Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 95

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!”

As Saint Mark describes the Lord's disciples, they understood neither him, nor his teaching, nor his mission. They were drawn to him by his call; but had anyone asked, "Why are you following him?" they would have been stumped for an answer. "Because he called me" must pass for an explanation. 

Ordinarily, his disciples were overawed or wonder-struck by his presence; when he ask them if they understood his sign, teaching or parable, they were clueless. In chapter 10, the Saint Mark describes a typical moment, 

"They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid."

What did they expect would happen in Jerusalem? It might be a historic triumph like the ousting of Rome with its army and its nuisance governors. It might be an apocalyptic coming of the Son of Man as Lord of the Universe. He would establish Jerusalem as the Capital of an empire spanning the entire World!  

Or it might be a debacle, a foiled revolution and slaughter of everyone who dared to think that the Roman Empire should go away. His disciples can only follow in mute obedience, hoping against hope that something good might come of it.   

When they do make something of him, they get it totally wrong. On one occasion, two of them mustered the courage to speak to him. 

"James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

If this were a stage play, he would turn aside to the audience and say, "Don't you love these guys?"

In today's gospel however, the disciples forget their Holy Fear as they rouse him from sleep. "Don't you care that we are perishing?" they scream at him over the roar of the storm. But, predictably, he has the last laugh as he commands the sea and storm to "Knock it off!" 

And then, "Why are you terrified?" he says to his boys, “Do you not yet have faith?”

But their distress and alarm had, in a sense, driven them to a moment of faith. They believed enough to wake him up and beg for his help. What they expected him to do was beyond anyone's comprehension. They could not suppose that he had everything under control. It was not like lighting a candle when a tornado has been spotted; it was not a quiet Hail Mary before the final exam. It was a last hope, and a terrified plea, "Do something!" 

When he woke up and finally addressed the sea and storm and waves, his command sounds very familiar, "Be still!" He said the same thing when a demoniac accosted him. "Quiet! Come out of him!" and the demon had no choice but to desert the wretched man. 

It may be God's most familiar quote. It's his battle cry when he fights for his people. We hear it in Psalm 46: 

Come and see the works of the LORD, / who has done fearsome deeds on earth;
Who stops wars to the ends of the earth, / breaks the bow, splinters the spear,
and burns the shields with fire; / “Be still and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations, / exalted on the earth.”
The LORD of hosts is with us; /our stronghold is the God of Jacob. Psalm 46:10-12

Every disciple submits to the Lord's command; at first, occasionally; and then habitually; and finally completely and continually. But, unlike the demons, the storm, and the sea we come to God with joy, gratitude, and relief. 

Here is one whom we can trust, who has proven his worth and is trustworthy. Everyone has known betrayal. As children we expected and needed much from those around us; first of our parents and family, then, of other adults, and friends, and fellow citizens. But we have been disappointed. Perhaps we have even complained about God's apparent abandonment, as if he too has betrayed us. 

Sinful people that we are, we undertake projects and never ask if this is what God wants for us. With our feverish and fertile imagination, we create expectations, and then desires, and then needs, and finally rights to have our fantastic expectations fulfilled -- in abundance and superabundance. If only...! If only the world would serve us! If only everyone would serve me we could all be so happy! If only my dreams would come true. “Fairy tales can come true; they can happen to you….” 

The Lord in his mercy sometimes threatens us with the consequences of what we have done without him. Our unsinkable Titanic capsizes under his irresistible natural force. And then, in our desperation, we turn to him crying,  “Teacher, don’t you care that we are perishing?”

God cannot resist the prayer of the helpless. He hears our prayers when we admit utter and total defeat. When we confess our foolishness, He comes to save us. And we hear, for once in our lives, a Voice that speaks not only to the wind and sea and storm, but to every man, woman, and child. “Be still and know that I am God. Supreme among the nations, supreme on the earth.”