Word to the Wise
Saturday, January 27, 2018 - Saturday in the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Sam 12:1-7a, 10-17 and Mark 4:35-41]SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 2018. SATURDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [2 Samuel 12:1-7a, 10-17 and Mark 4:35-41] A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the board, 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 ceded 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 tone another, "Who then is this whom even the wind and sea obey?" [Mark] I think many of us, at least when we were children, had experiences where things appeared to be falling apart and we wake up mom or dad from a sound sleep only to have them calmly take care of the problem and leave us wondering how they knew what to do! The difference between those experiences and the one in today's gospel scripture is that we knew who mom and dad were. The disciples only call him "Teacher." They are more concerned about him sleeping in the boat when they need everybody to help bail! Jesus does more than that and says to them, "Why are you terrified? Do you not YET have faith?" The answer to that question is obvious in their comment to one another, "Who then IS this whom even wind and sea obey?" In the Gospel According to Mark, the answer to their question comes only at the death and resurrection of Jesus. I have quoted here before a line I once read: "Sometimes the Lord calms the storm, and sometimes the Lord lets the storm rage and calms his child?" Which would you prefer? Would we prefer to just have the problem go away without the relationship? Or would we prefer, no matter what, to have God calming us? A tiny voice within us may ask, "Can I please have BOTH?" But life is not like that. Big nature miracles are not a dime a dozen. But the Lord can always be with us, even if we think he's asleep! Do WE yet have faith? AMEN
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