Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?

Do you not yet have faith?”

I love this story of Jesus’ calming the storm and then laughing at his disciples. I can see them dumbfounded, relieved and mystified as they realize this fellow is like nobody else.

Perhaps Abraham felt the same way, in a more serious moment, as he saw smoke rising from the cities of the plain. “Who is this God who has called and spoken to me?”

“Do you not yet have faith?” Jesus asked.

In today’s long first reading, the Author of Hebrews anchors his people in the ancient story of faith.

In his book God Is Not One, Steven Prothero writes:

In this sense Judaism differs dramatically from Christianity, where faith is paramount. Whereas Christians strive to keep the faith, Jews strive to keep the commandments.

The Christian religion, as it emerges in that first century, will be a new kind of religion. It is not founded in the political institutions of kingdom or empire, nor does it profess loyalty to king or emperor. It is not based in family or tribe. Anyone can become Christian so long as he or she is willing to believe in Jesus and be baptized.

Its memories are not contained in genealogies but in hagiographies, the stories of faithful saints.

If other religions are grounded in places like Israel, Mecca or India, Christianity joyously bobs in storm-tossed seas.

So in today’s first reading we hear the Author rewriting the story of salvation. In many ways it is familiar, but his retelling is more inclusive of us. God is not the only protagonist in this new interpretation; the faithful also have a part. We believe in Jesus and that makes all the difference.

Jews cannot forget their past. Even when some Jews might disown their past the world  treats them as pariah and forces them back into the Jewish nation, even into death camps.

Christians, it seems, can walk away. Their children can forget all about the faith of their parents. They do not carry it in their collective memories, their last names, or their genes. 

I met one nominally Catholic fellow who told me he and his wife decided to let their children choose their own religion when they came of age. I asked, “So which did they choose?” Only one of his four children practiced any religion and it was some kind of fundamentalist Christianity. How could they choose what they had never been given? Can you speak Bantu if you have never even heard the language?

We are not among those who draw back and perish, 
but among those who have faith and will possess life.

The Author of Hebrews urges us to practice our faith. It is neither an entitlement nor a confidence that God is always in my pocket. It requires daily courage, sacrifice, prayer and penance. Faith must be practiced in season and out of season. 

And its rewards will be as great as the Resurrection of Our Savior.