Church during its first centuries. It was a
difficult situation filled with much fear and anxiety.
b)
“It is a ghost!”
We
then have a vivid picture of Jesus walking early in the morning on
the sea towards the boat containing his struggling disciples in the
storm. They do not recognize him. Far from feeling reassured they
become even more terrified, and panic, saying, “It
is a ghost.” It
is a measure of their superstitious natures and, as such, a measure
of the long way they have to go in exorcising such superstitions and
replacing them with a genuine faith in God. One still meets a great
deal of such irrational fears in people, including we Christians,
today. For instance, how many of us here would be comfortable walking
alone through a large empty cemetery on a dark, moonless night? Even
though it would probably be a lot safer than walking down
one of our city streets at such a time!
c)
“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid,”
Then
out of wind and wave and terror comes a comforting voice of Jesus,
“Take
courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
The disciples needed courage whose source was their confidence and
trust in the protection of their Lord. Again, Jesus is there to
protect us and take care of us and when we are in difficulty and
struggle he will come to our help. As such, there is no need for fear
or anxiety in spite of the apparently threatening dangers around us.
We need total trust and faith in him.
d)
“Lord save me!”
Peter,
who often puts his feet in his mouth, does it again. He is the
impulsive one but he is also the group's leader. He immediately says,
“Lord,
if it is you, command me to come to you on the water,”
and Jesus invites him to put his feet on water by saying - “come.”
Peter eagerly responds, but gets sinking feeling, and cries out,
“Lord,
save me!”
At that moment, Jesus must have been amused at the ever changeable
Peter. He reproaches Peter's lack of faith, takes him by his hand and
saves him. In Peter’s walk on the water and desperate grasp of
Jesus' hand, we are presented here a stunning image of how important
it is to reach out in faith to Jesus. Again,
“Lord, save me!” is the cry,
a cry echoed by Christians all down the ages who have felt that the
world was ready to crush them.
e)
“Truly, you are the Son of God.”
When
they got into the boat, the wind died down and there was calm.
Experiencing calmness in the presence of Jesus, in the midst of storm
makes the disciples to recognize the presence of God in Jesus and
they profess their faith in Jesus saying - “Truly,
you are the Son of God.”
In the dark of that stormy night, the person of Jesus is revealed as
the cosmic Lord, able to subdue the forces of chaos represented by
the raging sea. Here Jesus manifests his divine
identity by calming the stormy waters just as in the beginning God
brought order out of Chaos of the raging waters.
PAUL'S GREAT SORROW AND DEEP
ANGUISH:
In
the 2nd
Reading of today from St. Paul's letter to the Romans, we see St.
Paul expressing his great sorrow and deep anguish
for the rejection of the Gospel of Christ by God's chosen people,
blessed by God beyond all other peoples of the world. They have been
given the son-ship, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship,
and the promises of God. The patriarchs belong to them, and above
all, it is from their race that the Christ has been born. Israel has
all it needs in order to understand the word of God and to become
part of Christ’s new people. Yet all that did not make them
understand in seeing and acknowledging Christ as their Savior. They
did not have faith in him and did not accept him as the Messiah. For
St. Paul, this is the reason for an immense feeling of sadness. He
was even willing to be accursed,
that is, to undergo the worst possible fate, in imitation of Christ’s
suffering, so that the obdurate chosen
people may experience life and salvation.
CONCLUSION:
The
Scripture Readings of today tell us that there is never any need for
fear and anxiety, for God is always close to us. He is there
stretching out his comforting and saving hand so that we may not sink
in our storms of life. No matter what may be happening in and around
us, his peace is there for us to share. We live in this stormy world
- there are many difficulties & problems, anxieties &
worries, sufferings & pains, failures & losses and so on –
they threaten us and make us frightened. In the midst of them we cry
for help. God does come to our help as He came to help Elijah during
his stormy life; Jesus too comes to save us as he approached his
disciples walking on the sea and calmed the storm. But we often fail
to recognize God when He comes, because often-time He comes as we do
not expect. We need to conform to God, rather than God conform to us.
Today let us ask then for the gift of faith that we may be able to
recognize Him in the ordinary situations of our lives, and humbly
pray to Him saying,
“ Lord, let us see your Kindness, and grant us your salvation.”
And
this is the Good News of today.
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