20210620 DYNAMIC TENSION BETWEEN FAITH AND FEAR IS RESOLVED BY LOVE
20 June, 2021, Sunday, 12th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | Job 38:1,8-11 © |
From the heart of the tempest the Lord gives Job his answer
From the heart of the tempest the Lord gave Job his answer. He said:
Who pent up the sea behind closed doors
when it leapt tumultuous out of the womb,
when I wrapped it in a robe of mist
and made black clouds its swaddling bands;
when I marked the bounds it was not to cross
and made it fast with a bolted gate?
Come thus far, I said, and no farther:
here your proud waves shall break.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 106(107):23-26,28-32 © |
O give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures for ever.
or
Alleluia!
Some sailed to the sea in ships
to trade on the mighty waters.
These men have seen the Lord’s deeds,
the wonders he does in the deep.
O give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures for ever.
or
Alleluia!
For he spoke; he summoned the gale,
tossing the waves of the sea
up to heaven and back into the deep;
their souls melted away in their distress.
O give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures for ever.
or
Alleluia!
Then they cried to the Lord in their need
and he rescued them from their distress.
He stilled the storm to a whisper:
all the waves of the sea were hushed.
O give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures for ever.
or
Alleluia!
They rejoiced because of the calm
and he led them to the haven they desired.
Let them thank the Lord for his love,
for the wonders he does for men.
O give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures for ever.
or
Alleluia!
Second reading |
2 Corinthians 5:14-17 © |
We do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh
The love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect that if one man has died for all, then all men should be dead; and the reason he died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them.
From now onwards, therefore, we do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh. Even if we did once know Christ in the flesh, that is not how we know him now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ep1:17,18 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.
Alleluia!
Or: | Lk7:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 4:35-41 © |
'Even the wind and the sea obey him'
With the coming of evening, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?’ They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’
DYNAMIC TENSION BETWEEN FAITH AND FEAR IS RESOLVED BY LOVE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Job 38:1, 8-11; Ps 107; 2 Cor 5:14-17; Mark 4:35-41 ]
We are all like Job when faced with innocent and unjust suffering in life. Whilst some can accept suffering due to our foolish decisions and actions, and even suffering caused by the sins and negligence of others, we find it extremely difficult to accept suffering when there is no apparent reason. This was the case of Job when he was struck with tragedy after tragedy, affecting not just his property and flock but even afflicting his own family members and himself bodily. All these happened without any good reason because he was known to have lived a righteous life, an upright life before God and was generous with his fellowmen. Hence, he felt that God was not fair to allow him to suffer innocently. He did not do anything wrong to suffer the loss of his fortune, his loved ones and his health.
Indeed, like the disciples when they were in the boat, there was a storm and the waves were breaking into the boat. Even though there were at least four fishermen among the Twelve in the boat, they were terrified by the storm because the boat was sinking. What was ironical was that Jesus “was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!'” Isn’t this what we say to the Lord? Even if we are not resentful like Job who quarreled with God over His injustice, we feel the Lord is not listening to our prayers for help. We do not feel His presence and we feel all alone, struggling against the storms of life.
This is not surprising even though we might be good Catholics and active in the Church. The disciples more than us had seen the works of Jesus, His miracles and exorcisms. They saw how He commanded the evil spirits to leave those who were possessed. They saw how He healed even the most feared of all illnesses – leprosy. They heard how He outsmarted the religious leaders who tried to put Him down and stirred up opposition against Him. And yet, they still lacked faith in Him. After rebuking the wind Jesus reprimanded them, “Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?”
So why did they lack faith in spite of having seen and known the power of the Lord? This lack of faith did not come so much from doubt that Jesus would be able to calm the storm or to help them. That was why they cried out to Him for help. Indeed, doubt is not always the opposite of faith. In Mark’s account, it was not a question of doubt in Jesus’ authority. In fact, in Mark’s miracle stories in chapters 4 and 5, it was always a question of fear. The opposite of faith is fear. It was fear that drove the apostles to cry out to the Lord. It was fear that drove the inhabitants of Gerasa to ask Jesus to leave after He cast out the evil spirits from the demoniac. It was fear that made the woman with hemorrhage touch the cloak of Jesus secretly. This explains why even though they lacked faith, Jesus went on to rescue the apostles from the storm and heal the woman suffering from a blood disorder.
