19^th  Sunday  August 7, 2011

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a Ps: 85   Romans 9:1-5  Matthew 14:22-33

We try to live our lives as Catholics. We will find that there will always be a stage when we have to carry the Cross. (Luke 9:23). Sometimes the Cross seems so heavy, that we think we will be crushed under its weight. It could be a crisis of faith: I don’t believe in God any more. Sometimes it is a critical sickness like Alzheimer or Cancer. This is hard to bear when it happens to us, and worse when it happens to someone we love and who has always lived a good, upright and self-sacrificing life. Then as one of my friends described it, “all hell breaks loose.” The two storms in our story of Elijah and in the Gospel, are instances of “all hell breaking loose.” What follows the storm is calm and peace with the knowledge God has always been supporting and carrying us especially

• when we thought God was absent,
• when we wanted to see God face to face – for some answer or explanation.

In a certain tribe of the First Nations People, there was a ritual that teenagers had to undergo before they were admitted as young adults into the Tribe. They had to spend a night alone in the forest, armed only with a bow and arrow and a hunting knife. The young teenager was frightened as he went into the forest. He sat at the foot of the tree. He jumped with fright at every branch that creaked, every sound in the darkness of the night. He relaxed as the sun broke at dawn. He looked around and saw his father standing motionless near the tree by which he was sitting. Dad, what are you doing here? His father replied, “I was watching over you, so no harm would come to you.” But if I knew you were here, I would not have been afraid, said the teenager. Ah replied his father, but then you would not have trusted in your own courage and gifts. Besides, you should have known that I would never leave you in danger. As the father, so is our God!

Elijah had fled from the wrath of Jezebel.  He had defeated and slain all her 450 false prophets and she was determined to avenge her humiliation. Elijah flees to a cave and experiences the phenomena in nature, which was traditionally interpreted as the presence of God in power and punishment: Thunder, Lightning, Storm. (Isn’t it interesting that these are the names taken by athletes in competitions of power and endurance!!)

 But God is going to unveil a new appearance. God will not be limited to the stereotypes that human beings use to describe God and put God in a box. God appears in the Sound of Silence. Elijah will encounter God in the same fashion as Moses. He hides in a cave. His waiting period is 40 days.

The reading from the letter to the Romans does not exactly fit in God’s appearance after a storm. But it lays the basis for Jesus’ statement to Peter, “why do you doubt? You of little faith! Paul has a problem: The Gospel is for all. It is open to the Gentiles, so must the Jewish people loose faith in God? Not by any means! Paul lists eight different life situations to show that God does not go back on promises that have been given. He enumerates God’s favour of Israel being chosen as God’s People. He lists the gifts of the covenants and the law. He tells them that the apex of this favour is Jesus Christ. Why should the People of Israel ever doubt? – people of little faith!

The Gospel according to Matthew builds on the original story as found in Mark’s Gospel.  Here it appears in a simple form. There is a storm. Jesus appears in the midst of the Storm. Jesus calms the storm. The Apostles are astonished and incredulous. The story ends with : the Apostles still do not understand. When Mark wrote his Gospel, Jesus was being misunderstood as being just another wonder worker. Jesus always played down this role. His message to those who were cured: “Go and tell no one about this.”

 By the time Matthew was writing the Gospel, this dilemma had disappeared. Matthew introduces Peter in the scene. (He adapts a post resurrection appearance of Jesus) – he also introduces the dialogue with Peter, where Jesus bids him to walk on the water. Matthew ends the story not with a misunderstanding of the Apostles, but with an Act of faith. “Truly you are the Son of God.”

The Church is the boat in which all will be saved. There will be persecutions represented by the storms. But Jesus is there to rescue them from their difficulties. However, there is the challenge of preaching the Good News, there is the invitation to Evangelise. For this task, they have to leave the safety of the boat. They have to leave their comfort zone. They have to walk on the waters. This is possible for Peter. This is possible for all of us, as long as we put our hands in the hand of the Man from Galilee.