Reflection for June 23, 2024

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

​Job 38:1, 8-11 | Psalm 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31 | 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 | Mark 4:35-41

​The readings for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time are given to us to make us think about God and about the role of God in our personal life and in the life of the world.

​I have a friend who in a time of this pandemic lost his job, a sizable fortune, and his beautiful home. To add to his sorrow, his wife left him for some one else; yet he tenaciously held to his faith – the only thing he had left. One day when he was out walking in search of a job, he stopped to watch some men who were doing stonework on a large church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of rock. 'Where are you going to put that?' he asked. The workman said, 'Do you see that little opening up there in the bellfry? Well, I AM SHAPING THIS STONE DOWN HERE SO THAT IT WILL FIT IN UP THERE.' Tears filled my friend's eyes as he walked away, for the Lord had spoken to him through that laborer whose words gave new meaning to his troubled situation. 

Our first reading comes from the Book of Job. Job and some friends have been arguing about God. As an irreproachable law-abiding Jew, Job had every right and reason to expect God’s blessing. Instead, his life was beset by terrible misfortunes. Job insisted that in this world the wicked succeed, the innocent suffer; yet God pays no attention to their prayer. Now God himself finally speaks to Job "from the tempest": "Where were you when I created the world?" God went on to describe the wonders of creation. He made Job realize that it was him who created heavens and earth and put everything where they belong whether the sea or the dry land by the power of his Word. Who was he to question the unnameable and Most High? Job changed. He acknowledged God's greatness and was grateful. 

A man and his son took their carabao to the market. Along the way, they encountered different people who criticized their actions. First, a countryman mocked them for walking instead of riding the carabao. So the man put his son on the carabao. Then they passed some men who criticized the boy for riding while his father walked. In response, the man got on the carabao himself. Next, two women shamed the man for making his small son walk. Confused, the man placed his son in front of him on the carabao. As they reached the town, people ridiculed them for overloading the carabao. Feeling embarrassed, the man and boy got off and pondered a solution. Eventually, they tied the carabao's feet to a pole and carried it on their shoulders. Amidst laughter, they reached the market bridge, where the carabao struggled, causing the boy to drop his end. Sadly, the carabao fell into the water and drowned. An old man, who had followed them, remarked, "Please all, and you will please none!"

So-called "uper-apostles" have come to Corinth boasting of their ability to work miracles and preach a gospel of glory. They have attempted to undermine the apostle Paul's reputation and authority. In his Second Letter to the Corinthians, he reminds the people of Corinth that human opinions of his person and ministry, based on external appearances and earthly standards, do not matter. It is Christ who will judge Paul and each of us according to what we have done. 

Captain Marco Antonio, an experienced coast guard officer asked his son Cadet Mateo Antonio, "What will you do if you encounter a situation where you are on the open waters and a sudden storm occurs?" "I'll drop an anchor, Dad," Mateo replied. "What will you do if another storm sprang up afterwards?" "I'll drop another anchor, Dad," Mateo answered. "And what if another terrific storm hit afterwards?" Captain Antonio asked. "I'll drop another anchor, Dad," Mateo said. Captain Marco continued, "What if there is another storm?" Mateo said once again, "I'll drop another anchor, Dad." "Now hold on, young man," said the daddy captain, "Where are you getting all your anchors from?" "From the same place you're getting your storms, Dad," the son Cadet answered.

In today's Gospel reading, the disciples were so much frightened by a violent squall which came up and caused so strong waves of water when they were sailing. The waves were breaking the boat so that the water was filling up. It is easy to understand someone who was not used to boats, winds and waves, to be frightened by any storm, but this storm was so strong that even the professional fishermen were afraid because they knew the danger. Their skill and their lengthy experience of those waters failed to give them courage. They woke Jesus and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" Awakened from His sleep, Jesus does not appear to be surprised or disturbed by the storm. He arose and rebuked the winds and the waves saying, "Quiet! Be still!" Instantly the winds ceased and the sea became calm. Jesus does not pray that God would calm the storm, but commands it himself with sovereign authority: "Quiet! Be still!" The Gospel writer is trying to show us here that Christ is indeed God himself, the creator of the entire cosmos, He who can bring order out of chaos. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria suggests the entire event was a calculated test by Jesus, in which he permitted — not caused — the squall, in order to illustrate the spiritual state of the Apostles and allow them to discover their weaknesses, those places where their trust in Jesus must grow. Jesus had been teaching his disciples to trust him — to trust that he was capable of solving life's hardest problems. Sure there was a storm on — but Jesus was asleep in the boat. If Jesus himself could sleep through this storm, all would be well. There are countless storms that might terrify us and be the cause of great despair in our lives, but if Jesus is with us, we could trust in his plans, protection, and promises. Simply put, Jesus is our anchor amidst the storms of life. We should be quick to recognize his power and majesty and also quick to trust that he will never leave us and never forsake us. 

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