So often, it is not that people lack faith in God but it is fear that drives them. When we are driven by fear, faith is kept at abeyance. We cannot think or act rationally. Fear is what causes us to react, especially when in grave danger. Fear would drive a man to kill someone who threatens to expose him for his crimes, or to cheat and engage in fraud or traffic in drugs to pay his debts. Fear would drive a woman to abort an unwanted pregnancy, especially if the girl is young and does not want her parents to find out. Fear would drive Catholics to seek mediums, bomohs and fortune-tellers and practice all kinds of superstition. So they lack faith not because they doubt the Lord completely but because they are driven by fear. How, then, can we overcome fear?
Fear can only be overcome by coming to realize who the Lord truly is, namely, love and mercy in person. They were judgmental of Jesus because the danger ahead of them gave them cause to believe that Jesus was unconcerned about them, in spite of the fact that they had seen His power at work in the many miracles He had performed. This is because they had yet to come to realize the true identity of our Lord. Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect them to confess in the divinity of the Lord. The authority that Christ had given to them to perform miracles and cast out evil spirits had yet to be fully tested.
Jesus once again demonstrated His authority over the demonic powers not just in people but over the demonic and chaotic nature. In rebuking the wind, it showed the power of Jesus over nature and the evil spirits which were believed to be lurking in the seas. Significantly and paradoxically, when the outer storms were calmed, the inner storms of the disciples began. Instead of feeling at ease and at peace, the story of the calming of the storm ended in fear. They were terrified and even more afraid after Jesus commanded the wind to be quiet and calm. “They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.'”
Today, the Lord invites us to come to terms with our fears. Unlike the previous miracle, today’s miracle ends with an invitation to reflect and understand the deeper meaning of God’s plan for us by grasping more and more who Jesus is to us. The miracles of Jesus are more than mere direct expositions of the Kingdom of God. They reveal the true identity of our Lord. They are parables in action inviting us to consider deeply who Jesus is and what it means to believe. If Jesus could calm the storm, then who is He? This was the same question God asked Job to ponder as well when, like the apostles, he accused the Lord of being indifferent to his suffering. “From the heart of the tempest, the Lord gave Job his answer.” He asked him who had power over nature, the seas and the weather.
St Paul too came to full recognition of Jesus’ identity only after encountering Him in the resurrection. Before that, he was judging Jesus by external criteria, just like how we assess a person by his status, his background, his neighborhood, the car he drives, the clothes he wears, etc. He judged “by the standards of the flesh.” He was simply measuring Jesus as a man, a deviant and a rebel against the Mosaic Law. But after the Lord appeared to him and revealed His true identity, he was radically changed. Hence, he wrote, “Even if we did once know Christ in the flesh, that is not how we know him now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here.” Knowing the resurrected Christ is even more important than knowing Jesus in the flesh. With that knowledge that he was persecuting the Lord (Acts 9:5), his life took a radical turn. He came to understand how Jesus was identified with every man in his suffering and when persecuted. In the final analysis, the perfect love of God casts out fear. (1 Jn 4:18)
Hence, before we question God about our suffering and His wisdom, we must first remove our fears through a personal knowledge of Him so that we can encounter the depth of His love and mercy for us. Like Job and Paul, we will be able to accept Him in faith and entrust our life to Him as the apostles eventually did after His resurrection when they saw the meaning of His passion and death. Until then, we must keep on searching and deepening our questions about Jesus until we arrive at a personal conviction of His identity. Unless, we come to this stage, we will not be ready to follow Jesus to Jerusalem, to the cross. The consequence of knowing our Lord is a change of life, as Paul wrote, “The love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect that if one man has died for all, then all men should be dead; and the reason he died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them.” Hence, before we rule out a person’s faith, let us all be clear that on earth, we live a dynamic tension between fear and faith, more than doubt and faith. With prayer, we can overcome fear because when we enjoy intimacy with the Lord, we will know His love and that love drives out fear.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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